Big Ideas for Expanding Minds: Teaching English Language Learners Across the Curriculum 9781770589483

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Acknowledgements His hook Owes an enormous amount to the many educators we have worked with in Canada and iiternationally over the past 30 years. They have been unfailingly generous with thelr time and expertise and have educated us in multiple ways. Examples of their Inspirational teaching and leadership, and their commitment to social justice, are woven through the pages of this book and are fused with all of the ideas presented herein. The six reviewers of the book provided us with initial guidance and incredibly useful feedback on our initial draft. Their long-term experience and deep commitment to education in general and the academic and social development of English language learners in particular are reflected throughout the book. To Terri Carleton, our editor at Rubicon, we express a profound “Thank you!” Your insights, patience, and encouragement were invaluable in guiding us through the final stages of the writing process. Finally, we would like to express our deep appreciation for the love and support extended to us by our partners, loana and Tony, and our families who have (sometimes ambivalently) shared in this journey over the years.

BIG IDEAS FOR EXPANDING MINDS TEACHING

ENGLISH

LANGUAGE

LEARNERS

ACROSS

THE CURRICULUM

J.C. and M.E.

PEARSON Poarson Canada Ine. 26 Prince Andrew

Place

Don Mills, ON M3C 2T8 Customer Service: 1-800-361-6128

®

Funded by the overnment

“ay

of Canada

Ru’bicon

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a

www.rubiconpublishing.com © 2015 Rubicon Publishing Inc. Published by Rubicon Publishing Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright holder. Every reasonable effort has been made to trace the owners of copyrighted material and to make due acknowledgment. Any errors or omissions drawn to our attention will be gladly rectified in future editions. Associate Publisher: Amy Land Senior Editor: Teresa Carleton Editorial Assistant: Vicky He Creative Director: Jennifer Drew Art Director: Jen Harvey Lead Designer: Jason Mitchell 19 20 212223

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ISBN 978-1-77058-948-3 Cover: Shutterstock.com Paper used in the production of this book is a natural, recyclable product made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The manufacturing process conforms to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. Printed in Canada

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CUMMINS

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Contents PHOPACE nc

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Chapter 6: The Language Demands Of SCICNCE....ccecscesssecsessssessescssesseesstessessevessesseenss 84 Teaching Vignette 6.1: Use of L1 to Develop the Language of Science.........0..... 97

Chapter 1: The Big Picture... cccccssscscssssssssssssscsscsssssssssccsssssssssssssscsssssessssesssssssssssessssssssssessseecen 10

Teaching Vignette 6.2: Building Students’ Knowledge of SCIENCE TErMINOlOGY ........scessscsssesessssssssssssssssssssssescseccecaesescsesesesesesesestensesanesscasesseseaeas 98

Chapter 2: Understanding Patterns of Achievement Among

English Language Learners uuu... .ecssscescsssscsesessssessssessscsssusscasevsesscees 2)

Teaching Vignette 6.3: Focusing Students’ Attention on Linking Words............. 99 Teaching Vignette 6.4: Who’s Afraid of NOMINAlIZAtION?

eee scseessetetseeeens 100

Teaching Vignette 6.5: Big Words for Big Minds:

Chapter 3: What Are the Language Demands of Different Content Areas?........... 32

Collecting Language SPeciIMeNS IN SCIENCE...

cesses csescststssetsnerensesseenens 101

Teaching Vignette 6.6: Marsville: Critical Inquiry

Chapter 4: The Language Demands of Language Arts .ccccccccssssesssssssssssccsscossssssvesseosson 46

That Integrates Science and Social Studies... sscssssssesssessesseseesevseseesanes 102

Teaching Vignette 4.1: Motivating Students to Engage With Literacy ............... 59 Teaching Vignette 4.2: Collecting Specimens: Big Words for Big Minds............. 60 Teaching Vignette 4.3: Focus on One “Juicy Sentence” Each Day .....cc.cccsssessessee: 61

Chapter 7: The Language Demands of Social StudieS.......essessessssssesesesstseneeeseee 103 Teaching Vignette 7.1: Big Words for Big Minds:

Teaching Vignette 4.4: Helping ELLs to Craft Vibrant, Imaginative Sentences..... 62 Teaching Vignette 4.5: Using Wordless Picture Books to Support Learning

Collecting Language Specimens in Social Studies... cesses ees 118 Teaching Vignette 7.2: Developing Semantic Agility

IN English/Language Arts vu..csccsecessscscesssecsssssecsscssecssessesssessessecssscsessssssssesscsseceeseaseens 63

With the Anglo-Saxon LOXICON ......ccescsesssesssssesescsescscsssessssssssssssssssesssscssesssessseseses 119 Teaching Vignette 7.3: Using L1 to Explore Different Perspectives on Current

Chapter 5: The Language Demands of Mathematics......csssssccscccsssssssssssssssssssssssssssseseee 65 Teaching Vignette 5.1: Data Management Through Class or

Events and Social ISSUCS.....

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Teaching Vignette 7.4: Elementary Students as Transformative Intellectuals:

SCHOO! LANGUAGE SUIVEYS......cccccsscccssssscesescesecsecsssssessessssessssecsssscsssssersesecsessessvsverssesenes 78

MOobiliZING HUMAN RIGNES uu... ccc cssssscccscssscscscscsscssevsssscevsssssssssscsecessasscsesveseneees 121

Teaching Vignette 5.2: Multilingual Math ou... ccccsscsecsesessessssesscscsssscsssesssseseesesseesees 80 Teaching Vignette 5.3: Mastering the Language of Math Assessment.....cccccc0...-. 81

Chapter 8: Capacity Building Within Schools: How Can We Create

Teaching Vignette 5.4: Connecting Math to Our LIVES ......cccsessesccscssssssscsscsssesseesseees 82

Powerful Communities Of Le@rning? nu... cscs

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Teaching Vignette 5.5: Math Language Detective Work ...c..ccccsccssscssssssssssscsssssesssceess 83

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Appendix: Additional Books Worth Reading ...c.cccssssecsssssssssessssecssscsessseessteesnsessseen 156 A Sampling of Provincial Sites Focusing on English Language L@arne’lS........ccccssssssesssssecsecssesescerscscessesssssssssssssssescersees 157

Preface

e wrote this book to share with educators the knowledge base that exists regarding effective teaching for English language learners (ELLs). Despite the fact that Canada and the United States have experienced significant immigration from all parts of the world over the past 40 years, most teachers and administrators in our schools have had few opportunities to discover how these ELLs acquire the school language and what teaching approaches work best in helping them succeed academically. Even in cities such as Toronto and Vancouver, where more than 50 percent of students come from linguistically diverse backgrounds, the dominant assumption has frequently been that teaching ELLs is the job of the English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher. Until recently, Faculties of Education have not included courses on teaching ELLs in the basic requirements of initial teacher education. Teachers who wished to gain specific expertise in teaching ELLs pursued this goal through additional qualification courses. The assumption that ESL teachers will assume the major responsibility for teaching English to ELLs is also apparent in the fact that Ministries of Education and school systems across the country have not articulated any expectation that school principals and vice-principals should have knowledge and expertise in this area. To date, most Principals’ courses typically include little if any content relating to effective leadership in linguistically diverse schools. Furthermore, the decision-making process within school boards regarding promotion to administrative positions rarely takes into account an individual’s ability to provide instructional leadership in schools with large numbers of linguistically diverse students. One of the duties of administrators in schools is to inspect teachers at regular intervals to ensure that they are delivering effective instruction. If principals and vice-principals have little awareness of appropriate scaffolding strategies to support ELLs in understanding instruction, how can they assess the extent to which teachers are implementing these strategies effectively?

Obviously, many teachers and administrators have developed good intuitions and practices “on the job” about effective instructional strategies for ELLs. But it is important to deepen and extend this knowledge so that the entire school can implement coherent policies to help all students succeed. Every school has a language policy; this policy consists of the collective assumptions and expectations within a school about how best to teach language and literacy, and it can be inferred from the interactions that teachers orchestrate in their classrooms. However, in many cases, the school’s language policies have not been explicitly articulated or discussed. In this book, we focus on two aspects of school-based language policies. First, language policies address the challenges of ensuring that ELLs gain access to 6G ; . grade-level curriculum and also extend their knowledge of language as they learn academic content. Second, language policies focus on the academic enrichment opportunities that arise when linguistic and cultural diversity are positioned within the school not as problems to be resolved but as instructional assets and vital capital in a 21st century knowledge society. We have labelled this instructional orientation “teaching through a multilingual lens.” Over the past 15 years, Canadian educators have been leaders internationally in exploring ways in which students’ bi/multilingualism can be harnessed instructionally to deepen their awareness of how language works. In our collaborative work with educators across Canada, we have been fortunate to observe many examples of inspirational pedagogy, which are described in this book.

T

.

aching 1S through Cac oug

a multilingual

lens. 95

_ What are the big ideas for effective instruction for ELLS? The notion of a “big idea” was articulated by educator Grant Wiggins to highlight the underlying concepts that give coherence and meaning to previously isolated and unconnected phenomena. According to Wiggins, “an idea is big if it helps us make sense of lots of otherwise meaningless, isolated, inert, or confusing facts.”! It serves as a conceptual framework or lens that allows us to see connections between phenomena and bring them into focus so that we can better understand how they operate. For example, the notion of a “food chain” is a big idea insofar as it connects a variety of animal behaviours and plant matter to a larger system of energy exchange, allowing us to “then see the role of predators, garbage, and our relationship to nature in a completely new and [more] helpful way than before. 941 Big ideas enable us to organize our knowledge into “chunks” within which details can be filed and connected to one another. This permits easy retrieval and transfer of this knowledge to other contexts. Thus, it is essential to connect new’ information and ideas that we are trying to teach to our students to what they already know. Students’ background knowledge is an essential part of the learning equation. In fact, we can define learning very simply as the integration of new information, skills, and ideas into the information, skills, and ideas that students already possess. In subsequent chapters, we will elaborate on the importance of connecting instruction to students’ lives as a core component of effective instruction.

Students’ b ackground knowle dge isan j essential part of the learning equation.

In this book, we will discuss numerous big ideas that are relevant to implementing effective instruction for ELLs across the curriculum. However, one overarching big idea is worth highlighting here: effective teaching of ELLs is not so much a matter of instructional techniques as an individual and collective mindset among educators to enable students to use language for powerful purposes. Powerful uses of language make a social impact and are identity-affirming for the student. One additional point is worth highlighting. Effective teaching of ELLs is not only a matter of individual teachers implementing instructional strategies that enable students to understand content and expand their language abilities. It also requires coherence of instructional philosophies and strategies collectively at the level of the entire school. Schools become exciting places to work and learn when school leaders encourage teachers to discuss issues, challenges, and opportunities with one another and to share ideas in ways that shape their school’s identity. Our goal in writing this book is not simply to present a set of fixed and potentially limiting “best practices” for teaching ELLs, but rather to stimulate dialogue among educators about expanding the boundaries of instructional practice in ways that simultaneously expand the boundaries of students’ minds.

This book is organized into three sections. Section 1: The first three chapters outline the knowledge base that exists regarding topics such as the nature of academic language, how it is acquired by ELLs, the reasons that some (but by no means all) groups of ELLs tend to experience academic difficulties, and the instructional responses that research suggests are required to address these difficulties. Section 2: The four chapters in the second section are “action-oriented” insofar as they provide concrete strategies for putting this knowledge base into practice in schools and classrooms. These chapters discuss the language demands of language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies, and suggest instructional strategies for teaching and assessing content and language as well as reading and writing. Each chapter includes a number of teaching vignettes, which provide concrete, practical examples of teachers’ classroom work with ELLs. Section 3: Finally, the last chapter highlights the fact that students’ academic progress will be enhanced if all teachers in the school are “on the same page” with respect to their understanding of academic-language teaching and ways of promoting overall academic progress among ELLs. We discuss how educators in school can create and take ownership of school-based language policies that provide guidance on how to teach not only “through an ELL lens” but also “through a multilingual lens.” Relevance to Canadian and United States contexts We are both based in Canada but have had extensive experience working on issues related to English language learning in both United States (US) and international contexts. In this book, we have drawn primarily on Canadian and US examples and

policy contexts. These contexts differ in many respects (e.g., with respect to how standardized tests are used) but also overlap considerably in terms of the major issues discussed in this volume (e.g., how do we teach English and academic content effectively to ELLs). Our hope is that educators and policy-makers in both contexts (and elsewhere) will find many of the ideas in the book applicable to their teaching situation and worth discussing with colleagues. In both the Canadian and US contexts, educators have developed some wonderful resources to support effective teaching of ELLs. We have attempted to highlight these resources so that educators on both sides of the border can benefit from ideas and practices that they may not previously have known about.

Which grade levels and students are the focus of the book? We have tried to highlight instructional strategies that apply to a considerable extent across K-12 grade levels. There are obviously many instructional issues and challenges that are specific to particular grade levels (e.g., how to teach decoding skills to ELLs in grades 1 and 2; how to support high-school students from refugee backgrounds who may have experienced various kinds of trauma prior to arrival). It is beyond the scope of this volume to delve deeply into these specific issues, despite their relevance and importance. Instead, we have focused on how ESL and content teachers at various grade levels can come to a shared understanding of principles and practices relevant to supporting students’ academic learning. We have also not included the experiences of Deaf and hard-of-hearing students within the scope of this book despite the fact that they face major challenges in learning English as an additional language. Researchers who are Deaf, or whose proficiency in American Sign Language (ASL) or other native sign systems allows them partial access to the experience of Deaf learners of English, have far more legitimacy to speak to these issues than we do. Unfortunately, for more than 100 years, hearing educators and policy-makers have excluded the voices of the Deaf community from participation in the development of educational policies. As a result, ASL and other languages of Deaf communities have been marginalized. Our emphasis throughout this book on “teaching through a multilingual lens” applies equally to the significance of ASL in the educational development of Deaf students in Canada and the United States.” A note on terminology With some reservations, we have chosen to use the term English language learners (ELLs) to refer to the students who are the focus of this book. The term is perhaps the most common of a variety of competing terms such as English as'an’ Additional language (EAL) students, English learners, emergent bilinguals, and many others. Our concern relates to the fact that the term English language learners, \ike many others, defines students by what they lack, namely access to fluent English language and literacy skills. We are sympathetic to the rationale for the term emergent bilinguals, promoted by New York-based researcher Ofelia Garcia, which highlights students’ linguistic potential (not always realized because of the rapid loss of home languages in many contexts). However, in order to link with state and provincial terminology, we use the term English language learners, while cautioning readers to be aware of the term’s hidden subtext, which we try to repudiate explicitly throughout the book.

CHAPTER

Why

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should we teach language across the curriculum?

T

he simple answer to this question is that language is infused in all curricular content, and we are missing significant opportunities to accelerate students’ progress if we don’t reinforce students’ grasp of academic language as they learn subject-matter content. This principle applies to all students, but it is particularly relevant for ELLs who may have significant gaps in their knowledge of academic language. The importance of teaching language across the curriculum was initially articulated in the Bullock Report, entitled A Language for Life, which was published in the United Kingdom in 1975. Since then, this principle has been widely endorsed by policy-makers, educators, and researchers, but implementation within schools and classrooms has been sporadic.

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Consider the language teaching possibilities in the following mathematics word problem: Is 3 + 8 greater than 10, equal to 10, or less than 10? Explain.

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specific content expectations (objectives) that are integrated into the “big ideas”

specific ways in which language is used in such

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curriculum

Teaching language across the curriculum implies that we become conscious of the specific ways in which language is used in subjects such as mathematics, science, and social studies. Although there is considerable overlap across subject areas in how concepts are encoded linguistically, each subject area also incorporates specific disciplinary concepts. These are the concepts that experts in particular fields use to think about issues and topics within their discipline. Along with these particular ways of thinking about topics and structuring knowledge in a field also come particular registers, conventions, and patterns of language use appropriate to the context. In teaching particular subject-matter content, we are also teaching the language of that subject matter, a task that subject-area teachers, as expert members of a disciplinary community of practice, are uniquely positioned to do. This implies that we need to articulate language expectations (objectives) in addition to the

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Students will learn not only the specific meanings of the terms greater than, equal to, and less than, but also synonyms for these terms (e.g., a synonym for great is big, and the meaning of greater than is similar to the meaning of bigger than). This particular mathematics problem also gives the teacher an opportunity to teach students the general concept of comparatives and the typical conventions for forming comparatives (e.g., great, greater, greatest; big, bigger, biggest). The fact that not all comparatives take exactly this form can also be taught in relation to lesg, lesser, least. Finally, the meaning of the word “explain” can be taught (e.g., describe, tell about, tell why you think so) and related to its use in other subject areas (e.g., science). An additional reason that we should teach academic language across the curriculum is that ELLs typically require much longer to attain grade expectations in academic aspects of English than in social or conversational aspects. Most students will acquire considerable fluency in everyday social language within one or two years of exposure to English in the school and wider environment. However, it typically

10

ELLs typically requir e much longer to attain . . grade expectations in

academic aspects of

English than in social or conversational aspects.

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takes students at least five years to catch up to native speakers in academic language proficiency. This extended trajectory is a result of two things: the complexity of academic language and the fact that ELLs are attempting to catch up to a moving target, namely, native speakers of English, whose academic language and literacy skills are increasing significantly from one grade level to the next. The typical trajectory for academic English acquisition is illustrated in Figure 1.1, which derives from a reanalysis of the vocabulary scores of about 1200 ELLs in the Toronto Board of Education.? The vertical axis represents students’ vocabulary scores in relation to the average score for their grade level (“0” represents the average score). The horizontal axis represents students’ age on arrival in Canada.

|

:

There is considerable consensus among researchers about some central features

knowledge. Standard scores refer to the scale as “IQ” scores where the mean or average is It required five to seven years for students to Similar patterns have been described in many over the past 30 years.

ELLs in mainstream classrooms (Figure 1.2). Figure 1.2 Six Principles of Teaching ELLs in Mainstream Classrooms

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ELLs must have access to comprehensible input that is slightly beyond their current level of competence and also opportunities to use language for meaningful purposes.

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3

en

PICTURE

What are some of the guiding principles for teaching ELLs in mainstream classrooms?

of ELLs’ acquisition of the school language. For example, Tamara Lucas and colleagues‘ have identified six principles that can serve as a foundation for teaching

Figure 1.1 Length of Residence (LOR) Required for ELLs With Different Ages of Arrival (AOA) to Reach Grade Expectations in Vocabulary Knowledge

BIG

In most school systems, funding restrictions mean that ESL support is essentially rationed. We tend to allocate ESL support to newcomer students whose needs are most acute. However, this support is temporary and does not extend to the full trajectory of students’ acquisition of academic English. Thus, classroom teachers are inevitably involved in helping ELLs deepen their knowledge of academic English long after they are likely to have acquired fluency in conversational English.

After three years length of residence (LOR), students were still about one standard deviation (15 standard score points) below grade expectations in vocabulary typically used in measurements such 100 and the standard deviation is 15. come close to grade expectations. other research studies carried out

1: THE

Active participation in social interaction fosters the development of =" conversational and academic English.

4

-1.0 =

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ELLs with strong home language (L1) skills are more likely to catch up academically than those with weak L1 skills.

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ELLs will learn more effectively in a safe, welcoming classroom environment =" that does not generate anxiety about performing in English (L2). j

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Explicit attention to linguistic form and function is essential to L2 learning.

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AGE OF ARRIVAL

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Conversational and academic language. As noted earlier, students typically acquire

fluency in everyday conversational language within one or two years of exposure to English. This rapid acquisition reflects the fact that we predominantly use highfrequency vocabulary in talking with other people, and there are many clues to meaning in face-to-face conversation — eye contact, gestures, facial expressions, intonation, and so on. Thus, students don’t need to know as much of the language to make themselves understood or to understand what others say to them. In contrast, academic language includes knowledge of the less frequent vocabulary of English as well as the ability to interpret and produce increasingly complex written language. The vocabulary in school content areas includes many words that derive from Latin and Greek sources (e.g., predict, photosynthesis, sequence, revolution, etc.) as well as increasingly sophisticated grammatical constructions (e.g., passive voice) and discourse conventions that are almost never used in everyday conversation. Back in the late 1970s, when the distinction between conversational and academic language was first proposed, we used the terms basic interpersonal communicative skills (BICS) and cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP) to highlight differences between the language typically used in interpersonal and academic contexts. These terms are still widely used and, from our perspective, are largely legitimate. However, at this point, it seems preferable to avoid acronyms and use the simple distinction conversational/academic to refer to the differences between social and academic language. Comprehensible input and output. Obviously, the quantity and quality of input in the target language is important for learning. However, quantity by itself is insufficient — spending a lot of time listening to radio programs in the target language will not lead to acquisition because this medium provides very few cues to the meaning. Teachers make meaning comprehensible by providing additional contextual cues (e.g., visuals, paraphrasing, etc.) that enable students to figure out the meaning and link it with the language. When we teach content, it is important to realize that ELLs will frequently need more of these contextual cues to meaning than is the case for native speakers of English.

It is also essential to

provide ELLs with opportunities to use oral and written

English actively within the classroom.

14

It is also essential to provide ELLs with opportunities to use oral and written English actively within the classroom. Canadian researcher Merrill Swain’ has identified three ways in which L2 acquisition is stimulated by active use of the language: e The challenge of trying to use the language enables students (and their teachers) to notice aspects of the language with which they need assistance. e Use of the language enables students to test hypotheses about how to say or write their intended meaning; they can then modify their output on the basis of corrective feedback or clarification requests. e Active use of the language stimulates students to reflect on how the language works and deepens their awareness of linguistic forms and functions.

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Social interaction. The importance of social interaction as a means of generating target language input and output is obvious. ELLs benefit from collaborative group work with English-proficient peers where they are focused on tasks that require them to think about issues and use language extensively. Discussion of issues and ideas through instructional conversations develops students’ analytic skills and enables them to understand academic content more deeply than if this content were simply transmitted by the teacher with little focus on student inquiry and interests. Students’ L1 as a cognitive tool. We know from a multitude of research studies

carried out over the past 40 years that ELLs’ proficiency in their L1 represents an important cognitive and academic tool for learning English. Cross-lingual transfer between L1 and L2 enriches both languages. Students will vary in their knowledge of their Li — some students who arrive in the middle or later stages of elementary school will be literate in their L1 as a result of having experienced formal schooling in their L1. Others may have missed several years of schooling as a result of dislocation due to social conflict or environmental disasters and may have minimal literacy skills in their L1. ELLs born in Canada may also not have had opportunities to develop literacy skills in their L1. Regardless of students’ current level of proficiency, it is important to encourage them to develop their L1 skills and to ensure that their parents are aware of the educational value of the L1 as a tool for thinking and communication. The “big idea” of teaching through a multilingual lens that we elaborate in a later chapter positions students’ L1 as an intellectual, social, and cultural accomplishment that is directly related to their overall academic success. The importance of a safe, welcoming classroom. There are some obvious sources

of anxiety that all ELLs are likely to experience at some point in their schooling. Their knowledge of the school language is limited, by definition, and so they can’t express themselves in the way they previously could in their L1. They can’t show teachers and their peers their background knowledge, their intelligence, their interests, or their personality (e.g., sense of humour) in a free and easy way. Lucas and colleagues* point out that anxiety can distract ELLs from paying attention to the linguistic input they encounter and also cause them to withdraw from social interaction, which further limits the input they receive.

Anxiety can distract ELLs from paying attention to the linguistic input they encounter.

ELLs may also be subject to the well-established phenomenon of stereotype threat, which has been documented in many research studies by psychologist Claude Steele. Stereotype threat refers to the deterioration of individuals’ task performance in contexts where negative stereotypes about their social group are commupicated to them. For example, if teachers have negative expectations about the academic potential of certain groups of students, based on stereotypes in the wider society, then it is likely that students will internalize and live down to these expectations. In other words, students who feel vulnerable (consciously or unconsciously) as a result of speaking a language other than English at home or students whose communities have been subject to discrimination in the wider society may not engage fully in academic effort unless teachers explicitly challenge the negative societal stereotypes in their interactions with students in the classroom.

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The importance of demystifying how language works. Not surprisingly, students’

knowledge of academic language will expand when teachers across the curriculum explain how language works and stimulate students’ curiosity about language. Lucas and colleagues point out that it is unrealistic to expect subject-matter teachers to become experts on language, but they can learn to identify the special characteristics of the language used in particular disciplines and develop their ELLs’ awareness of these linguistic features. For example, in teaching about historical events, teachers can explain the differences between the various forms of the past tense used in English. Similarly, “science teachers can scaffold students’ science reading and writing by explicitly discussing the prevalence of passive verbs, how they are constructed, and why they are common in science texts (i.e., to convey objectivity, which is a central goal of science, and to focus on the phenomenon being discussed rather than on a person).”4

How do we translate these principles into linguistically ss Leia Meee ca deli eg Lucas and colleagues identify three steps that classroom teachers can take to help ELLs understand instruction and extend their knowledge of academic language: ¢ Learn about your ELLs. When classroom teachers learn about their students’

background experiences and their previous academic learning, they are in a better position to identify the instructional supports that students will need to understand content and complete academic tasks. Identify the language demands inherent in classroom tasks. In order to specify

language objectives to teach in the context of subject-matter instruction, teachers need to identify the key vocabulary students need to understand as well as the language required to carry out various cognitive functions inherent in curriculum content. These include functions such as classifying, explaining, evaluating, identifying cause-effect relationships, and so on. Scaffold learning for ELLs. The metaphor of scaffolding is frequently used to describe the temporary supports that teachers provide to enable learners to carry out academic tasks. These supports can be reduced gradually as the learner gains more expertise. In order to provide appropriate scaffolding, it is important that teachers have a good sense of their students’ current linguistic and academic abilities and also that they have identified the language demands of the lesson that might cause difficulties for ELLs. We elaborate on these instructional strategies in later chapters. At this point, we would like to illustrate by means of a concrete example the ways in which appropriate instructional strategies can enhance student engagement and academic accomplishments.

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BIG

PICTURE

_ Making it happen in the classroom: A concrete example Shortly after her arrival in Canada, Madiha Bajwa, a student in ESL teacher Lisa Leoni’s grade 7/8 class in the Greater Toronto Area, authored with two of her friends, Kanta Khalid and Sulmana Hanif, a bilingual Urdu-English book entitled The New Country. The 20-page book, illustrated with the help of a classmate, Jennifer Du, “describes how hard it was to leave our country and come to a new country.” Both Kanta and Sulmana had arrived in Toronto in grade 4 and were reasonably fluent in English, but Madiha was in the very early stages of acquisition. The three students collaborated in writing The New Country in the context of a unit on the theme of migration that integrated social studies, language, and ESL curriculum expectations. The project was the culminating activity for the unit. The students suggested to their teacher that they write the story both in Urdu and in English because their primary audience for the book consisted of younger students who were also from Urdu linguistic backgrounds. They researched and wrote the story over several weeks, sharing their experiences and language skills. Madiha’s English was minimal, but her Urdu was fluent; Sulmana was fluent and literate in both Urdu and English. Kanta’s home language was Punjabi, and she had attended an English-medium school in Pakistan. Much of her Urdu acquisition had taken place since arriving in Toronto, and she had become highly skilled in switching back and forth between Urdu and English. In composing the story, the three girls discussed their ideas primarily in Urdu, but they wrote the initial draft in English. They received feedback and suggestions from Lisa on this initial English draft after which they finalized it and translated it into Urdu. In a typical classroom, Madiha’s ability to participate in a grade 7 social studies unit would have been severely limited by her minimal knowledge of English. She certainly would not have been in a position to write extensively in English about her experiences, ideas, and insights. However, when the social structure of the classroom was changed in very simple ways that permitted her to collaborate with her friends and draw on her L1 concepts and literacy, Madiha was enabled to express herself in ways that few ELLs experience. Her L1, in which all her experience prior to immigration was encoded, became once again a tool for learning. She contributed her ideas and experiences to the story, participated in discussions about how to translate vocabulary and expressions from Urdu to English and from English to Urdu, and shared in the affirmation that all three students experienced with the publication of their story as a (hard copy) book and on the World Wide Web.’ In this example, the teacher scaffolded Madiha’s use of English by enabling her to work with her more fluent friends on a challenging task. The students’ prior experience and background knowledge were mobilized in carrying out the writing of the book in both languages. Madiha used her L1 as a stepping stone to a much more accomplished performance than if she had been confined to using only English in the classroom. If she had been confined to English, Madiha would likely have been able to write only a few limited sentences on the topic instead of participating as an author of a 20-page book that showcased her emerging bilingual and biliterate abilities. As they composed the story in English and Urdu, the three students discussed how particular ideas in one language could be expressed in the other, and they developed insights about each language as a result of comparing and contrasting the two languages.

