Academic Language and English Language Learners We are all ESL teachers All of our students are English Language Learners

edTPA emphasis on Academic Language for all students Rubric 4: Identifying and Supporting Language Demands How does the candidate identify and support language demands associated with a key history/social studies learning task? What are the differences among rubric levels? What are the key factors they are looking for in your lesson? How can you build Academic Language into your objectives and your lesson plans? What are you going to do to teach the language demands and functions?

ESL: Diversity within Diversity ESL means languages from around the world Different skill abilities and education levels No more homogeneous than other student groups

“Learning English” Conversational English (Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills) or BICS Academic English (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency) or CALP BICS takes about 2 years to learn CALP takes 7-10 years to learn CALP = academic success

3 basic groups of ELL students Newly arrived with adequate schooling Newly arrived with limited schooling Little or no literacy in any language Long term ELL could be… Not new, but still learning CALP and struggling to catch up academically BICS conceals need for continued supports Loss of literacy in native language

Language Proficiency Descriptors WIDA standards (World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment) ESL students tend to transition into regular classrooms around “Expanding” level Still need help but they lose their support services Many of our native speakers are also at “Developing” or “Expanding” levels Everyone is an English Language Learner

Stages of Language Acquisition Pre-production Early production Speech emergence Intermediate fluency Early stages characterized by “silent period” and work on receptive communication

Anxiety = Silence “Affective filter” means anxiety will cause speech to shut down “Monitor” theory = the more you monitor your speech, the more the affective filter kicks in “positioning theory”= if we position ELLs as uninvited or inferior, affective filter increases

What can teachers do? Speak so we are understood (slower pace, repetition, multiple examples) Provide visual and verbal context clues Create a low anxiety learning environment to encourage verbal responses and interaction Build academic language into our objectives and teaching strategies

Academic Language The language of school edTPA refers to “language function” and “language demands”

edTPA speak, explained Language DEMANDS is the umbrella term for all the ways you will use and teach language Language Demands include: Language FUNCTION (verbs) Vocabulary “syntax” and “discourse” Syntax is stuff like grammar Discourse is what we do in our discipline—we write, talk, argue, etc.

LANGUAGE DEMANDS Language DEMANDS LANGUAGE FUNCTION SYNTAX (VERBS) VOCABULARY SYNTAX DISCOURSE

Vocabulary in social studies might include… Congress executive delta Hippocampus assimilation representative Deviance cerebellum caucus Latitude tectonics plateau

Language Function words Define, explain, contrast, categorize, evaluate, criticize… What is the function of the word? We understand them, but we need to teach them Should be the basis of objectives

Some common strategies for Academic Language Break words down so they are understood Use them in conversation Use hand gestures when possible Concept cards/vocabulary cards/Vocabulary journals/Word walls Cloze Activities with word bank Modeled talk (show them circle, trace, underline)

Some reminders for teaching ELLs Lower the Affective Filter and make it safe for students to speak Provide lots of scaffolds to help all students get where we want them to go Consult WIDA charts to tell us how students can currently respond and what next level we can encourage

Sources for research references Himmele and Himmele, The Language Rich Classroom Rothenberg and Fisher, Teaching English Language Learners: A Differentiated Approach. Pearson Education, Inc., 2007 https://www.wida.us/ Check out the “can do descriptors” chart for ideas