AEMP Grade Level Collaboratives Module 7 Systematic Teaching of Contrastive Analysis Office of Curriculum, Instruction, and School Support Language Acquisition Branch Academic English Mastery Program

Long Range Goals of the Eight GLC Modules: Increase knowledge and awareness of what authentic Culturally Relevant & Responsive Educational (CRRE) Practices are Build an authentic culturally relevant and responsive learning environment that teaches to and through the strengths of our students Validate and affirm the legitimacy of each student’s cultural and linguistic practices within the learning process

GLC Module 7 Objectives: To build participants knowledge base on:  What Contrastive Analysis is  Why we should do it  How it is done  Have participants demonstrate understanding of the four techniques of Contrastive Analysis

PD Norms for Success Participate 100% of the time Be mindful of others -Put electronics on vibrate or meeting mode --Be respectful of other’s opinions Listen with a different ear, an open mind, and a receptive heart

Culturally Responsive Icebreaker

Linguistic Features: Categorical Differences-Not Deficits  Because SELs are identified as English Only or Initially Fluent English Proficient, the differences in their speech and language are often misunderstood as errors rather than rule-governed features.  The phonological and grammatical differences in African American Language (AAL), Mexican American Language (MxAL), Hawaiian American Language (HAL), and Native American Language (NAL) represent the grammar and structure of each particular language.  Therefore, the focus of contrastive analysis becomes a comparative rule study or grammar study between Standard English and the home language.

Contrastive Analysis: What is it and How do I do it?  Contrastive Analysis is the systematic study of a pair of languages with a view to identifying their structural differences and similarities.  AEMP identifies four specific ways in which the technique of contrastive analysis can be implemented: 1) Linguistic; 2) Contextual; 3) Elicited, and 4) Situational

8.5 % - 59% Contrastive Analysis Traditional Techniques Source: H. Taylor Standard English, Black English, Bidialectalism Contrastive Analysis vs. “Traditional English Dept. Techniques” Why Do It?

Linguistic Contrastive Analysis  Students identify characteristic features of home language written in songs, plays, story scripts, or books like the Shimmershine Queens, Chato’s Kitchen, or Wild Meat and Bully Burgers  Students analyze which linguistic features must be changed to revise sentences/paragraphs to reflect Standard English structure  Students can also engage in “reverse” contrastive analysis and study which linguistic features in Standard English must be changed to revise sentences/paragraphs to reflect home language structure

Interactivity: Linguistic Contrastive Analysis Translate the following sentences lifted from literature: Grammatical Category-Negation (AAL) He don’t do nothin’. _________________________________ (SE) Nobody can say anything now. _________________________________

Contextual Contrastive Analysis  The student reads or is a read a story that is heavily embedded with Standard English and is then required to retell the story. The students story retelling is taped and compared and contrasted with the language of the text

Example: Contextual Contrastive Analysis Standard English paragraph from the book Downtown Boy by Juan Felipe Herrera- Juanito’s cousin encouraged him to box because he was really good but Juanito wasn’t sure because his mom and dad didn’t want him to get hurt participating in such a violent sport. He knew that he would get in trouble if his parents found out. Juanito’s cousin encouraged him to join the boxing club anyway because Juanito was very tall and strong. Besides, the trainer was always looking out for new talent. Taped retelling of Downtown Boy in MxAL- It was about…um…Juanito and his primo encourage him to do boxeen but Juanito does not want to do it cuz his dad told him not to, cuz its violent and he just doesn’- wan-do-it…and his primo wants him to do it like…a lot!...And um..he..he…he um…what’s that called…he wants um…to join da boxeen club…cuz he’s da tallest and strongest supposely, so he doesn’-wan do-it cuz his mom tinks he shouldn’…so that’s…that.

Elicited Contrastive Analysis  The teacher elicits spontaneous verbalizations/responses from students about material read or presented and creates a teachable moment for contrastive analysis

Example: Elicited Contrastive Analysis Teacher observes student language usage and records their responses in a journal Sample student utterance (AAL): If you got a negative number and times it by another negative number then it make the number positive. Sample written explanation for math journaling (Academic English): If you have a negative number and multiply it by another negative number, then the product will be a positive number.

Situational Contrastive Analysis  Students contrast and analyze the mainstream and non-mainstream versions of targeted language forms with an emphasis on situational appropriateness, i.e., communication, environment, audience, purpose, and function.

Focus on Function Situational Appropriateness Students take into account the intent of their messages for various audiences & purposes -Students should be able to determine the type of communication behavior most appropriate to a given situation or audience - Students should be given an opportunity to decide prior to a given activity, the type of communication behaviors that would be most appropriate -Students should have opportunities to role play commonly encountered situations and relate these situations to acceptable language usage

Example: Situational Appropriateness Activity Students do a brief classroom morning news report that simulates a television news broadcast in Standard English Students can analyze whether or not home language should be utilized during certain portions of the broadcast for certain purposes, i.e., sports highlights, entertainment

Frequent Misconceptions Contrastive analysis always proceeds from home language to Standard English. Standard English and Academic English are the same thing Home languages have no place at school You have to speak the students’ home language in order to implement contrastive analysis Contrastive analysis is too complex and time consuming to be made practical

Interactivity: Contrastive Analysis Case Scenarios What are the Issues? What are the Recommendations? Give an Example

References Cole, Lorraine. Verbal Image Enhancement-Trainers Handbook for Dual Linguistic Instruction of African American Children, 1991 Lemoine, N. (2001). Language Variation and Literacy Acquisition in African American Students (p ). In Harris, J., Kamhi, A. & Pollock, K. (Eds) Literacy in African American Communities. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum & Associates Taylor, Hanni U Standard English, Black English, and bidialectalism. New York: Peter Lang.