The teacher scaffolded Madiha’s use of

English by enabling her to work with her more fluent friends on

a challenging task. 17

CHAPTER

1: THE

BIG

PICTURE

Figure 1.3 Sample Pages From The New Country

I think it helps my learning to be able to write in both languages because if I’m writing English and Ms. Leoni says you can write .

|

o

.

Urdu too it helps me think of what the word means because I

always think in Urdu. That helps me write better in English. When I came here I didn’t know any English, I always speak Urdu

: Written

by:

MAGA Balas

suman Hanif | |

f\ -. Kanta Khalid es Tllustrated by: ~

é

Jennifer

Du

About The Authors We are three best friends, Our names are. Madiha | Bajwa, Karta Khalid, and Sulmans Hanift We ure in grade 7at Michael Cranny 6.5. in Mapte, Ontazig, "This story we wrote mostly describes -how Maird it was t& Iésve ‘our country aral come (0 a new counmry

Pranstated in English ama Uhde a

eesGcaerl cas cate Diced chaos cts RE

to my friends. Other teachers they said to me “Speak English, |

me speak Urdu and I liked this because ifI don’t know English,

what can I do?

|

Cig Jit (ot

|

speak English” but Ms. Leoni didn’t say anything when she heard

|

oC Ur Ea cates ules!

ae apat beget Ge ay, ue oti! spelt: sist

CL ot at OF bei frat bly Cretreenedty =k.

It helps me a lot to be able to speak Urdu and English. Madiha Bajwa

This example illustrates the insight first articulated by Courtney Cazden* that performance precedes competence. In other words, we develop competence in particular spheres by participating in socially supportive groups focused on achieving particular goals. Expressed more concretely, before she wrote The New Country, Madiha could not have read the English text. However, after she and her friends had discussed and written the story in both Urdu and English, she had acquired the English linguistic competence to read and understand the English text. The New Country (Figure 1.3) is an example of what we have termed an identity text. Students invest their identities in the creation of “texts,” which can be written, spoken, signed, visual, musical, or dramatic texts, or text combinations in multimodal form. The identity text then holds a mirror up to students in which their identities are reflected back in a positive light. When students share identity texts with multiple audiences, such as peers, teachers, parents, grandparents, sister classes, and the media, they are likely to receive positive feedback and affirmation of self in interaction with these audiences.’

18

Sonia’s dad for the first time bad his own car. Me drove the family'to thelr pew apartment. The apartment bad an clevator and Sonia actually thought thé clevator was her home. She also thought that when she would press each button, things weald pop out. Then when the elevator opencd, Sonia saw a tot of doors in front of her.

She thought they were all rooms in her aew apartment.

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SOT

Se at Cr

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ft Cts pe

ALCLated 60 tt OB

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39 lait Lith 09 VI

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17

|

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Tiles Hoek 9 wet

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at olen ¥ol3 Copy aiele

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|

19

We have introduced a number of central ideas in this initial chapter. 1. The increasing numbers of ELLs in North American schools and the timelines involved in the acquisition of academic English mean that classroom teachers will almost inevitably be required to support ELLs in understanding instruction and deepening their knowledge of the language. 2. There is considerable consensus among researchers about the instructional conditions that promote students’ acquisition of the target language. Acquisition is accelerated when teachers scaffold students’ understanding and use of the language and explicitly focus their attention on how the language works. Students will also benefit when they are encouraged to use their L1 as a cognitive resource for task completion and a stepping stone to English. There is also agreement that acquisition will be facilitated when students are provided with opportunities for

talk and social interaction in the target language.

3. ELLs must be given opportunities to expand their minds by engaging in higher-order thinking and problem solving where they can use their emerging bilingual skills for powerful and identity-affirming purposes. Under these circumstances, academic engagement will increase, thereby fuelling academic success.

Understanding of

Achieveme

Patter

nt Amo

ns ng

English Language Learners @

G6 In short, effective teaching for ELLs must go beyond a simple focus on teaching students the language of instruction; equally relevant for many students is instruction that aims to counteract both the negative consequences of socio-economic variables and the devaluation of student and community identity,experienced by marginalized social groups.

We have introduced a number of central ideas in this initial chapter. 1. The increasing numbers of ELLs in North American schools and the timelines involved in the acquisition of academic English mean that classroom teachers will almost inevitably be required to support ELLs in understanding instruction and deepening their knowledge of the language.

| 1}

2. There is considerable consensus among researchers about the instructional conditions that promote students’ acquisition of the target language. Acquisition is accelerated when teachers scaffold students’ understanding and use of the language and explicitly focus their attention on how the language works. Students will also benefit when they are encouraged to use their L1 as a cognitive resource for task completion and a stepping stone to English. There is also agreement that acquisition will be facilitated when students are provided with opportunities for

talk and social interaction in the target language.

3. ELLs must be given opportunities to expand their minds by engaging in higher-order thinking and problem solving where they can use their emerging bilingual skills for powerful and identity-affirming purposes. Under these circumstances, academic engagement will increase, thereby fuelling academic success.

Underst of

anding

Achieveme

Patter ns

nt Amo

ng

English Language Learners e

G6 In short, effective teaching for ELLs must go beyond a simple focus on teaching students the language of instruction; equally relevant for many students is instruction that aims to counteract both the negative consequences of

socio-economic variables and the devaluation of student and community identity,experienced by marginalized social groups.

CHAPTER

How well do ELLs perform in Canadian schools? n the previous chapter, we highlighted the fact that it typically takes at least five years for ELLs to catch up to their native English-speaking peers in academic skills such as vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. Canadian psychologist Esther Geva has similarly documented the fact that although elementary school-age ELLs acquire decoding skills in English at the same rate as and in similar ways to native English speakers, their English vocabulary knowledge lags behind that of native speakers even after five to six years of attending school in the L2 environment.'

ELLs will continue to benefit from instructional support across

the curriculum for several years after they have acquired fluency in conversational English and competent

decoding skills in English reading.

These academic catch-up trajectories have clear implications for both assessment and instruction. For assessment, they imply that we should be extremely cautious in the way we interpret assessment of students’ academic English skills or verbal cognitive abilities during the period when they are still catching up to native speakers. For example, norms on the verbal scales of cognitive ability tests used in psychological assessments for diagnostic purposes are based on the performance of native English-speaking students. They may give us an indication of where ELLs are in their academic catch-up trajectory, but they provide no information on students’ verbal ability or potential. The timelines also highlight the fact that ELLs will continue to benefit from instructional support across the curriculum for several years after they have acquired fluency in conversational English and competent decoding skills in English reading. Extensive research has been carried out across Canada on patterns of ELLs’ academic performance. This research presents a mixed picture reflecting the fact that ELLs do not represent a uniform group. Many of these students were born in Canada; those born outside of Canada may have arrived at any stage in their school careers. Some arrive with their families as voluntary immigrants; others are refugees fleeing disasters in their home countries. Those who arrive as voluntary immigrants after the age of six are likely to have received formal education in their home countries and may enter Canadian schools with strong academic skills in their first languages. Refugee students may have missed out on formal schooling for several years, and some may have experienced physical or emotional trauma. In general, research published since the early 1980s shows that when given sufficient time to catch up academically, ELLs, as a group, perform at least as well as students whose home language is English. However, this pattern masks significant variation across different groups. Students from refugee backgrounds who may have missed schooling and who frequently live in economically challenging circumstances tend to experience more academic difficulties than students from higher socio-economic backgrounds whose families have arrived in Canada as voluntary immigrants. Students whose home language literacy skills are well developed also tend to develop stronger English literacy skills, reflecting cross-linguistic transfer of concepts and learning skills.

22

2: UNDERSTANDING

PATTERNS

OF

ACHIEVEMENT

AMONG

ENGLISH

LANGUAGE

LEARNERS

_ ELLs’ academic performance: The good news International comparisons from research carried out by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) suggest that first- and second-generation immigrant students in Canada perform relatively well academically in comparison to those in most other countries. The OECD (2010) summarizes the performance of Canadian immigrant-background students in reading abilities as follows: PISA results suggest that within three years of arrival in Canada, immigrants score an average of 500 on the PISA exam, which is remarkably strong by international standards. For comparison’s sake, in the 2006 PISA assessment of reading, Canadian first-generation immigrants scored an average of 520 points, as opposed to less than 490 in the United States and less than 430 in France. Canada is also one of very few countries where there is no gap between its immigrant and native students on the PISA. (By contrast, in the United States, the gap in reading is 22 points, and in France and Germany, it is around 60 points.) Second-generation Canadians perform significantly better than first-generation Canadians, suggesting that the pattern is of progress by all students over time. Finally, Canada is one of the few countries where there is no difference in performance between students who do not speak the language of instruction at home and those who do.? The OECD attributes the relative success of immigrant students as a group to the fact that they “have much the same advantages in terms of parental education and socio-economic status as native-born students, and they attend schools that by all measures are relatively equal.”? The OECD also points to the fact that immigrants are welcomed as part of Canada’s commitment to multiculturalism, which “provides a distinct philosophy that seeks to both respect the importance of native cultures while also incorporating immigrants into a distinctively Canadian identity.” A similar picture emerges from a large-scale analysis of immigrant-background students’ academic performance in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver.‘ This study reported that the academic performance of students whose home language differed from that of the school exceeded what would be predicted based on various risk factors such as socio-economic status (SES): “In some sites, the results of the target

group are even slightly higher than that of the comparison group [native speakers of the school language] with regard to graduation rates, performance in various subjects, and most of all, participation in selective or university-bound gourses.”°

23

CHAPTER

ELLs’ academic

performance: The bad news

Despite the generally positive picture that emerges from large-scale studies, there is also extensive evidence that some immigrant-background communities experience persistent academic difficulties. For example, studies carried out in Alberta during the 1990s revealed that more than 60 percent of ELLs failed to graduate with a high-school diploma.* More recent studies from British Columbia also show a high “disappearance,” or non-completion, rate among high-school ELLs.’ Students from higher socio-economic backgrounds tended to perform considerably better than those from refugee and/or low socio-economic backgrounds. Mandarin-L1 students showed very high levels of academic performance (helped by extensive out-of-school tutoring) whereas Spanish- and Vietnamese-background students exhibited disproportionate academic difficulties. The variation in performance across different groups is illustrated in data from the Toronto District School Board showing graduation and dropout rates for different home language groups (Figure 2.1).° The data reflects the status of students who entered grade 9 in September 2000 and were followed over five years until the fall of 2005. Graduation was defined as either being granted a high-school diploma or achieving 30 or more credits, while dropout was defined as students leaving the school system without graduating or transferring to another educational system. The English-L1 group in Figure 2.1 includes students from the English-speaking Caribbean, whose dropout rate was high (40%).

|

Figure 2.1 Toronto District School Board Drop-out Distribution by Home Language

Language yor TTS Somali

Persian (Farsi) Vietnamese

English Korean

PURSE Urdu ay Tex

| Number of students | % graduated | % dropped out

2: UNDERSTANDING

PATTERNS

OF

ACHIEVEMENT

AMONG

ENGLISH

LANGUAGE

LEARNERS

_ What are the sources of underachievement among ELLs? The variation in academic achievement across different ELL groups reflects the fact that many students face multiple challenges in succeeding academically. The international research literature on “educational disadvantage” typically identifies three categories of students who are at risk of educational difficulties: (a) linguistically diverse students whose L1 is different from the dominant language of school and society; (b) students from low-SES backgrounds; and (c) students from communities that have been marginalized or excluded from educational and social opportunities (often over generations) as a result of discrimination in the wider society. Although these three groups frequently overlap, they are conceptually distinct. Some students may fall into all three categories of potential disadvantage (e.g., some First Nations students in Canada, some Spanish-speaking students in the United States); others may fall into two categories (e.g., English-L1 low-SES Caribbean-background students); and some may be characterized by only one dimension (e.g., Romanian-L1 students from highly educated parents). American researcher Patricia Gandara has highlighted the intersections between poverty and immigration status: Nearly two-thirds of immigrant children in the United States live near or below the poverty level. ... Poverty has devastating effects on children’s academic achievement, whether the students are English learners or native-born European Americans. ... Poverty is a major predictor of absenteeism, poor grades and test scores, and high dropout rates.’ In a monograph focused on redesigning English-medium classrooms to enhance the achievement of ELLs, David Dolson and Lauri Burnham-Massey emphasized that instruction cannot focus only on language variables in isolation from patterns of historical and current power relations:

a.

The variation in academic achievement across different ELL groups reflects the fact that many students face multiple challenges in succeeding academically.

Throughout the history of public education, the school system has been unable or unwilling to systematically provide as effective programs for children from stigmatized minority groups, most notably Native Americans, African Americans, and Hispanics, as it does for majority students. ... Each of the mentioned groups has been historically subordinated through forms of violence (war, slavery, forced relocation, and/or genocide).’° In short, effective teaching for ELLs must go beyond a simple focus on teaching students the language of instruction; equally relevant for many students is instruction . . . a hae . that aims to counteract both the negative consequences of socio-economic variables and the devaluation of student and community identity experienced by marginalized social groups. Figure 2.2 specifies some of the ways in which the negative impact of background variables associated with potential academic disadvantage can be reduced by appropriate educational responses.

24

25

CHAPTER

Figure 2.2 High-Impact Instructional Responses to Sources of Potential Academic Disadvantage Student Background

| Linguistically Diverse

Sources of potential disadvantage

¢ Failure to understand instruction due to

home/school language

differences

Marginalized Status ¢ Inadequate prenatal care

¢ Societal discrimination

¢ Inadequate nutrition —

¢ Low teacher expectations

* Housing segregation

¢ Stereotype threat

¢ Lack of cultural and material resources in the home due to poverty

¢ Identity devaluation

° Limited range of language interaction

2: UNDERSTANDING

PATTERNS

OF ACHIEVEMENT

AMONG

ENGLISH

LANGUAGE

LEARNERS

The metaphor of scaffolding was introduced in Chapter 1 and includes the following instructional strategies: ¢ e ¢ e

Use of graphic organizers and visuals in texts '! Hands-on experiences and demonstrations Collaborative group work Encouraging students to use their L1 for a variety of purposes such as writing, researching, discussion with same-language peers, etc. ¢ Supporting students in acquiring efficient learning strategies (e.g., planning tasks, visualization, grouping/classifying, note-taking/summarizing, questioning for clarification, making use of multiple resources for task completion) e Clarifying language features and structures

¢ Inadequate access to print at home and school, etc.

i}

Evidence-based instructional response

¢ Scaffold comprehension ¢ Maximize literacy and production of language | engagement

across the curriculum ° Reinforce academic language across

* Reinforce academic language across the curriculum

¢ Connect instruction to students’ lives

° Affirm student identities in association with literacy engagement

the curriculum

The relationships specified in Figure 2.2 highlight the fact that “disadvantage” is not a fixed or static construct; significant components of students’ background experiences are transformed into actual educational disadvantages only when the school fails to respond appropriately to these background experiences. For example, a home-school language switch becomes an educational disadvantage only when the school fails to support students effectively in learning the school language. Similarly, the effects of racism in the wider society can be significantly ameliorated when the school implements instruction that affirms students’ identities and challenges the devaluation of students and communities in the wider society. The research basis of the instructional responses specified in Figure 2.2 is outlined in the following sections. How can schools support students in acquiring the language oy mlieiea adel rg There is a large degree of consensus among researchers, educators, and policy-makers about the importance of three components of effective instruction for ELLs: (a) scaffolding meaning, (b) activating and building students’ background knowledge, and (c) extending students’ knowledge of academic language through explicit instruction.

26

Activating and building students’ background knowledge can be viewed as a form of “internal” scaffolding. In contrast to the modifications of the input to make it more comprehensible for ELLs outlined above, the focus is on modifying students’ internal cognitive structures to facilitate comprehension of new content. Cognitive psychologists have long emphasized that learning derives from the integration of new knowledge or skills with the knowledge or skills we already possess. Therefore, it is crucial to activate students’ pre-existing knowledge so that they can relate new information to what they already know. This point was made clearly by cognitive psychologist Michael Pressley and colleagues:

It is crucial to activate students’ pre-existing knowledge so that they can relate new

information to what they already know.

In fact, there are many demonstrations in the research literature that background knowledge improves comprehension and memory of text. ... A clear implication of this literature is that building world and cultural knowledge that will be encountered in the child’s future reading is essential if students are to comprehend those readings at a high level.'” Some cognitive knowledge in a previous lesson. connecting with the school.

psychologists interpret the research on activating background narrow way as simply reminding students what they learned in the By contrast, we interpret this construct in a much broader way as students’ lives, interests, and experiences both inside and outside

As noted in Chapter 1, there is also wide agreement about the need for teachers to direct students’ attention explicitly to features of academic language and how it operates both in texts and in oral reports. However, we are still in the early stages of ensuring that all teachers know how to articulate language objectives: together with content objectives across the curriculum. The instructional strategies outlined in this book are intended to support teachers in reinforcing students’ awareness of how academic language works and their expertise in using academic language in a variety of educational and social contexts.

2/

CHAPTER

How can schools reverse some of the negative impacts

|

28

PATTERNS

OF ACHIEVEMENT

AMONG

group status?

Some of the sources of potential educational disadvantage associated with SES are beyond the capacity of individual schools to address (e.g., housing segregation), but the potential negative effects of other factors can be ameliorated by school policies and instructional practices. For example, breakfast programs in an increasing number of Canadian schools aim to reduce the effects of inadequate nutrition experienced by many children living in poverty.

There is extensive research documenting the chronic underachievement of groups such as Canadian First Nations that have experienced systematic long-term discrimination in the wider society. '® The historical and current operation of these power structures is a direct determinant of the current low SES of many of these groups. Educators who understand how societal power relations operate to limit students’ literacy development are in a position, individually and collectively, to challenge this process through their instructional practice.

The potential impact of addressing these causal factors in an evidence-based way is illustrated in the fact that successive PISA studies have reported a strong relationship between reading engagement and reading achievement among 15-year-old students. For example, the first set of PISA studies reported that the level of a student’s reading engagement was a better predictor of literacy performance than his or her SES. The report pointed out that “engagement in reading can be a consequence, as well as a cause, of higher reading skill, but the evidence suggests that these two factors are mutually reinforcing.”* In more recent PISA studies, the OECD has reported that approximately one-third of the association between reading performance and students’ SES was mediated by reading engagement.'* The implication is that schools can potentially “push back” about one-third of the negative effects of socio-economic disadvantage by ensuring that students have access to a rich print environment and become actively engaged with literacy. A large number of additional studies have reported causal relationships between students’ reading achievement and the degree to which they gain access to print and become strongly engaged with literacy.’ This pattern of findings is entirely logical in light of the fact that academic language is found predominantly in only two places: classrooms and printed text. Thus, students who read extensively both within and outside school experience much more exposure to academic language than those who read minimally.

ENGLISH

LANGUAGE

LEARNERS

How can schools challenge students’ marginalized

of low-SES?

Two sources of potential disadvantage that schools do have the power to address are the limited access to print that many low-SES students experience in their homes (and schools) * and the more limited range of language interaction that has been documented in many low-SES families as compared to more affluent families." The logical inference that derives from the differences in print access and language interaction between SES groups is that schools serving low-SES students should (a) immerse them in a print-rich environment in order to promote literacy engagement across the curriculum and (b) focus in a sustained way on how academic language works and enable students to take ownership of academic language by using it for powerful (i.e., identity-affirming) purposes.

schools can potentially “push back” about one-third of the negative effects of socio-economic disadvantage by ensuring that students have access to a rich print environment and become actively engaged with literacy.

2: UNDERSTANDING

The operation of these power relations in the classroom can be illustrated by a study carried out in the American Southwest more than 40 years ago by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. !? This study reported that Euro-American students were praised or encouraged 36 percent more often than Mexican-American students, and their classroom contributions were used or built upon 40 percent more frequently than those of Mexican-American students. Under these conditions, students are likely to internalize the message that they are not seen as academically capable, nor are they expected to succeed. The relationship of identity negotiation to societal power and status relations is also clearly implicated in the phenomenon of stereotype threat discussed briefly in Chapter 1.7° It is not difficult to see how negative stereotypes communicated overtly or inadvertently to students within the school might undermine their academic engagement. A direct implication is that in order to reverse this pattern of underachievement, educators, both individually and collectively, must challenge the devaluation of students’ language, culture, and identity in the wider society by implementing instructional strategies that enable students to develop what American researcher Patrick Manyak has termed “identities of competence.”7! Canadian First Nations scholar Marie Battiste expressed the central role that schools can play in challenging the legacy of coercive power structures and the devaluation of identity that is associated with this pattern of power relations: Every school is either a site of reproduction or a site of change. In other words, education can be liberating or it can domesticate and maintain domination. It can sustain colonization in neo-colonial ways or it can decolonize.”” African American researcher Gloria Ladson-Billings also expressed therelationship between societal power relations and identity negotiation in noting tHe following: “The problem that African American students face is the constant devaluation of their culture both in school and in the larger society.”*? She also highlighted the logical and powerful instructional response to this reality: “When students are treated as competent, they are likely to demonstrate competence.” **

G6 When students are

treated as competent, they are likely to demonstrate competence. 95

29

CHAPTER

These considerations are particularly relevant for refugee students who are likely to have missed out on schooling as a result of dislocation and may also have experienced trauma of various kinds. It is beyond the scope of this volume to address refugee issues in any detail, but we strongly recommend the outstanding resource document developed by the Manitoba Department of Education entitled Life After War: Education as a Healing Process for Refugee and War-Affected Children.*

Putting academic language instruction in its place Where does academic language teaching fit within a broader context of addressing the causes of student underachievement? In Figure 2.2, several instructional responses were specified that address factors that potentially contribute to underachievement among low-SES, immigrant-background, and marginalized group students. These include teaching academic language explicitly across the curriculum, scaffolding students’ comprehension and production of language across the curriculum, maximizing literacy engagement, connecting instruction to students’ lives, and affirming students’ identities in the context of academic work. These instructional responses have been compiled in the following Literacy Engagement Framework (Figure 2.3). Figure 2.3 The Literacy Engagement

Framework

Literacy Achievement

l

Print Access/ Literacy Engagement

l

2: UNDERSTANDING

PATTERNS

OF

ACHIEVEMENT

AMONG

ENGLISH

LANGUAGE

LEARNERS

The framework specifies four broad instructional dimensions (described in Figure 2.3) that are critical in enabling students to engage actively with literacy from an early stage of their schooling. Literacy engagement will be enhanced when: ¢ Teachers scaffold students’ ability to understand and use academic language. e Instruction connects to students’ lives by activating their background knowledge and stimulating their curiosity and interest. e Instruction affirms students’ academic, linguistic, and cultural identities by enabling them to showcase their literacy accomplishments in both L1 and L2. ¢ Students’ knowledge of and control over language is reinforced across the curriculum. We see this framework as a starting point for discussing language policies within the school. The claims embedded in the framework are all consistent with the empirical data, but they highlight two dimensions — print access/literacy engagement and identity affirmation — that have not been strongly emphasized either in provincial/state educational policies or in academic discussions of teaching ELLs.

This chapter has highlighted the fact that in order to teach ELLs effectively, we need to focus on more than just language. In addition to the challenge of learning the language of instruction and catching up academically, many ELLs also face challenges associated both with the negative effects of low-SES (e.g., inadequate access to print outside the school) and societal power structures which, in the past, have expressed themselves instructionally in the form of low expectations and stereotypical assumptions about students’ abilities and motivation. When policies designed to support ELLs’ academic progress focus only on linguistic variables in isolation from the ways in which language differences between home and school intersect with SES and patterns of power relations in the wider society, they are unlikely to identify the most effective instructional interventions.

The framework posits print access/literacy engagement as a direct determinant of literacy attainment for both ELLs and non-ELLs. Print access and literacy engagement are two sides of the same coin. Without abundant access to books and printed materials at home or school, children are unlikely to engage actively with literacy. It is important to note that literacy engagement includes writing as well as reading. There is considerable research documenting the role of extensive writing not only in developing writing expertise but also in improving reading comprehension.”

30

31

CHAPTER

3: WHAT

ARE

THE

LANGUAGE

DEMANDS

OF

DIFFERENT

CONTENT

AREAS?

n Chapter 1, we laid out the case for why we should teach language across the [ curriculum and the need for teachers to learn more about the characteristics of the language used in the curriculum content they teach. This knowledge can be built up gradually over time and need not be an additional burden for busy teachers. In our work in schools, we have had the good fortune to observe innovative practices where K-12 teachers and their ELLs are learning together, as part of their everyday classroom inquiry, about how language operates to build knowledge in different content areas. In this chapter, we draw on these observations to address these questions: What are the general language demands across the curriculum? How can we organize and plan units of work that support ELLs to meet these demands and achieve success in school?

What Are the Language Demands of Different Content Areas?

G6 The design of integrated content and language instruction for ELLs must be based on a process whereby content objectives and thinking skills are structured into big ideas and unit and lesson plans, as well as intellectually substantive tasks that

are relevant to students’ lives, interests, and local/global issues. 55

The big idea we want to highlight here is that the intentional and explicit teaching of academic language needs to be seamlessly integrated with the teaching of academic content so that ELLs’ cognitive and academic knowledge will continue to grow as they are expanding their proficiency in the language of instruction.

Integrating language, content, and thinking processes We pointed out in Chapter 1 that the principle of teaching language across the curriculum has been endorsed by policy-makers and educators since the mid-1970s, but implementation of this approach has been sporadic. In a number of contexts across Canada in the 1970s and 1980s, ESL specialist and mainstream classroom teachers jointly planned and implemented content-based and interdisciplinary thematic units with a view to simultaneously developing ELLs’ academic language and content knowledge.! However, Initial Teacher Education programs across Canada, for the most part, did not incorporate a focus on language and content integration into the knowledge base that was communicated to content teachers at either elementary or secondary levels. Thus, in many contexts, these initiatives were not sustained, particularly in situations where ESL support was available only to early-stage ELLs. A central principle underlying the approach adopted in these early initiatives was that the intellectual challenge incorporated in curriculum standards (also termed expectations, outcomes, or objectives) should not be diluted just because ELLs were still in the process of learning English. Thus, the standards served as the basic organizing element for instruction. Teachers work from the standards as the starting point for instructional planning to identify the language students need to attain . . these standards. This approach is consistent with the principle of backivard design, which Wiggins and McTighe (2005) advocated, where we start with a clear and

. . The intentional and explicit teaching of academic language

needs to be seamlessly integrated

detailed statement of the desired learning outcomes and then derive the curriculum

with the teaching of

and instructional strategies from the performances called for or implied in these learning outcomes.”

academic

content.

CHAPTER

Rich tasks are

intellectually substantive activities that focus on central ideas of

a topic or issue and require students i

to demonstrate

deep knowledge of the field.

Thus, the perspective that underlies the approach we are advocating is that the design of integrated content and language instruction for ELLs must be based on a process whereby content objectives and thinking skills are structured into big ideas and unit and lesson plans, as well as intellectually substantive (often referred to as “rich”) tasks that are relevant to students’ lives, interests, and local/global issues. These instructional strategies are designed not only to teach content but also to generate in an intentional and predictable way particular academic language forms and functions that are central to students’ educational success. For example, the curriculum may specify objectives such as “comparing and contrasting characters in “classifying angles a novel,” “relating causes and consequences in climate change,” in math according to the size of their measurement,” or “solving problems in urban development.” Teachers then encourage their ELLs, often with visual supports, to express their thinking, ideas, and experiences in academic language so that they can 39

66

achieve success relative to these curriculum objectives.

