Applying Effective Teaching Strategies in Dual Language Immersion Portuguese Classrooms

Abstract

Due to the relevance of the discussions on the use of counterbalance for content-based and form-focused second language instruction, the purpose of this study is to present some pedagogical strategies to teach and reinforce the correct use of articles, gender and number of nouns in Portuguese when teaching Language and Arts (first grade) and Science (sixth grade) in the Dual Language Immersion (DLI) program in Utah. By using the learning targets concept from Moss and Brookhart (2012), students are guided to keep in mind the most critical learning outcomes for the proposed subject regarding content and language aspects. Studies from Lyster and Tedick (2014) show that there must be a counterbalance of implicit and explicit teaching of the language structure once students in immersion programs are in a school environment and not genuinely immersed in the language and culture as if they were living in the country of the target language. After applying strategies based on these authors, positive results are evident in students' speaking and writing skills.