Best Practices and Instructional Methods

Sociocultural Theory:

Sociocultural theory is a theory that was developed by Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky. This theory was developed to understand how children learn through internalizing their social interactions with their skillful tutors. Skillful tutors are individuals who model skills such as behavior and verbal instructions. The skillful tutors can be parents, teachers, or someone with more knowledge (Desai, 2014; Lantolf, 1994; Vygotsky, 1978).

When students are internalizing their social interactions, they are using their zone of proximal development (ZPD) to expand the new knowledge that they are taking in. The ZPD is the process of connecting known knowledge to unknown knowledge. Each learner has a different ZPD. Some children have a larger ZPD because they have more exposure and experience with their skillful tutors while some have a smaller ZPD due to the lack of exposure and experience with their skillful tutors. The ZPD can increase from corrective feedback from the skillful tutor. Corrective feedback helps lead to learning from internalized interactions. Learning also happens through the frequency and quality interactions with the skillful tutors (Lantolf, 1994).

Language is a means of passing information to children. Before written language was used, oral language was a tool used to pass down information (Desai, 2014; Lantolf, 1994). When children are speaking, they are not speaking to remember but to construct meaning (Lantolf, 1994). When Hmong students are learning English, they learn through interactions with their teachers and peers who are native English speakers. This will help them to expand their ZPD to learn new English vocabulary.

In other words, Hmong students are collaborative individuals; they learn and do everything through collaboration and social interactions. According to Ngo and Lee (2007), Hmong students are field-sensitive learners. This means that they learn through active participation, they need guidance and focus on social cues. They learn from observing the adults around them. Because the mainstream classroom focuses more on independent learning styles, it can be difficult for Hmong students to excel in school.

Therefore, let's take a look at a few existing practices and instructional methods that have been implemented. These existing practices and methods have shown that students can learn English effectively while still maintaining their home language. Some of these best practices and instructional methods are having culturally relevant materials and curriculum, encouraging parent involvement, and teaching phonemic and phonological awareness at a young age.