In this approach, any thematic or content unit becomes an ecology of rich tasks. As noted above, rich tasks are intellectually substantive activities that focus on central ideas of a topic or issue and require students to demonstrate deep knowledge of the field, rather than simply knowledge of isolated facts.? Each constellation of tasks is considered for the opportunities afforded ELLs to use academic language across a variety of situations, modes (e.g., oral, written), and types of texts (e.g., narrative,

3: WHAT

ARE

THE

LANGUAGE

DEMANDS

OF

DIFFERENT

CONTENT

AREAS?

The most comprehensive and user-friendly resource relating to language objectives that we have come across is the Alberta Education site focusing on ESL issues and, in particular, its ESL Benchmarks utility (http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/eslapb/ index.html). Here we provide just a sketch of the ESL Benchmarks utility in order to illustrate its usefulness in identifying language objectives associated with particular content. The ESL Benchmarks are organized by grade level bands (kindergarten, 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12) in terms of the four language skills (Speaking, Listening, Reading, and Writing) with a variety of sub-skills incorporated in each. For example, for Writing at grades 10-12, the following sub-skills are listed: Linguistic: Vocabulary, Grammar, Syntax; Strategic; Socio-Linguistic; Discourse; Editing. If a user decides to view the Benchmarks for Discourse at grades 10-12, a page opens up that defines Discourse (knowledge of how ideas are organized and connected) and provides descriptors for five levels (Beginning, Developing, Expanding, Bridging, Extending). As illustrated for subordinate conjunctions in Figure 3.1, all the linguistic terms in these descriptors are hyperlinked to an explanation of the term. The Writing Benchmarks also provide examples of students’ writing at each of the five levels for each grade level. Figure 3.1 Benchmarks for Discourse Grades 10-12

persuasive, information report).

Click the Edit Search

Articulating language objectives Jennifer Himmel of the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington, DC, has written an excellent overview of how to articulate and teach academic language across the curriculum. She defines language objectives as follows: “Language objectives are lesson objectives that specifically outline the type of language that students will need to learn and use in order to accomplish the goals of the lesson.”* She points out that language objectives involve the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, and writing) as well as:

e Language functions relevant to learning the lesson content (e.g., hypothesizing, explaining, etc.) © Technical and general academic vocabulary required to understand the lesson e Language learning strategies that support comprehension of content (e.g., note-taking, questioning, making predictions, etc.)

button to revise your search. Glossary: subordinate conjunction

WRITING

(GRADES

10-12)

Student writing samples: Level 1 Samples

x

A conjunction, such as because, although or as, that connects a dependent clause with an independent clause; e.g., Since it was het, he brought his bathing suit.

Level 2 Samples

Level 3 Sampies

Level 4 Samples

Level 5 Samples

e

Grade 10

«

Grade 10

e

Grade 10

e

§6Grade 10

°

Grade 10

e e

Grade 11 Grade 12

e e

Grade 11 Grade 12

e e

Grade 11 §€©Grade 12

e ©

Grade 11 Grade 12

e e

§©6©Grade 11 «Grade 12

’

Grades 10 to 12 - Discourse (knowledge of how ideas are organized and connected) Level 1: Beginning

Level 2: Developing

Level 3: Expanding

Level 4: Bridging

Level 5: Extending

Connects ideas in:

Connects ideas in:

Connects ideas in:

Connects ideas in:

Organizes ideas in:

e e

e

e

e simple sentences using:

e abasic paragraph using:

*

common conjunctions

*

¢

common sequence markers.

©

*

common time markers

More info »

*

common conjunctions

time markers

sequence markers.

More tnfo »

.

athree-paragraph narrative athree-paragraph descriptive composition

using: * e

transition words

subordinate conjunctions.

More info »

|

.

acohesive, well-developed, five-paragraph academic composition

» Using.

& gavariety of cohesive devices. More info » .

,

a variety of extended texts which reiterate, emphasize and show proof and exception

using: ¢

transitional devices.

More info »

As part of their lesson plans, teachers can create a simple template that articulates both content and language objectives. Two illustrative examples from Earth Sciences and Social Studies are presented in Figure 3.2.

|

34

35

CHAPTER

Figure 3.2 Content and Language Objectives Example Content Objective

Language

Classify the three main types

Vocabulary: igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic, molten, lava, magma, sediment, intrusive, extrusive, particles, compressed, conglomerate, minerals, temperature, pressure Language features: “timeless” present tense and passives

of rocks and explain the formation of each.

Objectives

Types of

Types of Thinking Skills

Knowledge

Common

Structures

Curriculum

Description

Language skills: Read short scientific text and provide an oral explanation of content. Vocabulary: Confederation, federal, provincial/territorial, municipal, Executive, Legislative,

government in Canada and their areas of responsibility.

Judicial, cabinet, branches, representative, legislative assembly, Lieutenant-Governor, commissioner

Sequence

Type of text: Information report

56

DEMANDS

OF

DIFFERENT

CONTENT

Examples Adapted

From

AREAS?

Choice

Yel Y ecto Ceh MALU] LV Graphic Organizers

* Identifying

* Compare the structure and function of plant

* Describing * Comparing

and animal cells. ¢ Analyze similarities and differences in social

° Tables ¢ Diagrams

¢ Contrasting

values and aspects of life between present-day Canadians and some different

° Arranging events in

sequence/narrating

process, procedure, cycle, or protocol * Following directions or instructions

its areas of responsibility.

¢ Forming/choosing personal opinions and interpretations e Making decisions ¢ Identifying, posing, and solving problems

* Demonstrate understanding of a text by retelling the story or restating information from the text, including the main idea; recount an event. * Investigate the life cycle of a variety

of animals.

* Express personal thoughts and feelings about what has been read. ¢ Demonstrate skills of decision making and

¢ T-charts e Pictures

* Plans/drawings ¢ Maps * Tables with numbered steps ¢ Flow charts * Cycles ¢ Timelines * Action strips

* Decision trees * Flow charts

problem solving.

¢ Identifying alternative solutions

Classification

* Classifying and defining ¢ Understanding, applying, or developing concepts, definitions, or classifications

* Classify structures as solid structures (e.g., dams), frame structures (e.g., goalposts),

¢ Webs * Trees

or shell structures (e.g., airplane wings). * Classify different value judgments.

* Tables ¢ Graphs * Databases

Principles

¢ Explaining

¢ Appreciate the universal importance of story in Aboriginal and other cultures.

¢ Diagrams ¢ Graphs

¢ Make predictions related to repeating

* Tables ¢ Cycles

* Relating causes and

geometric and numeric patterns. ¢ Explain the processes of diffusion and osmosis

consequences ¢ Formulating principles, themes, universals, theories

and their roles within a cell. * Determine the long/short-term causes and the intended and unintended consequences of an

¢ Predicting

Framework

Mohan proposed his framework, known as the Knowledge Framework, as an exploratory lens to help teachers organize their instructional activities and think about the language demands of topics and tasks in content areas. Crucial to this approach, as the name suggests, is to find the main structures of the content information (i.e., the knowledge) to be learned. This demands a framework that can be widely employed and that teachers can use as a tool to explore the way meaning is built and organized across the curriculum (the knowledge structures). The framework proposes six major knowledge structures that can be classified into two groups: one group more concrete and specific, which address immediate aspects of a situation (description, sequence, choice); the other more abstract and theoretical, which address concepts that are not limited to any particular time or place (classification, principles, evaluation) (see Figure 3.3). The Knowledge Framework has been implemented and researched over many years in collaborative projects with numerous elementary and secondary teachers across Canada.

LANGUAGE

Provincial Curricula

¢ Sequencing steps ina

Language skills: Write a short report on one of the levels of government in Canada and

The Knowledge

Across the

¢ Noting changes (and continuities) over time

called,” “are divided into”)

Our previous work in this area’ has utilized a framework for integrating language and content instruction developed by Bernard Mohan at the University of British Columbia.°

THE

groups in Canada between 1713 and 1800.

Language features: “timeless” present tense, language of classifying (e.g., “has,” “are

It is important to note that integrating language and content objectives and developing students’ knowledge of academic language is beneficial for all students, not just ELLs. As teachers begin to focus on language in the context of their teaching of content, their own awareness of how academic language works will expand and their effectiveness in teaching academic language will increase. It will take time to develop this expertise. Elementary teachers may want to focus on one content area initially and then gradually add other content areas. Secondary teachers might consider one block or one grade level to begin with and then expand as they develop more confidence in highlighting features of academic language for their students, both ELL and others.

ARE

Figure 3.3 Knowledge Structures and the Curriculum

Type of text: Explanation

Identify the three levels of

3: WHAT

¢ Hypothesizing ¢ Interpreting

event, decision, or development.

Evaluation

¢ Evaluating ¢ Judging

¢ Critically engage with text to appreciate the

¢ Rating charts ¢ Grids

* Critiquing

¢ Evaluate the effects, both beneficial and harmful, of various technologies on human

e Mark books

° Arguing * Persuading * Recommending ¢ Concluding

power and beauty of language.

* ePortfolios

body systems, taking different perspectives into account. ¢ Evaluate evidence and draw conclusions about perspectives of different groups on significant events, developments, or issues that affected Canada and/or Canadians during a particular period.

37

CHAPTER

Each of these knowledge structures has distinct linguistic features that set it apart from the others. For example, Description requires the use of adjectives, usually the present tense, and verbs such as “to be” or “to have,” while Sequence would more likely use past tense and action verbs, as in a narrative. These patterns will be elaborated upon in later chapters. Mohan also argued that each of these distinct knowledge structures can be represented graphically by key visuals. Key visuals, or graphic organizers, as they are commonly termed, are visual displays of information that both organize and simplify content. They also make visible the cognitive structures that underlie the content. Figure 3.3 lists some of the key visuals that lend themselves to representing each structure. Because these key visuals express the cognitive structures in a way that reduces the linguistic demands of linear text, they are highly effective in helping ELLs to understand content.

Key visuals enable students to transfer concepts and ideas

from Ll to La (and from L2 to Ll) and to mobilize the background knowledge they bring to the learning situation.

Knowledge

Structures

LANGUAGE

DEMANDS

Principles

Classification avilate Nn

OF

DIFFERENT

CONTENT

AREAS?

|

atannrizinc Ca re J )| ANC

|

|

x]

>i

Evaluation

1

AaSI7ZING |

¢ What is a bear? * Classify different types of bears according to their

° Explain what would happen if all bears were extinct.

* Categorize the bear’s place

and generate solutions to

in the animal kingdom.

« “A bear belongs to the Ursidae family.” ¢ “A polar bear is a predator. Polar bears hunt seals. They are sometimes termed ‘marine’ mammals.”

the problem.

° “If polar bears were extinct, then we would

¢ “Polar bears are very large bears with white fur.

¢ “Dear Prime Minister, | think it is important to

have issues as polar bears are the top of the

create environmental laws that protect polar bears as

food chain and they play an important role in the marine environment.”

they are an important part

7

* Compare bears with other mammals or creatures.

¢ Recognize that some bears are under threat because of changes caused by humans to their habitat,

habitat.

In response to our first question (What are the language demands across the curriculum?), the simple answer is that the language demands are the uses of language that students need to master in order to carry out a variety of cognitive functions in the classroom. The link between language functions and content knowledge structures can be illustrated in the following curriculum unit on bears (Figure 3.4).”

38

ARE THE

Figure 3.4 Curriculum Unit on Bears

Key visuals are versatile. They can be used to increase content understanding by (a) building background knowledge before reading a text, (b) enabling students to map information or insights as they read the text, and (c) providing templates that facilitate the consolidation of new information gained from reading the text. They can also be used as a springboard for promoting academic language production related to content. For example, a student could talk or write about the information presented in a classification tree, timeline, or flow chart. Teachers can also use key visuals to evaluate content and language understanding. For example, students could use a key visual to represent and explain their understanding of a spoken or written text. They may not be able to fully express this understanding in English, but the key visual serves to communicate to the teacher and their peers that they do, in fact, understand the ideas in the text. In this way, key visuals enable students to transfer concepts and ideas from L1 to L2 (and from L2 to L1) and to mobilize the background knowledge they bring to the learning situation.

The information in this chart can be read in any order; for example, readers can begin by looking at Sequence and thinking about the relationship between the thinking skills of relating and sequencing and the typical language elements used to express these skills and then move across and around the categories in any order they choose. However, on first reading, we recommend starting at the lower end of the framework (Description, Sequence, and Choice) and reading “bottom up.” One rationale for placing these knowledge structures on the lower level was that they represent more concrete and practical aspects of how knowledge is structured in schools and thus serve as the foundation for the more abstract/theoretical ways of organizing content information. Similarly, as we will discuss further in later chapters, there are many points of entry and ways to organize this information when using the framework as a planning tool. It is important to think of the Knowledge Framework as a heuristic, a mediating tool to explore how to design integrated language and content activities, rather than as a worksheet that needs to be filled in or read in a set or particular order.

3: WHAT

of our food chain ...”

CNCiNC

* The life cycle of a bear e The reproductive cycle of a bear

* “Before the cubs leave their mothers they learn

e Express personal opinions of bears or choose your favourite bear.

¢ “| like brown bears best because ...”

They have very strong legs and wide, flattened feet

to take care of themselves | ¢ “In my opinion,

and find food. Then after

governments need to

that help them walk on

2 to 3 years they leave

protect the polar bears

the ice.”

their mothers ...”

because they are an

important part of the marine food chain.”

Knowledge Structures

Description

Sequence

Choice

39

CHAPTER

In summary, the framework serves as a tool to think explicitly about how to link content and language. The six categories of the framework provide a starting point for exploring a topic or an essential question and developing instructional tasks that integrate the simultaneous development of content knowledge, thinking skills, and academic language. As illustrated in Figure 3.5, visuals can act as links between the content ideas and the academic language needed to express these ideas. Figure 3.5 Possible Graphic Organizers for Curriculum Unit on Bears

| Evaluation

Principles

Classification

a

Number of people that like bears

15,

3: WHAT

ARE THE

LANGUAGE

DEMANDS

We illustrate how the Knowledge Framework can be used in the classroom by describing two concrete examples relating to the teaching of science and language arts respectively.

_ Teaching the language of science Some years ago, British Columbia educator Patti Plottel was working with a group of grade 4/5 ELLs to help them develop the language of classification in a unit that she had planned on the topic of fish. Patti encouraged the class to tell her all that they knew about how animals could be classified, and she represented these different groupings in visual forms using a simple tree or a Venn diagram. Through a series of skilful questions, combined with paraphrasing and modelling, Patti guided the class toward the following graphic representation (Figure 3.6) of how the animal kingdom is classified:

a ja |See

Number of People

Figure 3.6 Classification

10

oeee

1

2 3 Room

4

Bar graph (results of a survey of classrooms)

Life Cycle of the Bear Class survey results on reasons

The Anatomy of a Bear Comparison Chart

° 4 legs

° 2 feet

* fur ¢ white

2 flippers * black & white

* cannot fly

* cannot fly

“| like/dislike bears because ...”

/

Patti then encouraged students to express the relationships between the concepts in their tree chart in a variety of ways:

\

P: $1: P: $2: P: $3: $4:

* hibernates in | * does not the winter hibernate

os

Description

Sequence

Choice

How would you explain to someone in words the ideas displayed in the tree? Animals can be divided into two groups, vertebrates or invertebrates. What about another way? There are lots of ways to express an idea. There are two main kinds of animals, vertebrates and invertebrates.. 5 ; What about something else? | Vertebrates and invertebrates are the two main types of animals. In science, they divide animals into two main groups. They talk about animals with backbones and animals with no backbones. P: What about vertebrates? Look at the chart and tell me something about vertebrates. S: There are two types of vertebrates — warm-blooded and cold-blooded. P: Another word that scientists might use for “types” or “groups” is “classes,” so they might say there are two classes, meaning types, of warm-blooded animals.

OF

DIFFERENT

CONTENT

Br

AREAS?

CHAPTER

ARE THE

LANGUAGE

DEMANDS

Figure 3.7 Example of a Mandala Created by ELLs (http://www. multiliteracies.ca/index.php/folio/viewProject/241)

The students then took over and asked one another questions using the chart in simple yes/no forms, such as “Is a bird cold-blooded?” and wh- questions, such as “What are the names of the two groups of warm-blooded language resources to express classification in scientific terms orally, the students then individually expressed their content classification of animals in writing. Here is an example from

3: WHAT

animals?” After the had been built up knowledge of the basic one student:

You can divide animals in two ways — vertebrates and invertebrates. Vertebrates means they have backbones. Under vertebrates are warm-blooded and coldblooded. And invertebrates means they have no backbones. Under warm-blooded are mammals and birds because they are warm-blooded. Under cold-blooded are reptiles, fish, and amphibians because they are cold-blooded. You can say fish are cold-blooded animals which have backbones. They belong to the same vertebrate group as reptiles.

Here we see that this student, along with her classmates, is being supported to develop and take control over the language demands of science. Technical language is being developed, both specific to the topic, such as vertebrates and invertebrates, but also generic nouns, such as types, classes, and so on, which will serve them more broadly in science. Students are being exposed to noun groups (e.g., cold-blooded animals) and main noun post-modifiers such as “which have backbones,” and are developing awareness of how language works to become denser. This short text, written by an ELL, displays a high level of lexical density (percentage of content words to other words), reflecting the student’s increasing command of the language of science. The graphic organizer provides an organizational structure that is reflected in the student’s repeated use of the spatial preposition “under.”

This example is from a high-school ELL transition English class taught by British Columbia teacher Sondra Marshall. The ELLs undertook a close reading of a short story (e.g., “War,” by Timothy Findley) and were asked to write a literary essay focusing on theme, character, or style. Sondra introduced the students to mandalas as a visual tool to facilitate their analysis. A mandala is a form of visual representation rooted in Hindu and Buddhist art. It derives from the Sanskrit word for circle and while it has symbolic meaning within religious traditions, it has also been more ; , generally applied as a learning tool across cultural contexts to represent complex constructs. The ELLs then undertook co-operative work in groups of three, and each group created a mandala that visually represented critical interpretations of a chosen literary work focusing on theme, character, or style, including quotes. They were required to use a minimum of three symbols in the outer section to represent the character, at least two symbols in the middle to represent the style or the voice, and one or two symbols for the inner theme. Each symbol had a supporting quote. ELLs then individually had to compose a well-written critical literary response of approximately six paragraphs, and with reference to the text, discuss characterization, style, or a theme. One example (Figure 3.7) is displayed on page 43.

|

42

| ,|

. dala. Sond Before students worked on th exercise. a placemat them do about ee ofnadquestions oe Each chosen his or her to a series ach student in; the group responded h short story in one section of the mat, and then the paper was moved around. The students read one another’s ideas, added more information as precisely as they were able, and then achieved agreement by giving reasons and providing evidence. Sondra wrote the instructions and

questi ons belo

w for the students. ; nswer these questions on your placemat. When everyone has finished , . ; answering the questions, move the paper around to read one another’s ddeas.

A

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Who Give What What What

i

is the main character? one or two characteristics for him or her. What reasons do you have? is the climax of the story? Why do you think so? is the main idea of the story? What lesson does the protagonist learn? elements of style does the author use to develop the story?

OF

DIFFERENT

CONTENT

AREAS?

CHAPTER

Sondra then worked with the students in their groups to support their “transmediation” of these ideas, first into the visual representations and then into their individual essays. Specifically, she supported their vocabulary development to make the vocabulary more abstract, working to change phrases like “wouldn’t listen” and “doesn’t think properly” to words such as “arrogant and inexperienced.” She built up noun groups (e.g., “illtempered, self-centred, stubborn old man”) and taught the appropriate use of tense (the literary present) typically used to write critical literary texts. Reference and cohesion (e.g., “in the beginning,” “later,” “toward the end,” “to sum up”) were explicitly taught, as was the appropriate text organization for persuasive arguments. Here are some examples from the ELLs’ essays from one group. (See http://www. multiliteracies.ca/index.php/folio/viewProject/241 for the complete set of essays.) Theme: “This story gives us a lesson which we need to think deeply. There are many occasions which we feel it is better for others not to know, like Neil’s father. Although it is better for now, once they realize the truth, they might get hurt more than knowing now. We should not prejudge it and decide not to tell the truth by our own assumption. We need to communicate with others and try to solve the problem instead of avoiding it.” Character: “In the story, the author tried to penetrate into the deeper layer emotions of Neil since he is a rounded character. After we go through the whole story, we can describe Neil’s characteristics as innocent, caring and brave. First of all innocence is the main characteristic of Neil.” Style: “One of the unique techniques in his [Timothy Findley] style is using the ‘play’ or ‘dramatic’ format and another interesting technique is first-person narrator.”

It is clear that the language demands in English are quite different from those in science.

When we look carefully at these texts, it is clear that the language demands in English are quite different from those in science. The demands in English are not for technical precision or for the same level of density and authoritative voice; rather, in the context of this unit, there is a demand for rich and precise use of the abstract language of characterization, interpretation, evaluation, and judgment. Students are also frequently called on to express opinions and to address emotions and affect. These language functions must be organized according to the conventions that characterize the discipline of English at the secondary school level or language arts at the elementary school level. Teachers can help socialize ELLs into this linguistic culture by drawing their attention explicitly to the ways in which language works in different subject areas.

|

3: WHAT

ARE THE

LANGUAGE

DEMANDS

In this chapter, we have presented the Knowledge Framework as a useful tool to enable teachers to make explicit links between the linguistic demands of different subject areas and the knowledge structures and thinking skills characteristic of these subject areas. Key visuals, or graphic organizers, play an important role in making these knowledge structures visible and supporting students’ comprehension of content and their ability to use appropriate language to elaborate and communicate their understanding and ideas.

OF

DIFFERENT

CONTENT

AREAS?

CHAPTER

4: THE

LANGUAGE

n this chapter, we adopt some useful distinctions recently articulated by [ the British Columbia Ministry of Education! that group language arts learning standards into comprehending and connecting and creating and communicating. Comprehending involves reading, listening, and viewing, and these processes become meaningful for students when they connect these written, oral, and visual texts both to their lives and experiences and to other knowledge that they have gained. Creating involves the generation of a variety of texts, broadly defined to include oral, written, visual, dramatic, and musical texts, or combinations in multimodal form. These texts can explore self, family, community, or societal issues in a variety of genres (e.g., story, poetry, critical essays, blogs, etc.). Communicating involves expressing ideas, thoughts, feelings, and opinions through various forms of communication that are appropriate to particular audiences and purposes. The examples of students’ projects discussed in this chapter highlight the unprecedented opportunities afforded by the Internet for students to communicate their creative ideas through print, images, and video to a global audience.

G6 All of the explicit instructional strategies designed to expand students’ awareness of

As we have pointed out in previous chapters, ELLs typically gain command of the linguistic tools required to comprehend/connect and create/communicate in everyday contexts considerably sooner than is the case in academic contexts. The major challenges that ELLs face in developing expertise in using the linguistic tools required for academic success can be grouped into two broad categories: (a) the need to acquire the increasingly low-frequency vocabulary reflected in K-12 texts and curriculum expectations and (b) the need to gain control over the linguistic structures, conventions, and registers that express complex relationships among ideas in precise and unambiguous ways. These categories are interrelated insofar as text that is structurally complex will also employ vocabulary that is more precise and specific than the high-frequency vocabulary we use in everyday conversation. We consider each of these challenges in the sections that follow.

how language works in language arts will

Teaching vocabulary

The Language Demands of Language Arts

be much more effective when students are actively engaged with literacy. This active literacy engagement involves both extensive reading of multiple types of text and production of multiple varieties of text, 99

DEMANDS

OF

LANGUAGE

ARTS

ELLs typically gain command of the linguistic tools required to comprehend/ connect and create/ communicate in everyday contexts considerably sooner

than is the case in academic contexts.

A brief history of the English language The English we use today is a hybrid language. It derives from a merger of the Germanic Anglo-Saxon language spoken in Britain roughly between the 5th and 11th centuries and the variety of French brought in by the conquering Normans when they invaded in 1066. We see this history in the large number of synonym pairs in English where one of the words is Anglo-Saxon in origin and the other derives from Latin or Greek: meet — encounter, ask — inquire, come — arrive,

a

and so on. The Anglo-Saxon lexicon has many cognate relationships with the languages of northern Europe. For example, English and German relationships are evident in the following words: active — aktiv, man — mann, and end — ende. Similarly, the Graeco-Latin lexicon of English has cognate relationships with many of the languages of southern Europe that were formerly part of the Roman Empire. English-French examples include family — famille, excellent — excellent, and different — different. The linkages can be seen in the following short passage posted by the European supermarket chain COOP in one of its stores in Italy after the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center in New York City:?

46

47

CHAPTER

Morte e terrore hanno colpito i punti simbolici e nevralgici della terra americana.

j

Most native speakers of English begin to encounter these words in quantity in their upper primary school reading and in the formal secondary school setting. So the words’ introduction in literature or textbooks, rather than in conversation, restricts people’s access to them. ... For example, even children’s ° , as . books contained 50% more rare words than either adult prime-time television or the conversations of university graduates; popular magazines had three times as many rare words as television and informal conversation.

e al popolo statunitense. La condanna del terrorismo deve essere per ogni uomo, Governo e Nazione ferma e indiscussa.

Paul Nation, a New Zealand researcher, has estimated that about two-thirds of the low-frequency words in English derive from Latin or Greek origin. He points out the following:

.

Most educated English speakers can decipher this message even if they have

f

.

|

estimates that, on average, a reader would come across words in Sublist 1 every

}

four Pabess but would need to read 82 pages to find a repetition of words in

Children’s books contained 50% more rare words

than either adult prime-time television or the conversations

of universit graduates.

Y 5 5

Sublist 10. Examples of some of the words in Sublist 1 and Sublist 10 are presented

Anglo-Saxon and Graeco-Latin vocabulary in language arts

Figure 4.1 AWL Sample Sublists |

for how we teach English both to native speakers and learners of the lanpuiape, Words derived from Anglo-Saxon roots are generally high frequency and are aed In

48

;

6 6

1s divided into ten sublists on the basis of frequency of occurrence. Coxhead

in Figure 4.1 for illustrative purposes.

everyday situations. They also tend to be short — one or two ayllahlen, Words derived from Greek and Latin roots tend to be low frequency and multlayllable,

ART!

frequently in academic texts.* The Academic Word List (AWL) includes 570 word families that are found across a wide range of academic disciplines. Words that

Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press in 1450 dramatically Ineveasud the availability of written material.

established almost a millennium ago remains with us today and haw huge implleations

LANGUAGE

occur in the most frequent 2000 wor ds of English were not included. The AWL

other workers, who, for the most part, were not formally educated. By contrast,

Amazingly, the functional division between the two major components of Ungllah

OF

occur in hundreds of other words — imply, infer, compose, expose, position. This has clear implications for teaching and learning vocabulary. . . Another New Zealander, Averil Coxhead, identified the words that occur most

lexicon occupied the domain of everyday interaction and was used by peasants and

It also became the predominant language of written text and remained so ater

DEMANDS

parts. The word impose for example, ismade of two parts, im- and —p ose; which

never studied Italian. The large number of Latin-based cognates pives us the plat of the message, and, with a little detective work, most of us can figure Out the precise meaning.

legal system, education) and was used by nobles and other high-stavius Individuals,

;

High-frequency vocabulary consists mainly of short words which cannot be broken into meaningful parts. Low-frequency vocabulary, on the other hand, while it consists of many thousands of words, is made from a much smaller number of word

COOP COOPERATIVE DISTRETTO TIRRENICO

Graeco-Latin vocabulary occupied high-status domains within the aoclaty (e.ffiy the

LANGUAGE

One of the first researchers to highlight the significance of these differences for education was David Corson, an Australian applied linguist who worked at the University of Toronto. He highlighted the fact that Graeco-Latin words are found predominantly in informational and literary texts:

Coop esprime affetto, ! an condoghianze e solidarieta alle vittime, alle loro famiglie

After the Norman invasion, the Anglo-Saxon and Gracco-Latin languages anaumed different functions as they gradually merged over several centuries. The Anglo-Saxon

4: THE

|

Sublist 1

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analysis

adjacent

concept

encounter

estimate

conceive

individual

invoke

significant

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49

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4: THE

LANGUAGE

DEMANDS

OF

LANGUAGE

ART!

