Strategies to Support & Assess Dual Language Learners’ Oral Language

Development

Sherry Taylor, PhDAssociate Professor

Literacy, Language & Culturally Responsive TeachingUniversity of Colorado, Denver

Isabelle Smith, MAECSE Pre-School Teacher, Boulder Valley School District

Lead Instructor in Early Literacy Certificate Program at University of Colorado Denver

RMECC Conference, April 17, 2015

Denver, CO

Welcome!

❏Young children & language: What does research say? ❏Young dual language learners

❏Language & culture go ‘hand in hand’

❏Reflecting on our language use in the classroom

❏Purposeful planning: Intentional structures to support children’s language

❏Assessing language: What are we looking for?

❏Turn talk over to the children!

But first, let’s take a moment to find out a little about YOU …

❏ Early childhood teachers? Early Childhood Special Education teachers? ❏ Early childhood paraprofessionals? ❏ Speech pathologists? Occupational therapists? ❏ K-3 teachers? ❏ Teacher Coaches? ELA Consultants? ❏ School-Family Liaison? Administrators?❏ Teacher Educators?

❏ How many of you work with students who are acquiring English as an additional language? Dual language learners (learning their home language while they also learn English?)

❏ What languages are present in your classroom context?

Children and Oral Language

Children are language learners by virtue of being born into human society.

(Golinkoff & Hirsh-Pasek, 1999; Halliday, 1975; Vygotsky, 1962)

Children construct knowledge about language as they use it to engage with the people and objects in their environments.

Children use language to make sense of their surroundings.

Acquiring Oral Language

Acquiring one’s first language is not based on imitation; instead,

children work through linguistic rules and experiment with

using language forms that most adults never use, such as,

“I buyed you a present.”

“We went to the store yesternight.”

“I can’t find my jamamas!”

Most children learn the rules of their first language at an early age without formal instruction.

Acquiring Oral Language

While language development & acquisition are not completely predictable, children generally:

say their first words between 12 and 18 months.

begin to use complex sentences by the age of 4 to 4 ½ years.

have acquired most of the fundamentals of their native language by the time they begin kindergarten (e.g., language systems including phonology, semantics morphology, syntax, pragmatics….).

Making Meaning with Oral Language

So, let’s think about the components that contribute to a complex,

fundamental language system that relate sounds to meaning:

Phonology: The rules for combining sounds.

Semantics: Using units of meaning (morphemes) and word parts that

contribute to making meaning as we craft sentences, including indicators of ‘plurals’ ‘possessives’ and ‘past tense’ to mention a few.

Morphology & Syntax: The rules that allow us to arrange units of

meaning (morphemes) to form a sentence or a question, for example,

“My cookies!”

“All gone cookies?”

Pragmatics: Engaging successfully in conversation with others & adapting one’s

conversation for social & cultural contexts.

Children as young as five: begin to adjust their speech and gestures to accommodate for different social

situations as they engage in pretend play and role switching.

make adjustments to their speech when the speaker and listener do not share the same immediate physical context. In this case, children begin to try to represent events beyond the ‘here and now.’

Thinking about Oral Language

Do you AGREE orDISAGREE?

1) All languages do not share linguistic universals.

2) Children learn language in the speech community where they are raised with little or no direct instruction.

3) Language is dynamic (not static).

4) Language speakers have a language competence that may not always be reflected in their spoken language.

5) Languages and dialects do not have regular structure and a predictable grammar.

6) Children do not come to school knowing the ‘right way’ to interact, ask questions, and tell stories according to the speech community where they were raised.

ON YOUR OWN: Think about the

statements.

Choose ONE statement to talk

over with someone sitting nearby.

What do you know? What have you

observed?

Do you AGREE orDISAGREE?

1) FALSE: All languages do not share linguistic

universals.

2) Children learn language in the speech community where they are raised with little or no direct instruction.

3) Language is dynamic (not static).

4) Language speakers have a language competence that may not always be reflected in their spoken language.

5) FALSE: Languages and dialects do not have regular structure and a predictable grammar.

