Academic Language -Used in the Classroom and

Academic Language Used in the Classroom and Workplace
It is the oral and written language
needed for academic purposes.
JoAnn Cosentino, Adelphi University
• “… educators have begun to realize that the
mastery of academic subjects is the mastery
of their specialized patterns of language use,
and that language is the dominant medium
through which these subjects are taught and
students’ mastery of them tested.”
• (Lempke, 1988)
Informal Language
repetition of words
sentences start with “and” or
but”
use of slang such as “whatever”
and “like”
appropriate for use in casual,
social settings
can vary greatly by ethnicity,
region, gender, age
Academic Language
variety of words, more
sophisticated
sentences start with transition
words, such as “however”,
“moreover”, and “in addition”
replaces slang with accurate
descriptions
appropriate for use in all
academic and work places
settings
common language register for all
(K. Kinsella, 2007)
• Martin: Like, to divide em, you
turn the second one over and
times it by the first one. But ya
gotta see if any numbers fit into
the top and bottom to cross em
out and get em smaller so you
don’t get big numbers at the end.
At the end you see if you can
make the top and bottom as
small as possible.
• Leslie: In order to divide two
fractions, take the reciprocal of
the second one and multiply by
the first. Before multiplying,
though, see if any numerators
and denominators have common
factors that cancel out. For
example, if a nine is above and
three below, divide by three and
you end up with three on top and
one below. Multiply the
numerator across the top and the
denominators across the bottom.
See if the answer can be further
reduced.
(Zwiers, 2008)
• Academic language is distinguished from
English in other settings on at least three key
levels:
1. academic vocabulary level: content specific and
general vocabulary
2. grammar or syntactic level
3. the discourse or organizational level
•
(Bailey, 2007)
Characteristics of Effective Vocabulary
Instruction: Marzano’s Six Steps (2009)
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2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
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The teacher provides a description, explanation, or example of the new
term.
Students restate the explanation of the new term in their own words.
Students create a nonlinguistic representation of the term. Students can
draw or use a picture, show a video, use a graphic organizer, make a web
map, demonstrate with a real thing.
Students periodically do activities that help them add to their knowledge
of vocabulary terms.
Periodically students are asked to discuss the terms with one another.
Periodically students are involved in games that allow them to play with
the terms.
These strategies are particularly important to use with our English
Language Learners.
Ask how likely are students to encounter or to need to use these words in
the future.
Teaching Channel College Talk: Improving Students’ Vocabulary
Word Walls--Visual Tool for Building
Academic Language
• Specialized Academic
Vocabulary (Bricks)
– Content Specific/
Technological Words
• General Academic
Vocabulary (Mortar)
– Words across a variety of
domains
One season, there was a shortage of producers in a food web. As a result,
the number of deer and wolves decreased. The reason that both the deer
and wolf populations declined is that:
1. producers are not as important as consumers in a food web
2. more consumers than producers are needed to support the food web
3. organisms in this food web are interdependent
4. populations tend to stay constant in a food web
•
(New York State Regents High School Exam: Living Environment Item
3, August 13, 2008).
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Deepen the Talk that Happens in our
Classrooms
Think aloud
Use Gestures and Facial Expressions
Metaphors
Personification
Paraphrase
Turn & Talk (Provide Sentence Starters)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Based on _________, I infer that…
I can picture…
This reminds me of…
So the big idea is…
The conclusion I am drawing is…
One question that the text raises is…
Syntax
• the combining of words, phrases and symbols
into structures such as sentences, formulas,
graphs.
Getting beyond the technical vocabulary to the
function and form of our language.
SCALE
Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, & Equity
Function and Form of our Language
• The function of our language is associated with verbs found
in learning outcome statements. Functions are the
purposes for which language is used.
– For example:
• summarize information
• predict outcomes
• classify information
• draw conclusions
When we look at language form, we are looking at what the
language looks like or sounds like to accomplish its function.
If the function is to explain or describe, some forms would be
Sentence starter, “First I _______, then I ______.”
Signal the conclusion with, “Finally I _______.”
Language Functions in edTPA
Handbooks
• English
– Analyze, Argue, Describe, Evaluate, Explain, Interpret,
Justify, Synthesize
• Social Studies
– Analyze, Compare/Contrast, Construct, Describe, Evaluate,
Examine, Identify, Interpret, Justify, Locate
• Math
– Compare, Conjecture, Describe, Explain, Prove
• Science
– Analyze, Explain, Interpret, Justify with Evidence
What is the edTPA asking us to do in
regard to academic language?
• Rubric 4: Identifying and Supporting Language Demands (Focus)
– How does the candidate identify and support language
demands associated with a key English-Language Arts learning
task? (Guiding Question)
• Level 1 – 5 Performance Levels (Not Ready to Teach – Highly
Accomplished Beginning Teacher)
• *Level 4 - Candidate identifies vocabulary and additional
language demand(s) associated with the language function.
