50 Strategies: Section I

1. 50 Strategies: Section I Dr. Megan J. Scranton Neumann University

2. Theoretical Overview • By 2030: More than 50% of school-age (K – 12) population in U.S. will be ELLs • Vital for teachers to understand language acquisition research so they can provide scaffolding for students • This knowledge helps teachers plan instruction, interact verbally, correct mistakes, & assess ELLs • Goal: To produce academically successful students who stay in school & are given every opportunity to participate fully & equitably

3. Language Acquisition Theory • Traditional methods of teaching foreign language in the United States differ from how students acquire English - More than repetitive drills & translating long passages using dictionaries • Linguists Krashen & Cummins have been researching & offering new approaches to language acquisition

4. Krashen • Makes a distinction between language acquisition and language learning • What is the difference? • Why is this distinction important?

5. Language Acquisition vs. Language Learning • Language Acquisition – unconscious learning of language in naturalistic settings; focus on meaning • Language Learning – conscious rule learning in formal instructional settings; emphasis on form

6. Language Acquisition • Gradual • Natural • Based on receiving and understanding messages • Building a listening vocabulary • Slowly attempting verbal production of the language • Highly supportive, non-stressful setting

7. Language Acquisition & the Teacher Teacher is responsible for • providing the understandable language (comprehensible input) • Supports necessary for students to understand • Using approaches and materials that add context to the language (props, gestures, pictures) • Rely on using assessment of learner’s needs, present level, and motivation

8. Comfortable Rate • Need to be allowed to move into speaking at a comfortable rate • Students must hear and understand messages and build a listening vocab first, before speaking (silent or preproduction period) • Must still involve the ELLs in classroom activities, but structured so the ELLs can participate at a comfortable level • How? (Turn & Talk)

9. Leo van Lier • Most important aspect of effective teaching is understanding the learner • Do you agree? • ZPD • AAA curriculum • Awareness • Autonomy • Authenticity

10. Lier’s AAA Curriculum • Awareness: Attention & the role of perception are vital for teachers & learners - Must know what doing & why - Be consciously engaged - Reflect on the learning process • Autonomy: Self-regulation, motivation, & deep processing – must take responsibility, be accountable, & have free choice in learning activities • Authenticity: Teaching & learning language as it is used in life, being relevant, & basing all learning activities on true communication

11. Stages of Second Language Acquisition • Preproduction (AKA Silent Period): Communicates with gestures, actions, & formulaic speech; silent; building receptive vocab. (0 – 6 months after starting L2) • Early Production: Can label & categorize info.; can say, “I don’t understand” (6 months – 1 year) • Speech Emergence: Use language purposefully; can produce complete sentences (1 – 3 years) • Intermediate Fluency: Can produce connected narrative; can use reading & writing within the context of a lesson; can resolve conflicts verbally; can write answers to higher-level questions (3 – 5 years) • Advanced Fluency: Cognitive academic language production (3 – 7 years)

12. KEY POINTS • Second language develops much like the first language • Learning a 2nd language is complex • People learn language at different rates • Social language is different than academic language • First language development affects 2nd language development • Students can transfer what they know in their 1st language to their 2nd language • ELLs are diverse • Cultural differences can affect students’ understanding • Collaboration b/t classroom & ESL teachers is essential • Academic standards are for all students

13. Classroom Environment • Students need many opportunities for language interaction • A classroom where children work together to solve problems and produce projects supports their language development • Give them authentic reasons to communicate & support in refining their language production • Provides students with realization that their verbal communication is not always understood by others • Help students move from receptive, semantic processing (listening to understand) to expressive, syntactic processing (formation of words & sentences) In 1991 Shifts started…

14. SHIFTS • Product to process focus • Teacher-controlled to student-involved classrooms • Preplanned, rigid curricular to flexible, open-ended curricula • Measuring only performance to gauging competence & potential • Praising correct answers to building on approximations How?

15. Understanding the functions of language plays an important role in documenting students’ growth in language Most ELLs will acquire instrumental functions first, to have their needs met Functions of language: Instrumental Regulatory Representation Interactional Personal Heuristic Imaginative Seven Functions of Language

16. Seven Functions of Language, cont… • Instrumental – To cause things to happen • Regulatory – To control events or the behavior of others • Representation – To communicate facts or knowledge • Interactional – To get along with others • Personal – To express personality, feelings, or emotions • Heuristic – To acquire knowledge • Imaginative – To create an imaginative world for pleasure or play

17. Affective Filter • Role of emotions on acquisition of language • When a learner is placed in a stressful situation (where language production is demanded), the student’s ability to learn/produce language is impaired • What are the implications of this for the classroom teacher?

18. BICS vs CALP Jim Cummins differentiates between • BICS - Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (social language, 1 - 3 years to acquire) • CALP - Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (academic language, 5 – 7 years or more to acquire)

19. BICS vs CALP BICS= Social Language (1 – 3 yrs. to develop) • The day-to-day language needed to interact socially with other people • Social interactions usually occur in a meaningful context • Conversations are not demanding cognitively, so the language required is not specialized CALP = Academic Language (5 – 7 yrs. or longer to develop) • Refers to academic learning about subject area content material; specialized language • Academic language acquisition includes skills such as comparing, classifying, synthesizing, evaluating, & inferring

20. Cummins’s Quadrant • Helps us understand what must be added to instruction to make it comprehensible to students • Identifies 2 dimensions of language: • Its cognitive demand • Its context embeddedness - By adding context, students’ have better understanding of cognitively demanding language

21. Strategies that Support the Progress of ELLs • Planning language objectives for lessons in all curricular areas • Building academic vocabulary development into all lessons • Building & activating background knowledge • Providing opportunities for extended academic English interaction • Integrating vocabulary & concept review throughout lessons • Providing both modeling & feedback related to language usage in both speech & writing

22. Five Premises of Effective Instruction of ELLs* • Comprehensible Input • Increase verbal interaction in classroom activities • Provide instruction that contextualizes language • Reduce anxiety of the students • Offer opportunities for active involvement of the students

23. The Role of Assessment • Beginning ELLs often understand much more than they are able to express • Therefore, teachers must create a variety of ways for ELLs to demonstrate their understanding • Teachers need to adjust their teaching strategies as a result of assessments • “Use data to drive instruction” - Differentiation

24. Jigsaw Activity • Observation and Anecdotal Records • Performance Sampling • Language Development Profiles • Portfolio Assessment Conclusion: It is crucial that teachers recognize the essential ways in which they must adapt lessons & assessments to meet the unique needs of their ELLs. Effective Strategies to follow…