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Understanding Academic Language

Presenter: Margot Downs WIDA Certified Consultant ACCESS for ELLs ® , W-APT™, and ELP Standards Trainer Dec. 13, 2010 Maine Department of Education ESL/Bilingual Programs Professional development online webinar. Understanding Academic Language.

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Understanding Academic Language

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  1. Presenter: Margot Downs WIDA Certified Consultant ACCESS for ELLs®, W-APT™, and ELP Standards Trainer Dec. 13, 2010 Maine Department of Education ESL/Bilingual Programs Professional development online webinar Understanding Academic Language © 2009 Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, on behalf of the WIDA Consortium www.wida.us

  2. Resources • English Learners, Academic Literacy and Thinking by Pauline Gibbons (2009) • Building Academic Language by Jeff Zwiers (2008) • Content Area Conversations by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and Carol Rothenberg (2008) • WIDA English Language Proficiency Standards

  3. What is Academic Language?

  4. Everyday vs. Academic Language(Gibbons 2009) • A lot of artists at that time painted pictures of everyday life. • Magnets attract metal that contain iron. • There was no food and many people starved and died.

  5. Everyday vs. Academic Language(Gibbons 2009) • A lot of artists at that time painted pictures of everyday life. • Urban scenes were popular among artists of the area. • Magnets attract metal that contain iron. • Magnetic attraction occurs between magnets and ferrous materials. • There was no food and many people starved and died. • Famine caused mass starvation.

  6. Social Language Proficiency Academic Language Proficiency Academic Achievement Gottlieb (2003)

  7. Academic Language Proficiency • Language-based • Reflective of the varying stages of second language acquisition • Representative of social and academic language contexts • Tied to a state’s English language proficiency standards (WIDA) Academic Achievement • Content-based • Reflective of conceptual development • Representative of the school’s academic curriculum • Tied to a state’s academic content standards

  8. Register (Halliday and Hasan [1985] and Gee [2000]) Field - topic Tenor - Relationship between speaker and listener or reader and writer Mode - the channel of communication (spoken or written)

  9. Using appropriate terminology is integral to the concepts being learned. Understanding concepts isn’t simply a question of learning new vocabulary. Academic literacy means being able to express more concisely and precisely the complex ideas and concepts that are embedded in the context of a subject. (Gibbons 2009)

  10. Academic language proficiency refers to the abilities to construct meaning from oral and written language, relate complex ideas and information, recognize features of different genres, and use various linguistic strategies to communicate. Dutro &Moran (2003)

  11. WIDA English Language Proficiency Standards

  12. Five WIDA ELP Standards Standard 1 – SIL: English language learners communicate for SOCIAL AND INSTRUCTIONAL purposes within the school setting. Standard 2 – LoLA: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of LANGUAGE ARTS. Standard 3– LoMA: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of MATHEMATICS. Standard 4– LoSC:English language learners communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of SCIENCE. Standard 5 – LoSS:English language learners communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of SOCIAL STUDIES.

  13. Four Language Domains Listening ─ process, understand, interpret, and evaluate spoken language in a variety of situations Speaking ─ engage in oral communication in a variety of situations for a variety of purposes and audiences Reading ─process, interpret, and evaluate written language, symbols, and text with understanding and fluency Writing ─ engage in written communication in a variety of forms for a variety of purposes and audiences

  14. Criteria for Performance Definitions 6 REACHING 1 2 3 4 5 BRIDGING ENTERING BEGINNING DEVELOPING EXPANDING • Linguistic Complexity: Expectations of the quantity and organization of the student’s verbal response • Vocabulary Usage: Expectations of the student’s use of appropriate vocabulary for grade level and proficiency level; refers to language quality • Language Control: Expectations of the student’s control of English grammar, word choice in context, and the English sound system; refers to language quality

  15. Linguistic Complexity (Level 1) What is this? Who is this? What are they doing? “A cake. A cookie. Baking.” Expectation: Single words (Level 2) What is happening in this picture? “They are cooking. They are making a cake.” Expectation: Short phrases or sentences (Level 3) How are cookies and cakes similar/different? “They are both sweet, but cookies are usually smaller than cakes.” Expectation: Simple conjoined sentences with descriptors use of cohesion.

  16. Vocabulary Usage • The Language of Social Studies • General Language: people • Specific Language: population • Technical Language: demographics • The Language of Language Arts • General Language: person • Specific Language: character • Technical Language: protagonist

  17. Navel Orange

  18. The navel orange is one of the few remaining staples in the produce bins that remains untouched by globalization. (New York Times Jan 21,2007 Kim Severson) The navel orange is one of the few remaining staples in the produce bins that remains untouched by globalization.

