Task 2: What are the language demands of your content area? (Essential Question B)
Academic language, broadly defined, includes the language students need to meaningfully engage with academic content within the academic context. This should not be interpreted to suggest that separate word lists and/or definitions of content-related language should be developed for each academic subject. Rather, academic language includes the words, grammatical structures, and discourse markers needed in, for example, describing, sequencing, summarizing, and evaluating — these are language demands (skills, knowledge) that facilitate student access to and engagement with grade-level academic content. These academic language demands are different from cognitive demands (e.g., per Bloom’s taxonomy). Although there may not be just one accepted definition of academic language, there are a good number of resources available that address the issue of academic language and may be considered in the development of state ELP standards and assessments. For example: Aguirre-Munoz, Parks, Benner, Amabisca, & Boscardin, 2006; Bailey, 2007; Bailey, Butler, & Sato, 2007; Butler, Bailey, Stevens, Huang, & Lord, 2004; Chamot & O’Malley, 1994; Cummins, 1980; Cummins, 2005; Halliday, 1994; Sato, 2007; Scarcella & Zimmerman, 1998; Schleppegrell, 2001.
Pre-Posting –
Part A - Watch the video/PPT on Content Objectives and Language Objectives (See below). Think about the work we have completed already (What does it mean to read? Who are we as readers? Who are adolescent readers? What does research tell us about learning from texts) how does this build the foundation of rethinking how we plan for instruction in our content areas.
Now. . . Think about what it means to be literate in your specific discipline (e.g., what does it mean to read, write, speak and listen within your discipline).
Pre-Posting-
Part B - Conduct an internet search and see if you can find any sites/information on what it means to be literate in your specific discipline.
Initial Posting – After viewing the ppt. on content objectives versus language objectives I invite each member within your small discussion group to share their specific discipline and what it means to be literate within that discipline (e.g., What does it mean to be mathematically literate?). Think about the types of texts (oral and written) you need to read and comprehend. Think about the tasks that you are asked to do within your discipline and how is language used to support and complete these tasks. Post your interpretation of what it means to be literate within your discipline include any information you located in your web search (don’t forget to cite your sources or provide links for others to view).
Fri. November 8, Initial posting
Response Postings – Everyone should respond at least once to each group member with a question, clarification, or addition to the thoughts on their specific information. You might consider other information, questions you still have as a future teacher, etc.
Response Postings:
By Sunday, November 10: 11:59 PM. Response postings
Bunch, G. C., Kibler, A., & Pimentel, S. (2012). Realizing Opportunities for English Learners in the Common Core English Language Arts and Disciplinary Literacy Standards. Retrieved from Understanding Language: Language, Literacy, and Learning in the Content Areas website: ell.stanford.edu/papers
ReplyDeleteI found very useful information to help me understand literacy development for ELLs in this article (as cited above). Stanford University has released six principles for ELL instruction considering of the Common Core Standards across disciplines.
Bunch, Kibler, & Pimentel (2012) indicate that it is not uncommon for a language learner read through everything in a text and can read every word correctly, but still have no clue what the text is talking about. Due to this fact, knowing about grammar structures, such as conjunction words/phrases, is necessary for ELLs. Then, the ELLs will know the connection between or within paragraphs. Consequently, their literacy is developing because they can pick up the most important information and grasp the meanings by skimming a text.
Literacy level in both English and student’s first language should also be addressed for ESL learners. I have learned that first language literacy development has influence on second language acquisition. As Bunch, Kibler, & Pimentel (2012) also suggest, we can provide some lexical density piece of text but with simpler grammatical structures for ELL students. In addition, if possible, we can prepare a new type of genre with challenging grammar structure in student’s native language (p. 4). Also, it is necessary to build up a connection between ELL’s native language and English to trigger meaningful and critical language learning outcomes.
For ESL students, they must face different literacy practices across various disciplines. They may be good at one subject but not at others. In addition to ELL’s first language literacy, their cultural perspectives and personal or educational background should also be considered. Additionally, as we have learned about reader identity, this is a significant aspect affects ELL’s literacy development. For example, an ELL who is from a refugee camp may be good at social study, especially of topics related with war. They may have good understandings and insights of those texts. However, they may encounter difficulties in science texts because they have no background knowledge of that in their previous lives. Thus, literacy development for ELLs also means to adjust to a new culture by using new kinds of language (e.g., scientific language) that they never knew before. To help the ELLs develop such disciplinary literacy, Bunch, Kibler, & Pimentel (2012) advocate students to collaborate in groups using their home languages on tasks to be completed in English, such as with science or math problems (p. 7).
In my understanding, to develop disciplinary literacy, ESL students need more instructions and practices on language use in both social and various academic settings. In other words, besides learning subjects and relevant language in their content classrooms, ESL students also need extra efforts to embed those gained literacy abilities within their overall second language acquisition process, as well as their adjustment to the new culture.
So what do you think you can do to cover all aspects of ESL students in your classroom?