6) Children do not come to school knowing the ‘right way’ to interact, ask questions, and tell stories according to the speech community where they were raised.

What does research say?

1) All languages DO share linguistic universals.

2) Children learn language in the speech community where they are raised with little or no direct instruction (sociocultural influences).

3) Language is dynamic & always changing (… Fracking, hashtag, selfie!)

1) Language speakers have a language competence that may not always be reflected in their spoken language (competence vsperformance…what we know is correct, what comes out of our mouths).

2) Languages & dialects DO have a regular structure & predictable grammar (E.g., Appalachian English, African-American English).

3) Children DO come to school knowing the ‘right way’ to interact, ask questions, and tell stories according to the speech community where they were raised (where language was modeled & reinforced).

What do we know about

predictable

stages of language development?

A quick review!

Typical English Language Development(First Language)

42-48 months∗ Understands approximately

1,500-2,000 words∗ Responds to three step

directions∗ Tells how common objects

are used∗ Uses contractions∗ Knows positional words (in

front, behind)

48-54 months∗ Uses approximately 2,000-

2,500 words∗ Says 1,500 words∗ Uses possessives (boy’s,

dog’s)∗ Identifies first, last and

middle

Voress & Pearson (2006) Early Childhood Development Chart

Typical English Language Development(First Language)

54-60 months ∗ Understands approximately

2,500 - 2,800 words∗ Knows concepts such as

heavy/ light, long/ short∗ Says 2,000 words∗ Generates complex

sentences∗ Tells familiar stories without

picture cues

60-72 Months∗ Understands approximately

13,000 words∗ States similarities and

differences between objects∗ Uses pronouns consistently∗ Tells simple “jokes”

Voress & Pearson (2006) Early Childhood Development Chart

What about for those acquiring an additional language?

Oral Language Development: DLL Children and Children who are Monolingual Learners of English

Baring developmental issues, all children are born with the ability to learn language, process & store individual sounds & remember grammar rules;

Both DLLs and monolingual learners of English, learn English in fairly predictable stages; AND, achieve developmental milestones at similar times, including babbling, first words, first word combinations(telegraphic speech);

Young children’s oral language development supports their literacydevelopment whether the child is a DLL or monolingual learner.

(Byers-Heinlein, Burns & Werker, 2010; Paradis, Genesse & Crago, 2011)

Acquiring an additional language

Second-language acquisition assumes that the learner has a foundation and solid knowledge of the first language.

Given such a solid foundation in the first language, the learner moves through the process of learning an additional language, including phonological components, vocabulary, grammatical

structures, and writing systems.

The process is not linear, it is more like a zig-zag process

Acquiring English as an additional

language

Learners of an additional language move through similar developmental stages as those

stages of first language development thereby making

some of the same types of errors in grammatical markers

and picking up chunks of language

without knowing precisely what each word means.

Learners of an additional language rely on language

input and modifications from proficient speakers who

support successful conversational exchanges and

comprehension of the additional language.

Stages

of

Second Language

Acquisition

Pre-

production

STAGE 1: The silent period;" when the student takes in the new

language but does not speak it. This period often lasts six weeks or several months, depending on the individual.

Early

production

STAGE 2: The individual begins to speak using short words and

sentences; emphasis is still on listening and absorbing the new language; many errors in this stage that can last 3 months or longer.

Speech

Emergent

STAGE 3: Speech becomes more frequent, words and sentences are

longer; student still relies heavily on context clues and familiar topics. Vocabulary continues to increase in this stage that can last 6 months to around 2 to 3 years; errors begin to decrease in common or repeated interactions.

Beginning

Fluency

STAGE 4: Speech is fairly fluent in social situations with minimal

errors. New contexts and academic language are challenging; individual struggles to express herself due to gaps in vocabulary and appropriate phrases (2 to 3 years depending on the individual).

Intermediate

Fluency STAGE 5: Communicating in the second language is fluent,

especially in social language situations; individual is able to speak almost fluently in new situations or in academic areas, but there will be gaps in vocabulary knowledge and some unknown expressions; fewer errors, and the individual is able to demonstrate higher order thinking skills in the second language such as offering an opinion or analyzing a problem (3 to 6 years depending on the individual).

