ACADEMIC LANGUAGE VS. SOCIAL LANGUAGE: A FOCUS ON VOCABULARY By: Karen Crooks, Alea Pena, and Kathie Wingrove Decatur ISD 1

FOCUS OF INQUIRY  How does SLA affect the vocabulary used in academic language and social language within the Math & Science classrooms? Vocabulary knowledge is important for speaking and reading, in Math and Science, as well as the other content areas. When children do not understand vocabulary, they cannot make meaning out of directions or problems they read. 2

WHAT IS ACADEMIC LANGUAGE?  The language that is spoken in the classroom or other academic contexts in order to acquire knowledge (Chamot & O’Malley, 1994).  CALP- Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency This includes listening, speaking, reading, and writing about subject area content material. This level of language learning is essential for students to succeed in school. Students need time and support to become proficient in academic areas. This usually takes from five to seven years. Recent research (Thomas & Collier, 1995) has shown that if a child has no prior schooling or has no support in native language development, it may take seven to ten years for ELLs to catch up to their peers. © Judie Haynes, Haynes 3

WHAT IS SOCIAL LANGUAGE?  According to expert Jim Cummins, Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) are language skills needed in social situations. It is the day-to-day language needed to interact socially with other people. English language learners (ELLs) employ BIC skills when they are on the playground, in the lunch room, on the school bus, at parties, playing sports and talking on the telephone. Social interactions are usually context embedded. They occur in a meaningful social context. They are not very demanding cognitively. The language required is not specialized. These language skills usually develop within six months to two years after arrival in the U.S.  Problems arise when teachers and administrators think that a child is proficient in a language when they demonstrate good social English.  © Judie Haynes, Haynes 4

5  Academic language is spoken in the classroom and across the disciplines.  The academic vocabulary associated with particular content areas is usually so abstract that they are semantically opaque. Words such as sum, multiplication, or report have no visual for students to use so that the meaning can be made clear.  A student’s ability to master academic language is dependent on their opportunities outside of school to acquire more academic vocabulary. Second language learners may be limited in their ability to create mental models of math problems due to their limited knowledge of academic language. (Hague, Heppt, et. al. 2013) Second language learners' performance in mathematics: Disentangling the effects of academic language features, Learning and Instruction

6 “We shouldn't just teach words because they are on lists; words are tools to be used for building understanding.” (Zwiers, 2008) Getting Your Hands On Learning: Manipulative Tools in Content ESL/EFL Instructions Kathleen Corrales encourages the use of manipulatives as a key component of learning and retaining academic vocabulary. Teachers should create manipulatives that are self-correcting and include a worksheet that allows students to record what they are learning. Puzzle pieces, matching cards, sequencing strips are all examples of manipulatives that can be created for specific vocabulary and used frequently to build retention. (Corrales, 2008)

7 General Beliefs and Changes Over Time  One can accept the perspective that literacies are multiple, contextually-specific, and constantly evolving (Street, 2008).  Research by Cummins as well as Virginia Collier suggest that it typically takes language learners 1-3 years to develop BICS if they have sufficient exposure to the second language.  Cummins’ and Collier's research suggest that K-12 students need 5 to 7 years to acquire CALP in the second language if the learner has native language literacy. Learners who do not have strong native language literacy often need years to acquire CALP in the second language.  Both vocabulary and the academic language of math need to be directly taught.  Current research supports a focus on creating instructional and learning environments that maximize the language and literacy development of socially marginalized students (Street, 2008).  Opportunities for collaborative learning and talk about text are also extremely important in helping students internalize and more fully comprehend the academic language they find in their extensive reading of text (Street, 2008).

SNOW & FILLMORE, ELLIS, AND SPADA  We need to get children engaged and “talking math” in an authentic way. Engaging in activities focused on creating meaning is intrinsically motivating for learners. (Ellis, 2008) Flexible teaching approach involves a variety of learning activities. (Ellis, 2008)  Classroom Example: A small group activity when the children are “playing store”, but have the children use the words sum when the merchandise is totaled and difference when change is made. The children can come up with more math vocabulary to be included in this unit.  Authentic Grammar Lessons: The teacher or student notices a need for instruction during a classroom activity. The teacher then presents explicit instruction as a way to address this need. There is controlled practice after the lesson where the students can demonstrate the new knowledge. These exercises should help anchor the information so that the students can apply it in conversation and in written activities. (Spada 2008)  Classroom example: A student asks the teacher which form of the word to use: two, to, or too during a writing exercise. The teacher makes a mental note and addresses this need with an interactive lesson on homophones. She makes sure to focus on the rules of grammar, which the students then write in their journal. The students apply the knowledge to a close passage and finish up with a writing activity using each of the homophones in several sentences. 8

SNOW & FILLMORE, ELLIS, AND SPADA  Acquisition rich classrooms; the right kind of interactions to nurture acquisition Small group work allows students to interact with each other and it increases discourse. When students have a reason to use the language to express their own personal meanings it promotes an acquisition rich classroom. (Fillmore & Snow, 2000) Introduce new vocabulary in related groups. Teach all of these words together: Mother, father, sister, brother, grandmother, grandfather plus aunts and uncles. When the student uses free constructed response (the students restate the learning in their own words) teachers can best access learning. (Ellis, 2008)  Classroom Example: After the (above) lesson on family members, the students can draw a picture of each of their family members and label each. A follow up activity would be to write a story of a family get-together using at least 3 of the people labeled with their title. 9

