The Mutually Adaptive Learning Paradigm®, or MALP®, is a culturally responsive instructional approach to help educators address the needs of students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE) and other struggling culturally and linguistically diverse learners. This culturally responsive approach is intended to transition these learners from their preferred and customary ways of learning to Western-style formal education by integrating key elements of formal education while acknowledging and balancing their needs, preferences, and priorities. With MALP®, instructors have a concrete, practical set of guidelines to follow in designing and delivering culturally responsive instruction to SLIFE and other struggling learners.
MALP® Teacher Planning Checklist
Our MALP® Teacher Planning Checklist guides teachers in using this innovative instructional approach.
A. ACCEPT CONDITIONS FOR LEARNING
| Accept Conditions for Learning | |
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MALP® asks teachers to create a learning environment based on the conditions struggling learners need to feel comfortable. They expect to see immediately how classwork directly relates to their lives. They often come from collectivistic cultures and work best in classrooms that encourage the formation of a strong web of relationships among teachers, students and their families.
B. COMBINE PROCESSES FOR LEARNING
| Combine Processes for Learning | |
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MALP® instruction provides opportunities to move frequently between individual accountability and sharing of knowledge and responsibilities. Individual accountability is a hallmark of Western-style education, yet struggling learners are generally more accustomed to working together. MALP® activities integrate oral and written modes, providing learners with the requisite scaffolding to develop literacy. These learners are used to oral transmission modes of learning and less familiar with learning and conveying information through print.
C. TARGET NEW ACTIVITIES FOR LEARNING with FAMILIAR LANGUAGE and CONTENT
| Target New Activities for Learning | |
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MALP® asks teachers to explicitly teach the academic ways of thinking and school-based tasks that are largely unfamiliar to the learners. These tasks must, however, be introduced using familiar language and previously mastered content.
To download the full checklist, click here, or visit the RESOURCES page.
