Making Instructional Language Comprehensible
in a Language Immersive Environment
– Effective Instructional Strategies for Foreign
Language Teaching
Indiana University-Bloomington
Ai-Chu Ding, Literacy, Culture and Language Education
Jui-Hsin Hung, Literacy, Culture and Language Education
Shuya Xu, Instructional Systems Technology
Importance of Target Language Input
1. Using only the target language to create a language immersive environment
is said to maximize the effectiveness of learning the target language
(Larsen-Freeman, 1985; Lightbown, 1991; Liu, 2008; Turnbull, 2001).
2. American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language (ACTFL) has also
recommended that “language educators and their students use the target
language as exclusively as possible (90% plus) at all levels of instruction
during instructional time and, when feasible, beyond the classroom”
(Crouse, 2012, p.24).
3. In terms of foreign language learning, the language classroom may be the
only time students are immersed in the target language.
4. In multilingual classrooms, language teachers have no choice but use the
target language as the sole communication mode in class.
Input Hypothesis (Krashen, 1982)
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Language is only acquired through understanding
messages or by receiving comprehensible input
Learners need to receive input which is a bit higher
than their current level or stage of language
competence
Exposing learners to extensive periods of
comprehensible TL input will ensure mastery of the
target language
Immersion Strategies-
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Hard Scaffolding (Brush and Saye, 2002)
o
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Strategies for teachers to stay in TL
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Classroom management
Content delivery (grammar, vocabulary, activity etc.)
Soft Scaffolding (Brush and Saye, 2002)
“dynamic, situation-specific aid provided by a teacher or peer to
help with the learning process” (p.2).
o
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Communication Strategies ( Chen, 2006; Dörnyei,
1995)
General Content delivery strategies
Research Questions
1. What are some teaching strategies currently used
by language teachers for staying in the target
language? What are some other strategies for
increasing target language input that have not been
used by language teachers?
2. How do language teachers perceive the
effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed
strategies that were identified from the literature?
Research Methods
Participants:
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Convenience sampling
6 college-level Chinese instructors
Gender
Female (n=6)
Years of Teaching
6 months to 6 years
Age
24-32
Research Methods
Data Collection:
Stage 1: Semi-structured teacher interviews
& Teaching Observations
Stage 2: Developed a list of 32 immersion
strategies & an online tutorial
Stage 3: Semi-structured follow-up interviews
Research Methods
Data Analysis
Grounded Theory
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Open coding
o Unit of Analysis: Sentence level
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•
Reliability
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Data triangulation
Investigator triangulation
RQ 1:
What are some teaching strategies currently
used by language teachers for staying in target
language?
What are some other strategies for increasing
target language input that have not been used
by language teachers?
Strategies Used by Teachers – Results from 1st Interview
Preparation / Lesson Plan

Detail level of lesson plan
Classroom Management

Agreement on TL use rules
Delivery of Instruction
Attention & Recall:

Warm-up to practice old content
Present Material & Learning Guidance:

Gesture & body language

Acting out

Visual aids

Written instruction

Clear enunciation

Slower speech rate

Repetition

Rephrasing
Elicit Performance:

Guiding students from simple to complex sentence
structures
Feedback & Assessment:

Comprehension check

Correcting errors by rephrasing or recasting

Making students aware of class procedures






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Generalization or approximation
Code switching
Old to explain / elicit new
Scaffolding the context
Teacher modeling / demo
Peer modeling / demo
Pacing

Practices: from fixed to open

Avoiding responding to students’ question in L1
Most Frequently Used Strategies
(Reported as being regularly used by all 4 teachers)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Setting the stage from day one
Borrowing or code switching
Controlled vocabulary and idioms
Controlled sentence length and complexity
Modeling, giving examples and demonstration
Body language and gestures
Minimizing the time spent on grammar explanation
Guiding students from more simple to more complex
responses
Frequently Used Strategies
(Reported as being regularly used by 3 out of 4 teachers)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Establishing classroom routine
Pacing
Comprehension check
Repetition
Slower speech rate
Fostering a classroom culture that values
communication and accuracy more than
prescriptive rule
7. A written form of procedural instruction in L1
Least Used Strategies
(Reported as never used by more than 3 teachers)
1. Classroom decorations and arrangements
2. Starting the class with learning objectives
3. PACE (presentation, attention, coconstruction, extension) model
Discussion – New Strategies Emerged
“Detail level of lesson plan”
- Script questions and predict possible answers
“Warm-up to practice old content”
- Incorporate old content into informal chat & initiate a Chinesespeaking mode
“Scaffolding the context”
- Provide cues & avoid explaining in L1
“Error correction by rephrasing or recasting”
- Model correct use & avoid explaining rules
“Avoid responding to students’ question in L1”
- Prepare the mind set for unplanned events
RQ 2:
How do language teachers perceive the
effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed
strategies that were identified from the literature?
What factors affect their perception towards the
effectiveness and feasibility of proposed
strategies?
Classroom Management
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Establish classroom routines and classroom
decorations and arrangement: More frequently
perceived as effective
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Semi-circle seating arrangement
The use of it might be limited to the rooms assigned
Set the stage from day one and establish a reward
system: Perceived as less effective
• Sign a language pledge on the first day with a punishment or
reward system
Communicative Strategies
• Borrowing/code switching, literal
translation, and question downwards
mentioned more frequently as effective
• Circumlocution: One of the least effective
strategies because most questions asked in
class were predetermined
Delivery of Instruction
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Six strategies:
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Controlled vocabulary and idioms
Controlled sentence length and complexity
Modeling
Giving examples and demonstration
Minimize the time spent on grammar explanation
Guiding students from more simple to more complex responses
Concept definition map
The role of the current program curriculum and the nature of the
class in teachers’ perception of strategy effectiveness
•
e.g. Start the class with learning objectives, and activity types and
numbers
Discussion
1. Many of the strategies were perceived as effective
2. Discrepancy from previous research: Acting out, PACE model, and rephrasing
Acting out: student age and teacher preference
The PACE model: Time constraint
Rephrasing: More suitable for higher proficiency levels
3. Circumlocution: Seldom used, if do, “exemplification” will be the one to use.
4. When perceiving strategies as ineffective…
May provide misleading information
Inappropriate to use in the current context and setting
Time constraint
5. Some communicative strategies could be included in future teacher training
program
Thank you
Ai-Chu Ding ading@indiana.edu
Jui-Hsin Hung juihung@indiana.edu
Shuya Xu xushuy@indiana.edu
Q&A