Feature Articles Unpacking the Language Purpose ... · forms as those that featured vocabulary,...

Feature Articles

Unpacking the LanguagePurpose Vocabulary Structure

and Function

DOUGLAS FISHERNANCY FREY

San Diego State University

Although learning objectives are a hallmark of lesson planning it is

rare for these to be shared with learners even though best practices

suggest doing so This article examines the practice of establishing

purpose for English language learners as a means for developing

conceptual schemas Participants in this study were 332 southern

California Kndash12 teachers who submitted 500 examples of the

language purposes they used with students The authors analyzed

these surveys and identified the predominant language purpose

forms as those that featured vocabulary language structure and

language function demands Implications and future lines of

research are discussed

doi 105054tj2010227607

Establishing the purpose of a lesson often through awritten objective is a common educational practice From the timeteachers begin their professional licensure they are encouraged toconsider what their students will know and be able to do Writtenlesson plans feature a list of objectives to be used as a gauge forsuccess and are usually accompanied by a further recommendationto state them to students There is an assumption that the teacher-initiated behavior of stating the objective will result in studentunderstanding of the forthcoming content This statement of theobjective for students what we call purpose is thought to serve as apriming mechanism for new learning (Gagne amp Briggs 1974Mager 1962) And there is evidence for the effectiveness of aclearly established purpose Simply said when studentsunderstand the purpose of a lesson they learn more (Fraser

TESOL Journal 13 September 2010 315

Walberg Welch amp Hattie 1987 Marzano Pickering amp Pollock2001)

The establishment of purpose is accomplished through theteacherrsquos intentional use of lesson objectives to alert students towhat will be learned and what they will be expected to do with itWhereas the lesson objective is constructed by the teacher the act ofcarefully communicating it to students is the purpose Statedanother way the objective is the mind of the teacher it becomes thepurpose when it is shared with learners The reason for doing soextends beyond regulating academic behavior A clearly stated andunderstood purpose lays the foundation for a schema of conceptsskills and information

A challenge for all learners and especially for those learningEnglish as an additional language is that the talk of school isdecontextualized and requires students to discuss events objectsand people that are not present This lsquolsquodecontextualized discourserelies heavily on the language itself in the construction of meaningrsquorsquo(Justice 2006 p 66) and students must use highly conceptualvocabulary to make themselves understood in the classroom Therehas been debate about whether the classroom discourse can beaccurately identified as decontextualized (see Schleppegrell 2004for a more complete discussion of this) but it is worth noting thatlearning about events objects and people that are not in the roomcan be more completely understood through the social nature ofinteraction This extends to text-based demands as well FangSchleppegrell and Cox (2006) examined elementary middle andhigh school textbooks in language arts science and history andnote the ways in which they become more lexically dense andlinguistically unique to the particular discipline They further statethat they lsquolsquobelieve that explicit shared knowledge about the waylanguage works can help students better handle academic textsrsquorsquo(p 269) thus equipping them for the lsquolsquodiscursive conventions thatshape and are shaped by disciplinary practicesrsquorsquo (p 248) A first stepto fostering academic discourse in a subject is to establish a clearpurpose

In actuality there are multiple purposes for each instructionalevent Teachers of English to speakers of other languages have atleast two purposes for each lesson developing content

316 TESOL Journal

understanding and developing language proficiency If teacherswere to simply focus on content language learning would onlyoccur incidentally if they focused only on language learningcontent understanding would not likely develop (Hill amp Flynn2006) Hill and Flynn further explain lsquolsquoThe educationalenvironment also becomes a friendlier place for ELLs [Englishlanguage learners] when they have a clearly stated target forlearningrsquorsquo (p 22) A clearly established purpose also allows studentsto assess their own progress in learning The importance ofestablishing content goals as well as language goals has been welldocumented in the professional literature (eg Brinton Snow ampWesche 1989 Dong 20042005)

Communicating a language purpose is important becauselearning involves language Across learning contexts students uselanguage to think While they are doing content work (eg mathscience social studies art) students are also reading writingspeaking and listening However there is limited guidance forteachers about establishing a language purpose Even the mostwidely used professional book on teaching ELLs Making ContentComprehensible for English Learners The SIOP Model (EchevarriaVogt amp Short 2008) notes that teachers should establish a languagepurpose for students but the guidance offered occurs throughexamples Although these are helpful it seems reasonable tosuggest that the language purposes teachers use could be betterarticulated Thus this study was designed to uncover anorganizational system for language purposes such that teachers canreceive guidance in this aspect of instruction

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

The Nature of Goals and Objectives

The terms goals and objectives have been used for decades to refer tobroad categories of written or verbal statements that describe thepurpose of a unit or lesson Goals most often represent a largercurricular focus whereas objectives represent smaller more specificsegments of learning that lead to the goals (see eg Gronlund ampLinn 1990) Interpretative variations of this occur in subfields ofeducation For example in special education a goal on an

