Inability to understand teacher instruction given in English in ESL

classroom
Receptive skills
The receptive skills are listening and reading, because learners do not need to
produce language to do these, they receive and understand it. These skills are
sometimes known as passive skills. They can be contrasted with the productive
or active skills of speaking and writing.

Example
Often in the process of learning new language, learners begin with receptive
understanding of the new items, then later move on to productive use.

In the classroom
The relationship between receptive and productive skills is a complex one, with
one set of skills naturally supporting another. For example, building reading skills
can contribute to the development of writing.
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/knowledge-database/receptive-skills
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Receptive Language refers to how a person comprehends and processes
language. At the most basic level, people have a basic vocabulary they
understand. Included is a foundation of concepts a person understands, such as
spatial concepts (above, beside, between, etc). Other concept categories
include; size, temporal, quantity, and quality concepts. Children are continually
learning the meanings of new vocabulary words and organizing them in their
brains into categories. Thus, if a child learns the meaning of the word,
enormous, the child may file that vocabulary word away in their brain file for
size concept words.
Categorization skills are especially critical to address with a student on the
autism spectrum. Most children tend to process information in a holistic fashion
seeing the big picture or main idea and THEN considering the details of an idea.
They naturally are hard wired to process the big picture. This is called, Central
Coherence. In contrast, it is theorized that children on the autism spectrum
have Weak Central Coherence. In other words, it is theorized that children with
ASD are hard wired to naturally lean toward processing the finite details of
information before attempting the see the big picture. Seeing the BIG PICTURE is
necessary for categorizing and classifying information.

Consider a child who is learning about the history of the Titanic. A child that
processes holistically would learn the big picture of the event: The Titanic was a
famous luxury ship that struck an iceberg and sank in the early part of the
century. Students that have Weak Central Coherence may get stuck on less
important, or less relevant details of the event such as the number of people
aboard, how long it took to sink, or the names of famous people aboard. While
these are details that may be included in the study of the Titanic, they are not
the most crucial details.

To illustrate further using a social context, student that processes information

holistically might arrive onto the playground for recess and scan the whole scene
categorizing various activities: playground equipment, games kids are playing on
the blacktop, and games kids are playing in the field. THEN, the child would zero
in on which activity (i.e. detail) they want to play for the day. In contrast, a child
with Weak Central Coherence, may arrive on the same playground focusing in on
finite details such as the number of playground clerks out that day as compared
to the day before, a broken chain on a swing, how many kids are waiting for the
glider, etc. In summary, it is important to note that for students on the autism
spectrum, receptive language work should focus on categorization and
compare/contrast activities throughly given the fact that this is not the preferred
mode of processing for many students.

Receptive language skills also focus on how a child comprehends, or understands

language. There are two types of comprehension. Literal comprehension refers to
how one understands concrete information in a passage they read, or in
something they hear. Literal comprehension questions start with WH words
typically who, what, where, when. Literal comprehension is the first type of
comprehension to develop because the information is concrete and explicitly
stated in the story. Children who have receptive language delays or disorders
often rely on visual cues or pictures to help them understand the details of a
story. As students strengthen their receptive language skills, they are able to
wean off of these visual prompts. Literal comprehension can be checked by
asking children questions after a story such as, Who was the story about?
Who was the main character?, Where did the story take place?, When did
the story take place?, What happened at the beginningmiddleend? These
comprehension questions are the focus on kindergarten and first grade literacy
endeavors.

Inferential comprehension is a more sophisticated form of comprehension. The

information is not directly stated. Rather the child needs to think about what
they know from the story and draw conclusions to answer the questions. The
answer to this comprehension question is not explicitly stated, rather it is
implicitly formulated. The child must think about the prior knowledge or

experience they already have with a topic and blend this with details they have
learned from the story to answer the question. Many inferential comprehension
questions begin with question words such as, why, what if, how, do you
think. For example, given the story Little Red Riding Hood, an inferential
question would be: How did Little Red Riding Hood figure out that Grandma was
really the wolf? In the story, Cinderella, and inferential question would be,
What would happen if Cinderellas slipper was broken into pieces on the castle
steps?