  19. The _______ is one of the few remaining _________ in the ______________that remains untouched by _______________. The Ginkgo is one of the few remaining trees in the United States that remains untouched by gypsy moths.

  20. When an animal hibernates, it breathes very slowly, its heart beat slows down, and its body gets colder.(Click Magazine Dec. 2010) When an animal exercises, it breathes very quickly, its heart beat increases, and its body gets warmer.

  21. What does it mean to be “Concise and Precise”? Vocabulary Usage We want energy that will be there for us when we want it. Fossil fuels are a resource that will not last forever.

  22. What does it mean to be “Concise and Precise”? Vocabulary Usage We want energy that will be there for us when we want it. We want reliable energy sources. Fossil fuels are a resource that will not last forever. Fossil fuels are a finite resource.

  23. Linguistic Complexity We use large amounts of oil. We will be without oil in 30 to 40 years. Alternative energy is our best solution. Alternative energy can meet our future energy needs.

  24. Linguistic Complexity We use large amounts of oil. We will be without oil in 30 to 40 years. If we use large amounts of oil, we will be without oil in 30 to 40 years. Alternative energy is our best solution. Alternative energy can meet our future energy needs. Alternative energy is our best solution and can meet our future energy needs.

  25. Language Control (How well do you control the use of academic English? Does one idea connect to another idea? Do you use the appropriate work in the correct manner?) • Using transitions to connect and organize ideas (furthermore, as a result, however) • Taking risks with language (good v. nutritious) • Correct word forms (significant/significance, contribute/contribution)

  26. Elements of Model Performance IndicatorsThe Model Performance Indicator (MPI) consists of three elements: The language function describes how students use language to demonstrate their proficiency The example topic specifies the context for language instruction, derived from state content standards The support includes instructional strategies or tools used to assist students in accessing content necessary for communication; can be sensory, graphic, or interactive

  27. Grade 9-12 Reading Science Level 3 Based on the information from the table, which biome has the widest temperature range? (A) Tundra (B) Taiga (C) Temperate Forest (D) Tropical Rain Forest (MPI: Extract information on the use of data presented in text and tables)

  28. Additional Features of Academic Language • Collocations (to commit a crime) • Polysemous words: multiple • meanings (table) • Nominalization/Nominal Groups

  29. When people clear land for houses and roads they change the environment. They destroy the forest and bush and then many animals lose their homes. More houses and roads will pollute the environment even more. Some animals have become extinct because their homes have been destroyed. • Clearing and development of land often results in the destruction of the natural habitat of many local species. It may also increase the level of pollution. Loss of habitat has already led to the extinction of many species of animals.

  30. The Talking to Writing Continuum (Gibbons 2009) (1) “Face to Face Interactions” • Look, it’s making them move. • That’s not going. • Those ones are going fast.

  31. (2) “Oral Retelling” • We found out the pins stuck on the magnet and so did the iron filings. Then we tried the pencil but it didn’t stick.

  32. (3) “Written Summary” • Our experiment was to find out what a magnet attracted. We discovered that a magnet attracts some kinds of metal. It attracted the iron filings and the pins, but not the pencil.

  33. (4) “Academic Text” • The magnet is a piece of metal that is surrounded by an invisible field of force which affects any magnetic material within it. It is able to attract a piece of iron or steel because it is magnetic field flows into the metal, turning it into a temporary magnet. Magnetic attraction occurs only between ferrous materials.

  34. “Because we are immersed in an ocean of academic language daily, it’s hard to notice the habits we automatically engage in to comprehend such language…When we become aware of our own habits and strategies, we can model them and make them available to our students.” (Jeff Zwiers 2008) Engaging students in more explicit language production creates a “bridge” between the everyday language and the more abstract and formal language associated with academic literacy.

  35. Instructional Implications • Go from the everyday, familiar, and concrete to the subject specific, unfamiliar and abstract • Link students’ real world experiences to school experiences • Sequence teaching and learning activities to move towards the specialized language of written texts, rather than starting with the written texts • Structure classroom discourse and interaction so that it bridges to written texts

  36. Increasing Interaction to Build Fluency • Model the language and the interaction • Have students process information individually • Have students process information in pairs • Have students process information in small groups • Compare/Contrast information to source (reading) • Apply information to a new task (writing)

  37. Building Background Knowledge Marzano (2004) Effective processing of information depends on … • The number of times information is processed • The detail that is added • The associations that are made with other information

  38. Instructional Strategies to Build Academic Language

  39. Amplify language rather than simplify.

  40. Thinking Sheets

  41. (-2, -3) and (2, 6)

  42. A flag is a ________. a) person b) place c) thing

  43. Concept Sort

  44. Flexibility • The ability of joints to move through their full range of motion.

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