Language Purpose 317

Individual Education Plan typically encompasses a year ofinstruction with stated objectives representing incrementalbenchmarks toward the goal (Billingsley 1984) These objectivesfurther require that the time and evidence of learning be specifiedThis perspective is influenced by Magerrsquos (1962) work in thedevelopment of behavioral objectives that contain (a) a measurableverb that describes the performance (b) the conditions under whichit is to happen and (c) the criteria for success However as Marzanoand colleagues (2001) explain a narrowly defined objective canresult in a negative effect causing students to do less well than if noobjective had been stated they go on to state lsquolsquoThis phenomenonmight occur because setting a goal focuses studentsrsquo attention tosuch a degree that they ignore information not specifically related tothe goalrsquorsquo (p 94) This can be especially troubling for teachers ofELLs who are attempting to build schema by encouraging studentsto draw on their background knowledge and prior experiences Anoverly narrow objective may result in students editing out salientinformation in an attempt to meet the terms of the lessonrsquosobjectives

Classifying Objectives

Various frameworks representing types of knowledge furthercomplicate the educational landscape The most well known isBloomrsquos taxonomy developed in 1956 and intended as the first in aseries of volumes that were not completed The three volumes heand his colleagues conceived were to represent the cognitiveaffective and psychomotor domains the second volume on theaffective domain was written in 1964 Bloomrsquos original taxonomydescribed six categories Knowledge Comprehension ApplicationAnalysis Synthesis and Evaluation Many years later the cognitivetaxonomy was revised (Anderson et al 2001) and updated to reflectchanges in instructional methods The 2001 version now describesthe six categories as Remembering Understanding ApplyingAnalyzing Evaluating and Creating In addition to a change inlanguage to the present progressive verb form the revisedtaxonomy places Creating (Synthesis) above Evaluating Theseterms are most often used to categorize the type of objectives for alesson or unit

318 TESOL Journal

Another lens for describing knowledge and therefore thelearning objectives in the classroom is what Paris Lipson andWixson (1983) label as declarative procedural and conditionalknowledge They applied this schema to lsquolsquostrategic readersrsquorsquo(p 293) students who know what comprehension strategies touse (declarative) how to apply them (procedural) and when andwhy to deploy them (conditional) These descriptors have beenused by others to categorize teachersrsquo level of knowledge inproviding instruction in reading (Reinking Mealey amp Ridgeway1993) Teachers informally use declarative procedural andconditional knowledge to describe the kinds of learning that willoccur

Language Demands on English Language Learners

Many students may benefit from clearly stated objectives but itappears that ELLs are more sensitive to this due to the additionallanguage demand placed on students who are simultaneouslylearning in English Although obvious it bears repeating thatmany ELLs are less able than monolingual English speakers toprocess verbal and written directions (August amp Hakuta 1997)even when factors such as socioeconomic status are controlled for(Brown 2005) This impacts not only students in courses thatrequire high levels of literacy but also students in those that areperceived as requiring relatively fewer language skills such asmathematics (Brown 2005) However making the purpose of thelesson clear to students can mitigate this A study of secondarymathematics instruction for ELLs found that a stated lessonobjective was a useful component for learning (Hudson Miller ampButler 2006) Some researchers recommend the use ofintentionally stated and written language objectives for ELLs inother disciplines such as science (Carrier 2005) and physicaleducation (Clancy amp Hruska 2005) noting that the languagedemands can undermine the student performance This idea isconsistent with the findings of Echevarria Short and Powers(2006) who in their 7-year study found that analysis of thelanguage demand of the task paired with stated purposes aboutwritten and verbal language production resulted in higher levelsof achievement for ELLs


But the question remains What is a language purpose and howdo teachers write it This study was designed to uncover andunpack the types of statements teachers make relative to languagepurposes Although language purposes are inextricably linked withcontent purposes our analysis is limited to the linguistic demandsthat teachers place on students

METHODOLOGY

Participants

The participants in this study were 332 teachers from southernCalifornia who were invited to submit current language purposestatements via an electronic survey tool Recruitment of participantsoccurred in a number of ways including as part of trainings andworkshops at which we presented requests at a summer readingconference via e-mail from district offices by word of mouth aspreservice teachers invited their cooperating teachers to submitexamples and via e-mail to members of various professionalorganizations The teachers who responded to this invitation rangedfrom 1 to 33 years of teaching experience with a mean of 85 yearsThe respondents represented a range of formal educationalcredential with 38 reporting that they held at least one masterrsquosdegree in either education or the subject in which they taught Alarger percentage (41) was enrolled in a masterrsquos degree programpossibly due to recruitment at a large university A smaller number(3) held a specialist degree

All of the participants held a current California teachingcertificate indicating that they had completed the state licensingrequirements for teaching ELLs These mandated courses includework in English language development multicultural educationinstructional strategies training in specially designed academicinstruction in English and total physical response In addition 52reported that they had completed guided language acquisitiondesign (GLAD) through their school districts (Project GLAD ispromoted by the California Department of Education as apromising practice and is eligible for Title III funding by schooldistricts) Respondents who did not possess a current Californiateaching credential (such as interns) were excluded from this study

320 TESOL Journal

As part of the data collection teachers were asked to indicatethe grade level being taught the subject or content standard beingaddressed and the demographics of the classroom Teacherswere invited to submit more than one example provided that theexamples came from different lessons and standards Themajority of participants held a multiple-subject teachingcredential and taught in elementary (Kndash5) or middle schools (6ndash8) comprising 73 of the respondents The remainder (27) helda single-subject teaching credential and taught in Grades 7ndash12The single-subject participants held teaching credentials inEnglish (51) historysocial science (25) science (17) andmathematics (7) The demographic data in terms of studentpopulation for the teachers who submitted examples suggests adiverse pool with 92 of them currently teaching ELLs Eightpercent of the participants were not currently teaching ELLs butreported having done so in the past 3 years The majority ofparticipants who answered the demographic questions werefemale (77) and White (85)

