Scaffolding L2 Mastery in Subject- Specific Academic Literacy Interventions for Linguistically Diverse Student Groups Adelia Carstens 18 June 2016

Overview Background and context: Struggles of studying at university through a second language (English) Two lenses for looking at learning through a second language Roles of languages present in the classroom Types of support: ‘scaffolding’ Conclusion

Background and context: Studying at university through a second language World-wide trend: Struggles of university students who have to study though L2 University of Pretoria L1 speakers of English who studied through medium of English for 12+ years (Model C and private schools) L2 speakers of English with various mother tongues: studied through English for 12+ years (private schools) L2 speakers of English with Afrikaans as their mother tongue: studied through Afrikaans for 12 years; English only one subject (Model C schools) L2 speakers of English with an African language as their mother tongue: studied through English from Grade 4 (township and rural schools) Credit-bearing Academic Literacy modules to mitigate risks Mostly subject-specific (range from wide- to narrow-angled) Academic Literacy lecturers Monolingual English Bilingual Afrikaans-English Multilingual: English + 2 or more than African languages 20 September 2018

Two lenses for looking at learning through an L2: Roles of languages present in the classroom Types of support (scaffolding)

Roles of languages present in the classroom Monolingual approaches Target language should be only language in the classroom Rationale: The more students are exposed to the target language the greater the possibility of internalisation Direct method Audiolingual method Natural approach Total physical response Communicative language teaching Recent versions more tolerant, e.g. CBI, CLIL 20 September 2018

Bi-/multilingual approaches No compelling reason why the L1 should be banned from the classroom Rationale: Languages do not operate separately in learners' minds; use of L1 is a normal process to support learning in another language (translanguaging) Grammar-translation method Community language learning New concurrent method 'Critical' multilingual pedagogies: Translanguaging (systematically using 2 or more languages in the same lesson) 20 September 2018

Language support: scaffolding Sociocultural Theory (Vygotsky 1978) Language is the main vehicle of thought: Starts as dialogue (Bakhtin 1981) Mediation is central to learning: Language = most powerful mediation tool Social interaction facilitates learning and development: All learning is co-constructed Learning is a process of apprenticeship and internalisation: Skills and knowledge are transformed from the social to the cognitive ZPD a central construct Distance between independent problem-solving and potential development under adult guidance or in collaboration with more competent peers

What is scaffolding? CURRICULUM DESIGN Circumstances under which the ZPD operates (as metaphor) Process of creating space for facilitating access to the learner, and then gradually removing support as the learner becomes skilled enough to manage the task independently (Bruner 1983:163; Donato 1994:40): Tripartite pedagogical structure (diagram) Does not always move from top to bottom (Gibbons 2003): Students may alter/transform scaffolds at the top PROCEDURES USED IN PARTICULAR ACTIVITY COLLABORATIVE PROCESS OF INTERACTION: MOMENT TO MOMENT SUPPORT 20 September 2018

Expanded ZPD (Van Lier 2004) Scaffolding, modelling Discovery, joint construction Assistance from more capable peers or adults Interaction with equal peers Inner resources: knowledge, experience, memory, investment Interaction with less capable peers Resourceful-ness, self access Learning by teaching 20 September 2018

Types of scaffolding (suitable for learning subject content in an L2) Learning/learner centred (Walqui 2006) Monolingual, Bilingual or Multilingual focus Lecturer/instruction-centred (Fennema-Bloom 2009/10; Cook 2001) Bilingual focus (lecturer conversant in students' L1) ("code scaffolding") Modelling Bridging Schema-building Contextualisation Re-presenting text Developing metacognition A linguistic shift used to Scaffold further content acquisition Check and sustain comprehension Explain difficult linguistic elements of the L2 Increase participation among students Manage the class 20 September 2018

Modelling Providing students with clear examples of what is expected of them, for imitation Multilingual dimensions As a monolingual strategy Central element of genre approaches Examples of whole texts Partially ‘contrived’ examples (???) Examples of previous students' work Examples of appropriate language use for particular functions: describing, comparing, evaluating Handouts with information on how to complete a task; with examples of phrases and terminology on the reverse side Parallel texts Multilingual glossaries with key terms and definitions 20 September 2018

Bridging Valuing and validating students' prior knowledge and literacies As a monolingual strategy Multilingual dimensions Activate/engage prior knowledge: Anticipatory guides (what students know & what they expect of a new topic) Show how materials are relevant to own lives and other subjects Share personal experiences related to the theme Use personal experience to build confidence: narratives Reading literacy; science literacy; digital footprint (IT) (Carstens 2015) Reflecting on the narrative of a peer from a different cultural group Allow translanguaging during peer collaboration (Garcia 2009; Brooks & Donato 1994; Carstens 2016) – bottom-up scaffolding Allowing 'code-meshing': "developing a critical awareness of the choices that are rhetorically more effective" (Canagarjah 2011:402) 20 September 2018

Schema-building Building on learners' structured processes to store and retrieve knowledge and experience As a monolingual strategy Multilingual dimensions Learners skimming and scanning a text (building a preliminary schema) Lecturer starting a lecture with an advance organiser Using concept mapping as an organiser of conceptual schemas (Novak & Cañas 2009; Van Boxtel et al 2002): Lecturer or student- generated Presenting an advance organiser in more than one language Multilingual concept maps with definitions (Carstens 2016) – lecturer-generated or student generated 20 September 2018

Contextualisation Academic language is situation-dependent and dense As a monolingual strategy Multilingual and multimodal dimensions Textbooks and articles: Embed context-independent language in a sensory context using metaphors and analogies based on students’ experiences. Use pictures, film objects, etc. as 'multisemiotic scaffolding' Can function bottom-up through students' own multimodal reconstruction of meaning 20 September 2018

Re-presenting text 'Translating' text: into another genre; text type with a different purpose, style, register; structure; language Monolingual Multilingual Multimodal ‘Transgenring’: e.g. an eye- witness account into a formal incident report Changing the text type: e.g. instructions to a description, or vice versa Translation: L2 learners use translation as a mental activity when reading or writing in the L2 Potential to facilitate schema-building (Pellatt 2009:34 Transmodalisation /transmediation: Converting a visual text into a verbal text, and vice versa; or using a combination of modes 20 September 2018

Developing metacognition When students learn to monitor and evaluate the adequacy of their current level of understanding As a monolingual strategy Multilingual dimensions Focus in particular on the target language: Brown & Palinscar’s (1985) Reciprocal Teaching (read, summarise, ask questions, reflect) Practise self-assessment using rubrics Helps students to know which elements of performance are important Translanguaging: If students are allowed to choose how and when to switch languages, “they assume an empowering self- managing role of their own language acquisition and reflect upon those choices […] which in terms of self-access use is a metacognitive skill essential in autonomous learning” (Adamson & Fujimoto-Adamson 2012:64) 20 September 2018

Conclusion Linguistically complex teaching situations demand creative support (scaffolding) strategies Useful to think of scaffolding as a set of semiotically flexible sociocultural strategies with lasting cognitive gains Should be used consistently and purposefully Should introduce message abundancy and message redundancy If applied appropriately, all English L2 students may gain as much profit from the mainstream subject matter as their L1 counterparts 20 September 2018