Effective Instructional Strategies

Nine (9) Categories of Instructional Strategies

1. Setting objectives and providing feedback 2. Nonlinguistic representations 3. Cues, questions, and advance organizers 4. Cooperative learning

5. Summarizing and note taking

6. Homework and practice 7. Reinforcing effort and providing recognition 8. Generating and testing hypothesis 9. Identifying similarities and differences

Setting Objective

Providing Feedback

teacher can narrow the focus of the students

specific because learning will be limited should be adapt by students to their own personal needs and desires

should be corrective in nature

the timeliness of feedback is essential to its effectiveness should be specific to a criterion students can provide their own feedback through on-going selfevaluation

should not be too

Nonlinguistic Representations

a variety of activities can help students to formulate nonlinguistic representations

- use of graphic representations - pictures

- mental images
- physical and technological models - kinesthetic activities

these help to elaborate knowledge

Cues and Questions

should focus on what is important rather than on what is unusual

higher-level questions produce deeper learning than lower level-level questions

waiting at least three seconds before accepting responses from students increases the depth of answers

questions are effective even before a lesson begins

Advance Organizers

are best used to give structure to information that is not well organized
different types of organizers can be used for different purposes and produce different results

Cooperative Learning

groups should rarely be organized by ability groups should be small teachers should take care not to overuse them

Summarizing and Note Taking

students must keep, delete, and substitute information

students must analyze the information at a fairly deep level be aware of the explicit structure of information

verbatim note taking is the least effective way to take notes

notes should be considered works in progress should be used for study guides for tests

the more notes taken, the better

Homework

should increase as they progress from elementary through high school

parental involvement in homework should be minimal the purpose should be identified and articulated feedback should be provided

Reinforcing Effort

students are unaware of the direct effect that effort has on success

students can learn that the effort they put into a task has a direct effect on their success
strong belief in effort increases motivation

Providing Recognition

rewards do not have a negative effect on intrinsic motivation rewards are most effective when they are contingent upon the attainment of some standard performance abstract recognition (praise) is more effective in improving performance than are tangible rewards (candy)

Generating and Testing Hypotheses

can be approached in an inductive or deductive manner

teachers must encourage students to explain their hypotheses and conclusions

Identifying Similarities and Differences

teacher-directed activities deepen understanding for students and increase their ability to use knowledge students should independently identify similarities and differences graphic and symbolic forms enhances students ability to identify and understand similarities and differences comparing, classifying, creating analogies, and creating metaphors are four different forms of identifying similarities and differences

Source:
Hill, Jane D. and Kathleen M. Flynn. Classroom Instruction that Works with English Language Learners. Virginia, USA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2006, pp. 5-103

Kia S. Soneja
BSE-ENG