Instruments

An electronic survey instrument was developed to collectdemographic information and the content and purposeinformation noted previously The instrument asked participantsto submit purpose statements defined as lsquolsquothe spoken and writtenstatements you make to students at the beginning of the lesson sothat they know what is expected of themrsquorsquo Teachers whocontributed were entered into a pool with the possibility ofwinning Starbucks gift cards The data submitted wereconfidential and contact information was submitted separatelyfor individuals who wanted to enter the pool In additionteachers were invited to indicate whether they were willing toparticipate in a follow-up survey member check or both once allsamples had been collected and the initial analysis had beencompleted The member check is a qualitative research techniquethat allows a sample of the larger participant pool to read andreact to preliminary findings The intent of the member check isto increase validity and accuracy and reduce researcher bias(Lincoln amp Guba 1985)


Procedures

The electronic survey instrument was available for teachers toaccess for several months It was monitored weekly andrecruitment efforts continued until the data set included 500examples Once the examples had been collected we analyzed thedata looking for trends and categories using a constantcomparative method (Lincoln amp Guba 1985) Of the 500 submitted34 were discarded because they did not contain a complete thoughtor were primarily behavioral in nature For example the responselsquolsquoThe students will raise their hands and wait to be called onrsquorsquo wasnot considered in this study because it did not meet the initialqualification of a language objective As categories emerged we re-read all entries to classify them accordingly In additionrepresentative samples for each category were coded A randomselection of the teachers who agreed to be interviewed werecontacted for follow-up questions The draft findings were usedduring member check meetings At each of the three member checkmeetings five randomly selected participants were invited to readand comment on the initial findings These discussions allowed usto ask questions based on the categories that emerged and allowedparticipants to compare the study findings with their ownexperiences

FINDINGSAn analysis of the 500 examples submitted by teachers resulted inthe identification of three categories vocabulary languagestructure and language function The most common languagepurposes included direction on the use of discipline-specificvocabulary (eg tectonic plate vertices adverbs) This type oflanguage objective comprised 47 of the submitted samples Single-subject teachers appeared to favor this type of language objective asthese objectives comprised nearly 60 of their submitted samplesThe second most common were those that focused on languagestructure accounting for 29 of the submitted samples Languagestructure purpose statements provide students with a focus on theway information is organized such as lsquolsquoYou will tell your partnerthe stages from tadpole to frog using past tense wordsrsquorsquo The finalcategory language function comprised 24 of the total number of

322 TESOL Journal

submissions Language function purpose statements draw studentsrsquoattention to the linguistic tools of the language such as lsquolsquoJustifyyour answerrsquorsquo or lsquolsquoExplain your positionrsquorsquo Table 1 contains asummary and examples of each of these

TABLE 1 Examples of Language Purpose Statements

Content Area Vocabulary Language Structure Language Function

Mathematics Use less than equalto or greater thanto comparegroups ornumbers

Highlight additionsignal words in aword problem

Describe therelationshipbetweennumbers inexpanded formand standardform

Social studies Name the routesand explorers ona map

Sequence the stepsof foodproductionusing the signalwords first thennext and finally

Justify in aparagraph theways fire wasused forhuntingcooking andwarmth by citingthree examples

Language arts Use who what andwhy to ask aquestion of yourpartner

Identify the verbtenses used inthe reading toexplain whathappened longago and whatwill happen inthe future

Explain whatorganizationalpattern was usedby the writerand critique itsadequacy

Science Label a diagram ofthe digestivesystem (teethmouth esophagusstomach smallintestine largeintestine colon)

Using the sentenceframe lsquolsquoOne theone hand_______ On theother hand_______rsquorsquo(Students willdemonstratetheir knowledgeof the Earthrsquoslayers)

I can tell my teammembers threeways that anenvironment canchange


Together these three categories represented all of the variousways that teachers established the language purpose for students intheir classrooms The five teachers who participated in the membercheck interview confirmed that these categories were consistentwith their experiences and that lsquolsquothey provide some informationabout planning language purposesrsquorsquo Interestingly the teachers whoparticipated in the member check discussed the difference betweengoals and objectives and noted as did we that there was not aconsistent use of either term Instead it seemed that the participantsfocused on purpose with some people submitting goals and otherssubmitting objectives We will return to this discussion afterexploring each of the three categories

Vocabulary

The majority of purpose statements focused on vocabularyVocabulary is among the greatest predictors of readingcomprehension (Baker Simmons amp Kamersquoenui 1998) and thelikelihood that learners will understand the content being taught(Carlo et al 2004) The relationship between vocabulary andcomprehension is so powerful that there is evidence thatvocabulary size in kindergarten is an effective predictor ofreading comprehension in later school years (Scarborough 2001)Vocabulary is especially important for ELLs and much of thecurrent research on these students (eg Townsend amp Collins2009) has focused on the best ways to develop their wordknowledge Vocabulary learning in another language requiresattention to specific words that do and do not translate well Inaddition vocabulary learning for ELLs must include academicterminology and word study for unfamiliar concepts (Nation2001)