 Describe technical operations from an objective point of view  Understand “multiple meaning” words such as graph, slope, power, etc.  Explain the process by which they perform an operation  See and explain relationships  Understand and be able to explain conditional situations (if …, then …)  Be able to identify extraneous information  Describe technical experiences from an objective point of view  Describe procedures  Connect abstract ideas to understand/communicate concepts  Build/a vocabulary of “big” words which are often nominalizations and which include lots of -ation words (nouns that grew out of verbs such as pasteurization)  Ability to ask good questions WHAT DOES ACADEMIC LANGUAGE ALLOW THE STUDENT TO DO? In the Math Classroom: In the Science Classroom: 10 (Zwiers, 2008)

 Interactive Reading Logs help students expand note-taking skills, build understanding of core content, and make the transition to using academic vocabulary in their own writing. Students can monitor and take ownership of their learning and begin to see connections between “what is taught” and “what they learn.” CLASSROOM APPLICATIONS 11  Word Maps are designed for teaching the definition of key vocabulary concepts by focusing on the key components of a concept (characteristics, examples, comparisons, and category). It helps students develop a rich understanding of a concept through the use of a graphic organizer and provides an opportunity to consider the various properties of concepts.

INTERACTIVE READING LOGS  Provide the structure for the notebook to your students (See below).  Offer other ways to represent information—thinking maps and graphic organizers to engage students in critical thinking and writing.  Monitor student notebooks to assess student understanding.  Engage students in authentic writing tasks, allowing for opportunities to utilize the academic vocabulary recorded in their student notebooks. 12 Evidence I saw/heard/read Interpretation I thought/wondered/know Photosynthesis enables plants to make food. Plants need sunlight to survive. High calorie foods increase the chance of acquiring heart disease. Healthy eating can lead to a better quality of life. (San Diego County Office of Education)

 Students will be able to expand note-taking skills.  Students will build understanding of core content as seen in their writing.  Students will begin to use academic vocabulary in their own speaking and writing.  Provide scaffolding as needed by assigning topics or advanced organizers to help frame student thinking.  Notebooks can be used to review information, key vocabulary, concepts, and skills throughout the year.  Students have been known to take such ownership over their notebooks as to use them in following years to review concepts and vocabulary as it relates to their new course content. INTERACTIVE READING LOGS When it works Things to Consider 13 (San Diego County Office of Education)

WORD MAPS  Introduce the vocabulary term to students in the center of the Word Map. Have students repeat the term.  Tell students the verbal representation of the term.  Show students multiple examples of the term. (Include non-examples when appropriate.)  Guide the students in completing the Word Map by asking the following: What is this? (verbal explanation/category) What is it related to? (related terms/associations/analogies) What are some examples? (examples) What does it look like? (visual/graphic examples)  Have students use textbooks and glossaries to contribute information for the Word Map.  Together write a class description of the term. 14 (San Diego County Office of Education)

 Students demonstrate understanding of difficult concepts.  Students understand vocabulary critical to content knowledge.  Students are able to complete the Word Map.  Teacher modeling is appropriate to ensure student success with this activity.  To provide scaffolding, the teacher may wish to assign categories to groups/pairs.  Extended learning opportunities from this activity include, but are not limited to… asking students to provide reasoning behind their choices having students practice using the language within their small groups writing about a vocabulary word in detail WORD MAPS When it works Things to Consider 15 (San Diego County Office of Education)

VOCABULARY LESSON 16  Due to large file size, please click on the link below to view video from YouTube.

ESL VOCABULARY STRATEGIES TO USE  Inside-Outside Circle; a Kagan Cooperative Learning Structure In concentric circles, students rotate to face new partners and then answer or discuss teacher questions. Click link for video example:  Information and demonstration on how to use Semantic Feature Analysis and Concept Circles in a middle school mathematics classroom.

REFERENCES Chamot, A. U., & O’Malley, J. M. (1994). The CALLA handbook: Implementing the cognitive academic language learning approach. Reading, MA: Addison –Wesley. Corrales, K. (2008). Getting Your Hands-on Learning: Manipulative Tools in Content ESL/EFL Instruction. Latin American Journal of Content and Language Integrated Learning, 1(1), doi: /laclil Cummins, J. (1998). Immersion education for the millennium: What we have learned from 30 years of research on second language immersion. In M.R. Childs & R.M. Bostwick (Eds.) Learning through two languages: Research and practice. Second Katoh Gakuen International Symposium on Immersion and Bilingual Education. (pp ). Kaloh Gakuen, Japan. Nicole Haag, Birgit Heppt, Petra Stanat, Poldi Kuhl, Hans Anand Pant, Second language learners' performance in mathematics: Disentangling the effects of academic language features, Learning and Instruction, Volume 28, December 2013, Pages 24-34, ISSN , ( 18

REFERENCES CONT’D Haynes, Juie. Everything ESL. Retrieved July 20, 2013 from San Diego County Office of Education. Get Vocal. Retrieved July 20, 2013 from San Diego County Office of Education (2005). Math language that works: Teaching and learning essential mathematics vocabulary Grade 6-Algebra I. San Diego, California. ‪ Street, B. & Hornberger, N.H. (Eds.). (2008). Encyclopedia of Language and Education, 2nd Edition, Volume 2: Literacy. (pp ). New York: Springer Science + Business Media LLC. ‬ YouTube. Teaching Math Vocabulary Effectively. Retrieved July 18,2013 from Zwiers, Jeff. (2008). Building Academic Language: Essential Practices for Content Classrooms. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 19