Creating an Environment Where Language Flourishes
- A Resource for Elementary Classroom Teachers
Building Academic Language
How do you ensure that all students are exposed to and have opportunities to use academic language?
WHAT DOES THE RESEARCH SAY?
WHAT DOES THE RESEARCH SAY?
-
BICS and CALP
Cummins popularized the distinction between Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) in the context of English language learning of immigrant students. He describes the two terms as such: “BICS refers to the conversational fluency in a language while CALP refers to student’s ability to understand and express, in both oral and written modes, concepts and ideas that are relevant to success in school" (Cummins, 2008)
-
Teachers need to develop a new awareness of language as embodied in the context to carry on actions, rather than perceiving language learning as a separate, autonomous system.
Van Lier and Walqui (2010)-
Visit Understanding Language-The long-term goal of this initiative is to increase recognition that learning the language of each academic discipline is essential to learning content.
Cummins also established that language learners tend to develop conversational skills in another language typically within two years. However, acquiring academic language skills in a second language might take between five and seven years. More recently, distinguished linguist, Lily Wong Fillmore stated that consistent attention to language could reduce this timeframe and accelerate language development (Urrutia, Elliott, Fillmore & Calderón, 2013).
-
Teachers must develop their "pedagogical language knowledge" (PDK) They need to know " the language that is running the learning show in each lesson"
Academic Language in Diverse Classrooms: English Language Arts, Grades K–2 (p.12)
WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?
What classrooms that promote Academic language look like, feel like, and sound like?-A brief handout.
Academic language can be studied at the word/phrase level, sentence level and discourse or message level.
Adapted from WIDA (2012)
3. Help students translate from academic to social language (and back): Model how to say something in a more academic way or how to paraphrase academic texts into more conversational language.
WORD LEVEL
Learn more about developing academic vocabulary
SENTENCE/MESSAGE LEVEL
Read more about how to use sentence frames, sentence starters and signal words to help students at various language proficiency levels incorporate higher levels of academic language into their speech and writing.
-
It provides a framework for writing strong paragraphs
-
The frame guides students by providing the transitional phrases for sentences
-
It can incorporate various sentence types: long and short, simple and complex.
Rethinking English Language Instruction: An Architectural Approach
The authors present the role of a teacher as an architect in implementing a well-designed approach to English language instruction. They highlight:
-
the central role of academic language
-
the linguistic features of language that teachers need to know to support academic language development effectively (see example right)
-
strategies for applications
This a great read if you're looking to develop your "PDK"! (see above)
Example: The language function (describing) is the same across the levels of proficiency, but the use of language is more complex and the content information is expanded.
Try it out: You are asking your students to describe the main character in the story you read during the mini-lesson. Prepare a function chart based on the figure above that matches the content and grade level you are teaching. What vocabulary would you pre-teach or provide? What sentence structure would you explicitly teach or model to increase the language proficiency of your students? What differentiation would you make? How can you support both reading and speaking skills using this chart as your guide? What do your students need to practice to improve on their message level? What collaborative activity would best support this goal?
Ms. Kerrigan (PreK classroom teacher) asked her students what they were going to do on the weekend? This is a sample of answers students have been sharing (student-teacher, student-student) Provide feedback that builds on what language learners can do and that scaffolds learning.
Format Matters is a technique to remind teachers that students should respond in complete answers, answer in a loud enough voice, and use correct grammar.