Within the broad category of vocabulary two subcategorieswere evident The first related to the specialized vocabularyrequired in many content areas Specialized vocabulary consists ofdefined words whose meaning is altered by the context or discipline(Vacca amp Vacca 2007) For instance the word bias has two distinctlydifferent meanings depending on whether it is used in a historyclass or a family and consumer sciences class One sample purposestatement is illustrative As part of a unit on the human body a high

324 TESOL Journal

school science teacher established a language purpose such thatstudents would understand the multiple-meaning words related tothe human body including tissue vessel petrified and cultureSpecialized vocabulary has received a great deal of attention fromteachers and researchers who are interested in improving theeducational outcomes of ELLs (eg Unsworth 1999) Thesespecialized words include high-utility terms that often changemeaning in different contexts or content areas This category alsoincludes words for which students know some part of the meaningbut do not have mastery of the full complexity of the wordrsquosmeaning There are even studies of words to determine which arethe most important specialized words to teach (eg Coxhead 2000)Examples of language purpose statements in the subcategory ofspecialized vocabulary include the following

N Distinguish between the common and social studiesndashrelated meanings ofconstitution right and pact

N Use the correct version of rod and cone when discussing the eye

N Clarify the meaning of light perspective line and shape as related to visual art

The second subcategory related to the technical vocabularystudents need to understand Technical vocabulary has onedefinition and is typically used in only one discipline (Vacca ampVacca 2007) For example as part of a second-grade geometrylesson the teacher established the purpose as students usinglsquolsquomathematical terms (solid figure angle vertices face) to explain whytheir answer is reasonablersquorsquo Technical words the discipline-specificterms are important for all students to know (Fang 2006) Tounderstand a technical term ELLs must also learn the conceptbehind the term as well as all of the words used to define thetechnical word (Brown 2007) Technical terms are often identifiedwithin the content standards or grade level which were a commonsource that teachers in this study used to establish the purposeExamples of language purpose statements in the subcategory oftechnical vocabulary include the following

N Employ scientific vocabulary related to seed dispersal during partnerconversations

N Use map terminology (eg compass rose cardinal directions legend scale) inwritten directions

N Apply technical terms for various structures (presidios missions ranchos andpueblos) when working in a group


Language Structure

The second most common category of purpose statements related tothe structure of the English language Although this structure isimportant for all students in an English-speaking context ELLsneed experiences with the language that help them internalizecommon forms Or as Dutro and Moran (2003) note students needsto learn English and not just learn in English ELLs do not developproficiencymdashoral reading or writingmdashfrom simply being exposedto the language (Palumbo amp Willcutt 2006) In addressing this needteachers established purpose related to language structure in threeways

Categorization proved to be more difficult here than withvocabulary purpose statements Submitted purpose statementswere categorized as examples of language structure if there was anexplicit grammatical syntactical or lexical emphasis Nearly allcontained some type of language function as well (eg explainretell justify identify) so it was essential to look beyond the verb toexamine the stated intent of the lesson

The first type noted specific grammar and syntax rules thatstudents should practice Although the content of lessons was notgrammar focused per se there were a number of times that teachersfocused on grammar within the language purpose For example ina second-grade science lesson about the life cycle of a frog thelanguage purpose focused on the use of past tense verbs Whenasked about this in the member check teachers discussed theapplication of grammar rules across content areas A fifth-gradeteacher noted lsquolsquoWe teach grammar as part of the literacy block Butwe can also have a purpose for students to practice the grammar inother parts of the dayrsquorsquo This approach is consistent with thesystematic English language development that is common inCalifornia (Clark 2009) When asked about recasting and feedbackas part of the lesson the teachers who participated in the membercheck were clear that the purpose statement allowed them to as oneteacher said lsquolsquoprovide corrections as students used languagebecause the purpose was public and students knew that it wasabout practice not being embarrassedrsquorsquo This is consistent with theevidence that explicit corrective feedback results in improvedproficiency (Ellis Loewen amp Erlam 2006) yet is sensitive to the

326 TESOL Journal

experiences that some students have with the correction andfeedback process (Loewen et al 2009)

Within the subcategory of grammatical language structure themost common areas of emphasis included the use of completesentences plurals subject-verb agreement verb tense articles asidioms and figurative language These areas accounted for 57 ofthe grammatical language structure samples We chose to locateidiomatic expressions and figurative language as a form of structure(rather than vocabulary) because they are most commonly used asphrases complete sentences and aphorisms rather than as wordsand terms In addition they often serve as a frame for establishingan idea or concept and therefore influence longer written passagesand conversations Examples of grammar-related languagestructure purpose statements include the following

N Use past tense regular verbs to discuss the lab experiment

N In complete sentences retell the main ideas from the film to a partner

N Identify idiomatic expressions that the author uses

The second type of language structure statement focused onsignal words that are common in academic English Signal wordsare one of the signs or markers that English speakers and writersuse to clue their listeners and speakers (Fry Kress amp Fountoukidis1993) Of the submitted language structure samples 29 containedexplicit directions on the application of signal words These are partof the academic discourse to explain and are often misused or notused at all by ELLs who tend to be familiar with basic signal wordssuch as but and because ELLs are often not as familiar with morecomplex signal words especially those that appear more frequentlyin written English such as moreover nevertheless and besides