Plans include targeted support for use of vocabulary as well
as additional language demand(s).
What is the edTPA asking us to do in
regard to academic language?
• Rubric 14: Analyzing Students’ Language Use and EnglishLanguage Arts Learning (Focus)
– How does the candidate analyze students’ use of language
to develop content understanding? (Guiding Question)
• Level 1 – 5 Performance Levels (Not Ready to Teach –
Highly Accomplished Beginning Teacher)
• *Level 4 - Candidate explains and provides evidence of
students’ use of the language function, vocabulary, and
additional language demand(s) in ways that develop content
understandings.
Comparing and Contrasting
Language Frames:
1. One similarity/difference between _________ and __________
is …
2. _________ and _________ are similar because they both …
3. Whereas ___________ is … __________ is ...
4. ________ is … Similarly/In contrast, ________ is …
Language of Agreeing:
1. My idea/explanation is similar to/related to …
2. I agree with (a person) that …
3. My idea builds upon (a person’s) idea …
4. I don’t agree with you because …
(K. Kinsella, 2007)
Discourse
Discourse includes the structure of written and
oral language and focuses on how members of
disciplines talk, write, and participate in
knowledge.
We speak of argumentative writing expository,
informational and narrative writing. In Math,
we speak of numbers, equations, and proofs.
SCALE
Stanford Center For Assessment, Learning,& Equity
Common Core Standardscall for high level classroom discourse
Common Core State Standards focus on:
• Reasoning abstractly and quantitatively
• Constructing viable arguments and critiquing
reasoning of others
• Constructing explanations and designing solutions
• Engaging in argument from evidence; and
• Asking questions and defining problems
(Hakuta, 2011)
Student Sample: Grade 1, Informational/Explanatory Writing
Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/S.S. & Sci./Appendix C
My Big Book About Spain
Spain is in Europe. Spain is located in the south western tip of
Europe. Europe is a far away place from here. Spain has a lot of fiestas. In
some of the fiestas they make masks and make special food too. Spain has
bull fights and I would want to see one. I think Spain looks like a upside
down hat. In some of the fiestas the people are loud. Some of the fiestas are
even beautiful and colorful. Spain has a lot of different people. In the bull
fights they make the bulls tired and make them fall out. Spain is very colorful
even if you go there you will see I’m right. Spain has 5 neighbors. Spain’s
neighbors are France, Andorra, Algeria, Portugal and Morocco. One day when
I am a researcher I am going to go to Spain and write about it!
What specific vocabulary might have been taught?
What general vocabulary is evident?
What support(s) could we use to build students’ academic language within
this task?
Annotation
• The writer of this piece:
– provides a title to establish the topic
– supplies facts and information about the topic
– provides a conclusion
• This piece illustrates the writer’s awareness of beginning-ofsentence capitalization and end-of-sentence punctuation as
well as the use of capital letters in proper nouns.
Teaching Suggestions:
– Use of linking words
– Organization: successful grouping of like facts (Spain looks
like a upside down hat and Spain has a lot of different
people.)
Academic Language Questions for
Lesson Planning
English/Language Arts Vocabulary & Representations
• What are the key words and phrases my students will need to
understand, read and use in my lesson? (For TPA, learning
segment)
• Which of these words/phrases will be new to my students?
• Which of these words/phrases have different meanings in
other contexts? Which might be confusing for students?
• Is there a non-jargon, student-friendly way to explain this to
students?
• What non-English/Language Arts disciplinary words or
phrases will my students need to understand in order to make
sense of the task/texts in my learning segment?
Genre (i.e., Purpose) and Linguistic Features
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How (i.e., for what purpose) will students be using language in the lesson?
What key words/phrases will students need to understand in order to follow the
directions in the lesson, and which of these will be new to my students?
Which might be used differently in another content area?
What key words/phrases will students need to understand in order to work with texts in
the lesson?
What key words/phrases will students need to understand in order to:
– talk about the texts?
– write about the texts?
– create similar texts?
Write some sentences (to develop into sentence frames) that capture how you expect
students to be using academic language to achieve a particular purpose during the
learning segment.
– How will they talk about texts?
– How will they write about texts?
– What texts will they create?
Hundley, 2011
Guided Interaction for Academic
Language Development
An activity that creates opportunities for students, specifically
English Language Learners, to interact is Think, Pair, and Share.
1. Students listen while the teacher poses a question
2. Students are given time to think of the response.
3. Students are told to pair with their classmates and discuss
their responses.
4. Students share responses with the whole group.
(Wagner, 2008)
If you want them to hear it, you talk. If you want them to learn it, they talk.
- Spencer Kagan

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