Theories, Rationale, and Evidence supporting MTB-MLE

Developmental Learning Theories

 Piaget’s Theory
-Sensorimotor stage: birth to 2 years
-Preoperational stage: ages 2 to 7
-Concrete operational stage: ages 7 to 11
-Formal operational stage: ages 12 and up

 Schema Theory
Schema theory is a cognitive linguistic theory which purports that people draw meaning
frommental representations that are formed from experiences which link with past
experiences (Bartlett,1932, p. 200-201).

Adaptation of Schemas
o Both assimilation and accommodation are essential to how organisms build schemas
about the world (1952; see also Wadsworth, 2004).
o While assimilation deals with keeping existing knowledge and schemas intact and
finding a new place to store information, accommodation involves actually changing
one’s existing knowledge of a topic (Tan et al., 2017).

Types of Schema
content schema - prior knowledge about the topic of the text
formal schema - awareness of the structure of the text, and
language schema - knowledge of the vocabulary and relationships of the words in the
text can cause easier or more difficult text comprehension, depending on how
developed the mentioned schemata are, and whether they are successfully activated.

Implications to teaching
o Prior knowledge is essential for the comprehension of new information, teachers
either need to;
 o Help learners build the prerequisite knowledge, or
o Remind them of what they already know before introducing new materials.
o Schemata grow and change as new information is acquired.
o Schema research indicates that abstract concepts are best understood after a
foundation of concrete, relevant information has been established

 Social Learning Theory

 Cognitive Theories of Bilingualism
BICS/CALP

The Four Quadrants Model

The Two Hypothesis: Developmental Interdependence Hypothesis and Threshold Hypothesis

o Developmental Interdependence Hypothesis
o Threshold Hypothesis