Everybody’s Talking!Helping Students Build Academic

Language

Alfredo Schifini, Ph.D.

August 6, 2014 

Alfredo Schifini, Ph.D.Co-author:

In this section we will explore

• The construct of Academic Language

• The importance of oral language development and implications for instruction

• Examples of Best Practices for structuring academic student talk and building vocabulary

Best Practices for EL

Rooted in what we know about…

Learning TheoryLanguage Arts ResearchLinguistics

The Academic Language Journey

• ELs typically make rapid progress in social language and literacy development in early grades

• Academic vocabulary and other linguistic challenges demand high-order language skills - especially as they relate to reading comprehension

The Academic Language Journey

• A strong oral base in scholastic English is an invaluable tool in positioning students for academic achievement (for not only English Learners

Rationale for Enhanced Oral Language Development

• Oral language development and proficiency is critical to literacy…and is often overlooked in instruction

• Well-developed language ORAL proficiency is associated with well-developed reading comprehension skills August and Shanahan, 2006

Quick Reflection

Think about your own personal

language learning experiences…

• What worked and what didn’t?

• Did it result in proficiency?

• Why or why not?

• Relevance to your teaching today???

• Think (30 sec) Share (1 min)

Language Learning

Action-based perspective•Language development occurs when actions are well planned and scaffolded by the teacher•Activities require lots of student language USE•Reflection: What do you already do to get kids to use language?

(1 min Share)

Importance of Academic Language

• Student achievement is influenced to a great extent by one’s academic language proficiency

• express complex ideas orally • to write coherent, cogent paragraphs• formulate answers to complex questions• read with deep comprehension requires• engage in higher order linguistic / cognitive

tasks

Academic Language

Think about it…

What is this thing called “Academic Language”? What’s your definition of Academic Language?

Academic Language

Not just…

•Vocabulary

•Talking in complete sentences

•Using stems or frames

•Discrete teaching of forms/ functions and grammar

•More group/oral work or academic projects

Basis of Academic Language

• Prior knowledge (world and content specific)

• Conceptual base (content specific information)

• Vocabulary

• Pragmatics

• Syntax

Academic Language

Register of language used in academic discourse

• Text Level - ways of writing (persuade, describe, explain)

• Sentence Level - (complex sentences showing relationships of ideas)

Academic Language

Vocabulary Level:• Content Specific - (mitosis, paranoia)• Varies across disciplines

• General Terms - (analysis, myopic, feedback)

• Signal Words - (however, on the other hand, as a result of, in summary)

Structured talk

Foster the discourse skills to engage fully in:

• planning, researching, discussing, co-constructing, presenting of academic work

• Using challenging material/text as vehicle to enhance high order oral and written language skills

Language Functions

• Academic tasks require use of higher order language functions (argue persuasively, evaluate differing pts. of view, synthesize info, hypothesize, etc.)

• Functions are tied to abstract and complex content and appear in a variety of contexts

• They form the language basis for reading with deep meaning

Group Activity

Use the following pix to:

•Analyze language demands (even w/non-academic material)

•Explore language development possibilities and ways to scaffold and extend language

•Reflect on the ramifications for instruction

Practice

With a partner, compare/contrast the two photos

•List signal/transition word(s) to Compare/Contrast the two photos (but, both, etc.)

•Organize the words by two language proficiencies (B/I and Adv)

Practice

Compare/Contrast

•Like, both, but, however, unlike… (B,I)

•Just as, by comparison, as opposed to, whereas, one distinction between … (Adv)

Pair and Practice

Inferences: Who do you suppose these people

are? Why do you think they are playing?

• Share your answer to each question and share with your partner

• Write an adv level phrase to make an inference ( e.g. I surmise… I assume)

Pair and Practice

Inferences: Who do you suppose these people are? Why do you think they are playing?

• I imagine that…based on X…I think that… (B,I)

• I assume…I believe…I guess…I don’t know for sure, but…

• I surmise…I deduce…• I intuit…reading between the lines… (Adv)

Pair and Practice

Interpretation:

• Come up with one word that describes the sentiment in this picture (e.g.sweet, delightful,etc.)

• Share your word with your partner

Pair and Practice

Interpretation:• Possible words that describe the sentiment

in this pix (sweet, delightful, charming, tender, adorable, engaging, captivating)

• Pick a word and tell how you have heard it used before: (candy is sweet; the baby is adorable)

• Tell why you chose the word to describe the sentiment in this pix

Pair and Practice

With your partner:

• list as many phrases as you can in 1 min to describe the soccer player’s mood/emotions upon scoring the winning goal

Pair Practice/Possibilities

• Tickled pink• Gone wild/crazy / gone nuts• On cloud nine• Thrilled to death• Over the top

Complete: (He is on cloud nine) …because…

Pair Practice

Crazy, happy, gone wild, thrilled (B, I)

Elated, euphoric, frenzied, overjoyed (Adv) Pick one of the ADV words •Describe one of the words above: tell what “it is” …and what “it isn’t”• share one word that “it isn’t”

Extension:

•Share a personal experience that depicts the expression using the following

is

is

is

example

non examplenon example non example

is not

is not

is not

example example

Word Mapis

is

is

example

non examplenon example non example

is not

is not

is not

example example

Word Map

word

synonym

synonym

synonym

antonym

antonym

antonym

illustration illustration illustration

non- illustration non- illustration non- illustration

Schifini & Tinajero, TESOL Conf

Teachers’ Turn

Choose a function/structure you would you focus on in using the previous pix (generalizing, inferring, predicting, speculating, synthesizing, etc.)•With a partner, write a question to get the kids to use language related to the function•Write one sentence frame/stem to scaffold the language

Possible Frames/Stems

• I appears that…

• It seems to me…

• I predict that the boy…but on the other hand the girl…

Sample Questions for Language Function of Classifying

• Which of these go together? Why?

