It's helpful to make some basic assumptions about language learning in schools before teaching it

It needs to be understood by the primary school teachers that children come to school already knowing a great deal about oral knowledge in whatever language the child brings to school or his or her home language.

In the light of the foregoing, according to Alaska standards, the basic assumptions of language learning are as follows

• Students learn best through real-world experiences which each individual perceives as personally relevant. These experiences are more powerful if they are guided and purposeful.

• Language programs are concerned with both speaking/writing (expressive) and listening/reading /viewing (receptive) skills as they relate to language development.

• Students learn to write by writing and learn to read by reading. Students can demonstrate what they know about writing by writing; they can show what they know about reading by reading, retelling, and responding.

• Literacy - reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing - is a process, sometimes linear, always recursive. Students go through various stages as their literacy skills develop. Educators need to observe, describe, and understand the stages of language learning in helping all students become literate.

Alaska standards of language learning further state that the students learn more effectively in a program which integrates reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing within a context which applies these components to authentic situations.

Moreover, According to Alaska standards, the development of skills of problem solving and reflecting on one's own thinking (meta-cognition) is important to all learning, and the development of thinking skills needs to be integrated into all classroom instruction, including language arts. Thinking skills must not be taught as a discrete unit. Collaborative work enhances the development of literacy since it requires the use of language in authentic situations.

Note: The write-up of the blogger has been reproduced since the the citizen journalism site in which it earlier had appeared has been closed down