Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach

Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA). The Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA) is an instructional model that was developed to meet the academic needs of students learning English as a second language in American schools. Based largely on findings of studies on cognition, the model integrates academic language development, content area instruction and explicit instruction in learning strategies for both content and language acquisition.

Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA). Model for an instructional program for ELL students at intermediate level. Designed to assist ELL students by providing English instruction through the mainstream curriculum.

CALLA is design to: Meet the academic language development needs in English. Provide a program of content-based instruction. Bridge between ESL or bilingual education and mainstream education. Develop a curricular and instructional approach for ELL students based on a cognitive model of learning.

CALLA Activities to develop Academic Language Develop academic and technical vocabulary. Practice in listening. Oral language development through hands-on activities. Practice academic speaking skills.

CALLA Activities to develop Academic Language (cont.) Develop reading comprehension skills. Practice writing. Practice language functions. Develop thinking.

Learning Strategies Metacognitive: thinking about the learning process, planning, monitoring, and evaluating. Cognitive: interacting with the material to be learned, manipulating or applying. Social and affective: interacting with other person to assist learning.

Metacognitive Strategies Advance Organization. Selective Attention. Organizational Planning. Self-monitoring. Self-evaluation. Self-management.

Cognitive Strategies Resourcing. Grouping. Note-taking. Summarizing. Deduction Imagery Auditory Representation. Elaboration Transfer Inferencing

Social and Affective Strategies Questioning for clarification. Cooperation. Self-task.

How to Teach Content?

Activities Content should be taught as experiences rather than merely as facts. Instead of being drilled on content vocabulary and facts, students should be provided with opportunities to understand new information and practice new skills within meaningful contexts, and then to apply the information and skills to their own experiences. Cooperative learning and other types of hands-on group activities are particularly effective in providing experiential learning opportunities.

Prior Knowledge The link between what students already know and what they are to learn should be made explicit so that students understand that they are building on knowledge frameworks acquired through prior schooling and life experiences, even if these were acquired through another language and a different cultural context. Teachers can help students activate their prior knowledge through brainstorming discussions about the lesson topic, semantic mapping or other graphic organizers, or a coopera­tive activity in which they have to draw on their prior knowledge.

Technical Vocabulary Technical vocabulary is important because in many cases a word represents an important concept or relationship. When presenting and explaining new information teachers should use appropriate technical vocabulary, providing paraphrases, definitions, and examples to clarify meaning

Learning styles Students learn in different ways. Some students learn best by seeing the information visually, whether as a written text, pictures, or diagrams. Other students learn best by listening to the teacher or to other students. Many students learn best through concrete experiences, such as manipulating objects or equipment, building models, or representing information through art drama. The teacher should make use of visual, auditor, and kinesthetic means of presenting new content and whenever possible, these different types of input should be combined so that students have multisensory experiences with the new content

Overviews Overviews provide students with a general understanding of major points that they will be studying and how these points are interrelated. However, do not present large chunks of information at a time. Intersperse practice activities with the presentation of information so that students have an opportunity to use and think about the new information. For example: students can work in groups to answer questions} write summaries, or make diagrams about the new information after each presentation of new content. This allows them to select and organize major concepts to be remembered

Questioning Model higher-order thinking skills. Teachers can show students how to ask and answer higher-level questions about the content being studied. Higher-level questions ask students to speculate, predict, synthesize, and make judgments about the content material they are learning, rather than merely recall facts. These types of questions require students to use their prior knowledge and under­standing of what is being studied in the unit to express their thoughts and insights about important issues and problems. Teachers not only ask higher-level questions, but also model higher-order thinking, thus making their own thinking visible.

Teacher Monitoring Constantly monitor students' comprehension of the content. The teacher can monitor comprehension with oral and written questions, exercises, checklists, observation scales, and performance measures.

Student Monitoring Teach students to monitor their own comprehension. When students monitor their comprehension, they know when they are not understanding and can ask questions to resolve their comprehension difficulties. In monitoring their own learning, stu­dents should compare new information with their prior knowledge and correct any misconceptions they may have had at the beginning of the lesson or unit. Students should set learning goals and monitor whether or not their efforts at learning are successful.

Student Monitoring Various techniques can be used to help students restructure their knowl­edge in this way. An example of a knowledge-restructuring technique is K-W-L. In this technique, students first list what they already know and what they want to find out about a topic. After completing their study of the topic, students document what they have learned, which provides them with an opportunity to compare their new knowledge with their prior understanding.

Graphic Organizers Graphic organizers, or schematic representations of information, can help students understand and remember content information. Types of graphic organizers are semantic webs, spider maps, Venn diagrams, timelines, T-Lists, flow charts, story maps, and charts of various kinds. Graphic organizers can be used by students to record their prior knowledge about a topic and later add to or revise that knowledge as they encounter new information.

Graphic Organizers When students are listening or reading for information, they can write down the main ideas on a graphic organizer. When completed, the graphic orga­nizer becomes an integrated summary of the content presented in the lesson or unit, and can then be used as a study guide. Graphic organizers can also be used by students to reflect on and evaluate what they have learned. Similarly, graphic organizers can be used to organize ideas and information that are to be written about or presented orally.

Resources Give students access to a variety of content resources in your classroom. Grade­level textbooks, library books, articles, pictures, software, and realia can be used as reference tools by students as they work on projects and reports. Students should be shown how to locate specific information in such resource materials even if their ability to comprehend the entire text is limited. Using resource materials helps students develop and extend their knowledge.