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Language Policy Unit - DG II Council of Europe, Strasbourg, Francewww.coe.int/lang
Subject literacies and access to quality education
Strasbourg, 27 – 28 September 2012
SUBJECT LITERACIES AND ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATIONStrasbourg, 27 – 28 September 2012
Aims and objectives – main issues and priorities –
working methods
E. Thürmann
What do we mean by „subject literacy“?
SUBJECT LITERACIES AND ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION, STRASBOURG, 27 – 28 SEPTEMBER 2012
Two leading questions
• How can educators provide learning opportunities for students to gain control over a language variety which is crucial for successful learning in and across all school subjects and extend their capacity to move freely across a broad spectrum of language varieties in and out of school?
• Are frameworks for academic language use a viable option for mapping such learning opportuinities into curriculum documents and guidelines?
SUBJECT LITERACIES AND ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION, STRASBOURG, 27 – 28 SEPTEMBER 2012
Aims and ObjectivesPrepare envisaged awareness-raising intergovernmental
conference in 2013 on “Language Requirements in Subject Learning – Frameworks for Curriculum
Development”•Take stock of CoE´s relevant documents on the role of language in knowledge building and subject literacies•Compare and contrast two approaches to framework construction (Norway, North-Rhine-Westfalia)•Take stock of developments in other countries (educational contexts)•Consider options for frameworks from the perspective of content domains (las, science, mathematics, social sciences)•Identify need for support and recommend further action
SUBJECT LITERACIES AND ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION, STRASBOURG, 27 – 28 SEPTEMBER 2012
Issues and Priorities• What do we have to consider when talking about
language use and language requirements of the content classroom?
• How can we bridge the gap between content standards and the academic language implicit in these standards?
• Which options for a Framework structure?
• Which priorities for developing descriptors, defining curricular standards and their implementation?
What do we have to consider when talking about language in the content classroom?
Classroom language use
Science
Organise procedures- negotiate meaning
Retrieve informat-ion and acquire knowledge
(Re-) Structure mental concepts
Present learning out-comes
Evaluate learning process
Make social noise
• Teacher-learner interaction (monologic – dialogic instruction – IRF-cycle)
• learner-learner interaction (various types of „talk“)
• Basic colloquial language (BCL)• School Navigational Language
(SNL)• Essential Academic
Language (EAL)• Curriculum Content
Language (CCL)
Cp. Bailey & Heritage (2008) - (Scarcella (2008)
ScienceScience
SUBJECT LITERACIES AND ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION, STRASBOURG, 27 – 28 SEPTEMBER 2012
What do we have to consider when talking about language in the content classroom?
Language use in classrooms is a blend of different varieties
ScienceScience
SUBJECT LITERACIES AND ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION, STRASBOURG, 27 – 28 SEPTEMBER 2012
What do we have to consider when talking about language in the content classroom?
Contenental DriftScientists of the early 20th century believed that oceans and continents
were geographically fixed. They regarded the surface of the planet as a static skin spread over a molten, gradually cooling
interior. They believed that the cooling of the planet resulted in its contraction,
which caused the outer skin to contort and wrinkle into mountains and valleys. Many people noticed, however, that the eastern shorelines of South America and the western shoreline of Africa seemed to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. One
scientist who took this observation seriously was Alfred Wegener. Wegener.
Basic colloquiaql use
Essential academic use
Curriculum content use
intimate casual consultative formal frozenMore or less: distanced – decontextualised – dispassionate – exact – objective – complex – highly structured – complete – unambiguous – explicit …
• Basic colloquial language (BCL)• School Navigational Language
(SNL)• Essential Academic Language
(EAL)• Curriculum Content Language
(CCL)
What do we have to consider when talking about language in the content classroom?
Bridging the gap between content standards and implicit academic language
Students are able to …
identify similarities and differences as a result of
criteria-based comparisons, e.g. anatomy and morphology
of organisms.
• Semiotic system?• Discourse
funtion(s)?• Mode
(oral/written)?• Skill(s)?• Discourse
function(s)?
Choice of linguistic/textual
means
Science
Biology
Bridging the gap between content standards and implicit academic language
http://lalas.ceee.gwu.edu/
linguistic elements – language meanspronunciation spelling lexis grammar
correctness, appropriateness
text- / discourse competencecoherence/cohesion – references – linearity – development of ideas - structure …
cognitive-
language functions
subject-specific content
semiotic systems -
genresliteracy
Which options for a Framework structure?
SUBJECT LITERACIES AND ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION, STRASBOURG, 27 – 28 SEPTEMBER 2012
SUBJECT LITERACIES AND ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION, STRASBOURG, 27 – 28 SEPTEMBER 2012
The approach to subject literacies and common educational language objectives across the
curriculum can only be managed with the help of a
common framework. A two-way approach seems to be a
viable strategy for conceptualising the framework
´s architecture. language
requirements of the content classroom
common educational language objectives
e.g.Norway - NRW
language requirements of
the content classroom
common educational language objectives
Which options for a Framework structure?
Which priorities for developing descriptors, defining curricular standards and implementation?
level actionsupra, CoE LPU
• focus on a common framework structure which is compatible with aims and objectives of subject teaching across the curriculum
• support for filling the framework dimensions (e.g. genres, cognitive-language functions, language means) with inventories of possible descriptors to choose from
• application of general descriptors to specific subject areas, to a range of subject literacies
• …
cp. Francis Goullier (2012)
Which priorities for developing descriptors, defining curricular standards and implementation?
level actionMacro: ministries, national / regional / local authorities
• Update and enrich curricular documents across the whole range of content areas by applying a / the framework for language of education (essential academic language) as a coordinating tool
• Provide ressources for the training and the mission of „Literacy Coaches“
• Update and enrich teachers´ professional policy profile accordingly and implement it through teacher education
• Recommend new strategies for textbook providers
Which priorities for developing descriptors, defining curricular standards and implementation?
level actionmeso: individual schoolMicro: teachers / classrooms
• exploit school autonomy and strive for consensus of a whole-school language learning policy (school-based language development plan)
• set up an academic language analysis team to bridge the gap between content standards and the academic language implicit in these standards
• critical-friends approach to classroom observation using a set of criteria for language-sensitive subject teaching and learning
• network with other schools focussing on subject literacy and language of education
• …
Which priorities for developing descriptors, defining curricular standards and implementation?
level actionnano: individual learner
• invest in language of education and subject literacy to boost „cultural capital“
• take notice of and adopt communicative strategies and textual patterns which help to solve problems encountered in the learning process
• be aware of his/her own socio-cultural background and language biography and its intrinsic norms and values with respect to academic requirements
• be willing and able to switch codes in and out of school according to situational requirements
• …
Working methods
Working methods
Thanks for your attention