Scaffolding Language for Learning

teaching academic language to additional language learners

Pestalozzi Workshop: „From assimilation and isolation to integration“

Ljubljana * 14th of November 2012

Introduction

Education institutions social cohesion and respect for ⇨human rights

Most education systems have problems to deal with disadvantaged pupils in a way that reduces their disadvantages

Explanations: individual factors, background factors & characteristics of education systems (Diefenbach 2010)

Foci of the presentation:features of successful multi-ethnic & multilingual schools

language-related features within schools & classrooms

scaffolding as an approach to teaching and learning in multilingual settings

AIM – reducing educational gap & supporting social cohesion

What to expect

1. Why educational gap? Some explanations

2. Features of successful multi-ethnic & multilingual schools

3. A model for teaching in multilingual schools: scaffolding language for learning

4. Practical activity – engaging with the role of language in scaffolding for learning

5. Summary

1. Why achievement gap? Some explanations

Achievement gap ? Why? (Gogolin & Krüger-Potratz 2010; Diefenbach 2010)

3 sets of explanations

Structural differences in the starting conditions of children (social, cultural and financial resources)

Secondary effects (educational aspirations and strategies as milieu-specific experiences)

Features of schools and educational systems (effects of teaching, contextual aspects, mechanisms of institutional discrimination, language-related issues)

Need for a multi-level approach

OECD, 2004

1) Structural differences:social or cultural background

“It has not been empirically verified that the disadvantages of children and youth from migrant families can be satisfactory explained by the assumption that their cultural or religious predispositions do not match the expectations of the schools or by the comparatively poor socio-economic situation of their families.”

(Diefenbach 2007 )

Research Results: Migrant families

have high aspirations (for girls and boys),are highly motivated to invest in the educational career of their children.

Migrant pupilsare highly motivated for school as such and

for learning.

2) Secondary effects:low aspirations and motivation of immigrant parents and pupils

(Some) mechanisms of institutional discrimination: “Monolingual habitus” of multilingual schools (Gogolin 1994) Early tracking Indirect institutional discrimination (Gomolla & Radtke 2002) Low aspirations of teachers towards additional language learners (Richardson

2008) Negative attitudes towards migration-induced multilingualism Lack of teacher competences in the instruction of academic language

3) Systemic factors of teaching and learning

“Academic language” is a register characterised by a high degree of abstraction and cognitive involvement, it is context-disembedded and contains features of written discourse (also in the oral forms). In education it carries an exceptional weight, as:

- it is used in learning tasks, textbooks and other teaching materials;- it is used in assessments and exams.

The acquisition of “academic language“ takes time…

Study Time of acquisition of colloquial language

Academic language competencies

Snow & Hoefnagel-Höhle (1978)

More than 1.5 years Not explored

Cummins (1980)Wright & Ramsey,1970; Ramsey &Wright, 1974

2 to 3 years 3 to 5 years

Collier (1987) 2 to 3 years 2 to 8 years

Hakuta, Butler & Witt (2000); Klesmer, 1993

2 to 5 years 4 to 7 years

MacSwan & Pray, 2005 1 to 6,5 years Not explored

Need for educational systems, school politics and teachers to adopt a continuous

and systematic model for teaching and learning of academic registers

2. Features of successful multi-ethnic & multilingual schools

A father speaks: “The expectation is low. Because they are different cultures or they are from third world countries, they are expected to be down the ladder somewhere.”

A mother speaks: “Usually when I go to Parents’ Evenings and that, they are always saying, ‘Oh yes, he has done so well and done this and that’. But the work I see, I know he can do better than that, yet he is not being pushed further, half the time he is just left to get on with it.”

An example: the issue of aspirations(Bourne 2010)

Basis for successful multi-ethnic schools (England, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Germany)

Prerequisites for successful schools:

Committed leadership High aspirations Positive and respectful school ethos Rich curriculum and extra activities Culturally sensitive curriculum Firm, shared behaviour policy Focus on parent and community involvement All teachers are language teachers

Successful multi-ethnic schools: achievement and identities

Monitoring and tracking achievement by gender, economic background and ethnicity/ immigrant and language background.

