I most likely am going to the having to teach super low level phonics next semester and I have had to watch a few classes to "learn". I have not taught that low level in a few years so I was curious what peoples thoughts are on teaching styles for that level.

In both classes I have watched both teachers used really broken English/not full sentences. Ex. "Teacher say. You say" Vs "Listen and repeat". I understand slowing down and focusing on sounding out words but my feeling is that leaving out articles and not speaking normally is actually detrimental to learning. Yes they might only understand the few main words but I think students will learn grammar and sentence structure better if it is modeled for them by their teacher.

I teach the level above and I have the students making sentences (super simple). They seem to not have much of a problem after about a month using articles correctly. 

What are your thoughts on this topic? Anyone done any actual scientific dives into this? Anecdotes?

I also agree that it is better to use full sentences but I also find myself leaving out some words so they only have to focus on the important words in the sentences.    I try to compromise by emphasizing the content words (ie stressing them) eg 'LISTEN and REPEAT' or 'Put your HANDS on your HEAD' or 'I will SAY, then YOU will SAY'  That way I feel I am meeting both aspects.  Easier said than done but once I have my key phrases set the students hear and understand.

Sometimes by simplifying too much the exact meaning is lost.  I sometimes find myself trying to simplify too much and my co-teachers don't understand what I am trying to say so cannot translate it!  Oops.  [I teach in public elementary school so have a co-teacher.  Some teachers let me speak and teach and only translate where necessary - others like to do most of the talking in Korean and then wonder why the students don't understand when I give instructions.]