Scott Grapin shares some important video with us:
Hey Ben,
It was so great meeting you and the other PLC members in Chicago. Hope you are doing well and enjoying some time off. I want to share with the PLC some SLA primer videos I’ve put together for my own district. The primers currently on the site are excellent, but I just felt that many of my colleagues would be much more inclined to learn about SLA through videos. I used YouTube clips from Krashen, Bill VanPatten (Michigan State University), and John DeMado. They really serve to bring the theory and research to life. For my own purposes, I tried to create a “flipped PD” experience through which teachers would be able to reflect on and discuss the ideas while viewing. Therefore, questions are raised throughout the videos, and time is provided for discussion. If this does not serve your purposes, I’d recommend just skipping these parts. I’ve included below the link to the videos, but if you plan on using them in the future, please download them and save them to your computer. I am going to have to remove them soon from my DropBox in order to conserve space. Keep in mind that I am most likely guilty of copyright infringement with this videos, but I justify it by saying that it’s for the good of the cause – Krashen is all about free sharing.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wuc0bzmpmu72n3k/AABlM_kjhNN8Ju2co7vG09Uja
Also, if you don’t have time to watch the videos, I just want to point out one study by Bill VanPatten (By the way, we need to explore his work more in the PLC. Not only does he have so much to contribute, but it legitimizes Krashen’s work by showing that there is consensus in the field about how we acquire language. It’s not just this one guy…). Basically, VanPatten tested whether language aptitude was a predictor of success in language classes. The results? When instruction is based on rules, it matters A LOT. When instruction is acquisition-oriented, it does not play a significant role. Of course, students will still acquire at different rates (which could be due to a number of factors). This is not a surprise, but in my mind, it is HUGE. It confirms the notion that explicit instruction is elitist and that acquisition levels the playing field for all students, framing language classes as an opportunity for classified students, for example, to shine. I immediately thought about what you said at Diana Noonan’s NTPRS session about Reuben Vyn’s work in DPS. This is how it was possible.
Anyway, hope these videos are useful to you all. Please let me know if you have any other videos in mind that might enhance this as PD. I’m trying to limit it to research and theory only (no TPRS demonstrations), since it’s not about telling stories, MovieTalk, etc. It’s about CI and acquisition.
One more thing. You have to download the videos to see them in their entirety. The preview only allows you to view 15-minute clips. I created them to be watched in the following order…
Language Acquisition (35 min.)
Comprehensible Input (25 min.)
Explicit Instruction (25 min.)
Language Aptitude, Candidacy and Inclusion (25 min.)
Enjoy,
Scott