The general distinction between words that derive from Anglo-Saxon roots and words that derive from Graeco-Latin roots is important because each set of words entails both challenges and opportunities for instruction. Specifically, although exposure to Anglo-Saxon words is generally frequent, many of these words are used in figurative or metaphoric ways that may not be transparent to ELLs. Consider, for example, the sentence “She has a big heart.” This refers to the person’s gencrosity, not the physical size of her heart. In the case of Graeco-Latin words, the major challenge is that students gain exposure to these words primarily in classrooms and through written texts. As noted previously, this reality highlights the importance of extensive reading and literacy engagement. However, there are also many opportunitics across the curriculum to demystify the systematic patterns characteristic of Gracco-Latin words. As noted by Nation (above), many of these words are composed of 1 prefix, root, and suffix that also occur in multiple combinations in other words. Tcachers can sensitize students to these patterns so that they develop “lexical dexterity” and an awareness of how these words operate in particular kinds of texts. Examples of how we can teach for lexical dexterity are outlined later in this and subsequent chapters.

i - ei a e—

The most common Anglo-Saxon words in English consist of determiners (the, a), prepositions (of, to, for, etc.), pronouns (he, she, I, etc.), conjunctions (and, but, etc.), and common verbs, nouns, and adjectives (think, know, man, thing, little, good, etc.). Because these words are high frequency and are used widely in everyday conversation, they are generally acquired quickly by ELLs. Most ELLs who arrive prior to adolescence will also pick up the phonology and intonation of the English they hear in their face-to-face interactions and through the media. Because many of these students sound like native speakers of English, educators may not realize that these students are still in the process of developing their English academic skills and catching up to grade expectations even after three or four years of exposure to English in school.

+

Figure 4.2 Tiered Vocabulary

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academic vocabulary

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TIER 2

General academic vocabulary found in academic texts across the curriculum

Se

High-frequency words used in everyday conversation

What words should we teach? The most common answer to this question is that we should focus our Instructional

efforts on what vocabulary researcher Isabel Beck calls “Ticr 2 words.” Becl

and

colleagues distinguish three tiers of vocabulary that correspond generally to the distinction between the Anglo-Saxon lexicon and the Gracco-Latin lexleon,§ Tier 1 words are the high-frequency words that we use in everyday conversation. These consist of about 2000 word families that are typically used in cofiveraatlonal interactions. These words also account for more than 80 percent of written (ext,

Tier2 words represent the general academic vocabulary that is found In a vatlety

of informational, technical, and literary texts. These are the wordg that have heen operationalized in Coxhead’s AWL, and they account for cight to 10 percent of

the words found in academic texts. Tier3 words are low-frequeney words (hat ave specific to particular domains or fields of knowledge and are found predominantly in informational texts. Beck and colleagues have argued that instructlon should focus on the high-utility Tier 2 words that carry the meaning in texts acrous the currlealum with attention paid to the low-frequency Tier 3 words when these ave essential in order to understand particular texts. (See Figure 4.2.)

50

There is widespread agreement on what we need to do to help students expand their vocabulary knowledge. This agreement was clearly expressed in the rationale for the implementation of the Common Core State Standards in the United States:7 Research suggests that if students are going to grasp and retain words and comprehend text, they need incremental, repeated exposure in a variety of contexts to the words they are trying to learn. When students make multiple connections between a new word and their own experiences, they develop a nuanced and flexible understanding of the word they are learning.’ This succinct summary of the research is consistent with the Literacy Engagement framework described in Chapter 2 insofar as it emphasizes the importance of (a) sustained engagement with the kinds of texts where we find Tier 2 words, (b) classroom instruction that helps students connect the words and concepts with their own experiences, and (c) explicit instruction that directs students’ attention to features of the language itself. The Teaching Vignettes at the end of this and subsequent chapters provide concrete strategies for promoting literacy engagement and vocabulary expansion for ELLs.

GG When students make multiple connections between a new

word and their ov experiences, they develop a nuance and flexible understanding of the word they are learning. yb)

51

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Teaching how ideas are organized linguistically in texts

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As we discussed in Chapter 3, the Knowledge Framework provides a useful scheme for explicitly teaching how particular forms of thinking can be expressed linguistically and supported by various types of visual representations. Many thinking skills and cognitive functions, across all knowledge structures, are required in language arts. For example, across all grade levels, students are frequently required to describe, compare, contrast, and classify characters in narrative texts. In order to do this, students need to acquire appropriate vocabulary to describe and classify characters in terms of facts, types, the feelings they evoke, students’ opinions of the characters, and so on. Similarly, interpreting the theme in a short story or novel requires students to use the language of timeless, universal principles.

CHAPTER

Text organization and the underlying knowledge structures and language features can be taught explicitly with respect to narrative and persuasive writing.

However, the knowledge structures that are particularly relevant to interpreting and writing about extended texts within the discipline of language arts include Sequence, Choice, and Evaluation. Students are frequently required to sequence events or items in a variety of texts, including narratives, recounts, and procedural (“how to”) texts. They exercise choice when they react to a text or an event by expressing their personal feelings, attitudes, or interpretations. And they engage in evaluation when they critically analyze a text with respect to the legitimacy of its conclusions or the persuasiveness of its message. When students become aware of the ways in which different kinds of texts are typically structured, they develop a greater facility in scanning texts for meaning and also in organizing their own writing in ways that will facilitate their readers’ understanding of what they are attempting to express. We will illustrate how text organization and the underlying knowledge structures and language features can be taught explicitly with respect to narrative and persuasive writing.*

Narrative: to entertain; to fire the imagination; to teach a lesson

Narrative writing

the woods,” he replied. “Can | please come with you Little Bear?” she asked. “Sure! Why not,” he answered. So both of them started walking in to the deeper woods.

Narratives (oral, written, visual) have been used throughout history to entertain, shape moral behaviour, educate people about past events, and fire people’s imagination. Literature in the form of stories, dramas, and certain forms of poctry forms a major part of children’s schooling from the very earliest stages. Students are expected to read and produce increasingly sophisticated and complex narratives as they progress through the grades.

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NARRATIVE STRUCTURE Once in the woods was a little cottage with a roof made of straw. In that cottage, lived a bear family. A Little Bear, Father Bear and Mother Bear.

Orientation (where, who, when)

One day the Little Bear wanted to explore the woods by himself. So he took the backpack that had a snack in it and walked out the door into the forest.

Series of events unfold

On the way, Little Bear found a friend of his named Bluebird. “Hi Little Bear! Where are you going?” she chirped. “Il am going on an adventure to explore

:

They didn’t walk far when they saw something that Little Bear hadn’t seen before. It wasn’t scary at all. It was a small cute animal with long ears, a white soft body and it also had a fluffy tail. The Bird knew what it was and told him ... (Guess and see the flap.) It was a little Bunny Rabbit. When they were tired of walking, they sat down under shade of a big tree and Little Bear shared his snack with Bluebird. After a while, when they got up to

To illustrate the typical structure of narrative writing, consider the following dual language story, authored by Sidra Tulmuntaha, a student in ESL teacher Lisa Leont’s grade 7/8 class in the Greater Toronto Area. Sidra, who arrived in Canada from Pakistan in grade 5, wrote Little Bear’s First Adventure in Kinglish and Urdu (ace Figure 4.3) when she was in grade 7, in response to a class assignment to wrlte a story for an audience of younger children.’

go back home, he realized that they had wandered too far from home and they didn’t know the way back. It was getting dark. They were both talking to each other in a low voice when suddenly they heard | (efeyiiys) [fer=\ife)y) something. The bushes behind them were moving. They were really scared, There were two shadow figures coming toward them. * 4 (Guess who they are and see the flap.)

They were Little Bear’s parents. Sidra introduces herself in the “About the Author” section of the bool:

When the shadows came closer Little Bear realized it was his parents, who came here looking for him and Bluebird. His parents took them home. When they were finally in their nice little cottage, they all ate dinner including Bluebird. After dinner, they all sat down and Father Bear read a story. When the story was finished, all of them were really sleepy so they went upstairs to their bedrooms. Little Bear and Bluebird snuggled in their bed and went to sleep right away.

52

Resolution

OF

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We write arguments to persuade others to think or act in a certain way, to discuss different viewpoints on an issue, or to assess or evaluate ideas, texts, events, etc. Particularly in secondary settings, English learners need to understand how various types of successful arguments are structured so that they can better understand the arguments they read and produce [effective] arguments. '° The document articulates the typical text structure of written arguments, which includes stating the issue, providing a position statement, elaborating several points or claims supported by evidence, and finally reiterating the position to further emphasize the point and persuade the reader. Persuasive text will typically draw heavily on the knowledge structures of Evaluation and Principles. Students can employ the key visuals associated with these knowledge structures both to facilitate their comprehension of the argument and to help organize their own persuasive writing. Students will also need to gradually gain expertise in the linguistic features that support expression of these knowledge structures. 54

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The ability to critically analyze the validity of persuasive claims made by individuals, corporations, and politicians is obviously crucial both to personal well-being and the effectiveness of our social participation. Our social lives are filled with competing claims about controversial issues that directly affect our lives (e.g., pollution, climate change, etc.). It is for this reason that the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), which have been adopted by a majority of US states to guide curriculum development, have placed a major emphasis on enabling students to understand and gain expertise in the text structure underlying argument and persuasive writing. In interpreting the CCSS for ELLs, the California Department of Education has highlighted the importance of explicitly demystifying how the language of argument works. It points out:

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Persuasive writing

223

narratives, are organized.

OF

LANGUAGE

ART

The California Department of Education" highlights the difference between everyday English registers and academic English registers by contrasting the following two examples of an argument: “Polluting the air is wrong, and I think people should really stop polluting.”

The gap between everyday and academic registers illustrates the more general difference between conversational and academic language, which the document expresses as follows: ... Academic texts tend to include a higher proportion of general academic and domain-specific vocabulary, complex sentences that connect ideas with subordinating conjunctions (e.g., although, rather than, in order to), expanded noun phrases, and longer stretches of discourse that are tightly organized depending upon their text type and disciplinary area. Teachers can draw students’ attention to these linguistic resources in order to make them more transparent and understandable. Features of the language of argument can be illustrated in a report of a project on the quality of drinking water, carried out by students in Jeannie Kerr’s grade 4/5 classroom at Admiral Seymour Elementary School in inner city Vancouver. (See Figure 4.4.) This project is clearly explained by the students in the Introduction (following). Here we focus on the students’ Recommendations to illustrate the text structure of argument/persuasive writing. Figure 4.4 Water Quality Report on Drinking Water

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Teachers can explicitly bring to students’ attention

The point here is that teachers can explicitly bring to students’ attention the way that text types, such as narratives, are organized, and begin to use the appropriate language to talk about different text structures and the various related language features. As an instructional strategy, it is useful for teachers to put posters on the classroom wall outlining the organizational patterns and language features they want students to focus on for narrative and other text types (both spoken and written). Teachers can also provide students with writing templates or writing frames to scaffold students’ thinking and writing.

4: THE

“Although many countries are addressing pollution, environmental degradation continues to create devastating human health problems each year.”

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As this narrative demonstrates, two and a half years after her arrival in Canada, Sidra displayed very good control over the purpose and typical text structure of a story. The typical text structure includes an initial orientation to the characters and context, followed by a series of unfolding events, and then a complication and finally a resolution. She has also acquired the language features required to clearly express her wonderful imagination. In English, these language features include the following: noun groups (e.g., small, cute animal), adjectival phrases (e.g., with long ears), cohesive devices to express time sequence (e.g., after a while, finally, after), action verbs (e.g., took, walk, found, sat, share), direct speech accompanied by a variety of appropriate “saying verbs” (e.g., chirp, reply, ask, answer), and use of the past tense.

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55

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4: THE

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Extracts From Water Quality Report on Drinking Water Introduction

Conclusions and Recommendations

We are the students from Division 3 at Admiral Seymour Elementary School in Vancouver. We were worried about our drinking water because our pipes are old and we have to leave the water fountains running all the time. We wanted to find out if the water was fit to drink and if there was any rust or something from the pipes that was dangerous for us. It is important that the water should be good and fit to drink because we don’t want to be sick and we care about our water and how good it is. It is also important because we don’t want to waste water by having the water running all day and night. We waste water by always leaving the drinking fountains on because if we drink the water right away it might be unclean water that we are drinking. That is the reason why we want to have our water tested.

We conclude that the drinking water at Admiral Seymour Elementary School is safe to drink because:

We did not know how to test the water and what tests we needed to do, so we contacted the University of British Columbia to see if they could teach us about water quality and help us do the tests. The UBC people came to our school. There were 10 undergraduate students and 3 graduate students. They taught us about solubility and how powders, liquids and metals dissolve in water. They also taught us about filtration and purity.

1. Fountains should be flushed in the morning then turned off. We make this recommendation because we do not believe that the water will be cleaner by having it on all day. The water is safe if it is not flushed, but it is even better if it is flushed. So if we flush it in the morning then it will be fine and we will not have to have it on all day. This way the water is safe, but we are not wasting it.

2. There was no bacteria found in the flushed and non-flushed water samples taken from the drinking fountains. 3. There were safe amounts of copper and zinc in non-flushed samples, and there was no zinc or copper found in flushed samples of drinking fountain water.

The generic organization pattern for the text type argument is expressed below in Figure 4.5. As noted above, the purpose of an argument is to persuade others to your point of view. A discussion presents both sides of a case and then states an opinion.

Figure 4.5 Argument Structure | Argument: to persuade others to your point of view; to take a position and justify it Statement of the issue/position statement

Statement of the issue or problem and the writer’s personal point of view (POV)

Argument 1 + evidence Argument 2 + evidence

Argument for POV and discussion of possible

Recommendations:

2. Children should run the water a few seconds before drinking if they are the first one at a fountain. We make this recommendation because it is safe to let the water run first. This lets anything that is not pure come out first. We don’t need to leave the water running and wasting all day, we just should have it running a few seconds if it has been flushed in the morning.

Argument 3 + evidence (and so on)

counter-arguments

Language used may include: * Linking words that organize the argument, such as first reason, secondly, finally, because, consequently, therefore, and so on * Expanded noun groups to “squeeze in” more ideas * Emotional and/or judgmental language such as “wrong,” “unsound,” “morally right” * Use of modals (e.g., might, should, must) to express the degree of probability (or certainty)

Opinion statement/recommendation summarizing position and evidence

Summation

qa

We did three big tests to make sure our water is clean. Our three tests were chlorine, bacteria and microbes, and metals. We learned the proper scientific methods for each of our tests.

1. There was a safe amount of chlorine in flushed and non-flushed water samples taken from the drinking fountains.

Each recommendation states the position that the students are taking, and they follow with a statement that justifies it. This pattern is repeated for all three recommendations. Language features to note in persuasive writing include the common use of present tense verbs that express “timeless” realities; frequent use of the modal auxiliary should + verb; and the use of expressions such as We recommend, It is recommended that, We make this recommendation, and We advise that.

3. The drinking fountain water should be tested for pH level 3 times per year. If the pH is too high (more than 7) then it could damage the pipes and put more metal in our water.

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5/7

CHAPTER

In this chapter, we have sketched some of the research-based considerations to take into account in planning language arts instruction for ELLs. Our description of instructional strategies has been illustrative rather than comprehensive, focusing only on the text types of narrative and argument. A few points are worth highlighting in relation to the Literacy Engagement framework discussed in Chapter 2:

Students who read extensively have much more exposure to the vocabulary, knowledge structures, and

text features they need to learn.

e All of the explicit instructional strategies designed to expand students’ awareness of how language works in language arts will be much more effective when students are actively engaged with literacy. This active literacy engagement involves both extensive reading of multiple types of text and production of multiple varieties of text. The logic here is very simple — students who read extensively have much more exposure to the vocabulary, knowledge structures, and text features they need to learn. Students who are producing original creative texts (in multiple modalities) are likely to learn the appropriate conventions and text structures because their identities are invested in the texts they produce. ¢ There is a profound sense in which performance precedes competence in the development of language expertise as well as in other areas. The elementary school students at Admiral Seymour Elementary School, whose project on water quality is described above, gained their competence in scientific inquiry and in using the appropriate language to communicate their findings as a result of collaborating with more expert adults in carrying out the project. Their academic identities are infused in the resulting report (published on the Internet and read by thousands of people), and this artifact that they produced holds a mirror up to them in which their intellectual and academic identities are reflected back in a positive way. In short, it is essential to transmit important content and linguistic information to ELLs, but this explicit teaching will be much more effective when students are also given opportunities to invest their identities in producing knowledge rather than simply consuming information. Producing knowledge here includes the creation of literature and art, and the generation of insights about socially important issues. e Finally, there is an important sense in which the development of academic expertise on the part of ELLs is a process of socialization rather than simply instruction. When students’ attention is drawn to how language works from their earliest experiences of learning English, they are likely to develop a disposition to notice features of language that are relevant to understanding complex texts and producing texts that other people will want to read (or view). The challenge here for teachers is to move beyond a transmission approach to developing academic language competence (which is often boring for students in the absence of identity investment). A social constructivist pedagogical orientation that enables students to participate in constructing knowledge and acting on social realities (as the students at Admiral Seymour did) is likely to be more intellectually engaging for students and teachers alike. The Teaching Vignettes described in this and subsequent chapters illustrate aspects of this orientation.

Motivating Students to Engage With Literacy As we have emphasized in this and previous chapters, there is a massive amount of research highlighting the central role that extensive reading plays in expanding students’ knowledge of vocabulary and other aspects of language and literacy. Teachers can motivate ELLs to read extensively (ideally in both their L1 and English) in several ways: * Read engaging and fun stories to students every day, communicating your own enjoyment of the story by dramatizing the narration through your tone of voice, gestures, facial expressions, and dramatic pauses. You can use Big Books in the early grades and point to the illustrations to support vocabulary acquisition, while in later elementary grades, you can read one chapter every day from longer chapter books and explain difficult words to students as you read. ¢ Use short videos and films to show students how enjoyable reading can be and to develop their awareness of why we read (for pleasure, for information, for enchantment). For students in early grades, an exuberant illustration of the joy of literacy engagement involving the book Pete the Cat can be found at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNAeRy6jS7c. The National Film Board (NFB) film The Girl Who Hated Books (based on the book of the same name by Manjusha Pawagi) is an excellent entry point to a discussion of how much fun reading can be. The film can be streamed free from the NFB site (https://www.nfb.ca/search?q=girltwhot+hated+books&btnG=Search) or downloaded for a small charge. Students could also read the book and, with the help of their teacher, write a class review for posting to a site such as Goodreads (www.goodreads.com). Discussing with students why we read can motivate students to take ownership of the reading process and fuse strong literacy skills with their emerging identities. This is illustrated by the following “identity statements” posted outside their classroom by elementary school students in later grades in Crescent Town Elementary School in the Toronto District School Board: 6 6

Reading makes me powerful because | get smarter and | learn more facts. / learn new words and | will never forget.

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Reading makes me powerful because | learn new words and | love reading!

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Reading makes me powerful because when | grow up | can find a better job than people who can’t read. Somebody can also trick you to do something that will get you in trouble. Reading gives you new words to learn. It gives my brain new ideas. It helos your vocabulary, so when you need to write something you can use longer and harder words. In school you can get a better mark using more words.

58

»

4: TEACHING

VIGNETTE

CHAPTER

Collecting Specimens: Big Words for Big Minds

Focus on One “Juicy Sentence” Each Day

Vocabulary knowledge is an extremely robust predictor of students’ reading

California educator Lily Wong Fillmore has long been concerned about the plight

comprehension. In fact, the correlation between a reading comprehension test and a

of long-term ELLs — students who get stalled in their acquisition of academic

vocabulary test is almost as strong as the correlation between two different reading

English and fail to move beyond intermediate levels of proficiency. She developed

comprehension tests. Reading comprehension is also an essential component of

her “juicy sentence” strategy in order to draw students’ attention systematically to

students’ ability to succeed in subject areas such as social studies, science, and math.

the ways in which complex text encodes meaning. The strategy involves the teacher

For example, in the absence of strong language and literacy skills, students will be

leading students in a 15- to 20-minute instructional conversation focused on a

unable to understand verbal math problems. Thus, systematic attention to building

sentence drawn from one of the texts the class is working on. The sentence can be chosen from any area of the curriculum; ideally, over the course of several weeks,

areas across the curriculum.

students will analyze sentences from all curricular areas.

The Frayer Model represents an effective tool for enabling students to extend their

When students engage with complex text day after day and gain experience in

vocabulary knowledge in a systematic way. Named after Wisconsin educator Dorothy

unpacking the meaning, they develop what Wong Fillmore calls a “habit of mind”

Frayer, * the model aims to deepen students’ knowledge of words and concepts by

that enables them to notice and pay attention to how language works.

the concept and examples and non-examples of the concept. The model is usually operationalized as a quadrant with the target word/concept in the middle.

VIGNETT

single

students’ knowledge of vocabulary is essential both in language arts and in subject

focusing their attention not only on simple definitions but also on characteristics of

4: TEACHING

What kinds of sentences should teachers choose? Wong Fillmore and Fillmore (2012) suggest that the most appropriate kind of sentence is “one that is so complex it begs for explication, is grammatically interesting, and is focused on an important point

A quick Internet search will demonstrate that multiple variations of this model are

in the passage.” = These sentences will often pack lots of information into extended

possible. Access to the Internet opens up more possibilities (e.g., use of images) than

noun phrases, use passive verbs, and contain complex grammatical structures. They

were available in 1969 when Frayer and her colleagues initially proposed the model.

may also contain unfamiliar Tier 2 (general academic) or Tier 3 (specialized and

A generic example is presented below.

technical) vocabulary, cohesive devices, and figurative language. These sentences will typically express one or more of the cognitive functions or knowledge structures we discussed in Chapter 3.

Definition

Wong Fillmore emphasizes that the juicy sentence strategy must be a genuine

Word (English)

Word (Home language) Synonym

and/or antonym

instructional conversation. The strategy will not be successful if teachers just explain to students how the language works rather than engaging them actively in trying to figure out the relationships between the meaning of the text and the language used to express this meaning. In the slide below, Wong Fillmore summarizes the rationale and outcomes of this strategy. ©

We have included space for students’ L1 in order to communicate the legitimacy of students’ home languages within the school and also as a means of teaching for

The goal of instruction?

transfer across languages. The most effective way of using this strategy is to create an electronic template (the version above was created using PowerPoint) and have students work in groups of

AH}

Experiences like this, day after day, subject after subject, incline students to notice language in all their instructional activities, in their texts, and in the language used by others in academic settings.

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They discover that attention to

“language detectives.” As students encounter new or interesting words, they enter them into the group’s template on one of the class computers. It is reasonable to expect each group to enter between two and five words each day. Where multiple home languages are represented in a group, students could take turns entering the L1 word in their particular home language, and all members of the group could learn that word.

explored and create a quiz for the entire class using these words. Websites such as www.wordsmyth.net enable teachers to automatically create vocabulary quizzes

60

for free.

language facilitates understanding

and communication in school.

At the end of each week, the teacher could compile the words that each group has

&{)

The real goal?

This practice

becomes a habit of mind for students.

61

CHAPTER

Helping ELLs to Craft Vibrant, Imaginative Sentences Curriculum documents across Canada highlight the importance of enabling students to use written language with increasing artistry and precision as they progress through the

Using Wordless Picture Books

to Support Learning in English/ Language Arts

later grades of elementary school. Using precise, descriptive language is clearly of major

Wordless picture books stimulate the imagination and reveal rich narratives entirely

importance in subjects such as science, but in language arts, equal emphasis is placed

through graphic illustrations. For some time, there was a tendency to think of these

on using language that communicates the writer’s message in a vivid and engaging way.

books only in relation to young children, but, increasingly, the value of wordless or nearly wordless books for younger and older students alike has become more

One strategy to develop ELLs’ awareness of the power of language is to draw their

evident. In our work with teachers, we have witnessed older learners, including those

attention to the range of adjectives, adverbs, nouns, and verbs that they encounter

in high school, engage productively and meaningfully with such complex, meaningful,

in texts that help to create lively images of what is being described. This focus on

and beautiful books as The Arrival, by Shaun Tan, which brilliantly portrays the

how writers construct engaging texts can be accompanied by helping students to

immigrant experience. Nearly wordless books, such as How to Heal a Broken Wing,

incorporate these communicative strategies into their own writing. We do this by

Bob Graham’s story of hope and resilience depicting a keen-eyed boy’s rescue and

showing them how to expand simple nouns into noun phrases or nominal groups. A

nurturing of an injured bird, can also serve as engaging springboards to language

nominal group is a sequence of words before or after a noun that provide additional

learning, language awareness, and literary analysis.

information about the thing, place, event, or idea being described. The structure underlying this expansion of descriptive possibilities can be illustrated in this phrase: The two, filthy, smelly, old, green and white, striped, soccer shirts on the floor

These books (readily available by searching “wordless picture books” or “books without words”) are valuable for developing oral and written language across a number of discourse or text types. Because they are generally beautifully illustrated and finely detailed with respect to characters and settings, each picture can be used to develop students’ knowledge of rich, descriptive language. Teachers can help students build up nominal groups supported by key visuals as described in Teaching Vignette 4.4. Because wordless books often depict complex, moral stories presented on several levels of meaning, they can be read /iterally to develop the language of temporal sequence and personal response to literature, and inferentially to build up the language of prediction, hypothesis, cause/effect, and critical analysis. In our experience, rich evaluative discussions can take place regarding the actions of characters and the quality of the story itself. Students can be called upon to explain their views

Pre-modifiers are commonly articles and adjectives that serve to (a) quantify (two),

and persuasively argue them using evidence. These activities can initially

(b) describe in terms of an opinion (filthy, smelly) or facts (old, green and white), and

be carried out orally and then followed by a progression to more academic

(c) classify (soccer) the head noun. Post-modifiers are commonly prepositional phrases

uses of language, using either a language-experience approach, where the

and embedded clauses that serve to add additional information about the head noun.

teacher acts as scribe, or by supporting students to compose their own texts.

We can help ELLs expand a head noun in their writing or oral presentation by asking a

Depending on their level of English, students can compose varying amounts

series of questions about the object, person, place, or image they are describing. This

of language in response to the story ranging from single words,

will generate a list of pre-modifiers, and then we can discuss with students what might

phrases, and sentences to a paragraph or extended discourse.

be the optimal order for placing the adjectives before the noun. The questions in the diagram can serve as a starting point, and the descriptive questions (“What’s it like?”) can be modified according to whether the noun is a who or a what (e.g., we are more likely to generate personality and emotional descriptors for a person than for an object). Students will be enabled to expand the richness of their own writing when they work with teachers to unpack dense noun phrases in the literary or informational texts they are reading. For example, students will develop an enhanced awareness of how to control rich descriptive language when teachers draw their attention to vivid descriptions in the texts they are reading such as a great, big, jolly, scary, earth-shaking giant; the wild goats frolicked in the heather on the deserted mountain road.