Inferential comprehension also comes in various categories. Types of inferences

to make are: Problem-Solution, Cause-Effect, temporal indicators, setting
indicators, characters emotions/intentions, and authors purpose, to name just a
few. Students may be more adept at making inferences of one particular type
over some others. This type of comprehension is the focus for students in
2nd/3rd grade and continues well beyond the elementary age years.

Many students with Social Thinking challenges may display difficulty with
inferential comprehension in fiction and texts focusing on character depth and
change. Some students will be able to be quite proficient in making logical
inferences and deductions given non-fictional, scientific or factual types of
material. This manner of forming deductions is more linear and evidenced based,
where as fiction pieces focusing on character change and interpersonal dynamics
is more emotive and subjective in interpretation. It is important when addressing
receptive language needs for students, to be diligent in assessing inferential
comprehension needs in various contexts. Such contexts may include logical,
deductive reasoning types of tasks, short fictional, social scenarios, more
complex inferential scenarios involving character change, emotive motivational
factors in a story, or the morale or lesson that author intends for readers. Older
students with Social Thinking challenges may struggle more with these kinds of
comprehension patterns.

Much of the above information focuses on the comprehension and vocabulary

portions of Receptive Language skills. Receptive Language also includes a
persons ability to process auditory information. Processing refers to receiving
information by hearing it, storing it in short term memory, transferring that
information to the working memory where vocabulary, grammar, and
comprehension tasks are at work, then finally taking that understanding to other
areas of your brain to formulate a response to the information. A student with
receptive language needs can have difficulties at any point during this process.
Short term memory deficiencies, auditory sequencing problems, a weak
vocabulary base, grammatical errors, and word finding difficulties can impede
the efficiency of auditory processing. Many times students will work on
increasing the capacity of their short term memory, work on sequencing steps,

and work on following directions that have multiple parts to strengthen this
receptive language skill.
http://jillkuzma.wordpress.com/receptive-language-ideas/
Receptive language skills
[Receptive language skills] describe the ability to understand spoken
language. They can also be referred to as verbal comprehension
skills and are essential for accessing the entire curriculum.
(McMahon & Mulholland, 2007)
The following points are features of receptive language skills. Pupils may:
P have diffi culty following class routines;
P fi nd it hard to concentrate;
P over-rely on looking at others to copy what to do or may need
more gestures to understand;
P have diffi culty in understanding abstract concepts (impacting on
learning areas especially Mathematics and Numeracy & World
Around Us);
P need instructions repeated many times or require them to be
broken down and simplifi ed;
P give inappropriate answers to questions they have been asked;
P opt out of tasks or withdraw from activities they dont
understand;
P echo what has been said to them (echolalia);
P fi nd it hard to learn new vocabulary;
P give irrelevant or inappropriate answers as they have not
understood the underlying meaning;
P fail to read facial expressions and invade other peoples personal
space;
P take things literally; and
P present with behavioural diffi culties.

Strategies to Support Children with Receptive

Language Difficulties
The teacher should:
P have specifi c learning intentions which should be provided for
the class;
P check that the pupil is listening and encourage active listening;
P state the pupils name before giving an instruction or gain eye
contact (if appropriate);
P use visual strategies and non-verbal cues to support what is
being said;
P help the pupil to make links to previous knowledge and
experiences
P emphasise key words with slight stress;
P think about the length of the instruction being given, it is useful
to think in terms of whether it is a single or multi-command
instruction, give one piece of instruction at a time to allow
pupils to process this before adding more;
P consider the complexity of what is being said e.g. before you go
outside, you must fi nish your worksheet;
P check that the pupil has understood, observe their response and
clarify any misunderstandings;
P encourage the pupil to use self-help strategies for example.
Rehearsal or visualisation;
P encourage the pupil to let you know when they have not
understood, this can be via verbal or non-verbal means, such as
using a traffi c light system; and
P allow the pupil time to process the information, apply the 10
second rule the teacher counts silently to 10 to allow the pupil

to formulate a response.