CUNY Academic Commons

Proposal for Paper Drew Pecunia

The effect of teacher interaction on the development of language in the ENL/ELL classroom.  In particular I would like to look at how teachers can mediate a process by which students discourse is transformed through the use of purposeful scaffolding in a mainstream classroom.  The social and discourse interactions in the classroom have a profound impact on students ability to acquire academic language in the classroom.   ENL Learners can have better outcomes when teacher interactions are purposeful and take place in an environment that scaffolds academic vocabulary within a discussion based context.  Students learn best in a classroom where they can experience both the cultural and situational contexts.  This literature review will seek to assess the validity of this approach when applied to ENL/ELL learners at the secondary school level.