Building Academic Language through Quality

TalkNDNU

Originated from Welton KwongAdministrator for English Learners

Fremont Union HSD

Country of origin for a majority of students in U.S. schools who are

designated“Limited English Proficient”?

The United States

AcademicLanguage

English language learners

And...

AcademicLanguage

justvocabulary

Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)

• the primacy of linguistic mediation in the development of higher mental processes

• language is the main vehicle of thought and that all language use is dialogic

• thought is restructured as it is transformed into speech, and completed in the word

What is academic language?

The grass got burned up, so the grasshopper has nothing to eat; now the birds have nothing to eat and the animals that eat birds have nothing to eat.

A sudden decrease in the population of one type of organism in the food chain will affect all of the other organisms in the food chain.

Text 1There was no rain for a very long

time. The farmers had planted crops like maize and wheat and corn, but because it didn’t rain, all the crops died. Because there were no crops there was nothing for children to eat, and they became very hungry. Because they didn’t have enough to eat, many of them died, especially the children and old people.

Text 2The extended drought caused the

crops to fail resulting in a widespread famine and many deaths, especially among the children and elderly.

Text 1There was no rain for a very long time. The

farmers had plated crops like maize and wheat and corn, but because it didn’t rain, all the crops died. Because there were no crops there was nothing for children to eat, and they became very hungry. Because they didn’t have enough to eat, many of them died, especially the children and old people.

Text 2The extended drought caused the crops to

fail resulting in a widespread famine and many deaths, especially among the children and elderly.

Text 1There was no rain for a very long time. The

farmers had plated crops like maize and wheat and corn, but because it didn’t rain, all the crops died. Because there were no crops there was nothing for children to eat, and they became very hungry. Because they didn’t have enough to eat, many of them died, especially the children and old people.

Text 2The extended drought caused the crops to

fail resulting in a widespread famine and many deaths, especially among the children and elderly.

So…

What do we do?

50%-66%

Type and percentage of talk in English by English Learners

Not just talk…

…QUALITY talk

Base Group KWL

What do you know about African art?

What would you like to know about African art?

What have you learned about African art?

Base Group. KWL Round Robin.

• One thing I know about African art is…

• One aspect of African art I am familiar with is…

• One thing I want to learn about African art is…. I wonder why/how…

• One aspect of African art I am curious about is (noun)…. I find it interesting that…

Take turns reading a section of your assigned text aloud. After reading your section, say:

• This part is tricky, but I think it means….

• I’m not sure what this is about, but I think it may mean….

• The main points of this section are….• Two questions I have about this

section are….Expert Group. Interacting with the Text

• My reading contains several important points. First, the author explains…. S/he subsequently describes…. Lastly, s/he informs the reader that….

• The author of my reading first explains X. After his/her explanation of X, s/he describes…. Before s/he concludes her article, s/he informs the reader that….

Base Group. Summarizing the readings.

Question Sentence Starter

What is it? I think it is a….It appears to be a….

What color is it? It has a…color.It has a similar color to….

What shape is it? It is in the shape of a….It has the shape of a….

What do you think it is made of?

It appears to be made of….It seems that … is used to make this object.

What details do you see? Some details I notice are….

What are some other aspects you notice?

Other aspects about the artifact I notice are….Other aspects about the artifact I find interesting are….

Expert Group. Describing the Benin artifacts

• The object I examined was a(n)…, a(n)…, that has a…color similar to….– The object I examined was a(n) statue, a(n)

horse with a saddle, that has a gold color similar to summer wheat.

• It was in the shape of a…. It appeared to be made of….

• It appears to be made of….• Some details that I noticed were….

For example, on the left….• I also found interesting….

Base Group. Reporting artifact details.

• Stories have a title.• There is a central character and others. In your

story, the OBA is the central character.• The setting is the Benin empire.• Something happens to the character.• The event transforms the character.• All 4 artifacts must be interwoven into the story.• Including 3 or more academic sequence words

(e.g., subsequently, after…).• Use past tense verbs.

Guidelines for your short story

Base Group. Writing short story.

Base Group KWL

What do you know about African art?

What would you like to know about African art?

What have you learned about African art?

SDAIE Strategies Used in Lesson

• Background building• Graphic organizers• Modeling• Manipulatives and hands-on materials• Active participation and quality talk in

various group and individual configurations

• Print-rich environment• Authentic and meaningful tasks• Opportunity for reflecting and verbalizing

thoughts with academic language models

Why Cultural Competency?It is most important to know about lives that seem,

on the surface, unlike our own.--Naomi Shihab Nye (Palestinian poet) Unless the schools of the world can engage in a

common effort to rebuild the spirit of common understanding of mutual sympathy and goodwill among all peoples and races, to exorcise the demons of prejudice, isolation and hatred, the schools themselves are likely to be submerged by the general return to barbarism, which is the sure outcome of present tendencies if they go unchecked by forces which education alone can evoke and fortify.

--John Dewey (1934)

Crucially important…

students engage in quality talk.

Working in small groups, students solve problems together, struggle, and make mistakes as they “apprentice to the language” and eventually “own the language.”

For Further Reading…• Gibbons, P. 2006. Bridging Discourses in the ESL Classroom.• Gibbons, P. 2009. English learners academic literacy and

thinking: Learning in the challenge zone.• Krashen, S. 1985. The Input Hypothesis: Issues and

Implications.• Long, M. and Porter P. 1985. “Group Work, Interlanguage

Talk, and Second Language Acquisition.”• Swain, M. 1995. “Three Functions of Output in Second

Language Learning.”• Swain, M. 2000. “The Output Hypothesis and Beyond:

Mediating Acquisition through Collaborative Dialogue.”• Vygotsky, L. 1978. Mind in Society: The Development of

Higher Psychological Process.• Zwiers, J. 2008. Building academic language: Essential

practices for content classrooms.