Browsing by Subject "Academic language"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Academic language development through technology: English learners in a fifth grade science class
    (2013-02) Kim, Hye Yeong
    Grounded in sociocultural models of learning, this study explores structures for participation and types of interaction that occur during the performance of technologyassisted tasks in a science classroom to detail some of the opportunities for learning made available to English learners (ELs) and some practices that might constitute effective instruction within such a context. In particular, this study explores how ELs use language to socialize and how they are socialized to use language during technology-assisted tasks in a science classroom within a given participant structure. Findings show that five different participant structures were used during technology-assisted tasks, all of which required ELs to understand and use varied interaction patterns; different levels of authority and responsibilities were given to interlocutors in each structure. As different participant structures employed different interactional patterns and practices, learners behaved according to differing norms expected by each participant structure. Findings showed that members of the class shared the rules regarding the initiation of interactions and open topics, as well as allowing time to listen and follow the cue of teachers or technology. In this sense, the class functioned as a community of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Each participant structure appeared to contribute to the variety of the interaction types, as well as to kinds of subsequent learning and socialization of ELs, providing divergent levels of transparency, legitimacy, and peripherality to ELs. The integration of technology unfolded differently across participant structures and has implications for ELs’ academic language learning opportunities.
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    An activity theory perspective on academic language use by ELLs in a high school math classroom
    (2014-09) Liu, Kristin Kline
    Public reports of large-scale mathematics assessment data indicate that English language learners (ELLs), on average, are typically performing well below their fluent English speaking peers, and often well below grade-level expectations (Abedi, 2002, 2004; Abedi & Lord, 2001; Janzen, 2008; Secada, 1996). While some individual ELLs do achieve at higher levels, lower levels of group achievement are not unexpected for students who are learning academic content in a language in which they are not yet proficient. However, current federal legislation requires that schools and teachers find ways to increase the math achievement of all students and help struggling students reach grade-level learning expectations. One way that general education math teachers can support ELLs in the mainstream mathematics classroom is to focus on their academic language development to a greater degree. This interpretive case study of one sheltered high school pre-algebra classroom adds to the small, but growing, research base on students' use of academic language in math instruction. It relies on Activity Theory (e.g., Engestrom, 1999, 2001), as well as conceptual frameworks associated with the analysis of learners' second language complexity, accuracy and fluency (CAF) (e.g., Ellis & Barkhuizen, 2005), and academic English proficiency (Scarcella, 2003) to examine the real-time language use by ELLs and how that language use was influenced by the classroom context.Data analyses suggest that a number of elements in the classroom activity system shaped the expectations for, and opportunity to use, academic language. These elements included: (a) Classroom rules that reinforced the limited role of students in instructional activities; (b) the constantly fluctuating classroom community with a few members who could create a distraction from math learning; (c) the primarily teacher-centered division of labor between the teacher and students, and; (d) the presence of several potential mediating artifacts (e.g., a language-reduced, conceptually-based curriculum, consistent opening instructional routine, teacher language, collaborative student language) that could support, or detract from, the desired outcome of academic language production.CAF analyses of four African focal students' language production (David, Naomi, Jesse, Marie) highlight the lack of complex, academic language use by students in this particular classroom. Students' utterances were typically short, were often less than a complete phrase, used common everyday vocabulary largely did not include math terms, and incorporated few of the relevant language functions (e.g., explaining, justifying a solution, comparing/contrasting) emphasized by the curriculum and the teacher. Despite the presence of potential supports for academic language learning, there were three key tensions in the activity system that minimized academic language expectations and opportunities for students to use such language. The first tension was between the departmental policy providing remedial instruction and the state and federal mandate for grade level instruction. Students were quite aware that the instruction they received was well below grade level and that they might not pass state assessments or be allowed to graduate. A second tension was the teacher's struggle to balance the teaching of math and the teaching of language. She had been trained primarily as a math teacher and had difficulty seeing the language of her discipline, let alone making it transparent to students. The third and final tension was between adult and students' preferences for instructional approaches and activities. Some elements of best practice that the teacher implemented were resisted by the students, and some aspects of what the students thought of as good instruction were resisted by the teacher. Instead of creating a positive change in the activity system, as some tensions can do if they are addressed, these three key unresolved tensions created a barrier to academic language production, and to the teaching and learning of math content as well. The lack of access to grade-level content and the associated academic language observed in this particular classroom has been identified in the literature as constituting a serious lack of opportunity to learn that schools must urgently address if all students are to succeed academically (Abedi & Herman, 2010; Aguirre-Munoz & Amabisca, 2010; Bailey & Butler, 2009; Bigelow, 2010; Herman & Abedi, 2004; Wang & Goldschmidt, 1999). This study provides critical evidence that educational leaders in particular need to do more to ensure that content teachers who must do the difficult work of integrating academic language and content instruction are provided with clearly defined language learning goals, and that they are well-trained and fully supported in the classroom so that they can do their job effectively.
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    Supporting Academic Language Development in Elementary Science: A Classroom Teaching Experiment
    (2017-07) Jung, Karl
    Academic language is the language that students must engage in while participating in the teaching and learning that takes place in school (Schleppegrell, 2012) and science as a content area presents specific challenges and opportunities for students to engage with language (Buxton & Lee, 2014; Gee, 2005). In order for students to engage authentically and fully in the science learning that will take place in their classrooms, it is important that they develop their abilities to use science academic language (National Research Council, 2012). For this to occur, teachers must provide support to their students in developing the science academic language they will encounter in their classrooms. Unfortunately, this type of support remains a challenge for many teachers (Baecher, Farnsworth, & Ediger, 2014; Bigelow, 2010; Fisher & Frey, 2010) and teachers must receive professional development that supports their abilities to provide instruction that supports and scaffolds students’ science academic language use and development. This study investigates an elementary science teacher’s engagement in an instructional coaching partnership to explore how that teacher planned and implemented scaffolds for science academic language. Using a theoretical framework that combines the literature on scaffolding (Bunch, Walqui, & Kibler, 2015; Gibbons, 2015; Sharpe, 2001/2006) and instructional coaching (Knight, 2007/2009), this study sought to understand how an elementary science teacher plans and implements scaffolds for science academic language, and the resources that assisted the teacher in planning those scaffolds. The overarching goal of this work is to understand how elementary science teachers can scaffold language in their classroom, and how they can be supported in that work. Using a classroom teaching experiment methodology (Cobb, 2000) and constructivist grounded theory methods (Charmaz, 2014) for analysis, this study examined coaching conversations and classroom instruction to identify and understand what scaffolds are planned and implemented, and how that planning and implementation occurred through an instructional coaching partnership. Findings from this study showed the elementary science teacher planned and implemented a number of scaffolds for science academic language, focusing primarily on the use of sentence starters as a scaffolding strategy. The findings also indicated that the instructional coaching partnership played a vital role as the main resource that assisted the planning of scaffolds. These findings provide insights into the types of scaffolds that elementary science teachers can implement to scaffold science academic language, and the role that instructional coaching can play in supporting teachers as they work to provide instruction that scaffolds their students’ language use and development.