From Actions to Results: Language Based Teaching Strategies

Synthesis: TPR and the Natural Approach honor diverse learning pathways by valuing comprehension over premature production. This reduces affective barriers and allows all students, especially kinesthetic and visual learners, to build strong receptive foundations.

Cross-Subject Application: Physical education integrates movement with academic concepts; art classes use gesture and demonstration before verbal explanation.

5. Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

CLT prioritizes meaningful interaction, functional language use, and authentic communication (Savignon, 2001). It shifts focus from linguistic form to communicative competence, encouraging negotiation of meaning in real contexts. CLT recognizes that language is learned through purposeful use, not merely studied as an object (Richards & Rodgers, 2014; Larsen-Freeman & Anderson, 2011).

• Action (A): Facilitate authentic discussions and interactive tasks.
• Competence (C): Balance fluency with accuracy in real contexts.
• Motivation (M): Social interaction and personal agency energize learning.
• Result (R): Students communicate effectively in meaningful situations.
• Ethics of Excellence: Collaboration and Voice. Honor every student's perspective and create opportunities for authentic dialogue where diverse voices contribute to collective understanding, building community through respectful exchange of ideas.

Synthesis: CLT transforms language from an object of study to a tool for genuine communication. When students negotiate meaning with peers, they develop not only linguistic competence but also social and intercultural awareness essential for global citizenship.

Cross-Subject Application: Social studies classes conduct debates and simulations; mathematics encourages peer problem-solving discussions.

6. Task-Based Language Learning (TBLL)

TBLL organizes instruction around meaningful tasks that produce tangible outcomes (Ellis, 2003; Willis, 1996). Tasks mirror real-world language use, with planning, execution, and reflection phases. This approach integrates all language skills and emphasizes meaning over form, while still addressing linguistic accuracy during post-task analysis (Larsen-Freeman & Anderson, 2011).

• Action (A): Assign real-world tasks with clear outcomes and reporting phases.
• Competence (C): Guide students through planning, execution, and reflection.
• Motivation (M): Purposeful outcomes provide intrinsic drive.
• Result (R): Students produce work with authentic purpose and context.
• Ethics of Excellence: Purposeful Learning. Design experiences that connect to students' lives and futures, ensuring learning has meaning beyond the classroom and prepares them for real-world challenges, cultivating work that matters.

Synthesis: TBLL embodies Berger's ethic of excellence by demanding authentic work with real audiences and purposes. Students experience language as a means to accomplish meaningful goals, developing both competence and pride in their accomplishments.

Cross-Subject Application: Science labs frame experiments as tasks with reports; economics classes analyze case studies with actionable recommendations.

7. Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) / Content-Based Instruction

CLIL and Content-Based Instruction teach subject matter and language simultaneously (Coyle, Hood, & Marsh, 2010; Brinton, Snow, & Wesche, 1989). CLIL's 4Cs framework integrates content, communication, cognition, and culture. Content-Based Instruction uses disciplinary material as the vehicle for language development. Both approaches recognize that academic language is best learned in context, making content comprehensible while advancing linguistic proficiency (Richards & Rodgers, 2014).

• Action (A): Integrate content objectives with language development.
• Competence (C): Align language functions with disciplinary reasoning.
• Motivation (M): Relevance to subject mastery increases engagement.
• Result (R): Students master both content knowledge and academic language.
• Ethics of Excellence: Inclusivity and Access. Ensure that language development supports rather than obstructs content learning, providing all students equitable access to rigorous academic knowledge and intellectual challenge.

Synthesis: CLIL represents the integration of all previous approaches within disciplinary contexts. By making content the driver and language the vehicle, students develop cognitive academic language proficiency essential for success across the curriculum.

Cross-Subject Application: All subjects benefit from explicit attention to language demands; scaffolding supports multilingual learners across the curriculum.

8. Lexical Approach and Story-Based Learning

The Lexical Approach emphasizes collocations and chunks, recognizing that fluency depends on pre-fabricated language patterns (Lewis, 1993). Story-Based Learning uses narrative structures to contextualize language, engage emotions, and create memorable learning experiences (Morgan & Rinvolucri, 1983). Stories provide coherent contexts for vocabulary, grammar, and cultural understanding, making language acquisition both meaningful and memorable (Larsen-Freeman & Anderson, 2011).

• Action (A): Teach vocabulary in meaningful collocations and narrative contexts.
• Competence (C): Model coherent storytelling and authentic language patterns.
• Motivation (M): Personalization and narrative engagement capture interest.
• Result (R): Students acquire natural language patterns through memorable stories.
• Ethics of Excellence: Engagement and Relevance. Connect learning to students' experiences and identities through narrative, recognizing that stories validate diverse backgrounds and build community while making knowledge personally meaningful.