DeleteMegan,
DeleteThis is definitely a question that I will spend my career time to discover about. In my knowledge and experience so far, I notice that science and math play important roles in an ESL classroom. In some elementary ESL classrooms, teachers re-teach or pre-teach a science text in a simplified version to the students. The technical vocabularies are addressed and practiced throughout the whole unit.
Also, in study halls, students will bring their homework assignment on math or science, or sometimes on social studes. Then, I can know what their content classroom's progress is, what specific help they need- either language help or content knowledge clarification. Also, if possible, I can ask a paraprofessional, an assistant, a volunteer, or myself to go to their science, math or other classes with them. We can take notes and communicate with the content teacher about the ESL student's performance, as well as gaining information of the upcoming learning schedule (e.g., test, project).
In addition, the WIDA standards for ESL learning covers all major disciplinary language requirements, which require me to look into common core standards of other subjects to embed specific disciplinary literacy into langauge learning. Thanks for pointing it out, it really helps me think!
Yimu
Hey guys,
ReplyDeleteI teach art and that involves Visual Literacy. When using this in my classroom, we have all the elements and principles to talk about as well as reflecting on their art work or others. The hardest part to visual literacy is, artwork most of the times is about explaining things that words can not. So how can we talk about an artwork that is beyond words. How do we push our students to try to explain what they are looking at. Most of the times we talk about how this makes us feel as a way of explain the work.
I looked into the really great power point for elementary teachers on how to teach visual literacy and the arts.
http://www.slideshare.net/kfurlong/visualliteracyandthearts
It went into details about ways to brake it down for the students and things we needed to remember when teaching visual literacy, such as, "We are constantly surrounded by images. Students become visually literate by practice of Visual encoding and decoding"
We need to remember that the student we teach have been growing up in a vary visual culture. They see images every where and they are able to decode images and means even faster then we are.
The biggest things us arts teachers need to remember is to have our students
"1. Express their thoughts and ideas in a visual form
2. Translate and understand the meaning of visual imagery"
Not only do we need to let our students create, we also need to let them find the meaning behind the work and bring that to the page.
Teaching visual arts requires different aspects of literacy. The points you give as an art teacher can be applicable in many different classroom settings. How have you incorporated the two things you listed into art lessons you've been teaching? I agree that if art can help students explain their feelings. That is one of the values in art therapy.
DeleteI great way of covering both of them are with journals. Have them draw how they feel that day, then write a sentence about your drawing or their feelings.
DeleteIf we are looking at someones work we can have them right down "stories" about the artwork. Start to generate ideas around the artwork, what they know, think and feel.
Megan,
DeleteIt is eye-opening to hear about visual literacy and you demonstrate it well as an art teacher! I like and agree what you said:"Not only do we need to let our students create, we also need to let them find the meaning behind the work and bring that to the page." It is significant because no matter in what subject area, students need to integrate their own understanding of the world into the new knowlege they are learning at school.
I agree with Audrey that visual literacy point you have made could be applied to other classrooms as well. I think I would like to adapt your "journal" idea and visual litearcy with ESL students. I could ask them to draw a picture of their thoughts. Sometimes they may not know how to express themselves in English language, so drawing their thoughts out would be an effective way to share and communicate. I will help them to make up a sentence or pick up an appropriate word to express their drawing.
Thanks for the idea:)
Yimu
I see your problem about art being about how it makes you feel and each art piece is open for interpretation. Maybe as an art teacher the students can try to predict the meaning behind each other's art creations. It might open some eyes to how artists express themselves. I know that I was very much in the dark until my early 20's about interpreting art forms and now I sometimes can't get enough. Art is a very addicting culture that can really consume you.
DeleteTask 1:
ReplyDeleteMy specific discipline is Earth Science; this includes geology, astronomy, and geospatial information systems (GIS). “Earth Science Literacy is an understanding of Earth’s influence on you and of your influence on Earth.” 1.
To be literate in Earth science means you have the proper vocabulary to describe the fundamental concepts of the Earth’s systems, you know how to assess scientifically credible information, and you can make responsible decisions regarding the Earth’s systems.
The text can be in hard cover book, Internet, videos from Discovery Channel, History Channel, NOVA, or National Geographic etc.
In Earth science we are asked to complete labs, create projects, compile data, interpret data, etc. In order to complete these tasks, a complete understanding of the vocabulary terms is critical to the student and teacher.
One pitfall I have found is that the lay terminology used in every day common language is not scientifically accurate. Science terminology is very precise and specific in definition. This lax use of earth science terms leads to misunderstandings.
The source I found on the Internet is http://www.earthscienceliteracy.org/es_literacy_22may09.pdf
This PDF is a great overview of the National Initiative that supports education in Earth science. Earth Science Literacy Organization can be found at this link. http://www.earthscienceliteracy.org./
Kathleen,
DeleteI interviewed a science teacher for our assignment in KSP 607. The pitfall you listed is exactly what she said about science terminology and how to apply it to students with learning disabilities. You have the opportunity to do many activities with students and having science literacy is very important. As a substitute teacher I was glad when there were options for me to use like videos for lesson teaching. I found that the lexical density of the textbooks was overwhelming for me as the substitute.
