Innovation in Language Learning

This presentation focuses on a curriculum which provides scaffolded instruction to students through strengthening their discrete and holistic language skills. The program also recognizes the link between affective learning outcomes and the desired explicit cognitive goals. It is believed that students who are exposed to a growth mindset will be successful lifelong learners who will embrace new ideas, experiment with innovative options, and motivate themselves to strive beyond their comfort zone.

            Los Angeles Trade Technical College (LATTC) is one of the nine community colleges in the Los Angeles Community College District, California, USA. It is located in the heart of South Los Angeles and serves a diverse urban population that is highly underserved economically, socially, and educationally. The college offers a Liberal Arts pathway but is primarily focused on Career Technical Education (CTE) to enhance the skill development of marginalized workers and foster their employability. Increasing globalization augments the need to connect CTE and academic education to ensure an effective workforce with the requisite core competencies in English and Math, coupled with soft skills in Leadership and Communication.

LATTC’s Academic Connections Department is a collaborative interdisciplinary hub that inter-connects the campus to provide students with support services required to achieve their academic, vocational, and personal goals. The department focuses on providing both academic remediation programs and student support services such as tutoring specifically to adult students who are re-entering the academic field. It is a model program that serves as the seamless bridge for new students and community partners to successfully transition and prepare for college by strengthening their foundational skills. The faculty is dedicated to creating a student-centered environment which fosters life–long learning through the delivery of high quality flexible lecture-labs and self-paced workshops. The focus is to engage students in developing skills through metacognitive adult-learning theory and self-efficacy strategies. 

            Academic Connections provides foundational academic courses and workshops in reading, writing, math, computer literacy skills, English as a Second Language, workplace readiness, and life skill strategies. The department is the one-stop venue for individualized and small group tutoring in campus-wide academic disciplines. Success is measured through comprehensive assessments of discrete competency skills and just-in-time instruction and resources that address each student’s unique learning gaps. The main objective of Academic Connections is to enhance student self-efficacy and retention and re-engage students to achieve their life-goals and ambitions.