For example when comparing and contrasting a number ofsignal words are helpful in maintaining the structure of the text(spoken or written) including but not limited to although as well asboth by contrast compared with different from however instead of onthe other hand similarly unlike whereas and yet Even more commonthan comparing and contrasting is putting items in chronologicalorder and English has a number of words to communicate thatstructure including but not limited to afterward before duringfinally following initially last later meanwhile next now precedingsoon today tomorrow until and yesterday Additional examples of


signal wordndashrelated language structure purpose statements includethe following

N Retell the steps in the life cycle of a butterfly using chronological order signalwords (eg first next then finally)

N Use the lsquolsquoif thenrsquorsquo structure to describe the cause and effect

N Compare and contrast two versions of the same fairy tale using signal wordssuch as contrast in common compared with likewise both similarly or even though

The third subcategory provided students with frames that serveto scaffold their language use These frames provide students with astructure they can use to approximate English as they apprenticeinto academic English and increase the lexical density of theirspeech and writing Although only 14 of the submitted languagestructure samples were language or sentence frames the teacherswho used them felt strongly about them College compositionexperts Graff and Birkenstein (2006) recommend the use of frames(they call them templates) as an effective way for developingstudentsrsquo academic language skills They defend the use of framesor templates by noting that

after all even the most creative forms of expression depend onestablished patterns and structures Most songwriters forinstance rely on a time-honored verse-chorus-verse patternand few people would call Shakespeare uncreative because hedidnrsquot invent the sonnet or dramatic forms that he used to suchdazzling effect Ultimately then creativity and originality lienot in the avoidance of established forms but in the imaginativeuse of them (pp 10ndash11)

Examples of sentence frame language structure purposestatements include the following

N Use the language frame lsquolsquoSome spiders _______ but all spiders _______rsquorsquo todescribe information found in a text

N Apply a language frame (lsquolsquoWhat will your _______ do on _______rsquorsquo) inconversation lines

N Present both sides of the argument to a peer using the frame lsquolsquoOn the onehand _______ But on the other hand _______rsquorsquo

Language Function

The final category of language purpose that emerged from thesamples collected from teachers involved the functions that

328 TESOL Journal

language serves for the user As noted earlier most languageobjectives contained some sort of language function embeddedwithin them Many of the samples also contained explicitdirections concerning the use of vocabulary or structure If theycontained neither they were most often classified as samples oflanguage function Of the samples collected 24 were classifiedthus

Halliday (1973) identifies seven language functionsinstrumental regulatory interactional personal imaginativeheuristic and representational These are translated into classroominteractions as well as expectations for student performance on suchthings as state tests For example Bailey and Butler (2002) found thefollowing language functions in several state science contentstandards analyze compare describe observe and record Commonlanguage functions useful in school contexts for ELLs includeexpress an opinion describe summarize persuade question entertaininform sequence disagree debate evaluate and justify (Newmeyer2000) Examples of function-related language structure purposestatements include the following

N Describe how the moon earth and sun move through the phases

N Summarize the meaning of lsquolsquotaxation without representationrsquorsquo

N Question your partner about his or her creative writing

N Persuade your reader to change a habit

N Inform your reader about a current event

DISCUSSIONThe findings from this study support a framework for developinglanguage objectives that are suitable for use with ELLs as a means ofestablishing purpose The data from this study suggest that thereare specific ways that teachers establish the purpose of the lessonrelated to language The three categories identified from the 500submissions center on the needs of ELLs but to developappropriate language purposes teachers have to understood theinstructional needs of the students in the class as well as thelinguistic demands of the task or content being studied This wasobvious to us when different language purpose statements weresubmitted for similar content and standards For example wereceived several submissions related to the phases of the moon The


data suggest that there are different language purposes that couldbe identified for this content including the following

N Name the phases of the moon (vocabulary)

N Use sequence words (first then next finally) to describe the phases of themoon (structure)

N Explain how the moon earth and sun move through the phases (function)

Although the categories we identified could be helpful inguiding the development of a language purpose statement thespecific purpose would need to be instructionally relevant forstudents in the classroom Along those lines we do notrecommend that commercial publishers write language purposestatements for their textbooks but rather that teachers analyze thelinguistic demands of the content to determine the purpose thatwill best serve the students in their classes Having said that threeconcerns were raised by this data set that warrant furtherdiscussion

First the predominant focus on vocabulary is bothunderstandable and problematic There is evidence that ELLs needto learn a great deal of vocabulary but focusing on only this aspectof language will not likely result in increased student achievementStudents need to know more than the terms for the things they seeand the ideas they have Students need to use these words ingrammatically correct sentences and understand the function of thelanguage Knowing individual words will not ensure that studentsare persuasive when need be informative as appropriate andentertaining when the occasion arises Although only a few teachersin this data set did not teach ELLs it is instructive to note that theirpurpose statements were predominately focused on functions notvocabulary It seems reasonable to suggest that there should be abalance of the three language purposes and not an overreliance onvocabulary-related purposes Teachers who participated in themember check were also conflicted about this information One ofthem noted lsquolsquoI see this happening They [ELLs] have so manywords to learn that we tend to focus exclusively on vocabularyThey need it But Irsquom thinking that if theyrsquore only learning wordstheir language isnrsquot progressing Maybe thatrsquos why my school has somany students who are stuck at the intermediate levelrsquorsquo Anothermember commented

