Dalton Welcomes Language Teaching Expert Professor Stephen Krashen

The first talk took place in Room 205 from 1-3pm. Entitled "The Comprehension Hypothesis," it was designed for language leaders (Department Chairs, Directors, and other school leadership). Twenty language leaders from all over the city and Long Island attended this first lecture. Here is a summary of this excellent talk - 

The comprehension hypothesis claims that we acquire language when we understand what we hear or read, when we focus on the message, and not on form. When we get "comprehensible input" we subconsciously absorb, or "acquire," grammar, vocabulary, and writing style. The evidence for the comprehension hypothesis is very strong: students in classes containing more comprehensible input consistently do at least as well as, and usually better than those in "skill-building" classes; this is true at both beginning (TPR, Natural Approach, TPRS) and intermediate (sheltered subject matter teaching) classes. An interesting hypothesis is that the most effective input is not simply interesting, but is "compelling," so interesting that the language acquirer is not aware that it is in another language.  If this is true, our task is to fill language classes with compelling comprehensible input. 

The second lecture, entitled "Developing Academic Language Comptence" took place in the Library from 4-6pm. Over 100 language educators from independent, public and charter schools in and around New York City attended this informative lecture---

This presentation presents a simple hypothesis that applies to both first and second language development: We do not develop academic language by studying the special vocabulary and grammar of particular academic areas. Rather, we develop academic language in only one way: by reading, a path far more pleasant and effective than study. Readers go through three stages on the path to academic language proficiency: (1) hearing stories, which provides a great deal of vocabulary, grammar, and a desire to do independent reading; (2) self-selected free voluntary reading, largely fiction, which has been demonstrated to be a powerful source of knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, text structure, and spelling, as well as knowledge of history, science, and practical knowledge; (3) specialized reading in your own field of interest, also self-selected. Each stage stimulates interest in the next stage, and provides language and knowledge that makes reading in the next stage comprehensible.  Evidence comes from experiments comparing reading with "study," case histories of those who have attained academic language competence, and correlational studies comparing the impact of reading and study on tests of academic language. All of this evidence overwhelmingly points to reading as the cause of academic language competence.

If you are interested in learning more about Professor Krashen's work, please visit: http://www.sdkrashen.com/

Story provided by World and Classical Languages Department Chair, Lori Langer de Ramirez