Facilitating Target Language Comprehensibility: The Second Pillar of Classroom Success for the New Year: Part 2 of 3

This is part two of a three-part series about the pillars of a comprehension based communicative language teaching class. In the first part, we explored the importance of cultivating connections and trust with our students, which is crucial for engaging them in communication which is central in our classes. Find part one here. 

Can you relate to the challenge of making your language classes comprehensible and engaging? I get it. Balancing the importance of facilitating target language comprehensibility with the reality of students at different levels of proficiency and varying levels of motivation is hard. That’s why you’re going to love this week’s post and podcast episode 71.

This week, I dive deep into the nuances of using target language in class and making it comprehensible. I will go beyond the theory. I’ll explore different strategies to keep our interactions with students comprehensible and also our content.

If you’re a language teacher looking for ideas to use more target language in class that is comprehensible to your students this year, episode 71 is tailored just for you. Thsi post will highlight the episode, but to hear all of the details, listen above, on your favorite podcast player, or here. 

Second Pillar for Comprehensible Language Classes

The second pillar is facilitating target language comprehensibility in the class. There is a reason why is this so important, as a matter of fact, is the number one high leverage teaching practice that is included in the book “Enacting the Work of Language Instruction: High Leverage Teaching Practices” by Glisan and Donato, published by ACTFL.

If there is anything that all the experts agree on in second language acquisition is that comprehensible input, that is language that our students read and listen to and understand, is the cornerstone of language acquisition. So. our goal as language educators is to provide a significant amount of comprehensible, meaningful, and interesting target language in class.

ACTFL suggests that we use 90% of target language in class. The percentage for me is not crucial because I don’t want to be obsessed with meeting that 90% goal. If I go lower than 90% but there’s still a ton of it and it’s comprehensible and interesting, then I will call it a win.

Past Comprehension and Engagement Strategies 

In earlier podcast episodes, I’ve covered staying in the target language extensively. Check out episodes 3 and 4 for a two-part series on this topic. Episode 42 discusses setting the stage for a successful year, and episode 43 is about starting the year in the target language, even for Level 1 students. I’ve linked these in the resources section at the end of this post.

The purpose of using target language in class

I think the number one requirement is that the target language must carry meaning. Our brain is constantly seeking to make sense and find meaning. It’s saying, “Does this make sense? What is the meaning? What am I understanding here?” So, simply practicing grammar or language and structure using target language is not the same. 

When we’re talking about comprehensible input, we need to have language that carries meaning. That meaning is essential because that is the data that our brain needs to build that linguistic system that is called language.

An Experiment with Comprehension

I experimented with text in Spanish containing a specific percentage of unfamiliar words. In my case, I decided to use Chinese words because I don’t speak Chinese. So, what I did is I asked chatGPT  to create a text in Spanish with different percentages of words in Chinese. At 10% unfamiliar words, I found it challenging, but at 5%, it was manageable. I suggest that you aim for 95% comprehensibility. I added these examples to the notes at the end of this post for you to see the difference.

Strategies for Target Language Comprehension

Teacher Interactions

When we’re interacting with our students, we’re using target language to express meaning. For example, if it’s a Monday, I’m going to ask my students what did you do over the weekend. I’m pointing to Saturday and Sunday, and it’s going to give context to my students that I’m talking about our weekend. And, immediately, all the actions or activities that we usually do over the weekend are going to come to my students brain. That is going to give context to my question, and that is going to help comprehensibility. 

Modulating Speech for Comprehension

We want to slow down, pause, and repeat without sounding redundant. This pausing and slowing down is going to help and repeating is also going to help my students process the language. In episode 71, I talk more about being silent and the benefits of this process.

Gestures and Visuals

If you’re anything like me, you talk with gesture. Gesturing is huge for language comprehension because it really helps our students make meaning and understand what we’re saying. Also, have visuals on your walls for linguistic support. Don’t to forget to point to those words which  is going to help with language comprehension. I also love illustrations. Every time I tell a story to my students, I’m illustrating the story. The students also love this. I give a few examples in episode 71 of how this process looks. 

More Comprehension Strategies

Use synonyms, antonyms, examples, and paraphrasing to aid student understanding. For example, if you say, “Oh, I love to watch movies”, and I know that movies is an unknown word for my students, I’m going to say the word movies multiple times to make that word comprehensible. Another example is that you can paraphrase. For example, if you say that someone is bald, you can also say he doesn’t have hair. So, I’m helping to make the concept clear or understandable.

Finally, another strategy for comprehension is to ask guiding questions. Use questions that cue the expected response, helping students engage in conversation. I give you some suggestions for this in episode 71. Also, check out episode 54 for more on this topic. 

Remember to keep content comprehensible. I like to preload any print text or audio text with an oral preview. Pre-reading and listening activities should activate prior knowledge, establish key word meanings, and help students connect with the text.

Making target language comprehensible can be challenging, especially with students at varying proficiency levels, but stay patient. Language learning takes time, and patience is essential.

Competence is also crucial. When students don’t understand, they can become frustrated. Setting clear expectations about using the target language and ensuring comprehensibility is vital. Listen to more details about these strategies on episode 71.