ACTIVE LEARNING AND THE LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENT STUDENT

All learning is in some sense active, but active learning refers to the level of engagement by the student in the instructional process. An active learning environment requires students and teacher to commit to a dynamic partnership in which both share a vision of and responsibility for instruction. In such an environment, students learn content, develop conceptual knowledge, and acquire language through a discovery-oriented approach to learning in which the learner is not only engaged in the activity but also with the goal of the activity. Essential to this approach is the view of the learner as responsible for discovering, constructing and creating something new and the view of the teacher as a resource and facilitator.