• How are these put together?

• How are these alike/different?

• What could you call this group?

• Tell me about all the things you put in this group?

• How could you rearrange them differently?

Sample words that show relationship for Language Function of Classifying

• Above/ under/ behind/ next to/ close by/ far away from/ near/ between/ among/ beside/ in front of/ adjacent/ alongside/ in relation to/ parallel

• Sample Frames:

The________ are next to the _______ (might become)

Among these items are___ and ___ and ___. Alongside (or adjacent to ) them are ____ and ___. They are organized by color, but these others are grouped by_____

Possible Adjustments

Language Scaffolding

• Contextualization (focus ques, brief narrative, pixs, videos)

• Provide more en route checking for understanding

• Pose a variety of question types to promote extended talk

Possible Adjustments

• Paraphrase student responses

• Support responses with frames/structures/charts

• Set up opportunities for structure talk in a variety of group settings

Application

• Skim the handout Ideas Section

• Put a + next to the language scaffold you use well

• Put a * next to the one you will work on this year

• Share with your partner

Possible Extensions

• With a colleague, walk thru one unit in TE and place sticky notes next to each language scaffold you find

• Share with a colleague one strategy you may use the scaffold interactively to build language

Structured Student Structured Student TalkTalk

Content EmphasisContent Emphasis

ScaffoldedScaffolded

Serious Vocabulary WkSerious Vocabulary Wk

InterdisciplinaryInterdisciplinary

Text TalkText Talk

Pairs/ Sm GroupsPairs/ Sm Groups

L/S L/S

StructuredStructuredTasks/ActionTasks/Action

DECODING COMPREHENSIONWord

Recognition Strategies

Fluency

• John Shefelbine/Developmental Studies Center [See p. 20 in CA Reading/ELA Framework]•

Framework for ReadingFramework for Reading

Academic Language

Comprehension Strategies

MOTIVATIONP

hon

em

ic

Aw

are

ness

Ph

on

ics

Vocab

ula

ry

Vocabulary in Language Development

Vocabulary Taught Directly• Explicit, intentional teaching of

new words

Word Selection: • Critical to the passage• Useful in future readings• Consider “Tier Two” words for

direct instruction

Vocabulary Tiers

• Tier One : Familiar/basic words for native speakers. Do not require instruction in a school setting. However, beginning ELs may not know them.(e.g., bad, some, baby, clock)

• Tier Two : Likely to appear in a variety of texts, but whose meanings they are less likely to know. Words that can be defined and associated with words already familiar to students. High utility words.(e.g., tell – inform; surprised – astonished; lucky- fortunate)

Beck, McKeown and Kucan, 2002

Vocabulary Tiers

• Tier Three: Words of limited use related to a specific content area(e.g., chlorophyll, mitochondria) Because they are specific to a particular content, students can use context of texts to establish meaning.

Beck, McKeown and Kucan, 2002

Tier Two Words

• Importance – appear frequently across a variety of texts

• Instructional Potential – can be worked to make connections and deepen understanding of other words and concepts

• Conceptual Understanding- provide precision in describing a concept

Vocabulary in Language Development

Teaching word learning strategies • Prefix/Suffix • Greek and Latin Roots • Cognates• Inter-relationship among words

• Use of reference aides• Use of context clues

Most Frequent Prefixes

Prefix Meaning Key Word

anti- against antifreeze

de- opposite defrost

fore- before forecast

inter- between interact

trans- across transport

NOTE: Not all language groups are familiar with the concept of prefixes and suffixes! This concept is alien to some language

groups.

Most Frequent Suffixes

Suffix Meaning Key Word

-en made of wooden

-ful full of careful

-less without fearless

-ment action/process enjoyment

Key Vocabulary Strategy: Morphological Clues

• A high percentage of words have easily identifiable structures – they can be broken into parts

• There is great value in teaching roots, prefixes, and suffixes for purposes of vocabulary development

• Use common Latin roots to link known words in Spanish to new ones in English

Spanish-Academic English Connections

• VALIENTE = valiant, valor

• SUFICIENTE = suffice, sufficient,

• OCUPAR= occupy

• SIGNIFICAR = significance, significant

• ALIMENTAR = aliment

• ENAMORADO = enamored

Getting Started

• Look at the curriculum-embedded assessments in a themes/unit & content Stds.

• Examine the TA for opportunities for interaction

• Capitalize on visuals, text features and ancillary materials to scaffold student talk

HAMPTON-BROWN

A B A B A B

THINK SHAREPAIR

Think, Pair, Share

• Share something new that you learned.

• What do you plan to do differently?