Synthesis: Stories tap into universal human cognition, making language memorable through emotional engagement and narrative coherence. The Lexical Approach provides the chunks that enable fluent storytelling, creating powerful synergy between form and meaning.

Cross-Subject Application: Literature uses narrative framing for analysis; mathematics presents story problems that connect to student lives.

9. Digital andd Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (CALL/MALL)

Technology-enhanced learning extends practice, provides feedback, and supports autonomous study (Chapelle, 2001; Stockwell, 2012). Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) offer adaptive practice, immediate feedback, and access to authentic materials. When integrated thoughtfully, technology complements face-to-face instruction, personalizes learning pathways, and develops digital literacy alongside language proficiency (Richards & Rodgers, 2014).

• Action (A): Integrate purposeful digital tools and mobile applications.
• Competence (C): Select technology that enhances rather than replaces teaching.
• Motivation (M): Autonomy and digital fluency appeal to modern learners.
• Result (R): Students develop self-directed learning skills with technology.
• Ethics of Excellence: Innovation and Responsibility. Leverage technology ethically to expand learning opportunities while maintaining human connection and protecting student agency in an increasingly digital world, ensuring tools serve learning rather than replace thinking.

Synthesis: Technology amplifies all other approaches when used purposefully. CALL/MALL enables personalized practice, extends learning beyond classroom walls, and prepares students for digital citizenship while maintaining the human elements essential to meaningful education.

Cross-Subject Application: All disciplines can integrate multimodal projects; ethical considerations around artificial intelligence and digital literacy span the curriculum.

References

All frameworks, methods, and syntheses in this resource are grounded in published research and professional literature corresponding to citations throughout the document.

Ethics of Excellence: Berger, R. (2003). An Ethic of Excellence: Building a Culture of Craftsmanship with Students. Heinemann.

R = A × C × M framework: Principle adapted from Brian Tracy's Goals! (2004) and Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life (2003). Educational reinterpretation aligns with reflective teaching models (Hattie, 2012; Shulman, 1986). Motivation factor integrated from self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000).

Asher, James. Learning Another Language through Actions: The Complete Teacher’s Guidebook. Sky Oaks Productions, 1977.

Ausubel, David P. Educational Psychology: A Cognitive View. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968.

Berger, Ron. An Ethic of Excellence: Building a Culture of Craftsmanship with Students. Heinemann, 2003.

Bruner, Jerome. Child’s Talk: Learning to Use Language. Norton, 1983.

Canale, Michael, and Merrill Swain. “Theoretical Bases of Communicative Approaches to Second Language Teaching and Testing.” Applied Linguistics, vol. 1, no. 1, 1980, pp. 1–47.

Chapelle, Carol A. Technology and Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge UP, 2020.

Chinnery, George M. “Emerging Technologies: Going to the MALL.” Language Learning & Technology, vol. 10, no. 1, 2006, pp. 9–16.

Coyle, Do, Philip Hood, and David Marsh. CLIL: Content and Language Integrated Learning. Cambridge UP, 2010.

Dalton-Puffer, Christiane. Discourse in Content and Language Integrated Learning Classrooms. John Benjamins, 2007.

Ellis, Rod. Task-Based Language Learning and Teaching. Oxford UP, 2003.

García, Ofelia, and Li Wei. Translanguaging: Language, Bilingualism and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.

Hattie, John. Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning. Routledge, 2012.

Jensen, Eric. Brain-Based Learning: The New Paradigm of Teaching. Corwin Press, 2008.

Krashen, Stephen D., and Tracy D. Terrell. The Natural Approach: Language Acquisition in the Classroom. Pergamon Press, 1983.

Larsen-Freeman, Diane, and Marti Anderson. Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. 3rd ed., Oxford UP, 2011.

Lewis, Michael. The Lexical Approach: The State of ELT and a Way Forward. Language Teaching Publications, 1993.

Littlewood, William. “Communicative Language Teaching: An Expanded Theory.” Language Teaching, vol. 47, no. 3, 2014, pp. 349–362.

Piaget, Jean. The Language and Thought of the Child. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1959.

Richards, Jack C., and Theodore S. Rodgers. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. 3rd ed., Cambridge UP, 2014.

Savignon, Sandra J. Interpreting Communicative Language Teaching: Contexts and Concerns in Teacher Education. Yale UP, 2002.

Shulman, Lee S. “Those Who Understand: Knowledge Growth in Teaching.” Educational Researcher, vol. 15, no. 2, 1986, pp. 4–14.

Skinner, B. F. Verbal Behavior. Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1957.

Tracy, Brian. Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life. John Wiley & Sons, 2003.

Tracy, Brian. Goals! How to Get Everything You Want Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2004.

Vygotsky, Lev S. Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Harvard UP, 1978.

Willis, Jane, and Dave Willis. Doing Task-Based Teaching. Oxford UP, 2007.

Wright, Andrew. Stories and Their Importance in Language Teaching. Cambridge UP, 2000.