1. Scaffolding Language for Learning teaching academic language to additional language learners
Pestalozzi Workshop: „From assimilation and isolation to integration“
Ljubljana * 14th of November 2012 1

2. Introduction
Education institutions ⇨ social cohesion and respect for human rights
Most education systems have problems to deal with disadvantaged pupils in a way that reduces their disadvantages
Explanations: individual factors, background factors & characteristics of education systems (Diefenbach 2010)
Foci of the presentation:
features of successful multi-ethnic & multilingual schools
language-related features within schools & classrooms
scaffolding as an approach to teaching and learning in multilingual settings
AIM – reducing educational gap & supporting social cohesion
The central role of education institutions in ensuring equal educational chances for all, thus contributing to social cohesion and assuring respect for human rights.
School achievement of disadvantaged pupils, in particular those from migrant backgrounds across European education systems is generally lower than those of their peers.
Many of the explanations for these disparities are related to background factors (social, economic, cultural capital) that cannot be changed by education systems. However, other explanations are related to structural or systemic aspects of education systems and their inadequacy to care for a growingly diverse population.
The presentation will first focus in features of successful multi-ethnic & multilingual schools,then on language-related features within schools & classrooms, as well as on methods of language support for additional language learners.
The main aim of this approach is in contributing to reduce the educational gap & thus support social cohesion. 2 2

3. What to expect Why educational gap? Some explanations
Features of successful multi-ethnic & multilingual schools
A model for teaching in multilingual schools: scaffolding language for learning
Practical activity – engaging with the role of language in scaffolding for learning
Summary 3 3

4. 1. Why achievement gap? Some explanations4 4

5. Achievement gap ? Why? (Gogolin & Krüger-Potratz 2010; Diefenbach 2010)
Structural differences in the starting conditions of children (social, cultural and financial resources)
Secondary effects (educational aspirations and strategies as milieu-specific experiences)
3 sets of explanations
Features of schools and educational systems (effects of teaching, contextual aspects, mechanisms of institutional discrimination, language-related issues) 5

6. Need for a multi-level approach
OECD, 2004 6

7. 1) Structural differences: social or cultural background
“It has not been empirically verified that the disadvantages of children and youth from migrant families can be satisfactory explained by the assumption that their cultural or religious predispositions do not match the expectations of the schools or by the comparatively poor socio-economic situation of their families.”
(Diefenbach 2007 ) 7

8. are highly motivated for school as such and for learning.
2) Secondary effects:
low aspirations and motivation of
immigrant parents and pupils
Research Results:
Migrant families
have high aspirations (for girls and boys),
are highly motivated to invest in the educational career of their children.
Migrant pupils
are highly motivated for school as such and for learning. 8

9. 3) Systemic factors of teaching and learning
(Some) mechanisms of institutional discrimination:
“Monolingual habitus” of multilingual schools (Gogolin 1994)
Early tracking
Indirect institutional discrimination (Gomolla & Radtke 2002)
Low aspirations of teachers towards additional language learners (Richardson 2008)
Negative attitudes towards migration-induced multilingualism
Lack of teacher competences in the instruction of academic language
“Academic language” is a register characterised by a high degree of abstraction and cognitive involvement, it is context-disembedded and contains features of written discourse (also in the oral forms).
In education it carries an exceptional weight, as:
- it is used in learning tasks, textbooks and other teaching materials;
- it is used in assessments and exams. 9

10. The acquisition of “academic language“ takes time…
Study
Time of acquisition of colloquial language
Academic language competencies
Snow & Hoefnagel-
Höhle (1978)
More than 1.5 years
Not explored
Cummins (1980)
Wright & Ramsey,
1970; Ramsey &
Wright, 1974
2 to 3 years
3 to 5 years
Collier (1987)
2 to 8 years
Hakuta, Butler & Witt (2000); Klesmer, 1993
2 to 5 years
4 to 7 years
MacSwan & Pray, 2005
1 to 6,5 years
Need for educational systems, school politics and teachers to adopt a continuous and systematic model for teaching and learning of academic registers 10

11. 2. Features of successful multi-ethnic & multilingual schools11

12. An example: the issue of aspirations
(Bourne 2010)
A father speaks:
“The expectation is low. Because they are different cultures or they are from third world countries, they are expected to be down the ladder somewhere.”
A mother speaks:
“Usually when I go to Parents’ Evenings and that, they are always saying, ‘Oh yes, he has done so well and done this and that’. But the work I see, I know he can do better than that, yet he is not being pushed further, half the time he is just left to get on with it.” 12