Exploring and targeting underachieving groups to raise attainment.

Regular feedback to students, self-assessment and target setting.

Building identities as successful learners.

Support for academic language learning across the curriculum.

Inclusive and additive forms of support. Shared procedures for bilingual support in

mainstream classrooms. Teaching of heritage languages in

curriculum alongside EU and other languages.

Any special provision has clear objectives, is agreed with students and parents.

All teachers are language teachers.

Successful multi-ethnic schools: language(s)

All teachers language teachers

Teachers provide subject-focused cognitive challenge, lowering language demands.

At times teachers focus on the language of the subject, and lowered cognitive challenge.

Teachers show the value of home languages, encouraged use for learning (including parents).

Teachers integrate aspects of home culture(s) into the classroom.

Bilingual teachers use minority language for subject learning.

A recent example (Bourne 2010)

Inner city primary school.Area of high unemployment, deprivation.92% with English as additional language.10 different languages spoken.

Stage 1

Identified under-attainment as priority.Established assertive discipline policy. Long term commitment to staff training.Observed no recognition or use in learning of L1 skills.

Stage 2

Recruited qualified bilingual staff. Whole school training on meeting bilingual

needs. School policy guidelines on developing

bilingual skills. Encouragement for L1 use in all learning. Home language pairs strategy. Regular use of home language groups.

2001

86%

94%

Attainment of children at 11 years National test scores

1997

English 36%

Mathematics 53%

Teaching does make a difference

Baker, 1996: 175

Innovation for mainstream: models for

inclusive teaching in multilingual constellations

1. Investigacao em escolas multilingues

3. A model for (inclusive) teaching in multilingual schools: scaffolding

language for learning

Upper secondary

Language supportacross thecurriculumLink between language &subject-matter

Primary school

Additionallanguagesupport / outsideschool

L1

Additive & inclusivelanguage support

Lower secondary

Involvement of parents & families

Inclusion of informallanguage learningsituations & contexts

Academic language

Everyday language

L2Foreign languages

Kindergarten

Method for continuous and systematic language support of all learners (Gogolin et al. 2011)

Didactical methods to include multilingualism Forms of cooperation

Method for continuous and systematic language support – 6 features for classroom work (Gogolin et al. 2011)

1. Teachers plan and organize their classes with the aim of promoting proficiency in academic language and explicitly establish connections between everyday and academic language

1. Teachers assess language competences of pupils individually and plan adequate language support

1. Teachers actively use everyday and academic linguistic means and moderate their use

1. Pupils have many opportunities to actively develop the language proficiency

1. Teachers support pupilsa in their individual process of language development

1. Teachers and pupils controll and evaluate the results of language instruction

Upper secondary

Language supportacross thecurriculumLink between language &subject-matter

Primary school

Additionallanguagesupport / outsideschool

L1

Additive & inclusivelanguage support

Lower secondary

Involvement of parents & families

Inclusion of informallanguage learningsituations & contexts

Academic language

Everyday language

L2

Kindergarten

Method for continuous and systematic language support (Gogolin et al. 2011)

Didactical methods to include multilingualism Forms of cooperation

Method of “language awareness”: support in explicit knowledge about language and conscious use for

teaching and learning

Didactical methods to include multilingualism

Didactical methods to include multilingualism

Upper secondary

Language supportacross thecurriculumLink between language &subject-matter

Primary school

Additionallanguagesupport / outsideschool

L1

Additive & inclusivelanguage support

Lower secondary

Involvement of parents & families

Inclusion of informallanguage learningsituations & contexts

Academic language

Everyday language

L2

Kindergarten

Method for continuous and systematic language support (Gogolin et al. 2011)

Didactical methods to include multilingualism Forms of cooperation

Language teaching in subject-matter

Questionnaire with teachers of natural sciences and mathematics

During my pre- and in-service training I was trained to teach in multilingual or multicultural classes.

yes more yes more no

than no than yes

Language teaching in subject-matter