Honorio Gonzalez EDU 536 Learning and Teaching a Second Language Short Position Paper The need for

learning the language of leadership is vital for the teaching of second language learners. This is because in a true in part because part of the language of leadership is to be able to have good language skills. Thus, in order to become a good leader, good language skills are needed. Therefore, there are two types of second language skills that good teachers need to teach. Those two types would be the Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and the Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP). The need for BICS is essential for the proper language acquisition skills to take place. According to Horwitz (2013), The development of language in various domains has been recognized as essential to school success (p. 181). Furthermore, BICS is an essential part because it used on everyday language. According to Horwitz (2013), BICS refers to the everyday here-and-now language commonly used on playgrounds or even in nonacademic content courses such as art and physical education (p. 181). Therefore, BICS is more likely to be used everyday the CALP, but CALP nonetheless is just as important as BICS when it comes to language skills. Horwitz states (2013), In contrast, CALP, which I have been referring to as academic language, is the more abstract variety of language used in academic (content) classes (p. 181). Thus, CALP is more likely to be used in academic classes than BICS. In addition to good second language skills, a good approach and model to language learning are also needed.

One model to good language learning is the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) Model. According to Horwitz (2013), SIOP is an approach to language teaching developed by Echeverria, Vogt, and Short (2008). It offers teachers advice in the areas of lesson, planning, building learner background, offering comprehensive input, incorporating strategy instruction, classroom interaction, practice/application, lesson delivery, and review and assessment. Its hallmark is making language and content comprehensible to learners (p. 279). Being a good leader and teacher would require a one to be able to make content and language understandable to second language learners. Furthermore, the second language acquisition skills obtained by the learner would enable the learner to further expand their understanding of not only the language they are learning, but also the culture to which the language belongs. Understanding both language and culture would enable a learner to be able to adapt faster to the society to which they are living in and learning the new language for. Another approach to good language learning would the one known as the Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA). Horwitz states (2013), that CALLA is a widely used method for teaching language through content. The three components that designed to develop English skills through content learning are the following: the instructional topics are chosen from major content subjects, instruction focuses on the development of academic language and literacy, and there is explicit instruction in both content and language learning strategies (p. 197). Therefore, the emphasis on learning and teaching a language through content is just as important as the SIOP model for language learning.

Furthermore, the combination of BICS, CALP, SIOP, and CALLA emphasizes the need to develop both good leadership and language skills in order to understand the language of leadership. However, what the language of leadership is will always vary from teacher to teacher. It is up to each teacher to determine how they interpret the language of leadership and in turn develop and teach the language skills their language students will need to learn. This is how both leadership and language skills go hand in hand in teaching second language learners.

References Horwitz, E.K. (2013). Becoming a language teacher: A practical guide to second language learning and teaching, 2nd edi. United States of America: Pearson Education, Inc.