An Integrated Language Strategy for Second Language Learners

Second language learners face two simultaneous problems in content area classrooms: first, acquiring general communicative facility, and second, acquiring the specialized concepts and vocabulary found in content area subjects. The adapted Guided Writing Procedure (GWP) is uniquely suited to both the cognitive and linguistic needs of these learners because it capitalizes on the rich social, linguistic, and cognitive environment of the content area classroom. The GWP provides instruction and practice in basic communication skills by using oral language as a bridge to reading and writing. Further, it activates students' prior knowledge to furnish a framework for the acquisition of new concepts. Most importantly, the GWP and its step‐by‐step sequence offer second language learners an opportunity for meaningful practice of the target language as part of the learning of content area concepts.