Oral Language Successful Practices

Adapted (with permission) from Successful Practices with English Learners: A Focus on Oracy Aida Walqui Director, Teacher Professional Development Program Wested 3rd Annual Language, Culture, and Education Institute April 5 University of Wisconsin Oshkosh

Oral Language Development Theoretical Base Basil Bernstein (1973-1995) Class, codes, and control. Restricted codes Premised on shared knowledge The familiar, context-rich interactions Essential for close relationships Example: “Shut the door!”

Basil Bernstein (1973-1995) Class, codes, and control Elaborated codes nothing is taken for granted elaboration is indispensable as a tool of schooling Example: “Shut the door so the cold air doesn’t come in.”

Do schools expect an elaborated code when children speak? If do, why? How can you scaffold oral learning to teach children to see an elaborated code of speech?

Scaffolding Oral Language

Choose a picture from a lesson. Describe the picture

Guidelines for the Description Where does the scene take place? Who is the central character(s) in the picture? What does this person look like? (sex, height, face, hair,clothes, approximate age) What is this person doing? Any other relevant information?

This scene takes place in… My picture shows… Language Modeling This scene takes place in… My picture shows… The picture I have shows a… The central character in my picture is… In my picture you can see a… Wested, Teacher Professional Development, 2002

In a Small Group Round robin: share the description of your pictures. After description is complete, you may ask questions of each other (one per partner) Now speculate: Your task is to create a story providing creative glue to link the scenes. Give the story a title. Give the characters names, details, etc.

Post Card Sample

Student produced picture related to lesson picture

Student Note to Family in the Time Period Being Studied Dear Mama and Papa, Farming is hard work. Feeding the animals, milking the cows, and tending the crops is a lot to do. Love, Miguel

Note and Postcard Sample Students may write their letters on a postcard.

What do we know about reading? Teachers who invite students to participate in deep collaborative activities and provide them with choices increase their motivation to read and comprehend text. Wested, Teacher Professional Development, 2002

Collaborative Dialogue Writing Everybody writes and takes notes. 2/3 of the ideas come from the text. 1/3 come from your knowledge of life (including home culture).. Wested, Teacher Professional Development, 2002

Think and Reflect Why should all students write? Why is copying okay? Why is knowledge from life okay to write about? Wested, Teacher Professional Development, 2002

Teacher Monitors While Children Write

Think and Reflect Why do all students write down ideas? Why is the teacher monitoring? Wested, Teacher Professional Development, 2002

Children Share

Think and Reflect Why are the children physically close together during sharing? Why are the children arranged to see one another while sharing? Wested, Teacher Professional Development, 2002

What do we know about reading? To foster reader autonomy, teachers should offer students a range of instructional practices, robust and generative routines, and appropriate language models that can be appropriated over time. Wested, Teacher Professional Development, 2002

Final Think and Reflect In spite of all this knowledge, comprehension instruction continues to receive inadequate time and attention in typical classroom instruction. Wested, Teacher Professional Development, 2002