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Relationship Building Activities:

Effective Instruction in Second Language Acquisition

Juan Daniel Arciga Powell

Department of World Languages and Cultures, Old Dominion University

TLED 360: Classroom Management and Discipline

Professor Demetrice Smith-Mutegi, PhD

July 16, 2023

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Effective Instruction in Second Language Acquisition

Investing time at the beginning of the schoolyear and throughout the duration of the

course to foster positive relationships between my future students will minimize disciplinary

incidents and will facilitate effective instruction. Also, earning my students’ trust will allow me

to set high disciplinary and scholastic expectations for them where their best academic interest

will be my priority. When students can co-create and benefit from student-centered instruction,

the pace of the class and diversity in content dynamics can be enriched by students’ interests.

The cooperative approach where I consider students’ input will allow me to equip my students

with problem-solving skills which can be applied to their context at home or within their social

circles. Ultimately, in second language classrooms, students must constantly compare and

contrast their vision of the world with foreign perspectives which lead to strong collaboration

with other learners inside the classroom.

Research conducted by Marzano et al. (2003) identified consideration and patience as

starting points for strategies involving varying degrees of dominance versus submission and

cooperation versus opposition. A balance between dominance and submission is synonymous of

leadership and guidance, and must consider students’ academic and social needs. For example,

trauma-informed practices will allow me to establish predictability and regulate flexibility in my

approach when anticipating student behavior (Venet, 2021). Specifically, looking beyond my

own cultural and social biases to see students as humans with needs will allow me to create a

safe learning environment where learners can develop literacy and autonomy in a second

language. This will be possible because they will feel that they belong and are valued

individually. A further example of this is eliciting from students in order to co-create norms and
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expectations which will allow learners to hold themselves accountable throughout the school

year (Milner et al., 2019).

Relationship Building Activity 1

See Appendix A. Engaging classroom climates are vital from the first to the last day of

class. Students who are engaged are less likely to break conduct norms. My future students will

be engaged and ready to collaborate with other classmates because I will assign activities such as

the Animoto videos. This tool will allow my future students to engage with the target language

and culture via music, literature, and other audiovisual content. Subsequently, learners will

submit work while displaying clear author voices and online presence since they can make use of

songs and visuals to enrich their work. This allows learners to bond over similarities and learn

when faced with differences; simultaneously, learners will also be more likely to collaborate

when they stop considering classmates as strangers.

Relationship Building Activity 2

See Appendix B. Modeling behavior, continuous L2 practice, and students developing

individual and team accountability are possible whenever I implement coin economies and

competitions. My students can keep track of desired behavior, face consequences and positive

feedback, and engage in collaboration in order to complete group tasks. Coin economies which

reward students when they help others with pronunciation in the target language, respect each

other’s turn when presenting, and create a healthy competition in the classroom can lead to high

expectation for conduct and academic performance. My future students will have opportunities

to compete individually and in teams. Although they learn while having fun tackling challenges

as a team, the main focus of the dynamic is promote a sense of community and collaboration.
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Relationship Building Activity 3

See Appendix C. Polyglots often develop different pronunciations for target languages,

and my experience has been that even monolinguals often have regional variations when tasked

with pronouncing specific words. Tongue twisters give me an opportunity to gauge the linguistic

differences of my students while also giving them an opportunity to learn while making

mistakes. Native-like proficiency is the goal for language learners and this is attainable through

continuous exposure to audiovisual content. By tasking my future students to face phonemic

challenges, they will be able to contrast and build upon their pronunciation by working with

other classmates. My classes often contain heterogeneous demographics when it comes to L2

proficiency. This causes students to not want to participate due to fear of committing mistakes.

Tongue twisters, by name, suggest everyone will make mistakes and it lowers anxiety for

students who tend to remain quiet.

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Appendix A

Artifact 1

Animoto videos allow students to develop a sense of community within the classroom

because they are able to share audiovisual content. Access to this personal content allows

classmates to learn more about the teacher and other students, bond over similarities, and

experience learning opportunities when students display differences. Milner et al. (2019) stated

student-centered classrooms allow for learners’ culture, needs, and interests to be amplified.

Animoto videos capitalize on students’ individual contributions and display these unique

perspectives for others to see. Since not all of my students will be strong writers, I will provide a

variety of submission types for everyone to have opportunities to showcase their best work. For

this reason, Animoto videos cater to the diverse strengths of my future students.

Sample: https://animoto.com/play/YiNsaSU8SizD0GamYN4hAw
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Appendix B

Artifact 2

Race to success activities such as competitions and coin economies have allowed me to

correct behaviors which would otherwise lead to altercations, and are useful tools to keep track

of positive displays of expected classroom etiquette. Establishing assertive behavior through

routines where students do not walk over other learners’ rights inside the classroom are the first

step toward successful learning environments (Marzano et al., 2003). I must also consider

appearing approachable instead of threatening to students by keeping in mind the distance

between myself and them when speaking. Coin economies also allow me to promote

collaboration among students and to reward desired conduct when students elaborate on a

response thoroughly. Finally, I use coin economies at the individual and group level. This means,

sometimes, I cluster students to compete against other teams during certain class dynamics while

also tasking them to participate individually: self-motivation and team effort.

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Appendix C

Artifact 3

Developing native-like proficiency in the target language helps build confidence through

muscle memory (Molony, 2022). Tongue twisters give students an opportunity to make mistakes

together, promoting a sense of community where students bond over similar mistakes. Although

Milner et al. (2019) voiced the need for high expectations in the classroom in order for students

to be successful, Marzano et al. (2003) suggested some of my future students will be

perfectionists. These students were classified as having low self-esteem, and activities where the

expectation is to make mistakes in order to learn will help them develop a sense of community

and build confidence. Tongue twisters also allow students to compare their own context’s

phonemic awareness to foreign perspectives, adding to their overall understanding of cultural

relativism.
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References

Marzano, R. J., Marzano, J. S., & Pickering, D. J. (2003). Classroom management that works:

Research-based strategies for every teacher. ASCD.

Milner, H. R., Cunningham, H. B., Delale-O’Connor, L., & Kestenberg, E. G. (2019). These kids

are out of control”: Why we must reimagine “classroom management” for equity.

Corwin.

Moloney, R. (2022, March 24). Spanish tongue twisters make learning fun!. Spanish

Schoolhouse Blog. https://spanishschoolhouseblog.com/spanish-tongue-twisters-make-

learning-fun/

Venet, A. S. (2021, May 25). Setting priorities in trauma-informed education. Edutopia.

https://www.edutopia.org/article/setting-priorities-trauma-informed-education