Damaso Albino, MU Lysandra Alexander, PDE Jane Hershberger, CCIU ESL Fundamentals: Principles of Language Development Damaso Albino, MU Lysandra Alexander, PDE Jane Hershberger, CCIU Slide 1- Lysandra: Hello! Welcome to the Migrant Education Program online training module ESL Fundamentals: Principles of Language Development. In the Educating the Educator module, we talked about effective lesson planning. In the Education 2.0 series we spoke about different teaching strategies. The ESL Fundamentals module is intended as a presentation of language development principles that you can consider as part of your lesson planning.

Purpose of this Module To present basic principles of second language acquisition to Migrant Education Program (MEP) staff members that provide services to MEP English Learners (ELs) Slide 2 – Lysandra The purpose of this module is to present basic principles of second language acquisition to Migrant Education Program (MEP) staff members that provide services to MEP English Learners (ELs).

Overview of This Module Second language acquisition: Stages of language acquisition WIDA levels of language proficiency BICS and CALP Academic language Slide 3 – Damaso This module will cover: Stages of language acquisition WIDA levels of language proficiency BICS and CALP and Academic language

Language Acquisition Learning a second language is a very complex process that involves a lot of “brain connections” Knowledge about thinking, language and culture transfer to the second language Learning a second language takes a long time! Slide 4 - Damaso Learning a second language is a very complex process that involves a lot of “brain connections.” Knowledge about knowing (metacognitive), knowledge about language (metalinguistic) and knowledge about culture (metacultural) transfer from your students’ first language to their second language. It is important to note that learning a second language takes a long time and not all learners learn at the same rate.

Language Acquisition Language learners develop listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills Receptive skills: Listening Reading Productive skills: Speaking Writing Each skill needs practice and support Slide 5: Jane Language skills develop interdependently, but at different rates and in different ways. Each language skill (listening, speaking, reading and writing) is unique. Language skills do not have the same cognitive demands; for example, learning to speak is easier than learning to write. Language skills can be divided into receptive skills: listening and reading and productive skills: speaking and writing. Each skill needs practice and support.

Language Acquisition We use language differently according to social settings Formal Informal Pragmatics is the study of language as it is used in social context It’s important to teach ELs pragmatics of English so they can adapt to differing social contexts Pragmatics of a language follow cultural norms Slide 6 - Jane Pragmatics is the study of language as it is used in social context. Language can be formal or informal based on the setting and audience. For example, talking to friends is different from talking to teachers or other adults. In addition to the language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing, your students need to know how to use language appropriately in social interactions.

Language Acquisition Stages of language acquisition Pre-production – silent period 3-6 months Early production 6 months Speech emergence 1-2 years Intermediate fluency 2-4 years Advanced fluency 4-10 years Slide 7 - Jane Achieving fluency can take up to a decade! There are predictable levels of language acquisition that students go through. The pre-production (silent period) can take 3-6 months. Early Production takes about 6 months. Speech emergence takes one to two years. These first three stages go by really fast, but the last two (intermediate and advanced) can take years!

Language Acquisition WIDA Levels of Language Proficiency Level 1 - Entering Level 2 - Beginning Level 3 - Developing Level 4 - Expanding Level 5 - Bridging Level 6 - Reaching For more information www.wida.us PDE ESL Portal, http://www.eslportalpa.info Slide 8 – Jane WIDA started as a consortium of states that wanted to study best practices in ESL . Their website now says that WIDA does not stand for anything. To quote them: “ WIDA is just WIDA.” It’s Mission reads: “WIDA advances academic language development and academic achievement for linguistically diverse students through high quality standards, assessments, research, and professional development for educators.” The WIDA levels of Language Proficiency are based on the language acquisition stages: Level 1 - Entering Level 2 - Beginning Level 3 - Developing Level 4 - Expanding Level 5 - Bridging Level 6 - Reaching Just as we said in the previous slide, the pre-production, early production and speech emergence levels go by very, so do levels 1-2 entering and beginning. Levels 3-4 developing and expanding tend to take longer and it can take years for our students to achieve levels 5-6 bridging and reaching. When you hear teachers talking about WIDA levels, these are the levels they’re referring to. English Learners take a Language Placement Test called the W-APT (It stands for WIDA Access Placement Test) to determine their initial English language level. Annually, ElLs in Pennsylvania take the WIDA ACCESS test to determine current language proficiency levels. The PA English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPs) are based on WIDA Levels. For more information on ELPs you can go to the PDE ESL Portal at the website listed on this screen.

Academic Language BICS v. CALP (Jim Cummins) BICS – Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills Language skills needed in social situations 1-2 years to develop Social language 10 percent of school success CALP - Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency Formal Academic Learning 5-7 years / 7-10 years 90 percent of school success Academic language Teacher talk Slide 9 – Damaso It is really important that you understand the difference between BICS and CALP. BICS refers to Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills . This is the language used in social contexts. It takes 1-2 years to develop. Researches think that BICS accounts for about 10% of school success. CALP stands for Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency. This is the language needed to succeed academically in school. It can take years to acquire CALP! Researchers think that CALP accounts for the remaining 90% of school success. There is a learning module on academic language. For additional information on the Principles of Language Development, please refer to the handout provided in the additional resources section.

Resources ELL Overlay: http://www.pdesas.org/Page?pageId=15 ESL Portal: http://www.eslportalpa.info/ Pennsylvania English Language Proficiency Standards: http://www.pdesas.org/Standard/View/PASpecific/1181 WIDA CAN DO Indicators: https://www.wida.us/standards/CAN_DOs/ WIDA Guiding Principles: https://www.wida.us/downloadLibrary.aspx Slide 11 – Lysandra There are several resources that provide more guidance on the topics covered during this webinar. They are: ELL Overlay ESL Portal Pennsylvania English Language Proficiency Standards WIDA CAN DO Indicators WIDA Guiding Principles

Education Apps Below are some education apps lists and reviews of language websites/apps: http://www.spainmovil.es/android/apps/apps-aprender-ingles-android_t18.html http://eliphone.about.com/od/Recomendadas/tp/Descargar-Las-Mejores-Aplicaciones-Ios-Para-Aprender-Ingles.htm http://botanicallinguist.com/find-a-language-exchange-partner/ http://www.fluentu.com/english/blog/best-apps-learning-english-esl- students/ Slide 12 – Lysandra There are also some educational apps that can help students with fluency

For more information on ESL Fundamentals, please visit PDE’s website at www.education.pa.gov. Slide 13 – Lysandra Thank you for your attention to this webinar. If you have any questions, please refer them to your Project Manager. We are happy to provide further support in lesson planning if you would like more information. The mission of the department is to academically prepare children and adults to succeed as productive citizens. The department seeks to ensure that the technical support, resources and opportunities are in place for all students, whether children or adults, to receive a high quality education.