I could image stepping into another persons class and not knowing the terminology. Now when I was making lesson plans, I tried to keep this in mind so I would but the definition right after the word. Are we still allowed to do this?
DeleteKathleen,
DeleteWhen I am doing my field experience in Dakota Medow this semester, my cooperative teacher would send me to go to science class once a while. The students have been learning topographic maps. When the first time I went there, I had no idea about the vocaublaries/terminologies. I understand the content but all I learned was in Chinese language. It took me a while to look up each terminology and match them up with my prior knowledge. However, I know that those terminologies are the core of scientific subjects. Like you mentioned about the labs, project creation, and data collection and interpretation in Earth Science, teachers can drill student's with the terminologies and instills the terms become part of their school lives.
My specific discipline is ESL and the sites I found for literacy in my discipline are:
ReplyDelete• www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources
• http://mnliteracy.org/educators
I have used both of these sites in the past when I’ve been looking for literacy ideas for adult ESL students. The MN Literacy program has excellent suggestions for ESL learners of all ages and I’ve attended workshops put on by this organization.
To be literate in ESL involves many factors and I find it difficult to define in a few words. The first question that comes to mind, “Is the student literate in their first language?” This would include reading and writing in the first language. The text gave examples of students being able to complete a graph, lab report, or narrative. For many of the adult students I have in class they would not be able to complete these tasks in their native language. The students would be considered novice in the first language and others would have some experience in their native language.
I have been studying literacy and theories for the ESL learner this semester in another class, so the two classes really fit together. The strategies that can be used in the ESL classroom to help students with English literacy are:
• The bottom-up reading process model
• The top-down reading process model
• The interactive reading process model
I prefer to use the interactive reading process since I have various ability level students in my classroom. As adult learners they come with various educational backgrounds and literacy abilities in their L1. Using the third model allows the students to use their previous learning experience in the L2 reading process. My goal is to maximize the learning experience for each student and the model used may differ depending on the age of the students. For younger students the bottom-up method may be more useful since they don’t have as much stored L1 knowledge. Literacy instruction will affect how the student learns to read.
Great ideas, you have clearly done your research! What is nice is the ability to try out these techniques right away so you can truly see what works and what you need to work on. How do you incorporate your students first language into your classroom?
DeleteMegan,
DeleteI allow students to write the English word in the notebook and then they can write the first language word beside it. This really helps them understand the English word. Also available are multi-language dictionaries and Google translate on Ipad. Students are allowed to use their first language to help another student understand the English word. Some words just don't translate well and students can help each other in this way.
Audrey
Audrey,
DeleteYou make a good point that reading strategies should be applied according to student's ages. Children and adults are learning differently. As Megan mentioned in her previous post that children are able to decode images and means even faster then us adults are. Also, due to the fact of their cognitive as well as first language literacy development, bottom-up method starting with vocabulary and assiciated pictures will be effective for young ESL learners.
Yimu
It must be challenging at times when you have students with such a range in ability and age. I think it is great that you are able to incorporate technology effectively to help with translation to the first language. Is the computer able to translate foreign language to english from recording a voice? I think that technology has made it possible to acquire another language relatively painlessly compared to just 25 years ago. Would you agree?
DeleteAndrew,
DeleteI am not familiar with a site or software that translates a foreign language to English. One of the problems with google translate is that all words translate to the correct tense or meaning. Recently a student found that many tenses or plurals were not correct in the translation. Also there is limited access to translation technology for dialects from various countries. I have various students in class from Guatemala and they do not all speak the same Spanish, but a dialect from the area they come from. So translation can be difficult and requires someone that also knows Spanish to help find words that apply.
Audrey
Literacy within science becomes essential to function as a scientist. Science is based on the ability to communicate with other researchers and share knowledge effectively. People envision scientists in lab coats performing experiments, when in reality the majority of their time is spent reading or researching scientific journals and communicating experimental findings through writing. This is why I feel that it is so important to teach science literacy in the classroom. These are two sites that I felt could be really helpful for science teachers in pursuit of increasing the literacy of among students.
ReplyDeleteIntegrating Literacy Strategies into the Science Instruction Program
Terri Sessoms
http://www.carolinacurriculum.com/leadership/downloads/2012/Integrating+Literacy.pdf
Teaching Science Literacy
Maria Grant and Diane Lapp
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar11/vol68/num06/Teaching-Science-Literacy.aspx
Our society has become a complex world to navigate and we are constantly bombarded with science terminology in the media, purchases we make, and politics. Even if we have no interest in working in the science field, we need to be science literate in order to be informed citizens.
Andrew,
DeleteI like your comment that "Even if we have no interest in working in the science field, we need to be science literate in order to be informed citizens. " This is exatly we should let our students know. Some students may feel overwhelmed by the huge load of terminologies, and then they may be easily to give up in reading thoes texts because they believe that they are never going to be scientists. We should make them understand the meaning of education and why it is significant in this changing world.
Yimu
Good points in this discussion. The terminology can be useful in many more areas then in science.
DeleteAudrey