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Se

languages of the students in the classroom. Early-stage learners may be able to

_—__—_—-

These “compositions” can be produced not only in English but also in the multiple produce much more in their Lis than in English, and we can then use various tools (e.g., Google Translate, peers from the same language backgrounds who are more fluent in English, etc.) to work with them to transfer their L1 knowledge to English. There are many possible related and follow-up activities. For example, individually, or more likely in groups, students can choose a student-produced text and can convert the selected story to a drama format. Here, the learners are commonly required to convert indirect speech into direct speech, including a focus on building up verbs of expression (e.g., whispered, shrieked, hollered). Adverbs of movement can also be developed and inserted as directions to the actors. Alternatively, students can write letters to their favourite characters, or write rap or hip-hop songs about characters or events. Students might also take on the roles of their favourite or most despised characters, and other students can interview them about their actions, motives, and emotions in the story. News reports on television, radio, or blogs or in newspapers can also be produced documenting the key events in the story. Differences in the language used in these various modes of communication can be discussed and the various modes compared with one another. Students can also review their classmates’ written stories and performances, thus creating further opportunities to develop the language of the various text response genres so prevalent in English/language arts throughout students’ school years.

The Language Dem274of Mathematics G6 In order to enable ELLs to engage actively with mathematical meaning-making, instruction needs to scaffold both their comprehension of mathematical tasks and their ability to participate in mathematical

discourse practices. Connecting math instruction to students’ lives through activating and building background knowledge is equally importarit. 959

64

65

eee SS

These “compositions” can be produced not only in English but also in the multiple languages of the students in the classroom. Early-stage learners may be able to produce much more in their Lis than in English, and we can then use various tools (e.g., Google Translate, peers from the same language backgrounds who are more fluent in English, etc.) to work with them to transfer their L1 knowledge to English. There are many possible related and follow-up activities. For example, individually, or more likely in groups, students can choose a student-produced text and can convert the selected story to a drama format. Here, the learners are commonly required to convert indirect speech into direct speech, including a focus on building up verbs of expression (e.g., whispered, shrieked, hollered). Adverbs of movement can also be developed and inserted as directions to the actors. Alternatively, students can write letters to their favourite characters, or write rap or hip-hop songs about characters or events. Students might also take on the roles of their favourite or most despised characters, and other students can interview them about their actions, motives, and emotions in the story. News reports on television, radio, or blogs or in newspapers can also be produced documenting the key events in the story. Differences in the language used in these various modes of communication can be discussed and the various modes compared with one another. Students can also review their classmates’ written stories and performances, thus creating further opportunities to develop the language of the various text response genres so prevalent in English/language arts throughout students’ school years.

The Language De>:77of Mathematics G6 In order to enable ELLs to engage actively with mathematical meaning-making, instruction needs to scaffold both their comprehension of mathematical tasks and their ability to participate in mathematical

discourse practices. Connecting math instruction to students’ lives through activating and building background knowledge is equally important: 55

64

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n the past, there has been a tendency to view mathematics as less linguistically challenging for ELLs than other content subjects on the grounds that math calculation seemed to depend only minimally on language. However, in recent years, there has been a renewed focus on the language demands of mathematics, which are formidable for all students but particularly so for students in the process of acquiring the school language. The specific challenges posed by math problems can be illustrated with reference to an example provided by American researchers Brian Bielenberg and Lily Wong Fillmore.'! They analyze the following sample grade 6 test item from the Massachusetts state assessment system: Students in Mr. Jacob’s English class were giving speeches. Each student’s speech was 7 to 10 minutes long. Which of the following is the best estimate for the total number of student speeches that could be given in a two-hour class? A. B. C. D.

Bielenberg and Wong Fillmore point out that at first glance the problem seems straightforward insofar as the vocabulary is not difficult and the required calculations are not particularly complicated. The only technical math term is the expression “best estimate,” which tells the test taker that the correct choice from the alternative responses is the one that is most believable. The correct answer will be between the number of 7-minute speeches that can be given in 120 minutes (17) and the number of 10-minute speeches (12). However, for many ELLs, the problem is not that simple. First, students need to understand that the time given for each speech should be understood as a range — 7 to 10 minutes, meaning between 7 and 10 minutes. Second, in order to understand the question, students need to unpack a variety of grammatical features that are typical of academic English:

In addition to

the technical

vocabulary

of

mathematics,

language

intersects

with mathematics

4 speeches 8 speeches 13 speeches 19 speeches

at

The first is a complex noun phrase structure: “the best estimate for the total number of student speeches that could be given in a two-hour class.” This in turn contains a complex preposition phrase that specifies what the best estimate is

of: “for the total number of student speeches that could be given in a two-hour

the broader level of general academic

class,” which itself contains a relative clause construction, “that could be given in a two-hour class,” etc. In addition, the complex noun phrase we began with contains a passive construction — a type of construction that is frequently encountered in academic English writing, “the total number of student speeches

vocabulary.

that could be given.” This in itself is not difficult to interpret, as long as the test

taker is familiar with the fixed expression “to give a speech” and the passive construction in English.” The characteristics of mathematical language are discussed in the following sections with reference to both vocabulary and text structure.

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Vocabulary Provincial curricula distinguish several distinct areas of mathematical knowledge and skills. Ontario, for example, specifies five strands: Number Sense and Numeration, Measurement, Geometry and Spatial Sense, Patterning and Algebra, and Data Management and Probability.’ British Columbia distinguishes four main disciplinary concepts, each with related concepts that need to be understood and applied in practice. These are: ¢ Numbers: key concepts include counting, quantity, comparison, base ten, and financial literacy * Patterns and relations: key concepts include classifying, identifying, reproducing, creating, and equations Spatial sense: key concepts include linear measurement, area, volume, time, and geometry ¢ Statistics and probability: key concepts include data analysis and probability* For each of these spheres of mathematical knowledge and skills, students need to develop the specialized technical vocabulary to represent concepts and describe operations. This vocabulary falls into two major categories: (a) specialized terms, such as quadrilateral, isosceles, integers, hypotenuse, and decimal, and (b) technical terms that have everyday meanings outside the sphere of mathematics, such as product, table, base, place, value, plane, power, and coordinate. In addition to the technical vocabulary of mathematics, language intersects with mathematics at the broader level of general academic vocabulary. Mathematical problems typically involve many Tier 2 words, such as explain, describe, combine, and investigate, which students typically do not encounter in everyday conversation. As noted in Chapter 4, most of these words derive from Latin and Greek sources and display typical features that we can explicitly explain to students. For example, words like addition and subtraction contain a root word that also occurs in many other words and a suffix (-tion) that is used to form abstract nouns from verbs. Similar word formations occur across the curriculum in subjects such as science, social studies, and language arts. Text structure Unlike other content areas, mathematics discourse typically does not entail long written text passages. It draws on a number of different modes to construct meaning, including written and spoken language (e.g., teachers talk their students through written problems) and visual images such as tables, graphs, charts, and symbols in combination. However, despite the relatively short passages and the multimodal support characteristic of mathematical discourse, typical features of academic language pose significant challenges for students attempting to solve math problems.

As illustrated in the problem discussed by Biclenberg and Wong Fillmore, math

problems often contain elaborate noun phrascs, relative clauses, and prepositional phrases that are very different from the language we use in spoken interaction.

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California researcher Judit Moschkovich expressed the complexity of mathematical language in the following way:

In addition to acquiring vocabulary required to communicate about mathematical concepts, ELLs

need to develop the language

competencies to define and classify these concepts.

Language in mathematics classrooms is complex and involves a) multiple modes (oral, written, receptive, expressive, etc.), b) multiple representations (including objects, pictures, words, symbols, tables, graphs, etc.), c) different types of written texts (textbooks, word problems, student explanations, teacher explanations, etc.), d) different types of talk (exploratory and expository), and e) different audiences (presentations to the teacher, to peers, by the teacher, by peers, etc.).° In addition to acquiring vocabulary required to communicate about mathematical concepts, ELLs need to develop the language competencies to define and classify these concepts (e.g., a triangle is a polygon with three sides; an equilateral triangle is a triangle with three congruent sides, etc.). They also need to identify and explain mathematical patterns and relationships (e.g., explain the relationship between decimals, fractions, and percent). Procedural language is also required to articulate the steps to finding solutions for math problems (e.g., I can solve this by ...; the answer to this problem can be arrived at by ...; one way to do this is to ..., and then to ... and lastly to ...). Students also need to develop the language required to hypothesize and predict (e.g., trends based on numerical evidence) and to present and justify an argument for the solution to a problem based on rational evidence. As summarized by Moschkovich, “during discussions in mathematics classrooms, students are also learning to describe patterns, make generalizations, and use representations to support their claims.”®

Supporting students in learning the language of mathematics As noted previously, ELLs typically require several additional years to catch up academically after they have acquired fluency in everyday conversational contexts. Thus, scaffolding of meaning is an important component of effective math instruction for these students. The general scaffolding strategies used to support students in learning mathematics are similar to those used for other subjects. The Ontario Mathematics Curriculum suggests the following strategies: ® extensive use of visual cues, manipulatives, pictures, diagrams, graphic organizers ® attention to the clarity of instructions; modelling of preferred ways of working in mathematics; previewing of textbooks e pre-teaching of key specialized vocabulary ¢ encouragement of peer tutoring and class discussion ¢ strategic use of students’ first languages’ In addition to these general strategies for supporting students’ learning of mathematics, it is important to systematically address the knowledge structures involved in solving mathematical word problems. Researchers Jingzi Huang | and Bruce Normandia,’ using Mohan’s Knowledge Framework as a guide, have articulated the kinds of questions that teachers and students can ask to solve word problems while simultaneously developing appropriate academic language in association with the relevant cognitive structures. We have displayed these questions below (Figure 5.1) in the appropriate categories of Mohan’s Knowledge Framework. 68

5: THE

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Figure 5.1 Knowledge Framework: Mathematics

More abstract/theoretical

Classification

Principles

Ei lemur-vursucie)

4. What are the mathematical | 7, How can | justify the

concepts are indicated or signalled in the information?

principles (e.g., equations, theorems, formulas) needed to use the

Evaluation solution? (Does the solution make sense?)

concepts to answer the question?

More concrete/specific

1. What is the problem to be solved? 2. What relevant information is provided in the text?

Description

. What procedures do

6. As a result of these

| follow to use those

procedures, what is

principles in solving the problem?

the solution?

Sequence

Huang and Normandia explain that teachers and their students work together to identify the language demands inherent in the word problem. When ELLs have identified and unpacked the key factual information in the text (Q1 & Q2), they then look for clues in the language of the text concerning which mathematical concepts are relevant to solving the problem (e.g., place value, probability, unknown variable). At each stage of answering the seven questions, using the language features associated with these particular knowledge structures as a guide, students focus their attention explicitly on mathematical language and the way it is interwoven with the non-linguistic meaning-making systems in mathematics (e.g., symbols, formulas, etc.). In order to solve the problem, students need to comprehend the language of the text; then they need to use the appropriate language to engage in the mathematical practices required to solve the problem. In this guide for solving word problems, the mathematical principles and practices that underlie problem solving are explicitly articulated. As students become socialized into this approach to solving mathematical word problems, they learn to anticipate and address the language demands of the text and simultaneously build the language and mathematical reasoning skills required to complete each stage of the process. Adapting the Literacy Engagement framework for mathematics Key elements in teaching math to ELLs can be highlighted by some simple adaptations of the Literacy Engagement framework (Chapter 2). Numerous researchers’ have emphasized that engagement with mathematical meaning-making is a central determinant of mathematics achievement. In order to enable ELLs to engage actively with mathematical meaning-making, instruction needs to scaffold both their comprehension of mathematical tasks and their ability to participate in mathematical discourse practices. Connecting math instruction to students’ lives through activating and building background knowledge is equally important.

69

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Promoting identities of competence among students with respect to their confidence in their ability to “do math” is also an essential prerequisite for engagement. Finally, as noted above, a consistent focus on demystifying how language intersects with math will facilitate comprehension of math problems as well as extend students’ overall knowledge of how academic language works. Specific ways in which these four instructional dimensions can be pursued in the teaching of mathematics to ELLs are considered in the following sections.

Tot ace) Cellars) Scaffolding designed to increase students’ comprehension of content or language typically involves modifying the way input is provided to students. Comprehension is facilitated when the content is embedded in a richly redundant/abundant context where there are multiple routes to the meaning in addition to the language itself. The following scaffolding strategies are useful in teaching math:

Promoting identities of competence among students with respect to their confidence in their ability to ‘‘do math” is also an essential prerequisite for engagement.

¢ Demonstration/modelling. Teachers can initially take students through a word problem in math, demonstrating step-by-step procedures and strategies in a clear and explicit manner. Students can then work in pairs to articulate the relevant steps, perhaps using the categories of the Knowledge Framework, as illustrated earlier in this chapter. Use of hands-on manipulatives, tools, and technology. In the early grades, manipulatives may include counters and blocks that enable students to carry out a mathematical operation, literally with their hands, and actually see the concrete results of this operation. At more advanced levels, measuring tools such as rulers and protractors and technological aids such as calculators and computers will be used. The effectiveness of these tools will be enhanced if they are used within a project that students are intrinsically motivated to complete (see examples in the Teaching Vignettes later in this chapter). Whole class and small-group project work. Working either as a whole class or

in heterogeneous groups or pairs, students can engage with real-life or simulated projects that require application of a variety of mathematical skills. American researchers Lynne Diaz-Rico and Kathryn Weed” give as an example a project in which students are told the classroom needs to be re-carpeted. They first estimate the area and then check their estimates with measuring tools to determine how much carpet is needed. Working in groups, students could also calculate the cost of floor covering using prices for various types of floor covering obtained from local catalogues or relevant websites. Use of visuals. Visuals enable students to “see” the basic concept we are trying to teach much more effectively than if we rely only on words. Once students have the concept, they are much more likely to be able to figure out the meaning of the words we use to talk about it. Graphic organizers or key visuals are particularly useful because they can be used by teachers not only to present concepts but also by students themselves to take notes, organize their ideas in logical categories, and summarize the results of group brainstorming on particular issues. Some graphic organizers that are useful for teaching math

70

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are Venn diagrams, pie and bar charts, K-W-L charts (what we know, what we want to know, and what we have learned), T-charts (e.g., for contrasts), sequence charts, timelines, and so on. ¢ Language clarification. This category includes a variety of strategies and language-oriented activities that clarify the meaning of new words and concepts. Teachers can modify their language to students by paraphrasing ideas and explaining new concepts and words. They can explain new words by providing synonyms, antonyms, and definitions either in English or in the home language of students, if they know it. Important vocabulary can be repeated and recycled as part of the paraphrasing of ideas. Teachers should speak in a natural rhythm but enunciate clearly and adjust speech to a rate that students will find easier to understand. The meaning can also be communicated and/or reinforced through gestures, body language, and demonstrations. ¢ Dramatization/acting out. For beginning ELLs, total physical response, where students act out commands, can be highly effective. Math calculations can be embedded in the commands that students act out. For example, students can progress from fully acting out the command “Take five steps forward and two steps backward” to calculating in their heads that they need only take three steps forward to reach the destination. Additionally, the meanings of individual words can be demonstrated through gestures and pantomime. Connecting to students’ lives Three types of background knowledge are relevant to consider in teaching mathematics: 1. Knowledge of math concepts and operations that students have previously been

taught. For example, at the grade 4 level, we might activate students’ knowledge of basic multiplication facts in order to reinforce the foundation for teaching more complex multiplication operations. Some students may have relevant information in their L1 but not realize that there is any connection with what they are learning in English. In other cases, the algorithms and strategies that students have acquired for carrying out math operations in their countries of origin may differ considerably from the procedures they are now being taught. Clearly, this discrepancy can cause confusion for students. . Knowledge of the world that students have acquired through their prior

experiences. For example, at a very early age, most children develop an intuitive sense of fairness and an ability to judge whether goods of various kinds (e.g., treats) have been distributed equally or fairly. We can use brainstorming, role, play, and simulation with concrete manipulatives to carry out a variety of math activities that tap into students’ real-life experience of equal (or fair) distribution. Similarly, we can find out from students what activities they engage in outside of the school context and link mathematics instruction to those activities. For example, students who engage in various sports can carry out a variety of calculations relevant to those sports, such as batting averages.

7\

CHAPTER

We can also be proactive in creating experiences for students that will promote mathematical knowledge and skill. For example, we might engage parents as collaborators by having them work with their children in calculating the proportion of weekly food expenditures that the family spends on the various food groups, thereby reinforcing both social studies and math concepts. Class data can then be aggregated to calculate means, medians, ranges, and so on. 3. Knowledge of the world that students have acquired through secondary

sources such as books, television, movies, and so on. For example, relatively few people in North America have ever been in a jungle, but most adults and children could describe the main features of jungles as a result of secondary experiences of various sorts. In the classroom, we can use literature, high-interest expository texts, and other forms of media (e.g., videos, websites) both to activate students’ prior knowledge of math and also to build background knowledge. In some cases, this will involve the use of stories that have been specifically selected because they contain relevant math content; in other cases, we will connect math concepts and operations to other subject matter across the curriculum. For example, we might link math to a social studies unit on how government gets the funds to operate by having students calculate the sales tax that their families pay for various purchases.

The more connections we can make both to students’

experiences and interests and to other areas of the curriculum, the more relevance

math is likely to assume in students’ minds and lives. 72

The potential for integrating the teaching of mathematics and literacy is well illustrated in a project undertaken by several Ontario school boards (Waterloo Region District School Board, Thames Valley District School Board, and the Toronto District School Board) entitled Making Good Choices. The project, coordinated by Sharon Newmaster and funded by the Ontario Ministry of Education, involved the writing of 14 identity texts about financial literacy. The texts were written by ESL teachers with contributions from their secondary level students. The digital texts were published by ERGO, the ESL/ELD Resource Group of Ontario, together with downloadable PDF files of the texts and a variety of instructional resources aligned with each text. Audio of each text is also available, making the texts particularly suitable for students who have experienced interrupted schooling with consequent low literacy skills. These resources are available on the ERGO website (www.ergo-on.ca). Math can also be used to develop students’ critical th many examples described in Eric Gutstein and Bob P Mathematics: Teaching Social Justice by the Number social groups are represented in the books that are in Who is represented in the biographies in your sc of biographies and autobiographies in your libra of books in your library that are in these categor percentage of biographies that are about differen e Women/men e African Americans/Latinos/Asians/Native Americans/Arab Americans/ European Americans * People from outside the United States/people from the United States ¢ Rich people/poor and working people”!

5: THE

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The project goes on to ask students to consider what would be a fair representation of these categories of people in library materials and what could be done to ensure a more equitable representation. The essential point here is that the more connections we can make both to students’ experiences and interests and to other areas of the curriculum, the more relevance math is likely to assume in students’ minds and lives. This, in turn, will result in more powerful learning of math. Affirming identity An additional consideration in activating ELLs’ background knowledge and engaging their interest is that this process communicates a sense of respect for what students already know and demonstrates an interest on the part of the teacher in their cultural background. This affirmation of students’ identity increases their personal and academic confidence and motivates them to invest their identities more strongly in pursuing academic success. This focus on validating students’ identity is rooted in a fundamental guiding principle that we believe underlies all effective instruction across the curriculum: If we want students to emerge from schooling after 12 years as intelligent, imaginative, and linguistically talented, then we should treat them as intelligent, imaginative, and linguistically talented from the first day they arrive in school. Students will succeed to the extent to which we enable them to carry out powerful, identity-affirming, intellectual work using all of their linguistic and cognitive resources. Mathematics represents an extremely powerful tool to connect instruction to students’ lives. As illustrated in the Teaching Vignettes, math can be integrated with social studies (and other subjects) to uncover social realities and generate new knowledge. As one example, consider the project on hunger carried out by students in Crescent Town Elementary School in Toronto, which was summarized in the poster displayed prominently in the school’s library (Figure 5.2). The students researched the prevalence of hunger in Canada, its causes, and what can be done to fight hunger. More than 90 percent of the students in the school come from language backgrounds other than English. The project demonstrated to the school community, their parents, and the students themselves that they are capable of higher-order critical thinking and searching for solutions to social issues. In the context of projects such as this, math enables students to better understand and communicate the relevance of their research. This kind of project, in which math plays a crucial role, addresses directly the causes of disengagement from school. A study carried out by the Canadian Education Association * on disengagement from school in the adolescent years reported that students want to: ¢ ¢ e e ¢ *

solve real problems engage with knowledge that matters make a difference in the world be respected see how subjects are interconnected learn from and with each other and people in their community”?

GG students will

succeed to the extent to which

we enable them carry out power

identity-affirmir intellectual work using all o their linguistic and cognitive resources. 95

CHAPTER

Figure 5.2 Crescent Town Elementary School’s Hunger Poster

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Extend language A systematic instructional focus on language is essential if students are to develop knowledge of the specific vocabulary and discourse patterns within the genre of mathematical language. In elementary schools, this focus on the language of math can take place not only during math instruction but also in language arts. A considerable amount of recent research suggests that one high-impact instructional strategy for extending students’ knowledge of academic English involves building students’ awareness of the morphological structure of words. A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of language and morphology describes how words are composed of meaningful parts. Some words consist of just one morpheme (e.g., place) while others consist of more than one (e.g., place + s = places). Queen’s University researchers John Kirby and Peter Bowers" provide a useful summary of research documenting the benefits of morphological instruction for students’ vocabulary knowledge and reading achievement. They note that English makes use of three kinds of morphological construction: inflections, derivations, and compounds: Inflections are word endings that change grammatical roles: plurals, past tenses, gerunds, etc. ... Derivations are ways of creating new words, often in new grammatical categories; thus happy (adjective) becomes happily (adverb). ... Compounds are made when two bases are joined to make a new word, such as deadline or handbag.'s Kirby and Bowers (as well as other researchers'*) have suggested that teachers should encourage students to adopt a “word detective” approach to investigate the structure of English vocabulary. Thus, after the teacher explains a morphological pattern, he or she can motivate students to search for examples in class texts, possibly by setting up a friendly competition among different groups in the class. Some tools that students can use to systematically collect the meanings of words and phrases they encounter in mathematical texts are outlined below and elaborated in the Teaching Vignettes. Essentially, these tools help students organize their language detective work in a personal or group language bank. Ideally, the language bank would be created in a series of files on the classroom computer, but it can also be done in a paper-and-pencil notebook.

In short, as in other subjects, when we teach math, we are also engaged in a process of negotiating identities with students. In schools, students are implicitly defined by what they lack, namely proficiency in English. Peers and teachers sometimes see only the “English language learner,” not the person within, for the simple reason that students are unable to communicate who they are, what they can do, and what they hope for. Students frequently struggle to escape from this externally imposed identity cocoon. Their inability to fully express their intelligence and feelings over a prolonged period of time is frustrating and diminishing. Thus, projects that enable them to showcase their intellectual accomplishments, as well as showcase their ability to apply their emerging math skills, play an important role in promoting identities of competence and academic engagement.

74

Paradoxically, the complexity of mathematical language provides some important opportunities for language exploration. As discussed in Chapter 4, a large percentage of the less frequent academic and technical vocabulary of English derives from Latin and Greek roots. One implication of this is that word formation follows some very predictable patterns, which are evident when we examine the word families of common mathematical terms.

One simple way of extending students’ vocabulary and awareness of how academic

English works is to explore the word families of common mathematical terms. The word families (excluding verb forms and plurals) for four common mathematical terms (multiply, divide, measure, equal) are presented in Figure 5.3.

One simple way o! extending student

g vocab ulary and awareness of

how academic English works is t¢ explore the word families of commo:

mathematical term

CHAPTER

Figure 5.3 Mathematical Word Families

multiply

multiplication multiple

Adjective

Mathematical meaning: take one number or quantity from another

multiple

L1 equivalents (Spanish): restar, sustraer Synonym: deduct

division dividend

divisive divided

measure

measure measurement

measured

equal

equality

equal

equalize

equal equalizer

equitable

We see in these four word families several common ways in which the nominalization process works in English. Nominalization refers to the process whereby abstract nouns are formed from verbs, adjectives, and other parts of speech. One pattern is to add the suffix -tion or -ion to the verb form as in multiplication, division, and many other mathematical terms such as estimation, notation, operation, and so on. Another pattern is to add the suffix —ment as in measurement, while a third pattern is to add the suffix -ity or -ty as in equality, capacity, property, and probability. When we demystify how this academic language works, students are more likely to recognize parts of speech in their reading of complex text across the curriculum and to become more adept at inferring meanings from context. For example, when students recognize that acceleration is a noun (rather than a verb or adjective), they take a step closer to the meaning of the term in the context of a particular sentence or text. Students can be encouraged to use dictionaries (hard copies or Internet-based) in both English and their L1 to explore the more subtle meanings of these mathematical words. For example, they could be asked to work in pairs or small groups to work out the differences in meaning between equal and equalize (as verbs), between equality, equal, and equalizer (nouns), and between equal and equitable (adjectives). The specific mathematical meaning of the words could also be compared with their everyday meanings.

When students know some of the rules or conventions of how academic words

are formed, it gives them an edge in extending their vocabulary. 76

LANGUAGE

Consider, for example, the word subtract:

multiplicity divide

5: THE

In short, when students know some of the rules or conventions of how academic words are formed, it gives them an edge in extending their vocabulary. It helps them not only figure out the meanings of individual words but also figure out how to form different parts of speech from these words. One way of organizing students’ language detective work in mathematics is to focus separately on meaning, form, and use. Working in pairs or small groups, students can be encouraged to collect and explore one mathematics word per day focusing on these categories. Focus on Meaning. Categories that can be explored within a Focus on Meaning include the following: mathematical meaning, everyday meaning, meaning in other subject areas, L1 equivalents, related words in L1 (cognates), synonyms, antonyms, homonyms, meaning of prefix, meaning of root, and meaning of suffix. Not all of these categories will be relevant for every word, but they outline the linguistic landscape that students could explore.

Antonym: add Meaning of prefix: under or away Meaning of root: from the Latin for “pull” (trahbo) Students who engage in this kind of language detective work will see that the word subtract literally means to pull or to take away. When they realize that the words tractor and traction derive from the same root (see below), additional connections are made in their brains and their understanding of language deepens. Focus on Form. Categories that can be explored within a Focus on Form include the following: word family and grammatical patterns, words with same prefix, words with same root, and words with same suffix. Consider again the word subtract: Word family/grammatical patterns: subtract, subtracts, subtracted, subtracting (verb forms) subtraction, subtractions (noun forms) Words with same prefix: substitute, subtotal, suburban, subway, etc. Words with same root: tractor, traction Focus on Use. Students can explore the range of uses of particular words through brainstorming as a class or small group, looking words up in hard-copy or electronic dictionaries, encyclopedias, or thesauruses, or asking parents or other adults. Categories that can be explored within a Focus on Use include the following: general uses, idioms, metaphorical uses, proverbs, advertisements, puns, and jokes. For the word subtract, most students will not find much that will fall within these categories other than the category of general use. However, with some of the more frequent words in mathematical discourse that derive from the Anglo-Saxon lexicon of English rather than from the Greek/Latin lexicon, many of these other categories will yield a multitude of examples. Consider the multiple meanings and figurative uses of words such as great (as in “greater than”), big, double, and so on, that students might explore. x

When students explore the language of mathematics by collecting specimens of mathematical language in a systematic and cumulative way, they expand not only their understanding of mathematical terms and concepts but also their knowledge of how the English language works (e.g., the fact that abstract nouns are often formed in English by adding —tion to the verb). The development of language awareness in this way will benefit students’ reading comprehension and writing abilities across the curriculum. Concrete examples of these instructional strategies are elaborated in the Teaching Vignettes.

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Data Management Through Class or School Language Surveys Cognitive psychologist John Guthrie has pointed out that in all spheres of life (e.g., driving a car, doing surgery, playing golf, gourmet cooking, etc.), participation is key to the development of proficiency. He notes that “certainly some initial lessons are valuable for driving a car or typing on a keyboard, but expertise spirals upward mainly with engaged participation.”” The same principle applies to the development of expertise in mathematics. An effective strategy for getting students engaged in “doing math” is to have them carry out a survey related to some characteristic of their class or school. Students can then analyze the data they have gathered using a variety of tools (e.g., calculators, spreadsheets), and they can present their findings on graphs, charts, and tables.

