Resources and Approaches for Integrating High-Leverage Teaching Practices: A Content Analysis

Implementing high-leverage teaching practices (HLTPs) for language learning can help ensure teachers create and deliver a high-quality curriculum, especially when working with Novice learners who require more scaffolded instruction. This study aimed to fill a gap by identifying print resources and approaches available to support world language teachers’ integration of HLTPs into instructional design for Novice learners in middle and high school classrooms (grades 6-12). In the Fall of 2022, various resources were analyzed according to their use in assisting teachers with integrating HLTPs, state standards, and current second language acquisition (SLA) research into instructional design. These resources included several ACTFL publications, select world language methods textbooks, and documents from departments of education across 13 states in the Southern Conference on Language Teaching (SCOLT) region. The analysis found that teachers in this Southeastern region have access to numerous resources for implementing the HLTP of backward design, including proficiency goals for each level and state standards that are aligned with the World-Readiness Standards for Language Learning (National Standards Collaborative Board, 2015). However, comprehensive instructional approaches or models to create proficiency-based, contextualized curricula integrating the other nine HLTPs were limited. The findings highlight a lack of adequate guidance and resources for streamlined instructional design to assist teachers in integrating HLTPs when working with Novice language learners in grades 6-12, particularly after proficiency and communicative goals have been established.