Comprehensible Input

In order to maximize your instruction, teachers of MLs should incorporate the following, at the appropriate student’s proficiency level: 

• Insert pauses between sentences and ideas
• Speak slowly and enunciate 
• Limit the use of contractions 
• Limit the number of fused forms (e.g., gonna, wanna) 
• Punch keywords to support meaning 
• Use repetition/paraphrase 
• Keep sentences short 
• Use high-frequency words 
• Limit the use of idioms and slang 
• Simplify sentence structures
• Model what you want students to say before having them produce language
• Point out cognates

• Step-by-step instructions
• Modeling and demonstrating the task for students
• Use of an exemplar, criteria for success, or graphic organizer
• Use of objectives or agendas
• Explain unfamiliar terms 
• Teach multiple forms of the word (e.g., predict and prediction) 
• Provide feedback during guided and independent instruction

• Use objects/realia 
• Use sketches and photographs 
• Use labeled diagrams, charts, maps, graphs 
• Use multimedia and technology (e.g. whiteboard, videos, projectors, etc.) 
• Use gestures to reinforce meaning 
• Have students mimic gestures 
• Model and use role-playing 
• Use facial expressions
• Preview materials 
• Allow for alternative forms for expressing understanding
• Ensure that MLLs are seated near the teacher and can see the mouth of the teacher 

Information summarized from Chapter 4: Comprehensible Input of Echevarría, J., Vogt, M., Short, D., & Kathryn Elizabeth Toppel. (2022). Making Content Comprehensible for Multilingual Learners: The SIOP Model. Pearson.