Journal article response

Journal Article Response – Read, Research, and Respond – Introduction In order to provide the students with the best education in each level, it is necessary to determine the effectiveness and limitations of using instructions and literature-based basal anthology texts. Knowing the benefits and consequences of using these teaching techniques would enable the mentors and the education policy makers to create and implement a more effective teaching techniques and tools in each class.
Potential Pitfalls Surrounding the Approach to Instruction
The quality of instructions given in the class has greater impact in the performance of the students rather than providing them with quantity instructions. (1) Providing the class with quantity instructions has been proven ineffective. Therefore, mentors should avoid giving a lot of instructions to the students. Instead, it is more important for the mentor to focus on determining his/her own teaching experience, the level of students the mentor is teaching, and applying more effective instructions to the class.
Instructing the students to spend more time reading a literature-based basal anthology texts is less effective than balancing the reading of books with having the mentor discuss the topic and/or having a group discussion with the students. (1)
Benefits of Using Basal Readers with ESOL / LEP Students
The repetition of words and limited scaffolding in the literature-based basal anthology texts can be very effective in teaching the ESOL / LEP students remember a number of important new words. The use of basal reading could increase the knowledge of the ESOL / LEP in terms of increasing their vocabulary each day. In case of using scaffolding in the text and sentence structure, a clear picture with matching text are available to support the learning of the students. (3)
Drawbacks of Using Basal Readers with ESOL / LEP Students
According to Nancy Akhavan (2006), the process of educating the ESOL / LEP students through the content and context of a book including the students’ culture has to be united in order to render an effective teaching style to students with that comes from different cultural background. (4) Gilbert Garcia (2003) stated that there is a need to develop, rethink and redesign the class curriculum language class, as well as optimizing the difference in culture as a way to bridge the literacy learning of the ESOL / LEP students. (5) The use of purely literature-based basal anthology texts does not offer the class a unique teaching method needed by the students.
One of the drawbacks with the use of a literature-based basal anthology is its content. (2) It is possible that the content of the book can either be too advanced or less competitive with the ability of the ESOL / LEP students to learn something new. In the long run, this type of book does not offer the students any further progression in terms of its word-level features. (3) Since the basal programs is focused on following a sequence in the given level of texts, the mentors and policy makers may have little difficulty in adjusting with the number of new words provided to the ESOL / LEP students.
Conclusion
Providing the class with quantity instructions instead of a quality instruction is one of the drawbacks in teaching the students. Students tend to learn more with the use of a good quality and effective instructions instead of giving them quantity instructions.
There is a benefit and consequences with the use of literature-based basal anthology text with the ESOL / LEP students. During the first part of the learning process, the use of basal anthology text could be promising for ESOL / LEP students in learning the English language because of its repetition of words within its context. However, the use of this educational tools offer the ESOL / LEP students with limited words to learn. Therefore, the use of this type of reading materials may not be effective in increasing the vocabulary of the ESOL / LEP students.
Another point to consider is the diverse culture of the ESOL / LEP students. In line with this matter, the educator should apply a unique teaching method in order for them to be able to win the trust of these students which is essential in building a more solid teaching-learning relationship between the mentor and the students throughout the semester.
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References:
1 Menon S. and Hiebert E. H. (2005) ‘ A Comparison of First Graders’ Reading with Little Books or Literature-Based Basal Anthologies’ Reading Research Quarterly. 2005; 40(1): 12 – 38. p. 34
2 Menon S. and Hiebert E. H. (2005) ‘ A Comparison of First Graders’ Reading with Little Books or Literature-Based Basal Anthologies’ Reading Research Quarterly. 2005; 40(1): 12 – 38. pp. 34 – 35.
3 Menon S. and Hiebert E. H. (2005) ‘ A Comparison of First Graders’ Reading with Little Books or Literature-Based Basal Anthologies’ Reading Research Quarterly. 2005; 40(1): 12 – 38. pp. 35.
4 Opitz MF and Harding-DeKam JL. (2007) ‘ Understanding and Teaching English-Language Learners’ The Reading Teacher. 2007; 60(6): 590 – 593. p. 591.
5 Opitz MF and Harding-DeKam JL. (2007) ‘ Understanding and Teaching English-Language Learners’ The Reading Teacher. 2007; 60(6): 590 – 593. p. 592.