13. Basis for successful multi-ethnic schools (England, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Germany)
Prerequisites for successful schools:
Committed leadership
High aspirations
Positive and respectful school ethos
Rich curriculum and extra activities
Culturally sensitive curriculum
Firm, shared behaviour policy
Focus on parent and community involvement
All teachers are language teachers 13

14. Successful multi-ethnic schools: achievement and identities
Monitoring and tracking achievement by gender, economic background and ethnicity/ immigrant and language background.
Exploring and targeting underachieving groups to raise attainment.
Regular feedback to students, self- assessment and target setting.
Building identities as successful learners. 14

15. Successful multi-ethnic schools: language(s)
Support for academic language learning across the curriculum.
Inclusive and additive forms of support.
Shared procedures for bilingual support in mainstream classrooms.
Teaching of heritage languages in curriculum alongside EU and other languages.
Any special provision has clear objectives, is agreed with students and parents.
All teachers are language teachers. 15

16. All teachers language teachers
Teachers provide subject-focused cognitive challenge, lowering language demands.
At times teachers focus on the language of the subject, and lowered cognitive challenge.
Teachers show the value of home languages, encouraged use for learning (including parents).
Teachers integrate aspects of home culture(s) into the classroom.
Bilingual teachers use minority language for subject learning. 16

17. A recent example (Bourne 2010)
Inner city primary school.
Area of high unemployment, deprivation.
92% with English as additional language.
10 different languages spoken. 17

18. Stage 1 Identified under-attainment as priority.
Established assertive discipline policy.
Long term commitment to staff training.
Observed no recognition or use in learning of L1 skills. 18

19. Stage 2 Recruited qualified bilingual staff.
Whole school training on meeting bilingual needs.
School policy guidelines on developing bilingual skills.
Encouragement for L1 use in all learning.
Home language pairs strategy.
Regular use of home language groups. 19

20. Teaching does make a difference
Attainment of children at 11 years National test scores
1997
English 36%
Mathematics 53%
Teaching does make a difference
2001
86%
94% 20

21. Innovation for mainstream: models for inclusive teaching in multilingual constellations
Baker, 1996: 175 21

22. 1. Investigacao em escolas multilingues
3. A model for (inclusive) teaching in multilingual schools: scaffolding language for learning
1. Investigacao em escolas multilingues
Chegamos agora à parte prática da apresentação. 22 22

23. Didactical methods to include multilingualism
Method for continuous and systematic language support of all learners (Gogolin et al. 2011)
Upper secondary
Academic language L2
Foreign languages
Lower secondary
Didactical methods to include multilingualism
Forms of cooperation
Language support
across the
curriculum
Link between language &
subject-matter
Additional
language
support / outside
school
Additive & inclusive
language support
Involvement of
parents & families
Inclusion of informal
language learning
situations &
contexts
Primary school
Everyday language L1
Kindergarten 23 23

24. Method for continuous and systematic language support – 6 features for classroom work (Gogolin et al. 2011)
Teachers plan and organize their classes with the aim of promoting proficiency in academic language and explicitly establish connections between everyday and academic language
Teachers assess language competences of pupils individually and plan adequate language support
Teachers actively use everyday and academic linguistic means and moderate their use
Pupils have many opportunities to actively develop the language proficiency
Teachers support pupilsa in their individual process of language development
Teachers and pupils controll and evaluate the results of language instruction 24 24

25. Didactical methods to include multilingualism
Method for continuous and systematic language support (Gogolin et al. 2011)
Academic language
Upper secondary L2
Lower secondary
Didactical methods to include multilingualism
Forms of cooperation
Language support
across the
curriculum
Link between language &
subject-matter
Additional
language
support / outside
school
Additive & inclusive
language support
Involvement of
parents & families
Inclusion of informal
language learning
situations &
contexts
Primary school
Everyday language L1
Kindergarten 25 25

26. Didactical methods to include multilingualism
Method of “language awareness”: support in explicit knowledge about language and conscious use for teaching and learning 26 26

27. Didactical methods to include multilingualism27 27

28. Didactical methods to include multilingualism
Method for continuous and systematic language support (Gogolin et al. 2011)
Academic language
Upper secondary L2
Lower secondary
Didactical methods to include multilingualism
Forms of cooperation
Language support
across the
curriculum
Link between language &
subject-matter
Additional
language
support / outside
school
Additive & inclusive
language support
Involvement of
parents & families
Inclusion of informal
language learning
situations &
contexts
Primary school
Everyday language L1
Kindergarten 28 28

29. Language teaching in subject-matter
Questionnaire with teachers of natural sciences and mathematics
During my pre- and in-service training I was trained to teach in multilingual or multicultural classes.
yes more yes more no
than no than yes 29 29

30. Language teaching in subject-matter30 30