In preparing to carry out their survey, students could use a K-W-L graphic organizer to initially brainstorm about what they know about the languages spoken in their Class or school and what they want to know. The survey questions can be generated from this brainstorming exercise. When students have gathered and analyzed their data, they can discuss what they learned and also what strategies they used to come to their conclusions. A wide range of questions can be asked by students. For example: ¢ What is your home language? * Are you able to (a) understand, (b) speak, (c) read, (d) write this language? * What other languages do you (a) understand, (b) speak, (c) read, (d) write? * What language do you mostly use with your (a) parents, (b) sisters and brothers, (c) relatives, (d) friends? ¢ What languages do your parents speak?

Older students may even want to publish their findings in the school newsletter or on the school website. A variety of topics are suitable (e.g., amount of television watched, number of provinces or countries visited, languages spoken, etc.). Language survey projects are particularly suitable in multilingual school contexts because they enable students to use math to achieve a variety of goals in addition to increasing their math skills. Students can: ° generate new knowledge

Peel District School Board teacher Tobin Zikmanis addressed Ontario curriculum expectations in the grade 5 Data Management unit of the math curriculum by having students work in groups to carry out a language survey of the entire school and then use spreadsheet software to generate a variety of graphs (e.g., pie charts, bar graphs) to display and disseminate their findings. Tobin (personal communication) reported that students were so engaged in analyzing their data that many of them did not want to go out for recess. Some examples of the work students carried out are presented below.

¢ discover more about themselves individually and collectively with respect to their linguistic talents and experiences * connect math to their lives

Grade 5 Data Management Unit: Thornwood's Diversity Project

* affirm the legitimacy of their multilingual skills * relate the languages spoken in the class or school to the major geographical locations where these languages are spoken

Teacher: Tobin Zikmanis School: Thornwood P.S.

This kind of project can be carried out, with different degrees of sophistication and

i Survey Questions Thornwood's Diversity Project Teacher: = What is your nationality? « How many languages do you speak? = Were you born in Canada? If not, where?

complexity, by students of any age. For example, primary grade students could use a coloured marker to fill in squares of a simple chart, such as the one below, representing the home languages spoken by members of the class."® After the data has been collected, a variety of grade-appropriate math activities can be carried out. Additionally, students could survey their parents and compare the data intergenerationally. ‘

a @Enghsh | e Urdu s French @ Pashto

BSinhaiese @ Ponugeuse @ Spanish

BGuyjrats @ Hind. Bm Bengali @ Chinese & Vietnamese ® Cantonese

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5: TEACHING

VIGNET]

CHAPTER

Multilingual Math A project carried out by ESL teacher Patricia Chow at Thornwood Public School in the Peel District School Board illustrates how we can increase students’ awareness of other languages and cultures in the context of teaching math calculation skills. Patricia notes that she attempts to validate her students’ knowledge of other languages in a variety of unobtrusive ways, such as saying hello or good morning in other languages when taking attendance and asking students to share their bilingual skills when counting. She also acknowledges and celebrates a variety of cultural festivals with her students. One of the activities she introduces during the period leading up to Chinese New Year involves an addition activity sheet requiring students to do simple computation using Chinese numerals. She recounts her students’ reactions to this activity in the following way: “I was surprised and delighted when my students spontaneously started creating their own arithmetic sheets using numbers written in Arabic, Gujarati, and Tamil.” 2° Two examples are presented below. This example illustrates how we can use math to activate students’ background knowledge, validate their linguistic talents, and connect with their lives. For example, we could follow up this activity in social studies by asking Jane to show us where Sri Lanka is on a world map and tell us what she knows about the culture and history of Sri Lanka.

5: TEACHING

VIGNET

Mastering the Language of Math Assessment Another effective way of promoting students’ engaged participation in “doing math” is to have them work in pairs or small groups to generate their own assessment items. This requires students to take ownership of the language of mathematics through active use of that language. The process might work as follows: In order to gain familiarity with various test formats and conventions, students initially work in heterogeneous groups to construct test items on topics with which they are familiar or on which they have carried out research. For example, the teacher might explain how multiple-choice items are constructed (e.g., the role of distractors), and each group might construct a set of approximately five items on topics such as popular music, television programs, sports, popular slang, and so on. These items are then pooled, and the entire set of items is administered to all students in the class. Subsequently, groups could focus on constructing items in math that focus on the unit of study that has just been completed (e.g., fractions, decimals). An incentive system could be instituted where the groups gain points based on their performance on the pooled test. The points would lead ultimately to some reward.

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The rationale for this reversal of roles is that construction of test items is more cognitively challenging (and engaging) than simply performing test items. In order to come up with items that will be challenging for the other groups, students must know the content of the unit in an active rather than a passive way. The within-group discussions and collaboration in generating the items and distractors are also likely to reinforce both language and content knowledge for all students in the group, but particularly for ELLs whose grasp of the language may be fragile. In helping students construct word problems, the teacher can initially provide writing frames for different types of problems. (e.g., /f x students in a class of xx speak Mandarin, what percentage of the class does not speak Mandarin? A school is ordering pencils that come in boxes of xxx. If there are x classes and each class need's about xxx pencils, estimate how many boxes the school should buy.*) As students become more familiar with the language and conventions of test items, they can generate their own questions. Students can also create multiple-choice cloze sentences that reflect both everyday and

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math-specific meanings of mathematical vocabulary, as illustrated below: Target words:

1. Five

re) (TK

double

six

equals

eleven.

2.Onthe___§________side, my share___»__ 3. Onthe____ssSSsside,

hrs.

his share is____ = >_E_—srmine.

4. Numbers less than zero are called ____ 5. When we multiply by two, we _________

80

negative

numbers

the quantity.

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:

CHAPTER

Teaching Vignette 5.5

Connecting Math to Our Lives

Math Language Detective Work

For many years, California educator Kristin Brown coordinated an international

Teachers can sensitize students to the richness of the language they encounter in math

project entitled Connecting Math to Our Lives. The project aimed to enable students to investigate how they could use math to analyze issues of importance to their society and take action to promote greater equity in their school or community. Students could choose from a number of project areas, including statistics and society, promoting equity at our school site, and school and community survey and data analysis.

5: TEACHING

VIGNET1

by having them work in pairs or small groups to systematically explore features of common math vocabulary. A template such as the one below can be created and stored on a classroom computer so that students can enter and update their math “specimens” on a regular basis. A useful source for language detective work is the Online Etymology

dictionary (http://www.etymonline.com).

Student projects from many countries are reported on the project’s website

(http://www.orillas.org/math). Here is a description of one of the projects that focused on family purchases in different countries (http://www.orillas.org/

Word: multiply (verb)

math/20032004/data.htm). Students collaborated with partner classes in different

Meaning

countries to collect data on prices and wages in their communities. A variation of

Math Definition

countries of origin, either by collaborating with partner classes or by researching

to add a number to itself by a specified amount or number of times; for example, the calculation 5 x 3 is equivalent to5+5+5.

the project would be for ELLs to compare prices and wages in Canada and their Common Definition

to increase the number or quantity of something

L1 Equivalent

multiplier Cin French)

Synonyms

increase, augment, propagate, expand

1. Our Local Shopping Lists and Units of Measurement

Antonyms

decrease, lessen, reduce, decline, divide

“What do we buy?”

Prefix/Root Meanings

online statistics. The project entailed the three phases outlined below.

From the Latin multiplicare: to multiply, formed from multus (much or many) + plicare (to fold)

What do students and their families typically buy during the week in Canada as compared to countries such as China, Mexico, Russia, and so on? Each participating

Grammatical Category

verb

class shared students’ (and/or families’) local shopping lists and the units of

Grammatical Patterns

multiply (verb), multiplication, multiple, multiplicity

measurement used in each country. 2. International Price Comparison “What does it cost?”

(nouns), multiple (adjective)

Words With Same Prefix Words With Same Root

multitude, multicultural, multimedia, multimodal implicate, complicit, complicity, implication, duplicate, explicit, complicate, apply, reply

After viewing all the local shopping lists, participants created a common shopping list with items that were commonly purchased around the world. Comparisons of

Mosquitoes multiply rapidly in warm, moist conditions.

two countries could easily be displayed in a Venn diagram. Students went through

To multiply a number by .5 is equivalent to dividing that number by 2.

a two-step process, initially finding the prices for each item in their local currency and then converting those prices to another currency to facilitate the comparison of prices internationally. 3. Comparison of Wages and Time Required to Earn Items on the Shopping List “What do we earn?” and “The real costs” At this stage, the analysis of the data probed more deeply into societal realities. For example, a TV set may cost the same in Mexico and the United States, but the wages in the two countries are very different. Here students researched the wages in each country for different kinds of workers and then calculated how long people would have to work in their country to earn each item on the common shopping list. Obviously, projects such as this involve and promote cross-curricular integration of math and social studies.

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6: THE

LANGUAGE

DEMANDS

OF SCIENC

T

he challenges of teaching science to students who are in the early stages of learning English were vividly expressed in a letter written by a high-school science teacher and published as the “Letter of the Week” by the Toronto Star. In his letter, he talked about the growing numbers of ELLs who had come into his science classes, most of whom had limited English skills. He explained that because of their limited English skills, they were unable take part in class discussions, complete assignments, or succeed on tests. He went on to say: I respect these students as I recognize that often they have a superior prior education in their own language. They are well-mannered, hard-working, and respectful of others. I enjoy having a multiracial society in my classroom, because I like these students for themselves and their high motivational level. However, I am troubled by my incompetence in adequately helping many individual students of that society. Because of language difficulties, they often cannot understand me, nor can they read the text or board notes. Each of these students needs my personal attention, and I do not have that extra time to give.

The Language Demands of Science G6 In addition to the demands of learning the meanings of multiple new words, students are required to engage in a range of cognitive processes characteristic of scientific Inquiry. As we have emphasized, these cognitive processes find expression in text structures (grammatical and discourse patterns) that are

quite different from the way we use language in everyday interpersonal communication. yb,

This teacher feels he has to give ELLs a failing mark because they are unable to show what they understand of science. He questions the “educational decisions made to assimilate ESL students into academic subject classes before they have minimal skills in English.”! Many of us can relate to this teacher’s commitment to help his students learn science and his frustration that their limited English skills impede this process. However, the letter also points to the problematic nature of seeing ESL teachers as those primarily responsible for teaching academic English to ELLs. As we have emphasized, teachers have multiple opportunities to extend students’ knowledge of academic English as they are learning subject-matter content. In order to avail of these opportunities, K-12 content teachers must know how to scaffold their instruction so that (a) it becomes comprehensible to ELLs and (b) students are enabled to use language effectively to talk and write about the concepts embedded in the curriculum. In the example sketched above, it would probably have been very useful for the science teacher to collaborate with one or more of the ESL teachers in the school to discuss scaffolding strategies he could use to help students understand the scientific content. Collaboration might also have extended to sharing the content he will be teaching in the coming weeks so that the ESL teacher could prepare students for some of the linguistic demands of this content. The ESL teacher might also have been able to suggest ways that language objectives could be included jn the science teacher’s instruction so that students’ grasp of academic language could be reinforced in the process of learning science. In addition, the ESL teacher might have been able to explain the typical trajectory of five or more years that ELLs demonstrate as they catch up academically in English. Under most circumstances, it is clearly not feasible to “fix” students’ academic English in one or two years. There is also no justification for excluding students from academic content learning for the more than five years it may take them to fully acquire academic English. Finally, the teachers might have been able to discuss alternative assessment strategics so that students could show their learning of science despite their current English language limitations.

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Teachers have multiple opportunitie to extend students’ knowledge of academic English as they are learning subject-matter conte!

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q

CHAPTER

In this chapter, we elaborate on the instructional strategies that content teachers can employ as they teach science to their students. The scientific inquiry process

The big ideas embedded in science curricula

are frequently difficult to understand for all students.

Any examination of provincial science frameworks and learning standards highlights both the challenges and opportunities ELLs encounter when they attempt to engage in scientific inquiry. The big ideas embedded in science curricula are frequently difficult to understand for all students and their expression in complex, dense, and abstract language makes them particularly challenging for ELLs. For example, a big idea such as Biodiversity is important for all living things* presents students with a new compound word, and the unit requires students to learn the meaning of many additional specialized scientific terms (e.g., ecosystem, fungi, cell, mammal, etc.) as well as more general academic vocabulary (organize, pollute, protect, survive, etc.). In addition to the demands of learning the meanings of multiple new words, students are required to engage in a range of cognitive processes characteristic of scientific inquiry. As we have emphasized, these cognitive processes find expression in text structures (grammatical and discourse patterns) that are quite different from the way we use language in everyday interpersonal communication. The cycle of practices entailed in the work of scientists includes the following: ¢ e e e e e ¢

Making observations about a topic or phenomenon Generating questions to solve a problem Making predictions or formulating hypotheses Planning and conducting an experiment or investigation Gathering and analyzing information Drawing and evaluating conclusions and recommendations Considering the social, environmental, and ethical implications of the recommendations made

The characteristics of scientific language are discussed in the following pages with reference to both vocabulary and text structure. Vocabulary Attention to vocabulary in science requires more than simply supplying definitions. Consider, for example, the definition of the concept of pure substance provided by the Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms: “A sample of matter, either an element or a compound that consists of only one component with definite physical and chemical properties and a definite composition.” To understand this definition, students must first understand the technical terms element, compound, and

properties. They also need to understand more general academic vocabulary such as sample, consists, component, definite, and composition. Particular challenges for ELLs in learning scientific vocabulary can be considered within the three-tiered vocabulary framework articulated by Isabel Beck and colleagues (Chapter 4). Words reflecting all three tiers present challenges. Common everyday Tier 1 words present challenges because they frequently have specialized

6: THE

meanings within scientific discourse. Examples include words such as energy, power, cell, solution, and base. Students are likely to be familiar with everyday uses of these words (e.g., a cellphone or an energy drink). As we have discussed in relation to the language of mathematics, students can be encouraged to adopt a “language detective” approach in relation to these words. Working either in pairs or small groups, students can distinguish between the everyday and scientific meanings of these “dual function” words and use a simple template to focus on meaning, form, and use. The form (e.g., grammatical variations and word families) is likely to be the same for both everyday and scientific aspects of these words, but meaning and use will differ considerably. This language detective work can be pursued by students and teachers not only within science instruction but also within English language arts and/or ESL classes. Science is packed with specialized Tier 3 vocabulary that was invented specifically for science. Examples include genome, mitochondrial, igneous, herbivore, detrivore, and omnivore. These vocabulary items are used to label, describe, and classify scientific phenomena and their attributes, as well as name scientific processes, such as photosynthesis. As discussed in previous chapters, this type of highly specific vocabulary frequently employs Latin or Greek prefixes, roots, and suffixes and presents both challenges and learning opportunities for students learning English.

Scientific discourse also employs a large number of Tier 2 words that occur in academic texts across the curriculum. Words such as classification, inference, comparison, contrast, observation, analysis and evaluation fall into this category. As is the case with Tier 3 words in science, these Tier 2 words derive overwhelmingly from Latin and Greek sources.

A common feature of Tier 2 words is nominalization, which refers to the grammatical process whereby language elements, mostly verbs or adjectives, are transformed into abstract nouns. For example, in a unit on weather the terms evaporation, condensation, and precipitation are introduced to elaborate on the big idea that water moves through a water cycle, which causes changes in the weather.? The verbs to evaporate, to condense, and to precipitate have been transformed into nouns. At higher grade levels, nominalizations tend to occur in an extended noun group as in sentences such as the following: “Evaporation from the oceans is the major mechanism supporting the surface-to-atmosphere component of the water cycle.” 7 Nominalization represents a useful tool to group, categorize, and define objects, phenomena, and events. On the positive side, it serves to pack multiple ideas or processes into a single word, resulting in precise and economical communication of meaning. On the negative side, the information in a phrase or sentence becomes more abstract and dense, and consequently more difficult to understand. Teachers can help students develop the ability to read texts critically by pointing out ways in which nominalization makes human actors invisible. When an action (e.g., to pollute) is nominalized (e.g., pollution), the human actor and/or the thing

86

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:

——e

LANGUAGE

DEMANDS

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CHAPTER

that is being acted upon is rendered less evident in the text. Fang and Schleppegrell highlight this function of nominalization as follows: “Environmental texts in science often capitalize on the power of nominalization to suppress the social agents responsible for environmental problems, and, in doing so, often obscure causation.”*

Our goal in teaching language across the curriculum should be

not only to develop students’ awareness

:

Words that promote text cohesion

and uses but also to enable students

Writers use a variety of strategies to ensure that the meanings and ideas they are trying to communicate are clear and coherent. For example, the use of pronouns to refer back in the text to something (people or ideas or things) is a very common language resource as illustrated in the following passage: “The sun gives Earth two kinds of energy. It gives us light energy. It also gives us heat energy.”® Similarly, pointing words such as these, those, this, and that are also frequently used to refer back to something. Repetitions and use of synonyms are other means of making texts hang together tightly. Linking words, such as those listed in Figure 6.1, serve to express various cognitive functions and also operate to create text cohesion.’

to critically analyze these language forms and uses.

OUT abA alate)

In other words | So To be more precise

Because | As a result

In particular

If/then

To illustrate

Therefore

Indicating time When Next Afterwards Later Finally

Sequencing ideas First Second Third To begin Briefly

Adding information In addition

Specifying conditions or qualifications However

Comparing/ Contrasting Comparing

Furthermore | On the other hand | Similarly Likewise Conversely In the same way What’s more | In the same way Similarly Nevertheless

Just as Likewise

To put it Since another way | Is a result of

At the same time } Alternatively Also After a while Based on evidence | Too

For example

Then

For these reasons

However

in the end

As a result

Nevertheless

Previously At last

In conclusion To summarize

Even so On the other hand

Thus Consequently Accordingly

Ultimately

88

As outlined in the Knowledge Framework discussed in Chapter 3, when students engage in scientific inquiry, they are required to perform cognitive functions related to observing, labelling or naming, comparing and contrasting, and classifying the materials used in an experiment or investigation. For example, in learning about matter in chemistry, students discover that scientists describe matter by considering its properties in relation to all the human senses. Scientists observe properties not only visually but also by considering the texture, taste, and smell of the substance being observed. Additionally, they use technical measurements to describe the materials and phenomena under investigation. These observations require a rich set of language resources (both everyday and academic) not only for naming the materials used but also for describing the materials explicitly and precisely. Teachers can support ELLs in using and acquiring the language of scientific inquiry by providing them appropriate questions to ask themselves or one another as the experiment unfolds: °

Figure 6.1 Linking Words Showing cause/effect

As is the case with mathematical language, scientific language draws on multimodal representations where language is used alongside and integrated with symbols, images, charts, graphs, and formulas. In science, language is used with economy and precision in order to avoid ambiguity. Long, dense noun phrases, nominalizations, and passive constructions occur frequently in scientific discourse and serve to obscure agency (who carried out an action), convey a sense of objectivity, and maximize the information communicated. Passive constructions (e.g., leaves are broken down into very small pieces by worms and fungi) in science often use the present tense, which helps communicate a sense of universal, timeless truth.

It is important that teachers be aware of how language is used in scientific texts because science curricula increasingly specify that students consider the social, environmental, and ethical implications of science. Nominalization is a good example of how, in order to fully understand science texts, attention needs to be paid to how authors have made calculated use of language. Thus, our goal in teaching language across the curriculum should be not only to develop students’ awareness of language forms and uses but also to enable students to critically analyze these language forms and uses.°

of language forms

6: THE

In spite of Contrasting

© e ¢ ¢ ¢

What What What How What

does the substance smell like? colour is it? texture does it have — smooth or rough, soft or hard? does it look — clear, translucent, or opaque? does it taste like — bitter, sweet, or salty?

Furthermore, in response to teacher questions such as What did you observe? What did you notice? and What were your observations? students’ language acquisition can be scaffolded to develop useful expressions such as I observed that...; I noticed that...; my observations were ..., and so on. The expansion of students’ language repertoires as they engage in scientific inquiry can be illustrated in the investigation of water quality conducted by grade 4/5 students at Admiral Seymour Elementary School, in Vancouver, which we first discussed in Chapter 4. Students’ reports of the three experiments they conducted with the assistance of University of British Columbia (UBC) students are shown below and on the following page. (For the full report, sce http:/Awww.multiliteracies. ca/index. php/folio/viewGallerySlideShow/262/561.)

LANGUAGE

DEMANDS

OF

SCIENCE

scientific language draws on multimodal representations where language is used alongside and integrated with symbols, images,

charts, graphs, and formulas.

CHAPTER

Purpose:

Observations:

To see if there is a safe amount of chlorine in

We observed that the test strips worked for a range of chlorine levels. Also, we observed chlorine levels in flushed tap water at 0.5 - 1.0 ppm, and unflushed tap water was 0.5 ppm.

Seymour’s drinking water. Equipment: Test tubes and chlorine test strips Flushed and unflushed drinking fountain water Chlorine indicator chart

Procedures: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Fill 4 clean tubes with water. Label tubes with flushed water 1 and 2. Label tubes with unflushed water 3 and 4. Dip test strips in each tube for 15 seconds. Match the strip colour with the scale. Record the chlorine level in ppm.

Conclusions: We concluded that the difference in chlorine levels between flushed tap water and unflushed tap water was very small. Flushed tap water had a bit more chlorine than the unflushed tap water which surprised us. The UBC people said sometimes the test is very sensitive and can read a bit high. A safe amount of chlorine in water is no more than 2.0 ppm. We conclude that the amount of chlorine in our drinking water is safe because it is far below the 2.0 ppm level. This is true for flushed and unflushed drinking water.

6: THE

LANGUAGE

DEMANDS

OF

SCIE?t

Purpose:

The purpose is to see if there are metals in the drinking water at Seymour School.

Equipment: 4 sterile 1 L containers 2-1 L samples of flushed fountain water 2-1 L samples of unflushed fountain water

Procedures: 1. Seal 2 fountains overnight and collect 1 litre samples from each of unflushed water. 2. Flush 2 fountains for 10 minutes and collect 1 litre samples from each of flushed water. 3. Send the samples to UBC to get analyzed.

Dr. Berube is a professor of civil engineering at UBC. Dr. Berube told us that testing for zinc and copper is good for testing for lead as well, because if there is zinc and copper there would be lead also. If there is no zinc or copper then there would be no lead. UBC tested for zinc and copper. Safe levels for copper are 1.30 mg/L and safe levels for zinc are 5.0 mg/L.

Observations:

Purpose:

The purpose is to see if there are bacteria or other microbes in the drinking water at Seymour School.

Equipment: test tubes, agar gel, petri dishes, pipettes

Procedures:

1. Collect water samples from 3 fountains and girls and boys toilets in sterile test tubes. 2. Make 5 agar plates with gel and petri dishes. 3. Use pipette to put 20 drops of water on plates. 4, Seal the plates and look again after 3 days. 5. Look for bacteria colonies on plates.

Observations:

The safe the the

tap water in petri dishes remained clear and after three days. Comparing samples from toilet showed bacteria colonies forming in plates.

Conclusions: The conclusion is that there is no bacteria in the drinking water at Seymour School. We conclude that it will be safe from bacteria if we drink the water from the water fountains.

Sample #1: unflushed 0.9 mg/L copper, 0.46 mg/L zinc Sample #2: flushed 0.00 mg/L copper, 0.00 mg/L zinc Sample #3: unflushed 0.7 mg/L copper, 1.23 mg/L zinc

Sample #4: flushed 0.00 mg/L copper, 0.00 mg/L zinc Conclusions:

The flushed fountain water is totally free of metals and is completely safe to drink. The unflushed water has some metals, but they are at safe levels. x

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The students’ descriptions of the equipment involved in the experiments illustrate some of the academic language demands of scientific description. For example, in reporting the equipment used in Experiment #1, phrases such as “flushed and unflushed drinking fountain water” and “chlorine indicator chart” show how noun groups are used to describe phenomena or conditions with detail and precision. Experiment #3 illustrates the concise format required to express accurate descriptors of measurement (e.g., number, mass, and volume). Similarly, the students’ recorded observations in this experiment illustrate the precise, detailed language of description. The students inform the readers that “Safe levels for copper are 1.30 mg/L and safe levels for zinc are 5.0 mg/L” and report their findings in relation to this standard. Additionally, expressions of comparison/contrast and classification appear with respect to “flushed” and “unflushed” water, and “tap” and “toilet” water, which can serve as the basis for further classroom discussions about how substances are typically categorized and classified in science. As we discussed in Chapter 3, specific key visuals are frequently employed to represent cognitive processes such as describing, comparing/contrasting, and ELLs

also

learn how

need

to

to read and _

interpret meanings in and across various modes.

LANGUAGE

DEMANDS

OF

SCIEb

¥g

Teaching the language of scientific inquiry

4

As they engage in scientific inquiry, students are frequently invited to generate questions, make predictions, formulate hypotheses, and generate explanations of their hypotheses or findings. These practices once again provide rich opportunities for language exploration. For example, as students prepare to carry out an experiment, simple yes/no questions can be generated and practised such as Will a rock float or sink in water? and Will a cork float or sink in water?

2

24

Similarly, as illustrated in the following chart (Figure 6.2), teachers can ask questions designed to evoke predictions and also model some common expressions of prediction in response to these questions. As they participate in these dialogues over time, students will develop the ability to ask these questions of one another. Teachers can also model for ELLs the most common grammatical structure for writing a hypothesis, which is similar to more general cause and effect reasoning: If [x: state the condition], then [y] will happen.

classifying. In science, these visuals include digital and non-digital diagrams, often

with arrows and lines that indicate processes, cycles, hierarchies, and relationships; tables and charts; and two- and three-dimensional models. It is important, therefore, to remember that the language demands of science are situated in multimodal contexts and that the meanings conveyed in language are interwoven with other forms and modes of representing concepts and their relationships. Thus, ELLs also need to learn how to read and interpret meanings in and across various modes (linguistic, visual, and spatial). It should not be taken as a given that ELLs, or any students for that matter, know how to read and interpret the diagrams, models, and images that are so common in science. Explicit instruction will ensure that students develop expertise in reading and interpreting these key visuals, and, at that point, these visuals become valuable tools in communicating scientific concepts and their relationships to students. They can also act as invaluable scaffolds to build up the academic language related to the particular scientific competence that is the objective for the activity or lesson. In addition to the language demands considered above, ELLs are required to recount the steps or procedures taken while doing science and provide explanations of the phenomena observed. As the texts reporting Experiments #1, 2, and 3 above demonstrate, the students at Admiral Seymour Elementary School learned (along with many other things) to organize a science procedure (goal/purpose; materials; the steps in sequence) and to use the appropriate linguistic features to do this. They used verbs (commands/imperatives) to give instructions (e.g., fill, label, dip, match, record); they used numbers to order the steps; they used precise terms (e.g., clean tubes, flushed water, unflushed water, test strips, strip colours, chlorine indicator chart, etc.) and topic-specific technical vocabulary.

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Figure 6.2 Prediction

Suggested questions to prompt a prediction

Common

What do you think is likely going to happen? |

It is likely that ...

What do you predict?

| predict that ...

What is your prediction?

My prediction is that ...

What do you expect will happen now?

My expectation is ...

What do you project will happen next?

| project that ...

What will probably occur?

The probability is that ...

expressions of prediction

|

With respect to explanations, How and Why questions are common. These questions help us to comprehend our universe and how things within it operate and are dependent upon one another. As ELLs engage with explanatory discourse, they will have opportunities to ask questions such as the following: How does,electricity work? Why does an electric current start to flow? and How are you affected by electricity?

