New Pathways to Academic Achievement for K-12 English Learners TESOL March 26, 2009 Anna Uhl Chamot The George Washington University
ObjectivesObjectives ä Identify the academic needs of K- 12 English learners; ä Describe instructional approaches that meet these needs; ä Provide guidelines for selecting and teaching content knowledge, language and literacy, and learning strategies.
Who are our English Language Learners? ä Linguistically and culturally diverse. ä Differing educational backgrounds. ä Variety of approaches to learning. ä Range of levels of family literacy. ä Differing family attitudes towards school. ä Differing family expectations.
What Do K-12 English Learners Need to Learn? ä Socialization and acculturation to school. ä Conceptual development. ä Linguistic development. ä Literacy development. ä Learning how to learn.
Cognitive-Social Learning Theory ä Learning is mentally active and strategic. ä Require higher level thinking. ä Social context, interaction are critical. ä Content learned through connections to prior knowledge. ä Processes leaned through practice individually and with peers. ä Learning strategies can be taught and learned.
Five Instructional Principles: ä Identify and build on students’ prior cultural, conceptual, and linguistic knowledge. ä Practice interactive teaching and learning. ä Teach students to work collaboratively. ä Focus on learning processes and strategies. ä Help students evaluate their own learning.
What kinds of content? ä Differentiated according to students’ needs and interests. ä Cognitively and linguistically appropriate. ä Content information and content processes.
Selecting content ä Identify National and State Standards for subject and grade level. ä Set learning outcomes. ä Work backwards to design activities. ä Differentiate instruction. ä Include content from history, social studies, literature, mathematics, science, art, music, etc. ä Collaborate with content specialists.
How can ESOL teachers teach content? ä Find out students’ prior knowledge. ä Study the school curriculum. ä Look at students’ textbooks for major content subjects. ä Identify major concepts and themes. ä Find material through a variety of resources, including the Internet. ä Use content-based ESL instructional materials. ä Ask content teachers.
Working with Content Teachers ä Research on Content-ESL team teaching ä Planning together ä Defining classroom roles ä Differentiating instruction ä Integrating language and content
Integrate Language Development and Content - 1 Integrate Language Development and Content - 1 ä Analyze language difficulties in textbooks. ä Observe the language requirements in content classes ä Provide language activities with each content infusion. ä Teach vocabulary and discourse of content subjects.
Integrate Language Development and Content - 2 ä Practice reading, listening, speaking, and writing in all content subjects. ä Use students’ prior linguistic knowledge. ä Develop language awareness: comparisons, register, grammar, spelling, pronunciation, etc. ä Teach students how to learn.
What are learning strategies? ä Thoughts and actions that learners use to help them to complete a learning task. ä Ways to understand, store, and recall information. ä Ways to practice skills so that they are mastered more easily. ä Useful for listening, reading, speaking, writing, vocabulary, grammar.
What Learning Strategies Are NOT! ä Not learning styles! ä Not teaching strategies! ä Not memorized formulas!
Why teach learning strategies? ä Show students how to be better learners. ä Build students’ self-efficacy. ä Increase student motivation for learning. ä Help students become reflective and critical thinkers.
Why promote thinking in the ESL class? ä Interdependence of language and thinking. ä Need for critical thinkers. ä High standards in education. ä Career challenges. ä Independent and life-long learning. ä Motivation. ä Self-knowledge and reflection.
What does the research say? ä All second language learners use strategies - BUT ä “Good” language learners use more varied strategies and use them more flexibly. ä Frequent use of learning strategies is correlated to higher self- efficacy.
More research findings ä Strategy instruction improves academic performance. ä Instruction needs to be explicit. ä Students need to develop metacognition. ä Transfer is difficult. ä Language of instruction matters.
Teaching Learning Strategies ä Focus on the learning process. ä Model and teach learning strategies explicitly. ä Develop students’ awareness of their own thinking and learning - their metacognition.
ä Standards-based objectives for: ä Curriculum content ä Academic language ä Learning strategies ä Assessment of each objective ä Student self-assessment ä Differentiated instruction CALLA: An instructional model for academic achievement
Integrating Content, Language, and Learning Strategies
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