SDAIE follows the ideas of which scholars?

• A. Skinner and Piaget
• B. Cummins and Krashen
• C. Vygotsky and Krashen
• D. Chomsky and Piaget

Answer: (B)

SDAIE is built on helping students access grade-level content while they develop language, using ideas that focus on language input being understandable and on the separate development of academic language. This approach draws from Krashen’s notion that language acquisition thrives when learners receive input that is comprehensible and just challenging enough, within a meaningful context. It also draws from Cummins’ distinction between everyday language (BICS) and the more demanding academic language (CALP) needed for school success, reminding teachers to support CALP alongside meaning-making in content areas. In practice, this means using clear instruction, visuals, modeling, simplified syntax, and varied, repeated exposure so students can grasp content and gradually build academic language.

Other theorists contributed important insights to language learning, but the combination of comprehensible input and the CALP/BICS framework most directly underpins sheltered, academically focused instruction.