330 TESOL Journal

I think that I should teach them the words as part of the lessonbut raise my expectations for the purpose to provide my studentswith more practice with language structure and function Theyalso need that not just vocabulary And they have to usevocabulary to do those other things

A second concern that was raised as we analyzed the data relates tothe specificity issues identified by Marzano and colleagues (2001) Weused the terms goal and objective interchangeably because we wereinterested in the purpose of the lesson Having said that some of thesubmissions were more goal-like and others were more objective-likeThis was not a problem until we received submissions that were sospecific and limited that we had to question their worth Focusing on aspecific word for example might prevent students from noticing thelanguage used around the word or how to use the word incombination with other words

Similarly we received a purpose statement requiring thatstudents lsquolsquotell a partner that the sun is the largest body in oursolar systemrsquorsquo It seems unreasonable to suggest that this wouldrequire the full amount of instructional time devoted to sciencefor that day Instead there are likely many tasks that studentswill complete that require the use of language The risk is that thestudents in that classroom might miss the importance of much ofthat language if they are focused on simply telling another personabout the relative size of the sun When we asked teachers duringthe member check about this they were not terribly worriedabout it Given that these represented a very small percentage ofthe overall submissions the teachers we interviewed suggestedthat this finding might be a novice error that will change withfeedback from administrators and other teachers One of themsaid

I had to find the balance and it took me about a year to do itNow I know not to be so specific that I lose sight of the overallpurpose yet not so broad that they [students] donrsquot know what topay attention to

Yet we argue that the level of specificity bears note because moreteachers are expected to address both content and languagesimultaneously


A third concern that was raised from these data relates to thedifference between activities and learning goals and objectives Insome cases the language purpose that was submitted was actuallyan activity and not something that students need to learn Forexample one of the submitted language purpose statements waslsquolsquoRetell a Thanksgiving storyrsquorsquo Another was lsquolsquoUse picture cards tosupport partner conversationsrsquorsquo In these cases students are left tointuit the purpose In thinking about these activity-orientedstatements we wondered if this wasnrsquot the result of teachers tryingto comply with administrative expectations rather thanunderstanding what a purpose statement does for the teacher andlearner that is alert students to what is to be learned and what is tobe done with the learning When we asked teachers in the membercheck about this we received confirmation that these statementswere not consistent with an understanding of a language purposeA seventh-grade social studies teacher said lsquolsquoItrsquos like theyrsquorecompliant but not committed To me a clear purpose helps me planthe lesson from my modeling to the work students will dorsquorsquoAnother commented lsquolsquoIf you go through the motions without reallyunderstanding why I can see that you might end up with activitiesTo me the purpose focuses my time and guides me in planning sothat the students really learn somethingrsquorsquo

Limitations

A limitation of this study is the convenience sampling of theparticipants many of whom were attendees at workshops orconference sessions lead by one or both of us Although the natureof these sessions varied all of them concerned aspects of literacyand learning for ELLs and therefore contained content about theimportance of establishing purpose Attention to the topicundoubtedly served a priming function for this studyrsquos participantsAnother limitation is the means of collection (an electronic survey)which can constrain replies Future research would includeobservational data on how these language purpose statements weredelivered in the classroom and how well they represented thelesson that followed Another line of research would be at thestudent level such as a comparative study of ELLs participating inthe same lessons with language purpose statements serving as the

332 TESOL Journal

independent variable A third avenue of future research is neededto examine the relationship between professional development andteacher expertise in establishing purpose for ELLs

CONCLUSIONEvery teacher of English to speakers of other languages focuses onboth content and language in an attempt to facilitate studentsrsquoachievement and proficiency As Short and Fitzsimmons (2007) pointout ELLs are expected to do double the work Having a clearlyarticulated language purpose helps students in completing that workThe content purpose statements are derived from standards but thesource of the language purpose has been less clear

The results of this study suggest that teachers of ELLs are cognizantof the linguistic demands and of the importance of stating thesedemands explicitly to their students Our analysis suggests thatteachers establish a language purpose by developing objectives thatfocus on the linguistic demands of the task Further teachers shouldconsider the role that vocabulary language structure and languagefunction play in the learning These findings also suggest thatalthough the importance of vocabulary is well known to the teachers inthis study language structure and function play lesser roles

When students are alerted to the purpose and know what to payattention to they learn to use language academically This isgenerally accepted as an effective practice for students learningEnglish but the research on the refinement of this practicecontinues to evolve The development of a categorization oflanguage purposes can help articulate a coherent process fordeveloping objectives that can serve as purpose statements forstudents

THE AUTHORSDouglas Fisher and Nancy Frey are professors of teacher educationat San Diego State University and teacher leaders at Health SciencesHigh amp Middle College in San Diego California

REFERENCESAnderson L W Krathwohl D L Airasian P W Cruikshank K

A Mayer R E Pintrich et al (2001) A taxonomy for learning


teaching and assessing A revision of Bloomrsquos taxonomy of educationalobjectives (Abridged ed) Boston MA Allyn amp Bacon

August D amp Hakuta K (Eds) (1997) Improving schooling forlanguage-minority children A research agenda Washington DCNational Academy Press

Bailey A L amp Butler F A (2002) An evidentiary framework foroperationalizing academic language for broad application to Kndash12education A design document Los Angeles University ofCalifornia National Center for Research on EvaluationStandards and Student Testing

