Month: August 2023

Pat Brown and I recently had our article “Exploring Before Explaining in World Languages” published in Edutopia – George Lucas Educational Foundation. https://www.edutopia.org/article/using-patterns-teach-world-languages Our article introduces the concept of “explore-before-explain” teaching in world language classrooms, aiming to redefine the roles of teachers and students, enhance student agency, and address the complex standards set by the…

We will wrap up our series on “SLA-Speak” by looking at “Comprehensible Input”. Note: This is the fifth and (possibly) final post in the series. What is “Comprehensible Input”? Comprehensible Input (CI) is a concept in language learning that refers to language input. The language input received by the language learner is just challenging enough…

Continuing our series on “SLA-Speak”, we’ll now look at the “Affective Filter”. Note: This is the fourth post in the series. What is the “Affective filter”? The Affective Filter is a concept in language learning. It is like a mental gate that can either open or close while you’re learning a language. In other words,…

Continuing our series on “SLA-Speak”, we’ll now look at “Fluency” vs. “Accuracy”. Note: This is the third post in the series. Fluency and accuracy are two important aspects of language proficiency. Let’s take a look at the difference between them: Fluency: Accuracy: Key Differences: Briefly stated, both fluency and accuracy are essential for effective communication…

Continuing our series on “SLA-Speak”, we’ll now look at “Acquisition vs. Learning”. Note: This is the second post in the series. Acquisition and Learning are two distinct processes involved in Second Language Acquisition (SLA), as proposed by linguist Stephen Krashen. Let’s take a closer look at the differences between these two terms: Acquisition: Learning: Key…