Advanced

Fluency STAGE 6: The individual communicates fluently in most all contexts

and can maneuver successfully in new contexts and when exposed to new academic information. At this stage, the individual may still have an accent and use idiomatic expressions incorrectly, but the individual is essentially fluent and comfortable communicating in the second language (5 to 7 years or never depending on the individual).

Language Acquisition for Dual Language Learners Learning English

Similarities • Recognition of phonemes

follows the same pattern for DLLs compared to monolingual learners;

• DLLS produce first words at about the same age as monolingual learners [12-18 mos] (Genesee, 2003; Patterson & Pearson, 2004).

• Distribution of lexical features is similar for DLLs as compared to monolingual learners (e.g., use of nouns and verbs).

DifferencesThe ability to distinguish contrasting phonemes:

• Vowels occur at 6-8 months for monolingual learners of Engish and at 10-12 months for DLLs ; and,

• Consonants occur at 8-10 months for monolinguals of English and 14-21 months for bilingual learners.

DLLs can differentiate between two languages with different rhythmic patterns by age 4-5 months indicating that they have two phonological systems, the foundation for two separate linguistic systems.

DLLs produce “translation equivalents” from the time they begin to speak (words in each language that have the same referential meaning; same concept with 2 labels).

DLLs store two sets of: Sounds, grammar rules, vocabulary, pragmatic rules & cultural behavior rules.

By the time they enter kindergarten…

Most children are proficient in the oral language of their first language, meaning they have mastered the basic structures of the

oral language and are fairly effective communicators. (Vukelich, Christie, Enz, 2008)

Given the developmental period for language is birth to 5 years……

Children in ECE programs and young kindergarteners are still learning their first language

and need opportunities to develop it fully

as they begin learning English

as an additional language in school.

(Echevarria, Short & Peterson, 2011)

What stages of language acquisition tend to be

demonstrated by the young children you support?

Look back at the 2 earlier slides.

On your own: Reflect & check

What is the power of

oral language?

❏ Language is the primary symbol system through which children learn about the world.

❏ Children use language to facilitate their thinking and learning in all areas.

❏ Children jointly construct meaning and knowledge with others.

Children’s talk provides us with a window into their strategies

for acquiring a second language

Young children apply strategies similar to those used to

learn their first language: • Listen carefully to distinguish sounds; • Learn phonological rules; • Learn to use grammar to construct meaning phrases & sentences to express

themselves.

They may also: • Go through a silent period; • Code-switch; • Use formulaic expressions;• Experiment with the academic terms used in class.

Children’ talk provides us with a

window into their thinking & their

knowledge…if…..when…

We create structures to support children’s talk in a variety of contexts;

❏We encourage & support children to engage in talk with each other;

❏We listen & observe with intention & purpose.

When we listen with intention & purpose,

we gain insights into...

❏ children’s knowledge of language functions & forms across a variety of different contexts;

❏ children’s interactional competencies;

❏ what children know about content areas & the world;

❏ how children’s TALK corresponds with their reading and writing development.

What about culture

and language?

Language, Culture, and Context

go hand-in-hand

Children develop the capacity to use, talk about, and

learn through language - both oral & written language -

within the various contexts of their lives….including the

socio - cultural contexts of their lives.

Language, Culture & Context

go hand-in-hand….…for adults too!

Consider one day last week:

❏ Discuss the way you spoke and used written language with

your students, your colleagues, and your administrator.

❏ Discuss the ways you speak and use written language at

home, at play, in social media, and with family members.

❏ Adults’ language varies as the socio-cultural context varies.

TURN & TALK WITH SOMEONE NEARBY

Language use is influenced by the different

contexts we experience

THINK ABOUT IT: ❏ Are there particular contexts where your language use is

comfortable and proficient?

❏ Are there contexts where your words do not ‘flow’ as comfortably? Where you may be somewhat self-conscious or “tongue-tied”?

❏ This is true for young children too! Their language use excels in different contexts too!