Baker S K Simmons D C amp Kamersquoenui E J (1998) Vocabularyacquisition Research bases In D C Simmons amp E J Kamersquoenui(Eds) What reading research tells us about children with diverselearning needs (pp 183ndash218) Mahwah NJ Lawrence Erlbaum

Billingsley E F (1984) Where are the generalized outcomes Anexamination of instructional objectives Journal of the Associationfor Persons With Severe Handicaps 9 182ndash192

Brinton D Snow M amp Wesche M (1989) Content-based secondlanguage instruction Boston MA Heinle amp Heinle

Brown C L (2005) Equity of literacy-based math performanceassessments for English language learners Bilingual ResearchJournal 29 337ndash356

Brown C L (2007) Strategies for making social studies texts morecomprehensible for English-language learners Social Studies98(5) 185ndash188 doi103200TSSS985185-188

Carlo M S August D McLaughlin B Snow C E Dressler CLippman DN et al (2004) Closing the gap Addressing thevocabulary needs of English-language learners in bilingual andmainstream classrooms Reading Research Quarterly 39 188ndash215doi101598RRQ3923

Carrier K A (2005) Supporting science learning through scienceliteracy objectives for English language learners ScienceActivities 42(2) 5ndash11 doi103200SATS4225-11

Clancy M E amp Hruska B L (2005) Developing language objectivesfor English language learners in physical education lessons Journalof Physical Education Recreation and Dance 76(4) 30ndash35

Clark K (2009) The case for structured English immersionEducational Leadership 66(7) 42ndash46

334 TESOL Journal

Coxhead A (2000) A new academic word list TESOL Quarterly 34213ndash238 doi1023073587951

Dong Y R (20042005) Getting at the content EducationalLeadership 62(4) 14ndash19

Dutro S amp Moran C (2003) Rethinking English languageinstruction An architectural approach In G Garcia (Ed)English learners Reaching the highest level of English literacy(pp 227ndash258) Newark DE International Reading Association

Echevarria J Short D amp Powers K (2006) School reform andstandards-based education A model for English languagelearners Journal of Educational Research 99 195ndash210 doi103200JOER994195-211

Echevarria J Vogt M amp Short D (2008) Making contentcomprehensible for English learners The SIOP model (3rd ed)Boston MA PearsonAllyn amp Bacon

Ellis R Loewen S amp Erlam R (2006) Implicit and explicitcorrective feedback and the acquisition of L2 grammar Studies inSecond Language Acquisition 28 339ndash268 doi101017S0272263106060141

Fang Z (2006) The language demands of science reading in middleschool International Journal of Science Education 28 491ndash520doi10108009500690500339092

Fang Z Schleppegrell M J amp Cox B E (2006) Understanding thelanguage demands of schooling Nouns in academic registersJournal of Literacy Research 38 247ndash273 doi101207s15548430jlr3803_1

Fraser B J Walberg H J Welch W W amp Hattie J A (1987)Synthesis of educational productivity research Journal ofEducational Research 11 145ndash252 doi1010160883-0355(87)90035-8

Fry E B Kress J E amp Fountoukidis D L (1993) The readingteacherrsquos book of lists Englewood Cliffs NJ Prentice Hall

Gagne R M amp Briggs L J (1974) Principles of instructional designNew York NY Holt Rinehart amp Winston

Graff G amp Birkenstein C (2006) They sayI say The moves thatmatter in academic writing New York NY W W Norton

Gronlund N E amp Linn R L (1990) Measurement and evaluation inteaching Upper Saddle River NJ Prentice Hall


Halliday M A K (1973) Explorations in the functions of languageLondon England Edward Arnold

Hill J amp Flynn K (2006) Classroom instruction that works withEnglish language learners Alexandria VA Association forSupervision and Curriculum Development

Hudson P Miller S P amp Butler F (2006) Adapting andmerging explicit instruction within reform-basedmathematics classrooms American Secondary Education 35(1)19ndash32

Justice L M (2006) Communication sciences and disorders Anintroduction Upper Saddle River NJ MerrillPrentice Hall

Lincoln Y S amp Guba E G (1985) Naturalistic inquiry NewburyPark CA Sage

Loewen S Li S Fei F Thompson A Nakatsukasa K Ahn Set al (2009) Second language learnersrsquo beliefs about grammar

instruction and error correction Modern Language Journal 93 91ndash104 doi101111j1540-4781200900830x

Mager R F (1962) Preparing instructional objectives Belmont CAFearon

Marzano R J Pickering D J amp Pollock J E (2001) Classroominstruction that works Research-based strategies for increasingstudent achievement Alexandria VA Association for Supervisionand Curriculum Development

Nation I S P (2001) Vocabulary learning in another languageCambridge England Cambridge University Press

Newmeyer F J (2000) Language form and language functionCambridge MA MIT Press

Palumbo T J amp Willcutt J R (2006) Perspectives on fluencyEnglish-language learners and students with dyslexia In S JSamuels amp A E Farstrup (Eds) What research has to say aboutfluency instruction (pp 159ndash178) Newark DE InternationalReading Association

Paris S G Lipson M amp Wixson K (1983) Becoming a strategicreader Contemporary Educational Psychology 8 293ndash316doi1010160361-476X(83)90018-8