Grade 4/5 students in Admiral Seymour Elementary School provide several examples of the language of explanations in the Introduction to their report on the water quality of their school (see Chapter 4). They point out:

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We were worried about our drinking water because our pipes are old and we have to leave the water fountains running all the time. ... It is important that the water should be good and fit to drink because we don’t want to be sick and we care about our water and how good it is. It is also important because we don’t want to waste water by having the water running all day and night. The students are explaining the reasons for their science project, why it is important to drink clean water, and why it is important not to waste water, and they explained how they went about getting the help of UBC scientists to test the water quality in their school. They used the language features required to convey reasons and cause/effect relationships (e.g., because, if, that is the reason why, so). They also used the present tense when making generalizations and they employed appropriate technical vocabulary. Figure 6.3 provides an overview of the features of explanatory discourse and how it is organized.’ Figure 6.3 Features of Explanatory Discourse

| Explanation: to give an account of why something is so or how or why some phenomena occur A generalized statement concerning the series of events or phenomena

|S) \ (dilateee

that occurred.

the series of events, or the processes to be explained.

Explains steps in chronological order in a way that differs from simple [Se Fiiye)sagf4)) description of steps in a process (life cycles, water cycles, etc.). steps arranged in Explanatory language explains cause/effect relationships. chronological or logical order. Causal language is required to express these realities, including | conjunctions such as because, as a result, if/then, therefore, since, is a result of, and thus, and causal verbs such as cause, made, melt, boil, condense, and evaporate. Passive sentences, nominalizations, and technical vocabulary are common.

Another

language

demand of science relates to organizing .

information or

data, for example, in producing .

° ps

a

scientific report.

94

Another language demand of science relates to organizing information or data, for example, in producing a scientific report. In very general terms, a scientific report starts with a general statement that classifies or defines the topic. The report then goes on to provide a description of the different information or data gathered, with respect to their attributes or qualities, grouped together under various subheadings. As Pauline Gibbons has pointed out, reporting back, either orally or in writing, is an extremely valuable exercise in socializing students into the use of academic language.

Students must communicate information to peers and/or the teacher who did not

share in the experience, and this requires them to use precise, explicit language typical of scientific discourse.!°

ype

6: THE

LANGUAGE

DEMANDS

OF

SCIEN

The final science competency that we address relates to Evaluation, one of the major components of the Knowledge Framework. As outlined in Figure 3.3 (Chapter 3), Evaluation includes arguing and persuading, practices that we discussed in Chapter 4 in relation to language arts. The organizational structure and, to some extent, the language demands of these two practices remain the same across the curriculum. A statement of the issue or problem is made together with the writer’s point of view. This is followed by an argument or series of arguments, each with supporting evidence. However, the nature of the supporting evidence differs from one subject area to another. For instance, whereas in a literary analysis activity such as the one described in Chapter 4, the author’s claim is supported by a quote from the literary work being studied, in science, evidence is provided in the form of facts and findings from the experiment or investigation. As students engage in the cognitive process of evaluation, they can be supported to learn verbs related to judgment, such as to judge, to regard, to consider, to evaluate, to rank, and to assess. Teachers can expand students’ knowledge of adjectives related to judgment, such as good/bad, right/wrong, accurate/inaccurate, strong/weak, and correct/incorrect. Additional linguistic tools to express scientific judgments might include based on evidence, according to the findings, from the data gathered, the observations support, and so on. As these are introduced in the context of scientific inquiry, students and/or the teacher could add them to the classroom word wall.

In this chapter, we have focused on how teachers can expand students’ knowledge of academic language as students engage in scientific inquiry. Cognitive psychologist John Guthrie’s observation that “expertise spirals upward with engaged participation”! is equally true for science and other content areas as it is for literacy in general. Effective science teaching to ELLs will involve all of the components of the Literacy Engagement framework described in Chapter 2. Instruction must engage students with the fascination of finding out about the world we live in and enable them to learn about this world with their hands as well as their brains by actually doing science. The scaffolding tools we discussed in Chapter 5 in relation to the teaching of mathematics are equally relevant to the teaching of science. Highly informative and attractive visuals can be found not only in textbooks but also online. Students who are literate in their home language (L1) can be encouraged to explore the extent to which useful information on the scientific topics being discussed in class can be found through online L1 sources. Parents might also be able to assist in this process as well as in helping students transfer concepts across their languages.

Effective science teaching to ELLs wi involve all of the components of the Literacy Engageme framework.

»

4,4 4

Teachers can connect with students’ background knowledge in a variety of ways. For example, in discussing a science topic such as light and sound, students could investigate the sounds they hear throughout the day, both at school and at home, and then classify these sounds into various categories. Teachers can also ask questions that tap into students’ everyday experiences (e.g., Why does the sun come up in the east? Why do leaves fall in the autumn? Why does the ocean generate waves?), and then work with students to investigate these phenomena.

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As students engage with these ideas and develop greater understanding of their own lives and the wider world, their sense of accomplishment grows. When they carry out projects either individually or in groups (such as the projects carried out by students at Admiral Seymour Elementary School) and share their findings with multiple audiences, their identity expands. In the case of ELLs, this kind of project enables them to emerge from the identity cocoon that defines them by what they lack (knowledge of English) into an identity defined by confidence, competence, and accomplishment.

Use of L1 to Develop the Language of Science As with all academic subjects, the use of the students’ L1 and background knowledge can serve as powerful resources and support for learning the language of science in English. This is illustrated in the strategies articulated by Madiha, a student in Lisa Leoni’s class whose work we discussed in Chapter 1. Madiha, in answering several

Finally, as further elaborated in the Teaching Vignettes, the teaching of science presents all kinds of opportunities to expand students’ knowledge of academic English. This expansion of linguistic expertise is not confined only to the sphere of science; with encouragement from teachers, it transfers to all areas of the curriculum as well as to students’ ability to write clearly, concisely, and effectively.

written questions about her use of her L1 in learning English, described how she created multilingual and multimodal dictionaries to help her to learn scientific content in English. BMiithnen

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Teachers can promote this practice by working with students to build multilingual and multimodal word walls. This affirms the linguistic knowledge and identity of ELLs, but it also enriches the learning of all students by enabling them to become aware of the different languages represented in their class and, in some cases, observe linguistic similarities in terminology used in different languages (e.g., English/French). Additionally, students can be encouraged to use the Internet to research a science topic (e.g., ecosystems and sustainability) in their home language(s). They can learn about the key concepts and build background knowledge so that the information in the English science text will be easier for them to understand as they transfer their science knowledge across languages. School libraries can include books, magazines, and resources in the dominant languages of the school (in addition to English). Students themselves can contribute dual language texts, informational pamphlets, or PowerPoints they have created (possibly with the help of parents or older students) to the library. These texts might explain the big ideas of a science topic or inquiry. Teachers’ assessment of students’ work could include evaluation of students’ portfolios that contain both electronic and hard-copy dual language projects or syntheses of scientific issues and topics.

96

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prediction predictable

vary/variance; dominate/dominance; appear/appearance eat/eating; pray/praying; dance/dancing

é

dictatorial

dictionary

(verb =“ noun)

diction edict

dictator

; ; ; erode/erosion; operate/operation; persuade/persuasion

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contradict

dictate

| Examples

Suffix

jurisdiction

dicti

enediction

;

a

;

valedictorian

valediction

unpredictable vindictive

lonely/loneliness; sad/sadness; quick/quickness (adjective =} noun)

Word: predict (verb)

violent/violence; confident/confidence; consistent/consistence (adjective < noun)

|

long/length; strong/strength; warm/warmth

|

(adjective noun)

Meaning L1 Equivalent q

Synonyms

acceptable/acceptability; creative/creativity; agile/agility (adjective = noun)

Prefix/Root Meanings

decir (

predecir (in Spanish)

forecast, foresee, foretell, envisage, expect, guess, prophesy

pre = before; “dict” from Latin dicere = say;

predict = say before

Some words remain unchanged in nominalization (e.g., “to process” and “the process”;

“to hope” and “the hope”). Once the students have a basic idea of how nominalization

works, they can be encouraged to identify these language elements in texts, discuss

}

their expanded meanings, and talk about why the writer may have chosen to use

|

language in this way. Importantly, as with the use of expanded noun groups and with

|

discussions of text structure generally, students can also be encouraged to explore how their home languages operate to achieve similar purposes.

Grammatical Category

Grammatical Patterns Words With Same Prefix

verb

predict (verb), prediction (noun), predictable

(adjective), predictably (adverb)

prefer, prehistoric, prejudge, premature, premeditate,

preoccupy, prepare, etc.

Words With Same Root

“s

contradict, contradiction, dictate, dictation, dictator,

diction, dictionary, etc.

Seismologists try to predict where and when earthquakes are going to happen.

100

101

Marsville: Critical Inquiry That Integrates Science and Social Studies As we have emphasized, when students actually engage in doing science, rather than simply learning about science from textbooks, their learning is likely to be deeper and more sustained. This is illustrated in a project described by educator Bonnie Bracey (2000) in which her grades 4 and 5 students, many of them ELLs, worked with scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA): In one NASA project | did with my 4th and 5th graders called Marsville, we connected with other classrooms online to design a Marsville City. Marsville was a project-based activity where students created a prototype habitat for Mars. The children came together to learn and build their city and make their own living spaces using a variety of interdisciplinary skills. In the process, they learned creative problem solving, cooperative learning, and data analysis. We studied the systems needed to survive on Mars. We did not just read about it, we did it! It was exciting to see how such a project engaged my immigrant students who were still learning English, and motivated their reading and science learning.” This example clearly involves collaborative inquiry and cognitive challenge intended to develop higher-order thinking skills. It also is likely to be much more motivating for

The Language Demands of Social Studies

students than simply learning about Mars or human habitats from a textbook, as they might within a transmission-oriented classroom. The active, hands-on, cooperative activities also appeared to be cognitively engaging and motivating for students who were learning through a second language. In this case, students were learning both scientific content and second language structures and functions simultaneously. However, a project such as this could be extended into the realm of critical inquiry and the interface between science and social studies by examining the problems of human habitats on Earth and the causes of these problems. Students might design a habitat on Earth that addresses current urban and global problems such as homelessness, violence, poverty, pollution, and climate change. This would entail students researching and analyzing sources of inequity in income and causes of violence and pollution, and discussing how these problems might be resolved. The meaning of scientific concepts such as habitat will be understood much more profoundly by students when they relate these concepts to their own experience and engage in collaborative critical inquiry to explore the relevance of these concepts to their own lives. This form of cross-curricular inquiry could also be extended beyond science and social studies into language arts by enabling students to examine the language used by political and media commentators on both sides of issues such as global warming. The word choices and grammatical constructions used by proponents of different perspectives and ideologies to persuade readers to accept their point of view could be analyzed by ELLs and discussed in class.

102

G6 A major goal in teaching social studies is to enable all students, regardless of their current knowledge of English, to read texts critically and assess the evidence used to support the writer's

perspectives and also to help students become effective writers who back up their arguments with convincing evidence. 55 4.

Marsville: Critical Inquiry

That Integrates Science and

Social Studies

As we have emphasized, when students actually engage in doing science, rather than simply learning about science from textbooks, their learning is likely to be deeper and more sustained. This is illustrated in a project described by educator Bonnie Bracey (2000) in which her grades 4 and 5 students, many of them ELLs, worked with scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA): In one NASA project | did with my 4th and 5th graders called Marsville, we connected with other classrooms online to design a Marsville City. Marsville was a project-based activity where students created a prototype habitat for Mars. The children came together to learn and build their city and make their own living spaces using a variety of interdisciplinary skills. In the process, they learned creative problem solving, cooperative learning, and data analysis. We studied the systems needed to survive on Mars. We did not just read about it, we did it! It was exciting to see how such a project engaged my immigrant students who were still learning English, and motivated their reading and science learning.” This example clearly involves collaborative inquiry and cognitive challenge intended to develop higher-order thinking skills. It also is likely to be much more motivating for

The Language Demands of Social Studies

students than simply learning about Mars or human habitats from a textbook, as they might within a transmission-oriented classroom. The active, hands-on, cooperative activities also appeared to be cognitively engaging and motivating for students who were learning through a second language. !n this case, students were learning both scientific content and second language structures and functions simultaneously. However, a project such as this could be extended into the realm of critical inquiry and the interface between science and social studies by examining the problems of human habitats on Earth and the causes of these problems. Students might design a habitat on Earth that addresses current urban and global problems such as homelessness, violence, poverty, pollution, and climate change. This would entail students researching and analyzing sources of inequity in income and causes of violence and pollution, and discussing how these problems might be resolved. The meaning of scientific concepts such as habitat will be understood much more

G6 A major goal in teaching social studies is to enable all students, regardless of their current knowledge of English, to read texts critically and

assess the evidence used to support the writer's perspectives and also to help students become

effective writers who back up their arguments with convincing evidence. a 4.

profoundly by students when they relate these concepts to their own experience and engage in collaborative critical inquiry to explore the relevance of these concepts to their own lives. This form of cross-curricular inquiry could also be extended beyond science and social studies into language arts by enabling students to examine the language used by political and media commentators on both sides of issues such as global warming. The word choices and grammatical constructions used by proponents of different perspectives and ideologies to persuade readers to accept their point of view could be analyzed by ELLs and discussed in class.

102

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opportunities to neip

students expand their knowledge of academic language.

LANGUAGE

DEMANDS

OF SOCIAL

STUL

Using the Knowledge Framework to map the language demands Melee mTettol SMT ola

s in other content areas of the curriculum, the language of social studies presents both challenges and opportunities. The challenges derive from the complexity of the language of social studies. Much of the vocabulary consists of Tier 2 and Tier 3 words, predominantly of Latin and Greek origin, that are rarely used in everyday conversation. The word democracy, for example, derives directly from the Greek words for people and power. Students are typically required to read extensively and write assignments to demonstrate their understanding of concepts and critically assess competing perspectives on social issues. Obviously, teachers and students will discuss concepts and issues, but without strong reading and academic language skills, students will find it very difficult to acquire the content. Without strong writing skills, they will have difficulty demonstrating their knowledge of the concepts.

Teache

7: THE

,

Concrete knowledge structures

In using the Knowledge Framework to teach social studies, it is usually a good idea to start with the more concrete knowledge structures (Description, Sequence) before engaging students in more abstract analysis of the topics and issues. Figure 7.1 Cognitive Functions Inherent in a Social Studies Unit on Early Societies

(Mesopotamia and the Nile Valley/Egypt) CLASSIFICATION

However, in addition to the challenges inherent in the language of social studies, teachers also have many opportunities to help students expand their knowledge of academic language. For example, the frequent occurrence of nominalization in social studies texts enables teachers to reinforce students’ awareness of the forms and functions of this structure. Teachers can also work with students in small groups to engage in instructional conversations about one or two “juicy sentences” using strategies discussed previously in relation to the work of Lily Wong Fillmore (see Chapter 4). Writing that students carry out either individually or in groups to report on their inquiry projects also provides teachers with opportunities to give constructive feedback on the coherence of students’ ideas and ways students could use language more effectively to express these ideas.

Classify the social levels in Egyptian society. Classify the social levels in Mesopotamian society. Classify the main features of civilizations. (continuity and change)

PRINCIPLES Investigate the impact of the environment on the societies of

Mesopotamia and the Nile Valley/

Find the location of the early societies of Mesopotamia and the Nile Valley/ Egypt on a map or on Google Earth. Investigate and describe the

In Mesopotamia, Hammurabi’s laws were governed by the principle “an eye for an eye.” Evaluate different

Egypt. (cause and consequence, interrelationships, and evidence)

perspectives on this law. (perspective and ethical judgments)

Investigate the effect of humans on

Rank the cultural practices, institutions, and traditions that

the environment in Mesopotamia and the Nile Valley/Egypt. (cause and consequence, interrelationships, and evidence)

Provincial social studies curricula typically organize the content in relation to several disciplinary key concepts. For example, the Ontario curriculum organizes the content in relation to significance, cause and consequence, continuity and change, patterns and trends, interrelationships, and perspective. The foundational concepts in British Columbia are specified as significance, evidence, continuity and change, cause and consequence, perspective, and ethical judgments.! In other provinces and territories, similar underlying themes infuse the content of social studies curricula. The language demands inherent in applying these disciplinary thinking concepts can be illustrated by using Mohan’s Knowledge Framework to plan a unit of work on the topic of Early Societies (specifically, Mesopotamia and the Nile Valley/Egypt — see Figure 7.1).

EVALUATION

emerged in Mesopotamian and Egyptian early societies that continue

Explain in what ways you think

to have a major influence on society today. (significance)

societies today in Canada are similar to early societies with respect to impact on the environment.

structure of government and means of keeping social order be justified by

To what extent can the Egyptians’

Explain how they are different. (cause and consequence, interrelationships, evidence, continuity and change)

the accomplishments of that society? (ethical judgments)

Create a timeline of the early societies of Mesopotamia and the Nile Valley/ Egypt.

Some people claim that Egypt’s

geography/environment, technology

greatness came about because of its hierarchical social, political, and economic organization. What is your personal perspective on this claim? (perspective)

and economy, governance, social organization, and culture of these two early societies. (significance) Compare and contrast these two early societies across environment, technology, governance, and social organization both with each other and with society in Canada today. (continuity and change)

SEQUENCE

CHOICE

a

DESCRIPTION

104

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CHAPTER

These concrete knowledge structures in Figure 7.1 enable students to learn the language to identify and express specific aspects of historical events such as: ¢ When the events took place and names of periods (e.g., Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom) e Where the events took place (e.g., northeast corner of Africa, the Nile Valley) e What the characteristics of the times and the societies were with respect to foods eaten (e.g., wheat, barley, lentils, fruits, vegetables), social structure (e.g., slaves, peasants, labourers, artisans, scribes), tools and technology (e.g., shipbuilding, pyramids, pulleys), and arts/innovations (e.g., sculpture, pottery, jewellery, hieroglyphics, calendar) Teachers can use graphic organizers to support ELLs in gathering information about the topic. For example, issues around time obviously constitute a large part of the study of social studies and history, and so a timeline can be used to provide an overview of the most significant developments, as illustrated in Figure 7.2.*

7: THE

LANGUAGE

DEMANDS

OF

SOCIAL

STU

Students can either be given the timeline with the essential information available as shown in Figure 7.2 or asked to work in small groups to conduct an inquiry into the most significant events over the period and plot them onto the timeline themselves. A class could be divided into “expert” groups where each group investigates one early society and then shares the information with the other groups (e.g., through a PowerPoint presentation). From a timeline such as the one outlined above, students can learn vocabulary relevant to the topic (e.g., irrigation, evolution, sphinx, pyramid, kingdom), various tenses indicating the past (e.g., past simple [ruled], past continuous [was ruling], perfect tense [they have ruled]), and time markers and linking words (e.g., after some time, then, before this period, previously) that tie the text together in chronological order. Additionally, a key visual could be constructed for each early society as illustrated in Figure 7.3.

Figure 7.3 Key Visual to Explore Aspects of Early Societies

Figure 7.2 Timeline of the Mesopotamian and Egyptian Periods

When? In what period of time did this society exist?

MESOPOTAMIAN Period | Early herders and farmers river valley settlement

| Use of irrigation Cities evolve

| First Kings and city-states

UR

Who lived in

Sumerians revive and conquer | Art, writing, and building structures

ancient Egyptian society?

| Devolution of culture/chaos | Assyrians rule

Sa dal

early society of

the Nile Valley located?

Chariots and iron weapons invented | Chaldeans defeat Assyrians Babylon Empire emerges BCE

6000

5000

4000

3000

2000

1000

0

CE

Nile Valley/

1000

How did this society express

EGYPTIAN Period

Egypt

its identity and culture through art, communication,

| Menes unites Egypt Pyramids, Sphinx, and tombs

| End of Old Kingdom

What food did the earliest Egyptians grow?

architecture, sports, and religion?

200 years of chaos

| Middle Kingdom

How did this

Trading and extending of boundaries

society provide

| Second Intermediate Period

shelter, clothing, tools/ technology, and transportation?

200-year rule of Hyksos | New Kingdom 400 years of prosperity, King Tut

| Ptolemaic Period | Cleopatra: last Egyptian ruler Becomes province of Rome

BCE 106

6000

5000

4000

3000

2000

1000

0

CE

1000 10

CHAPTER

The use of key visuals such as Figure 7.3 provides students with opportunities to develop patterns of social studies academic language regarding who/what (nouns/participants) did what (verbs) and under what circumstances (time, place, and manner: where? when? how? why? with whom? by what means? for how long?). A comparative table (Figure 7.4) is another useful graphic organizer to help students gather and organize information from their inquiry process.

LANGUAGE

DEMANDS

OF

SOCIAL

STU|

Figure 7.5 Text Pattern for Information Reports Information report: to give information (i.e., to classify and describe a topic) Students start with a general statement usually classifying or defining the topic.

This is followed by a description of various attributes/

characteristics grouped together (e.g., geography/

environment, social structure, government, art, and innovations).

Figure 7.4 Graphic Organizer for Comparative Report

7: THE

Identify the topic; a general classification statement Description of the characteristics

of the topic

Language features include abstract nouns such as democracy, monarchy, and innovation.

Early Society

Tele f:)| Welntste

wunSte

note

Art/

BAYT OY:SoRe)i

Structure | Inventions | Employment

Communication/ Transportation | Accounting/ Record Keeping

Although verb forms in many information reports will frequently involve present tense, historical reports typically use some form of the past tense. Comparison and contrast will be involved in certain texts. Specialized/technical vocabulary related to the topic and expanded noun groups, and adverbs (where, when, in what way) may be involved.

Mesopotamia

Subheadings and paragraphing are used to organize the information in the text and create coherence.

Nile Valley

So, as can be seen, information reports usually start with a general statement followed by a set of descriptive facts (evidence) concerning the characteristics of the topic. For early societies, these might be organized by subheadings and paragraphs focused on sub-topics such as “geography/environment,” “social structure,” “government,” and “art and innovations.”

Indus Valley

As with other subject areas, social studies employs technical language (e.g., homo habilis, homo erectus, Neanderthal man; primary and secondary sources; archaeology; Enlightenment period, etc.). However, the terms are typically less technical than in the case of scientific terminology, even though many are also from Latin and Greek roots.

Present-day Society in Canada

In gathering this information, students will need not only to find facts, but will also need to discuss and determine what is important among these facts. In other words, they will be required to use the disciplinary thinking of “significance.” Graphics such as these can support students to write a descriptive report of each society on the significant events, people, and characteristics; to write a comparative historical report of these early societies; or, if these early societies are compared with modern-day society, to write a classificatory historical report on the universal characteristics of societies or civilizations. The basic text pattern for these information reports remains similar, as outlined in Figure 7.5.3

108

As a report moves from being more descriptive of a specific topic (e.g., Mesopotamian society) to more abstract (e.g., discussion of societies or civilizations), the language becomes correspondingly more abstract. Abstraction is generally seen as a strong element of the language of social studies and history and is frequently expressed through nominalizations such as civilizations, democracy, government, and so on.

Whereas a comparative report of early societies would likely use past tense, a more generalized report would probably use “timeless” present tense to signify implicitly that the text is expressing universal truths. With reference to Mohan’s Knowledge Framework, the language of classification, definition, and comparison and contrast are called for, as described in Chapter 3.

Abstraction is generally seen a: a strong element of the language

of soci! studies and history.

10!

CHAPTER

Abstract knowledge structures

=

Graphic supports are also extremely useful in socializing ELLs into the disciplinary concepts of cause and consequence, interrelationships, and evidence and helping them meet the language demands of these thinking skills. To illustrate, the flow chart below (Figure 7.6) shows one of the impacts of humans on the environment in Mesopotamia. Each text box shows an effect and each arrow indicates the cause.

Figure 7.6 The Impact of Humans on the Environment in Mesopotamia

The land was dry and needed water to grow the crops.

An irrigation system was built to draw water to the fields.

Excess water could not easily flow back because the river was higher than the fields.

The excess water evaporated and, over time, left mineral salts behind in the soil.

In time, the land became poisoned and the crops failed to grow.

Areas were abandoned.

7: THE

LANGUAGE

DEMANDS

OF

SOCIAL

STUD

the language of prediction and hypothesis based on evidence. This might include expressions such as “It is likely that ...”; “I predict that ... will happen ...”; and “My prediction is that ....” These constructions are similar to those used in science (Figure 6.2), opening up possibilities for cross-curricular integration. Special attention can be given to modals, words that provide more information about the degree to which a speaker or writer feels confident or certain about the evidence presented. Examples include modal verbs (can/could, may/might), modal adjectives (possible, probable), and modal adverbs (maybe, certainly). A comparison of early societies with present-day realities can afford opportunities to build students’ awareness of and expertise in using language related to change and continuity. A Venn diagram could be employed to visually represent shared and unique impacts (Figure 7.7). Figure 7.7 Human

Impact on the Environment

This effect by humans on the environment was one factor in the collapse of some ancient cities.

Using a chart such as this, teachers consequences and work with ELLs used to express these relationships. “The events leading to the collapse of developing an irrigation system

The study of ancient civilizations and historical events will become more

engaging for students if they can connect these realities to current issues relevant to their own lives. 110

can teach the thinking skills related to causes and to enable them to gain control over the language The teacher can model sentence starters such as of ancient cities were ...” and “The consequences in Mesopotamia were ....”

Verbs of causation such as “to cause,” “to force,” “to compel,” and “to result in” can be used in context, as well as common expressions related to causes and consequences such as “is due to,” “is the result of,” “has an effect on,” and so on. 99

66

39

6¢

The linking/signalling words of cause and consequence that we described relating to science (Chapter 6) are also useful in describing social realities. Words and expressions such as “because,” “as a consequence,” “therefore,” and “for that reason” work the same way in both science and social studies. The study of ancient civilizations and historical events will become more engaging for students if they can connect these realities to current issues relevant to their own lives. For example, we can ask students to investigate ways in which humans’ impact on the environment is similar or different in comparison to early societies. Projects such as this can generate not only the language of comparison and contrast, but also

Developing critical literacies in social studies Social studies presents abundant opportunities to develop students’ ability to analyze and think deeply about the nature of human societies and our relationship to our environment and to one another. Regardless of whether the focus is on historical or current events and forms of social organization, the underlying themes will include issues related to privilege, sustainability, equity, justice, poverty, racism, and power. A major goal of education within democratic societies is to develop students’ ability to use evidence to analyze social issues in a rational way, which is a prerequisite for effective citizenship and social participation. Clearly, as students’ cognitive abilities expand in this direction, their language abilities also expand to understand and express complex and abstract ideas. Thus, within the context of social studies, and literacy more generally, it is insufficient simply to teach students the literal meaning of words, sentences, and texts; we need to teach them to go beyond the surface structure of texts and read between the lines. We also need to help students become aware of the intersections between language and power by enabling them to notice how powerful or persuasive messages are encoded linguistically in both oral and written texts. We can do this by encouraging students to read and analyze oratorical speeches, influential written documents, political messages, advertisements, and so on.

A major goal of education within democratic societies is to develop students’ ability to use evidence to analy social issues ina rational way.

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The instructional conversations that teachers might orchestrate (in whole class or small groups) around texts that students have read could focus on one or more of the following issues: e The text is written from the perspective of ... (people, group, country, etc.) e People in the text whose perspectives are not discussed include ... ¢ Why was this text written? What audience did the author(s) have in mind? What response does the author hope readers will have to the text? © How does the language used by the author help him/her influence the reader’s response? e How are males and females described in the text? Are there any differences or inequalities in the roles that males and females play in the text? e How are members of different cultural groups described in the text? Are there inequalities in the roles that members of different cultural groups play in the text? ¢ Would people with different life experiences see the issues in the same way? For example, would the issues be perceived in a similar way by people of different income levels (people who are poor as compared to people who are rich), different sexes (females as compared to males), or different cultures? ¢ What evidence is provided in the text for the views that are expressed? Is this evidence valid or convincing? If yes, why? If no, why not? * Could people in the text have acted differently from the way they did? What alternative actions could they have taken? How would these alternatives have affected events in the story or history? Australian educator Barbara Comber points out that even young children have had experiences that they can draw on in carrying out critical analysis of issues related to equity and justice: Children begin school with ideas about what’s fair and what’s not, gleaned from five years of experience with family and community life. They also come to school with rich repertoires of narrative resources from popular culture, sports, and so on — stories that deal with who/what’s powerful, who/what’s cool, who the good/bad guys are. In other words, they’ve already had many opportunities for examining real and imaginary worlds in terms of how relations of power work. Their early play with peers and siblings, as well as solitary role plays, demonstrates what young children make of status, authority, force, and power.‘ To what extent can students who are in the early stages of learning English engage in this kind of critical analysis of social issues?

