1. Scaffolding as Structure and as Process in the Development of Oracy with English Learners Aída Walqui Director, Teacher Professional Development Program WestEd The CULI 6th International Conference 2006 November 28, Bangkok, Thailand

2. During this presentation
I will briefly address:
How ESL work is different than EFL work
The theoretical basis of my work
The process of apprenticeship in teacher professional development
I will expand a bit more on:
Scaffolding as structure and as process
An instantiation of these two aspects in the apprenticeship of a teacher

3. A sociolinguistic look at L2s: Foreign Lg. Second Lg.
Student does not need L2 to interact in country of residence
Standards for proficiency are quite tolerant
The L1 of the student is valued and unquestioned
The FL does not displace the L1
Leads to “elite” (Fishman) or “elective” (Valdés) bilingualism
The language is required for effective civil participation
Standards for proficiency are very demanding
Value of students’ L1 is not appreciated by many
Over time L1 is displaced by L2 with severe consequences
Leads to “folk” or “circumstantial” bilingualism

4. Teaching English as a Second Language in the United States
An activity directed at minorities
Stigmatized
Increasing Educational Gaps in the system between majority and minority students
Three demographic facts to illustrate the point…

5. Demographic changes: Population of ELs by state, 2003-2004

6. More adolescent ELs are native than foreign born
The big surprise:
More adolescent ELs are native than foreign born

7. Average scores of 8th graders in reading
by English language proficiency and state: 2003

8. Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL) is based on Sociocultural Theory
Development follows learning (therefore, instruction precedes development)
Participation in activity is central in the development of knowledge
Participation in activity progresses from apprenticeship to appropriation, from the social to the individual plane
Learning can be observed as changes in participation over time

9. Quality Teaching with ELLs
Is premised on apprenticeship notions of schooling. This means that students:
Are perceived and treated as capable, legitimate participants
Engage in rich, intellectually demanding interactions that have been deliberately crafted
Engage in high challenge, high support tasks that provide them with multiple points of entry to the academic community
Takeover responsibilities that are handed over to them

10. Teachers going through QTEL professional development also learn by participating in activity

11. During professional development, teachers work through tasks
During professional development, teachers work through tasks. This enables them to understand the language and pedagogy necessary to implement tasks, and builds the base for pedagogical reflection

12. Other activities in QTEL’s teacher professional development portfolio
Coaching
Collaborative Lesson Planning
Video Clubs (adaptation of Lesson Study)
Intervisitations
Professional Conferences

13. Domains of Teacher Expertise QTEL Professional Development Addresses

14. CONTEXT Vision (beliefs) of teaching of students Reflection Knowledge
Motivation
reasons
incentives
emotions
Knowledge
subject matter (ELD)
pedagogical
pedagogical subject matter
students
self
Reflection
1. anticipatory
2. active/interactive
3. recollective
mindfulness
Practice
enactment of learning
contingent scaffolding
ongoing assessment
Walqui, 1997, adapted from Shulman, 1995

15. Teacher expertise
ESL teachers: Specialists in taking students from zero level of proficiency in English to a “threshold level” of understanding and performance in the language
Disciplinary teachers: Take students from that threshold level and teach them at the same time the concepts and relationships studied by the discipline and the language needed to express, discuss, and create within that field

16. The emphasis of scaffolding (from the students’ point of view)
Is on students’ learning potential
Is not on students’ current abilities
Consequently, we raise the expectations about what is possible: Vygotsky’s notion of prolepsis

17. Scaffolding takes place within four types of relationships that need to be well constructed in classrooms

18. An Expanded ZPD SELF REGULATION Resourcefulness, Self-access
Inner Resources: knowledge, experience, memory investment
Assistance from more capable peers or adults
Resourcefulness, Self-access
Scaffolding: Modeling…
REGULATION
SELF
Interaction with less capable peers
Interaction with equal peers
“If one member of a dyad undergoes developmental change, the other is also likely to do so”
(Bronfenbrenner 1979:65)
“Docendo discimus” (We learn by teaching)
van Lier, 2004

19. Scaffolding: How does the teacher make it happen?
Is a dynamic and situated act that is responsive to a particular set of circumstances in a particular classroom context. It manifests itself:
when teachers plan what to do in a classroom with specific students to ripen their potential (anticipatory reflection)
when they act contingently in a class to support the development of new skills or understandings (scaffolding as process)

20. Two Elements of Scaffolding:
Conventionalized, ritual structure (constant and flexible): teachers scaffold as they prepare tasks for their students, know what they are good for, decide when they are appropriate, how they connect to each other
An interactional process, jointly constructed from moment to moment: teachers scaffold as they support students’ interactions
The process is enabled by the scaffolding structure, and a constant evaluation of the process indicates when parts of the scaffolding structure can be dismantled or shifted elsewhere

21. Principles of Quality Teaching with Second Language Learners
Sustain Academic Rigor in teaching English Learners
Hold High Expectations in teaching English Learners
Engage in Quality Interactions with English Learners
Sustain a Language Focus in teaching English Learners
Develop Quality Curricula in teaching English Learners

22. The Development of Academic Uses of English
Different disciplines use the same language differently for specific purposes
Academic uses of language, therefore, need to be taught within the disciplines, by subject matter teachers
Within disciplinary language we use the concept of genre

23. Genre
Staged, goal-oriented, purposeful communicative events that a community of practitioners share.
Purpose
Structure
Preferred linguistic instantiations (taking situation into account)

24. Oral Development Jigsaw: From Description to Narrative
BASE GROUP A B C D A B C D A B C D A B C D
EXPERT GROUP A A A A B B B B C C C C D D D D
BASE GROUP A B C D A B C D A B C D A B C D

25. Teacher scaffolds the process: Guidelines for the apprenticeship of the genre: description
Discusssion of purpose: why do people describe scenes to others?
Structure:
Where does the scene take place?
Who is the central character(s) in the picture?
What does this person look like (approximate age, sex, height, face, hair, clothes)?
What is this person doing?
Any other relevant information?

26. Preferred language: Teacher offers models of language that students may use:
This scene takes place in …
My picture shows …
The picture I have shows a …
The central character in my picture is
In my picture you can see a …

27. Oral Development Jigsaw
BASE GROUP A B C D A B C D A B C D A B C D
EXPERT GROUP
Genre: Description A A A A B B B B C C C C D D D D

32. Apprenticing a Second Genre: Narratives… Short Stories
Discussion of purpose: Why do people tell stories?
Structure:
Setting, title
There is a central character (and other character/s)
Something happens to the character
Resolution
The event transforms the character

33. Oral Development Jigsaw
BASE GROUP A B C D A B C D A B C D A B C D
EXPERT GROUP A A A A B B B B C C C C D D D D
Description
From Description To Narrative
BASE GROUP A B C D A B C D A B C D A B C D

34. What would we see in a QTEL class?
Students apprenticing disciplinary English from the teacher and from each other
Students getting multiple opportunities to use the language in deliberate, purposeful ways
Students gradually appropriating language that initially they did not have

35. The Apprenticeship of One Teacher
Teacher: Roza Ng
School: MS 131, Chinatown, New York City
Students: Range of recent arrivals in the U.S. between three years and three months
Issue that moved Roza to participate in QTEL professional development: traditional, teacher-fronted class

36. Change is possible, but it requires
Systematic work
Long, sustained, coherent teacher professional development
Building communities of teachers who are supportive of each other in the same way that they need to be supportive of their students
Visions of the possible guiding the work