Reinking D Mealey D amp Ridgeway V G (1993) Developing pre-service teachersrsquo conditional knowledge of content area readingstrategies Journal of Reading 36 458ndash469

336 TESOL Journal

Scarborough H S (2001) Connecting early language and literacy tolater reading (dis)abilities Evidence theory and practice In SNeuman amp D Dickinson (Eds) Handbook for research in earlyliteracy (pp 97ndash110) New York NY Guilford Press

Schleppegrell M J (2004) The language of schooling A functionallinguistics perspective Mahwah NJ Lawrence Erlbaum

Short D amp Fitzsimmons S (2007) Double the work Challenges andsolutions to acquiring language and academic literacy for adolescentEnglish language learners A report to Carnegie Corporation of NewYork Washington DC Alliance for Excellent Education

Townsend D amp Collins P (2009) Academic vocabulary andmiddle school English learners An intervention study Readingand Writing 22 993ndash1019 doi101007s11145-008-9141-y

Unsworth L (1999) Developing critical understanding of thespecialised language of school science and history texts Afunctional grammatical perspective Journal of Adolescent amp AdultLiteracy 42 508ndash521

Vacca R T amp Vacca J L (2007) Content area reading Literacy andlearning across the curriculum (9th ed) Boston MA Allyn ampBacon


Walberg Welch amp Hattie 1987 Marzano Pickering amp Pollock2001)

The establishment of purpose is accomplished through theteacherrsquos intentional use of lesson objectives to alert students towhat will be learned and what they will be expected to do with itWhereas the lesson objective is constructed by the teacher the act ofcarefully communicating it to students is the purpose Statedanother way the objective is the mind of the teacher it becomes thepurpose when it is shared with learners The reason for doing soextends beyond regulating academic behavior A clearly stated andunderstood purpose lays the foundation for a schema of conceptsskills and information

A challenge for all learners and especially for those learningEnglish as an additional language is that the talk of school isdecontextualized and requires students to discuss events objectsand people that are not present This lsquolsquodecontextualized discourserelies heavily on the language itself in the construction of meaningrsquorsquo(Justice 2006 p 66) and students must use highly conceptualvocabulary to make themselves understood in the classroom Therehas been debate about whether the classroom discourse can beaccurately identified as decontextualized (see Schleppegrell 2004for a more complete discussion of this) but it is worth noting thatlearning about events objects and people that are not in the roomcan be more completely understood through the social nature ofinteraction This extends to text-based demands as well FangSchleppegrell and Cox (2006) examined elementary middle andhigh school textbooks in language arts science and history andnote the ways in which they become more lexically dense andlinguistically unique to the particular discipline They further statethat they lsquolsquobelieve that explicit shared knowledge about the waylanguage works can help students better handle academic textsrsquorsquo(p 269) thus equipping them for the lsquolsquodiscursive conventions thatshape and are shaped by disciplinary practicesrsquorsquo (p 248) A first stepto fostering academic discourse in a subject is to establish a clearpurpose

In actuality there are multiple purposes for each instructionalevent Teachers of English to speakers of other languages have atleast two purposes for each lesson developing content

316 TESOL Journal










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METHODOLOGY

Participants



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Instruments



Procedures



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Vocabulary



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Language Structure




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Language Function


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Limitations


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METHODOLOGY

Participants



320 TESOL Journal


Instruments



Procedures



322 TESOL Journal


















Vocabulary



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Language Structure




326 TESOL Journal



















Language Function


328 TESOL Journal
















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Limitations


332 TESOL Journal





















334 TESOL Journal





























336 TESOL Journal













METHODOLOGY

Participants



320 TESOL Journal


Instruments



Procedures



322 TESOL Journal


















Vocabulary



324 TESOL Journal










Language Structure




326 TESOL Journal



















Language Function


328 TESOL Journal
















330 TESOL Journal








Limitations


332 TESOL Journal





















334 TESOL Journal





























336 TESOL Journal









Instruments



Procedures



322 TESOL Journal


















Vocabulary



324 TESOL Journal










Language Structure




326 TESOL Journal



















Language Function


328 TESOL Journal
















330 TESOL Journal








Limitations


332 TESOL Journal





















334 TESOL Journal





























336 TESOL Journal








Procedures



322 TESOL Journal


















Vocabulary



324 TESOL Journal










Language Structure




326 TESOL Journal



















Language Function


328 TESOL Journal
















330 TESOL Journal








Limitations


332 TESOL Journal





















334 TESOL Journal





























336 TESOL Journal

























Vocabulary



324 TESOL Journal










Language Structure




326 TESOL Journal



















Language Function


328 TESOL Journal
















330 TESOL Journal








Limitations


332 TESOL Journal





















334 TESOL Journal





























336 TESOL Journal

















Language Structure




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Language Function


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Limitations


332 TESOL Journal





















334 TESOL Journal





























336 TESOL Journal


























Language Function


328 TESOL Journal
















330 TESOL Journal








Limitations


332 TESOL Journal





















334 TESOL Journal





























336 TESOL Journal























330 TESOL Journal








Limitations


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334 TESOL Journal





























336 TESOL Journal















Limitations


332 TESOL Journal





















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334 TESOL Journal





























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Feature Articles Unpacking the Language Purpose ... · forms as those that featured vocabulary,...

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