7: THE

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STUL

ELLs and critical literacies

In the past, schools often took the position that ELLs had to learn the basics of English before they could be expected to engage in higher-order thinking or critical literacy. The assumption was that if students had very limited English skills, they couldn’t be expected to use more complex language functions to analyze social issues. Recent research carried out by Sunny Man Chu Lau in the Toronto area shows clearly that early-stage ELLs can use higher-order thinking skills and engage with complex social issues when instructional supports enable them to connect their own experiences to the texts they are reading and discussing.° The starting point for Lau’s study was the fact that there were very few examples of critical literacy approaches being implemented with beginning- or intermediate-level K-12 ELLs, despite the fact that research carried out by Vivian Vasquez with young ELLs had demonstrated the feasibility of integrating a critical orientation with early literacy instruction. Lau spent two years working with a grade 7/8 ESL teacher (Ms. Li, a pseudonym). During the first year, she volunteered in Ms. Li’s classroom in order to get to know her, the ESL class, and the school before embarking on the research project itself in the second year. Lau took the lead in designing an instructional program that integrated a critical orientation with the teaching of English language and literacy skills and worked with Ms. Li to ensure that the program aligned with the Ministry of Education’s curriculum expectations and the school’s specific assessment and evaluation requirements.

Early-stage ELLs can use higherorder thinking skills and engage with complex social issues when instructional supports enable them to connect their own experiences to the texts they are reading and discussing.

The critical literacy framework adopted by Lau was based primarily on Ada and Campoy’s Creative Dialogue model involving a four-phase interactive dialogue among teachers and students.” Lau modified the framework slightly by substituting the term dimension for phase in order to communicate that the discussion of different dimensions of the text could be fluid and dynamic rather than proceeding in a linear fashion. The four dimensions are outlined as follows:?

Textual Dimension. Interaction focuses on information contained in the text. Typical questions might be: “When, where, and how did it happen?” and “Who did it? Why?” The goal is to help students understand how the language and multimodal dimensions of the text construct meaning.

Personal Dimension. Students relate textual information to their own experiences and feelings. Teachers might ask: “Have you ever seen (felt, experienced) something like this?” or “Have you ever wanted something similar?” The goual is to encourage students to critically reflect on the text in relation to their experiences, feelings, and emotions, leading to greater self-awareness. . Critical Dimension. Instruction focuses on engaging students in critical analysis of issues or problems arising from the text. As elaborated above, teachers might ask: “Is what this person said valid? Always? Under what conditions? Are there any alternatives to this situation?”

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Creative/Transformative Dimension. This dimension engages students in creative, constructive actions that address the social realities discussed by teachers and students. Teachers and students might explore the following types of questions: “How can the problem or issues be resolved?” and “What role can we play in helping resolve the problem?” Projects emerging from these discussions might involve drama, role play, art, poetry, stories, newsletter publication, or letters to editor, school principal, or some other relevant person or group (see Teaching Vignettes for examples). The project adopted a participatory action research approach in which Lau co-taught the instructional units with Ms. Li twice a week and documented students’ engagement and progress through field notes, recorded interviews, and observations. The students were mainly from Mandarin Chinese language backgrounds and were withdrawn from their regular classes for one or two 50-minute periods of ESL instruction each day. Lau describes the operation of the critical literacy program as follows: We focused mainly on the textual dimension in the first month to help students master some basic classroom English and everyday vocabulary enough to function in an English school environment. We also set up a class blog where students could post poems and short narratives written in class and comment on each other’s work. This was to ease them into the role of being active participants in a collaborative learning community, a social practice foreign to their prior exam- and teacher-oriented learning experience. ...

Many of the students felt a strong sense of helplessness and shame about their limited English abilities and were reluctant to seek help when bullied.

114

As we moved forward, we introduced, in a progressive and spiral manner, more complex reading processes, such as predicting, inferencing, guessing meaning from context, summarizing, identifying different perspectives, and generating questions. We also engaged students in reading and producing different text types (such as picture stories, photo stories, poems, expository texts, and media texts), all the while making sure we wove together the four dimensions — textual, personal, critical, and creative/transformative — in a balanced way. We also chose topics that were relevant to their social situations, such as stories of their names and families, and immigration experiences to Canada, especially the challenges of social adjustment, employment, and discrimination.’ Lau illustrates the kinds of interactions that foster a critical orientation by recounting how teachers and students grappled with incidences of bullying that the students were experiencing. From discussion with students, it became clear that many of the students felt a strong sense of helplessness and shame about their limited English abilities and were reluctant to seek help when bullied. Lau and Ms. Li decided to insert a unit on bullying into the original program in order to help students understand what bullying is: what forms it takes, why people bully, and what roles people play in a bullying incident. They used a book entitled Marianthe’s Story’° in order to generate discussion of issues related to discrimination

7: THE

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OF SOCIAL

STU|

and cultural differences. The book describes how Marianthe, a new arrival in the United States who struggles with English and bullying at school, paints and draws pictures to illustrate her family history, memories of her homeland, and the events that brought her family to the United States. After reading and discussing Marianthe’s Story, the students individually wrote about a bullying incident they had encountered or witnessed. They then worked in small groups and chose one of their stories to analyze using role categories that the teachers had introduced as they read the story (e.g., target, bystander, perpetrator). They brainstormed possible alternative actions that they could have pursued, such as reporting the incident, ignoring it, or intervening. They then rewrote the story together in a way that embodied the solutions or more effective ways of combating the bullying that they had identified.” After the groups had rewritten the bullying incident, they practised different English expressions (with an appropriate tone of voice) that could be used to respond to bullies such as “Cut it out!”, “Grow up!”, “That’s not cool,” “Stay away from me!”, and “Leave me alone!” They also designed posters for an anti-bullying campaign, incorporating media literacy skills such as the use of space, colours, and textual and visual content that would be effective in conveying the intended message. The poster designed by one student is shown in Figure 7.8." Figure 7.8 Anti-Bullying Poster

Obit Be Brecirect

bed

“SS

Bor_:

Oxy

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VORS

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BONE

tel the

bullies Dog Exampte cot it off, udp

Can toll tur Srmmebe Ran i.

Ns

CHAPTER

In order to alert other teachers in the school to the bullying that the ELLs were experiencing, Ms. Li and Lau arranged with the school administration to hold a Lunch and Learn Professional Development session for the school staff. Several students presented to the staff about their lives before and after moving to Canada, drawing on the structure of Marianthe’s Story. The students’ presentations led teachers to discuss ways to help students’ social and cultural adjustment at school. One science teacher emailed Ms. Li to describe how she had adjusted her instruction based on the greater sensitivity she now had to ELLs’ social challenges. In the past, she had given the ELLs a different and frequently simplified assignment from the one given to the rest of the class. However, on this occasion, she gave the ELLs the option of doing the same project as the other students. All of them chose to do this assignment. The teacher permitted them to discuss and write their work in Chinese before handing in the final version in English. She was surprised and impressed by the quality of work that the students produced, as reflected in the following excerpts of her email to Ms. Li: Today, Melody and Chicken [pseudonyms chosen by the students] showed up with the COMPLETE EARTHQUAKE RESEARCH ... totally typed and everything answered. I was shocked ... basically over the last couple of days, they had translated everything on the sheet (must have taken forever!) and wrote it out in their own words. I was so proud of them that I showed the rest of 7D and everyone clapped!!! I think it was really important for their class to see that ELLs are capable of doing everything (and in this case — so much better!) than English-speaking students.'*

social studies provides many opportunities for students to expand their knowledge of academic language as they engage with the issues in the curriculum.

116

7: THE

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STL

As students gain in understanding of social issues and share their insights with different audiences through producing what we have called identity texts (reports, presentations, stories, poems, drama, art, etc.), their intellectual and cultural confidence increases with positive effects on overall academic engagement. Finally, as we teach social studies, we are simultaneously developing students’ language and literacy skills and, ideally, increasing their potential to become powerful users of language. In addition to drawing students’ attention to the structure of words (e.g., patterns of nominalization in Latin-origin words) and texts (e.g., how writers achieve coherence within texts), we can help them develop a critical language awareness of how language is used for various social purposes (e.g., persuasion, inclusion, discrimination, intimidation, etc.). For example, throughout history in countries around the world, those who have agitated for social change are labelled in very different ways by supporters and opponents (e.g., “freedom fighters” versus “terrorists”). Developing critical literacy among ELLs involves enabling them to develop a disposition or habit of mind to look for and detect the use of value-loaded language that expresses particular points of view or opinions. Opinions are obviously not problematic in themselves as long as they are openly expressed and supported by credible evidence. A major goal in teaching social studies is to enable all students, regardless of their current knowledge of English, to read texts critically and assess the evidence used to support the writer’s perspectives, and also to help students become effective writers who back up their arguments with convincing evidence.

As we teach soc: studies, we are simultaneously developing students’ langua and literacy skil

Social studies provides many opportunities for students to expand their knowledge of academic language as they engage with the issues in the curriculum. The Literacy Engagement framework discussed in Chapter 2 summarizes the kind of instruction required to enable ELLs to engage with social studies issues and texts. First, we need to focus on making the text comprehensible by scaffolding students’ access to the meaning being communicated. We do this primarily by explaining words and expressions, using visual supports to facilitate understanding of key concepts and big ideas, and using collaborative group work where students will discuss ideas and issues. Enabling students to use their home languages to discuss and research issues is also an important aspect of scaffolding, particularly for early-stage learners. It is also essential to connect the issues in the text to students’ own lives and interests. We do this by activating their background knowledge and building this background knowledge when necessary. We can also stimulate students’ curiosity about the deeper themes contained in social studies texts by asking them to discuss issues relevant to human existence, such as “Why is there inequality within and between societies?”, “Why do people move from one society to another?”, “Why do people speak different languages, and why do some languages expand and others die?” and so on.

"

Teaching Vignette 7.1

CHAPTER

Teaching Vignette 7.2

Big Words for Big Minds: Collecting Language Specimens in Social Studies In studying the history of Canada, students will learn that during the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783), about 50 000 British Loyalists and many Black enslaved people came to Canada and fought on the British side against the Americans." The word revolution is particularly productive for students to explore partly because it occurs in both the social studies and science curricula. In studying the solar system, students will learn that planets (including Earth) revolve around the sun. Many ELLs may also have come from countries that have experienced either revolutions (e.g., Eastern European countries after the fall of the Soviet Union) or violent conflict between rival social groups. Thus, the topic is one that students can discuss with their parents in order to explore the deeper roots of social conflict. Exploration of the word revo/ution through the triple lens of Meaning, Form, and Use is outlined below. Students working in groups could be challenged to discover the semantic connection between revolution and words with (on the surface) very different meanings such as revolver, revolting, and volume. You could also play the Beatles’ song “Revolution” and ask students to analyze how the word is used in that context.

High-frequency (Tier 1) words derived from Anglo-Saxon sources are often seen as less challenging than the Greek- and Latin-origin words that predominate in academic discourse. However, these high-frequency words have unique characteristics that

also present challenges for ELLs. One of these challenges is that their meanings are less “fixed” than is typically the case with low-frequency academic words. They are frequently used in figurative or metaphoric ways and often appear in idioms, proverbs, jokes, and puns.

British educator Norah McWilliam® stresses the importance of developing semantic agility among ELLs by repeatedly drawing their attention to words and their meanings so that students develop a disposition to notice how language works. In the example below, students could be encouraged to search for L1 equivalents not

just for the target word (“big”) but also for several of the synonyms. Discussion with parents/grandparents/guardians and the use of online or print dictionary resources could help students pursue this kind of cross-linguistic exploration. In their writing about social studies (or other) topics, students could also be encouraged to use more vivid and expressive words than simply the most common word (e.g., vast rather than big). Word: big (adjective)

Meaning

Meaning

Definition

a single complete turn; the overthrow of a government

L1 Equivalent

grande (in Spanish)

L1 Equivalent

revolucion (in Spanish)

Synonyms

Related Words in L1

revolver (to turn or stir), vue/ta (a turn)

Synonyms

turn, revolt

huge, gigantic, enormous, vast, mammoth, immense, gargantuan, large, massive, great, grand (e.g., “ona grand scale”), extensive, bulky

Meanings of Prefix

re = again, back

Antonyms

small, little, tiny, miniscule, petite, insignificant

Meanings of Root

from Latin vo/vere = to turn or roll

Examples of

Empire State Building, the sun

Word Family

revolutionize (verb), revolve (verb), revolution (noun), revolutionary (adjective)

Grammatical Category

adjective

Comparatives

big, bigger, biggest

Grammatical Category

noun

Grammatical Patterns

revolution, revolutions

Metaphoric Usage

She has a big heart (= she’s generous).

Words With Same Prefix

revise, represent, replace, reuse

Words With Same Root

revolt, revolve, revolutionize, evolve, devolve, involve (verbs) revulsion, evolution, revolver, volume (nouns)

Words With Same Suffix

acceleration, fluctuation, inspiration

General Use

The earth makes one revolution around the sun every year.

VIGNETT

Developing Semantic Agility With the Anglo-Saxon Lexicon

Word: revolution (noun)

revolting, revolutionary, convoluted (adjectives)

7: TEACHING

Big Brother is watching you! She’s gotten too big for her boots. He’s got a big mouth.

°

¥ if

His eyes were bigger than his stomach. . The big issue of the presidential campaign is ... That’s big of you! (sarcastic)

The Industrial Revolution brought great changes to human society.

Advertisement

118

Join the fashion revolution! Buy ...

19

CHAPTER

Using L1 to Explore Different

Perspectives on Current Events and Social Issues

Elementary Students as Transformative Intellectuals: Mobilizing Human Rights

The image below depicts a project carried out by a grade 7 student at Ancaster

In 1988, educational theorist Henry Giroux coined the term “teachers as

Meadow Elementary School in the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board. Students carried out inquiry into a variety of topics related to social justice in global contexts and used their multilingual skills both to research these issues and present their findings. This particular project was displayed as a wall poster during a “Social Justice Day” organized by the school."* In the example below, the student used his Arabic literacy skills to explore perspectives on the 2008 American election campaign expressed in an Arabic-language newspaper. The student is clearly still acquiring academic English as indicated by misspellings (e.g., “biding” = “betting”), but he is able to present a coherent summary and analysis of a very different perspective on the lraq war from that found in most North American newspapers.

7: TEACHING

VIGNETT|

transformative intellectuals” to emphasize that teachers have the intellectual capability and responsibility to challenge structural inequities in schools and act as change agents to transform these inequities.” The intellectual work of elementary school students depicted in this Teaching Vignette demonstrates that they too can act as change agents to promote equity and human rights.

Kleinburg is a quiet, picturesque village nestled on the outskirts of the Greater Toronto Area. Students in Kleinburg Public School (KPS) are much more homogenous in background (largely English-speaking Euro-Canadian) than is typical of their peers just a few kilometres away in urban Toronto. When Hina Kausar-Ahmad, a South Asian Ahmadi Muslim woman, was appointed as a teacher in the school, she brought not only a passion for social justice but also, in her own words, the belief that she has “a responsibility to not only educate the minds but the hearts of my students.” ® Over the course of several months, the students researched issues related to human rights both in Canada and around the world and published a 24-page vibrantly engaging magazine on the topic.

The article | choose was called

biding on Obama to win is 8 lost bidding. ths article was written by an amazing writer who really investigates the

topic his name is Mohammed Hassanen Haike! and this is what his article : about, Most Arabs where wencing Obams to win mcluding me. But

those other people are putting pressure on Obama because they think he could solve all of their war problems like the war in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iscael and Lebanon But he writes that Obama can't really

solve the problem because their is a master plan and this master plan can't

be changed. ged. IfIf you you suil still don'tdon’ get me remember the twin towers even

before they | where bombed there was # master plan to send troops to Iraq

Now Ameticens are going to take some troops out of Iraq ins year and g half bus their is seill going to be troops there controlling the oi! and he writes tha is the master plan nd you can't really change it. So a5

Mohe timed Hassnen Heike! concludes Obsina might be kind

to fit things but there is noehing he could really do

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This book documents the close relationships between language learning and identity, understood as involving multiple facets, a site of struggle, and changing across time and place.

> This book provides a wealth of hands-on instructional suggestions embedded in a clearly written set of theoretical and research-based principles. Cummins, J. and Early, M. (Eds). (2011). /dentity texts: The collaborative creation of power in multilingual schools. Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books. > This book describes the construct of “identity texts,” representing artifacts that students produce, which then hold a mirror up to them in which their identities are reflected in a positive light. This process is particularly significant in affirming the academic and personal identities of students from socially marginalized groups. Freeman, D., & Freeman, Y. (2011). Between worlds: Access to second language acquisition. (3 ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. David and Yvonne Freeman provide a comprehensive and accessible overview of issues related to English language acquisition among ELLs. The book is very teacher-friendly and discusses concrete instructional strategies that address both cognitive and social aspects of L2 learning and teaching.

156

}

Short, D., Himmel, J., Gutierrez, S., & Hudec, J. (2012). Using the SIOP Model: Professional development for sheltered instruction. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics. > Deborah Short and colleagues describe the Sheltered Instruction Observational Protocol (SIOP) model for integrating content and language instruction and illustrate how it can be used in the development of school-based language policies.

A Sampling of Provincial Sites Focusing on

.°,,

English Language Learners Newfoundland and Labrador

http://www.ed.gov.nl.ca/edu/k12/curriculum/quides/asl/ > Links to guidelines, curriculum, and a valuable set of professional development resources.

15

Nova Scotia

https://novascotiaimmigration.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Newcomers-Guide.pdf > A comprehensive guide for immigrant families to assist in understanding the Nova Scotia school system. Prince Edward Island

http://www.gov.pe.ca/photos/sites/eal/file/our_welcoming_schools.pdf

Sources The publisher gratefully acknowledges the following for permission to reprint copyrighted material in this book.

> A practical guide with useful resources for teaching ELLs.

ESL Benchmarks Writing Grades 10-12 Discourse chart from Learn Alberta. © 2003-2012 Alberta Education. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

Quebec

The goal of instruction? PowerPoint slide. Lily Wong Fillmore. Reprinted with permission.

http://www1.mels.gouv.ac.ca/sections/programmeFormation/secondaire2/medias/5-pfeq__ engseclangmerged.pdf

Images of language survey. Permission courtesy of Tobin Zikmanis.

This framework for teaching Core and Enriched ESL at the secondary level (to the “mainstream” Quebec school population) is rooted in the three aims of the Programme de

Images of student math activity sheets. Patricia Chow. Reprinted with permission.

formation de I’école québécoise (PFEQ): to help students construct their identity, construct their world view, and become empowered. Well worth reading!

Anti-Bullying Poster. Reprinted with permission from Lau, M. C. (2010). Practising critical literacy with English language learners: An integrative approach. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Toronto. (Dissertation Abstracts International, 72/07, 348).

Ontario

Images and text excerpt from KPS Says Something. Permission courtesy of Hina Kausar-Ahmad.

http://www.edugains.ca/newsite/ell2/supportingenglishlanguagelearners.htm! > A wonderful array of video and print resources to support the teaching of ELLs. Manitoba

http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/cur/eal/ > This site focuses on English as an additional language (EAL) but also provides links to valuable resources including “Belonging, Learning & Growing: Diversity Education” and “Life After War: Education as a Healing Process for Refugee and War-Affected Children.”

Image of Canada’s Food Guide - Internationalized by Robin Persad’s Grade 4 ELL Class. Permission courtesy of Robin Persad. The New Country, Little Bear’s First Adventure, the Transitional ESL Literary Essay (mandala), and the Water Quality Report on Drinking Water examples are from research projects funded by the Canadian Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), jointly referred to as the Multiliteracies Project (see http://multiliteracies.ca).

Additional Photo Sources Cover: [origami cranes-blinkblink; texture-David S. Rose] Shutterstock.com; 4: geometric

Saskatchewan

http://www.education.gov.sk.ca/EAL > This EAL portal provides access to various resources to support use of the Common Framework of Reference for ELL assessment.

sidebar pattern-mw2st/Shutterstock.com; 6: kids-Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.com; 7: marker stroke-art_of_sun/Shutterstock.com; 10: [origami birds-blinkblink; texture-David S. Rose] Shutterstock.com; 59: boy-Thomas M Perkins/Shutterstock.com; 63: girl-qingging/ Shutterstock.com; 101: origami ball and birds-blinkblink/Shutterstock.com All other images courtesy of the authors.

Alberta

http://education.alberta.ca/teachers/program/esl.aspx > This site provides links to various Alberta Learning resources for ELLs, including the Schooling,” an extremely useful resource produced by the Calgary Board of Education.

ge

“Alberta ESL Proficiency Benchmarks” and “Teaching Refugees with Limited Formal

British Columbia

http://ellpsa.ca/?page_id=124 > The Resources page of the BC ELL Provincial Specialist Association provides links to a variety of government and school board publications designed to assist teachers working with ELLs, including a guide for teachers and schools working with students from refugee backgrounds.

15

Index A academic achievement, 25, 126, 137, 143 academic content, 7, 9, 15, 33, 85, 126, 138, 140 academic

G Gandara, Patricia, 25 Geva, Esther, 22 68, 70, 79, 99, 106, 108 H higher-order thinking, 20, 102, 113, 131, 133 home

(student), 6, 9, 16-17, 22-26,

30, 64, 73, 114, 121, 133-134, background knowledge, 7, 15, 30-31, 38, 69, 71-73, 80, 95, 135, 138 Battiste, Marie, 29 Beck, Isabel, 50, 86 Bielenberg, Brian, 66-67 bilingualism, 9, 17, 20, 80, 123, 140-142 biliteracy, 17, 125, 127, 131 Blueprint for English (ELLs)

136, 138-140 17, 26-27, 97, 116,

Language

125-128, 131,

Learners

Success, 126-129

Bowers, Peter, 75 Cc Coelho, Elizabeth, 127, 140-141 cognition 14-16, 20, 22, 27, 33, 38, 52, 61, 68, 73, 78, 81, 86, 88-89, 92, 95, 102, 105, 111, 125, 133, 136-138 collaboration, 7, 15, 17, 27, 36, 58, 72, 81-82, 85, 102, 114, 116, 123, 125-126, 130, 132-133, 138-140, 142 Comber, Barbara, 112 Common Core State Standards, 51, 54, 125-126 conversational

language, 13-14, 22, 55

Corson, David, 49 Coxhead, Averil, 49-50

language

(L1), 9, 13, 15, 17, 20,

22-25, 27, 31, 38, 59-60, 64, 71, 76-79, 83, 95, 97, 100-101, 116, 18-120, 123, 127-129, 134-135, 138-142

B background

Naqvi, Rahat, 142

I identity negotiation,

29, 126, 128

identity text, 18, 72, 117 immigration, 6, 14, 22-25, 102, 114, 123, 138 information report, 34, 36, 49-50, 62, 97, 108-109, 123 inquiry, 15, 33, 47, 58, 86, 89, 93, 95, 97, 102, 104, 107-108, 120, 130, 132-133, 137-138, 140 instructional strategy, 7-9, 16, 27, 29, 33-34, 54, 58, 75, 77, 86, 125, 139 integration, 7, 11, 17, 27, 32-34, 36, 38, 40, 72-73, 82, 89, 102, 111, 113, 126, 129-130, 135 interlingual strategies, 141 J

Paul, 49-50

Pp persuasive writing, 52, 54-55, poverty, 25-26, 28, 102, 111

power, 8, 20, 25, 28-29, 31, 37, 59, 62, 67, 73, 87-88, 97, 104, 111-112, 117, 123, 125, 129-130, 132, 137-138, 141, 143 print access, 28, 30-31, 134 proficiency, 9, 12-15, 33, 61, 74, 78, 138-141

Ss scaffolding, 6, 16-17, 20, 26-27, 30-31, 54, 68-70, 85, 89, 92, 95, 116, 123, 125-126, 128 science, 8, 11, 16, 35-36, 41-42, 44, 56,

58, 60, 62, 67, 84-102, 109-111, 116, 118, 126-127 Sirotnik, Kenneth, 130 socialization, 44, 58, 69, 94, 110 social studies, 8, 11, 17, 35, 60, 67, 72-73, 80, 82, 102~123 status (SES), 23, 25-26,

Steps to English Proficiency (STEP), 129,

K

139-140 stereotype threat, 15, 26, 29

Kirby, John, 75 Knowledge

Framework,

36, 38, 41, 45, 52,

68-70, 89, 95, 104-105, 109

Supporting English Language

Swain, Merrill, 14

L Ladson-Billings, language

r

Gloria, 29

across the curriculum, 11, 26,

67, 75, 87, 95, 98, 102 language

competence,

terminology, 58, 68

language objective, 16, 27, 34-36, 85,

126-127, 129, 140 language

“teaching through

9, 97-99, 109

tiers of vocabulary,

discrimination, 15, 25-26, 29, 114, 117

literacy engagement,

Vv

26, 28, 30-3),

Vasquez,

Framework,

30, 51,

58, 69, 95, 116, 128, 132 Lucas, Tamara, 13, 15-16 disadvantage,

explanatory

discourse, 93-94

25-26,

28

M marginalization,

F Fillmore, Lily Wong, Frayer Model, French

U

50-51, 58-59, 133-134 Literacy Engagement

educational

61, 66-67, 104

60, 98

instruction, 141

9, 25-26,

29-30, 127

mathematics, 8, 11, 34, 60, 65-83, 87, 89, 95, 126-127 McTighe,

50

policy, 7-8, 31, 129-131, 140, underachievement,

E

lens,”

text structure 54-55, 58, 66-67, 86, 89, 100

142-143 Lau, Sunny Man Chu, 113-114, 116 linguistic diversity, 126, 137, 140

140-143

a multilingual

7-9, 15, 127, 140, 143 technology, 37, 70, 105-107, 134, 137-138

language arts, 8, 41-42, 44, 46-64,

texts, 52, 97, 127-128, 133,

Learners

with Limited Prior Schooling, 128

D Deaf students, 9 dual language

57

portfolios, 37, 97, 139

28-31

30, 33-34, 88, 125

cross-lingual transfer, 15 culture, 7, 15, 23, 26-27, 29, 31, 37, 42, 44, 73, 80, 105-107, 112, 115-117, 126-128, 132-133, 135-136, 139-140, 142

Nation,

newcomer, 13, 123, 128, 139-142 nominalization, 76, 87-89, 94, 100, 104, 109, 117

socio-economic

“juicy sentence” strategy, 61, 104

critical literacy, 111, 113-114, 117

j

narrative writing, 52

graphic organizer, 27, 37-38, 40, 42, 45,

language, 8, 11-14, 16, 26-28,

30-31, 33-34, 36, 38, 40, 55, 58, 67-68, 70, 76, 85, 92, 94-95, 98, 104, 108, 116, 125, 138 Academic Word List (AWL), 49-50 assessment, 22-23, 66, 81, 85, 97-98, 113, 129, 132-133, 138-140

N

Jay, 33

Vivian, 113

visuals, 14, 18, 27, 34, 37-38, 40-42, 44-45, 47, 52, 54, 63, 67-68, 70, 89, 92, 95, 99, 101, 107-108, 111, 115-116, 135 vocabulary, 12, 14, 16-17, 22, 34-36, 44, 47-52, 55, 58-61, 66-68, 71, 75-76, 81, 83, 86-87, 92, 94, 99, 104, 107, 109, 114, 126 Ww

Mohan, Bernard, 36, 38, 68, 104, 109 Moschkovich, Judit, 68 motivation, 31, 59, 70, 73, 75, 85, 102, 125, 141 multilingualism,

25, 29-30, 130

7, 78, 80, 97, 120, 123,

127-128, 134-135, 137, 139-141, 143

Wiggins, word 118

Grant, 7, 33

families, 49-50,

75-77, 87, 100-101,