CALLA lesson plan model: Toward the development of academic language skills and learning strategies of English as Second Language and bilingual students in the elementary and secondary level

Abstract

The main purpose of the study is to describe Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA) as an instructional system designed to develop academic language skills in English of students in the elementary and secondary level. It is also the aim of the study to develop content-based lesson plans using CALLA lesson planning technique.

The study is divided into two parts. Part I consists of the rationale and objectives of the study of CALLA, review of studies conducted on language and cognition, learning strategies and academic performance, analysis of academic difficulties of English as Second Language (ESL) and Bilingual learners in language and content-based classes, and comprehensive discussion of the components of CALLA. Part II is an overview of the CALLA lesson planning strategy and a compilation of the content-based lesson plans covering different subject areas such as; Science, Mathematics, Language Arts, Social Studies, Values Education, Literature, Grammar, Reading, and Writing. The study highlighted research findings on the aspects of language as a complex cognitive skill and its implication to language instruction. Analysis of these findings revealed that ESL and Bilingual students in mainstream classes encountered many difficulties because of differences between the type of language used for ordinary social conversation and the type of language used for academic purposes and the fact that these language skills take considerably longer to develop than social language skills.