Academic Language and Access for All

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(No Transcript)
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A Letter from a University Student Requesting
Exemption from UCIs ESL Requirement
Dear Mrs. Robbin I really not need humanity 20
writing class because since time I come to United
State all my friend speak english. Until now
everyone understand me and I dont need study
english. I don t know Vietnam language. I speak
only english. I have no communication problem
with my friend in dorm. My English teacher in
high school key person to teach me. My teacher
explain to me that how important the book was for
the student and persuaded me read many book. I
get A in English through out high school and I
never take ESL. I gree that some student need
class but you has not made a correct decision put
me in english class. Please do not makes me lose
the face. I have confident in english.
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Letter from the Same University Student After
Instruction
Hi Robin, I am apologize for having to send you
this information at the last minute. I still
need a letter. This letter should discuss my
qualifications, skills and accomplishments. It
should be written on letterhead and addressed To
Whom It May Concern and submitted with a
Recommendation Form (which I will give to you
tomorrow). Please write a letter that addresses
my academic achievement, seriousness of purpose,
personal maturity, and whether or not I possess
the skills necessary to adapt to a new
environment. Also, please address my ability to
think analytically, my aptitude, my overall
maturity and my independence. Thank you so much
Robin for doing this for me. I truly appreciate
it. Let me know if you have any last minutes
questions.
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Entrenched Language Learners Characteristics
And Effective Instructional Strategiees
Robin Scarcella UC Irvine rcscarce_at_uci.edu
November 7, 2009
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Agenda

• Description of the students
• Description of effective strategies and practices

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Who are entrenchedlearners?
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Long Term Entrenched Language Learners
Constitute one of the largest groups of English
language learners in Maryland and the nation
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Stories from the Heart Van and Gerardo
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Gerardo wrote on his college application
I want to go to your college so I can leave my
place. You know my mom she never let me become a
statistic like the gangbangers. And we live in a
garage. And sometimes it is kind of cold. But if
I go to your college I will be a engineer.
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The Long-Term Language Learner

• Has been in the United States many years in fact
  this learner is often born in the United States
• Can often communicate basic needs
• Usually uses words imprecisely or incorrectly
• Does not pay attention to language features
  (especially word endings) in speech or writing

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Do you teach long-term, entrenched language
learners?

• What are the characteristics of the long-term
  language learners you teach?

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Did you think about any of these characteristics?

• The long-term, entrenched language learner
• Is often capable of appearing competent in
  English when he or she is not can often fake
  proficiency in English
• Normally receives little feedback from
  conversational partners in the course of
  conversation
• Lacks metalinguistic awareness
• Is often at an intermediate-level of English
  proficiency

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What about these?

• Often lacks good language learning
  strategies/habits of mind
• May have stopped learning much English
• May have particular difficulty developing English
  morphology

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What about these characteristics?

• May not read much or may read largely for the the
  general meaning or gist of text
• May write fluently and effortlessly but with many
  errors
• Is at risk of dropping out of school
• Has not learned academic English

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Academic English

• The English used in academic, professional and
  technical contexts that is characterized by its
  high level and often discipline-specific
  vocabulary and rhetorical styles.
• Mary Schleppegrell
• The Language of Schooling

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Los Angeles Unified School District

• Faced a serious problemits students
• were not re-classifying (re-designating).
• That is, they were not losing the districts
  ESL/EL label.
• The students had lived in the United States
  most their lives, and they had ceased to make
  much progress learning English

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The middle school administrators and teachers

• met the challenge!

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LAUSD middle schools focused on helping
entrenched students

• Professional development and instruction rooted
  in
• a) A standards-based, coherent curriculum,
  following the districts instructional guides,
  periodic assessments and state adopted, standards
  based instructional materials
• b) An in-depth analysis of standards that
  entrenched English learners have difficulty
  mastering
• c) A focus on academic language development
• d) Everyone--administrators, teachers, coaches,
  aides-- focused on helping entrenched learners

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Why a coherent curriculum?
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What happened in Los Angeles middle schools?

• Large number of students re-designated.
• They lost the districts label of English
  learner.
• They began to excel in their content classes.
• They advanced in their English proficiency.

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Re-designation?Re-classification?

• The ultimate success of instructional programs
  for English learners is demonstrated by the
  academic strength of students who meet criteria
  to be reclassified as fluent-English proficient
  and who continue to learn successfully in the
  following years.
• Reclassified students are expected to meet or
  exceed state grade-level content standards.

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LAUSD Percent of Reclassified English Learners,
2002-2008
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What else did the administrators, teachers,
coaches, and others do?

• Appropriate placement into services
• Solid (well implemented), standards-based
  instruction aligned to the curriculum,
  assessments, and teacher professional development
• Extended instruction (additional instructional
  time)

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What else did the administrators, teachers,
coaches, and others do?

• Classroom management that held entrenched
  students accountable for language use (seating
  charts, parent involvement, formative assessment,
  increased use of pair work)

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Remaining Focused on The Challenge

• Getting students who are entrenched to succeed
  in learning academic English

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Why learn academic English?Many of Marylands
students are failing to learn the academic
English they require for college and career
readiness and citizenship.
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Many of Marylands entrenchedlanguage learners

• Are scoring poorly on state assessments.
• Lack the academic English needed to do well on
  the tests.

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Many lack the knowledge of academic English they
need to do well in college.

• The demand for workers with an associate degree
  will soon grow by 53 percent bachelor's degree,
  by 46 percent a master's or professional degree,
  by 50 percent and, a doctorate, by 73 percent.

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The Decline of College Graduates

• The population of college graduates is declining.

Source The National Center for Public Policy and
Higher Education (2005)
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Labor Force

• The low college entry and completion rate of
  many of our students is serious a concern.
• (Kirst, 2006)

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Linguistic Discrimination

• Students who have not acquired academic English
  skills often suffer from linguistic
  discrimination.
• Linguistic discrimination is still
• everywhere!

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The Dilemma

• If students do not receive challenging, academic
  language instruction, they fail to acquire
  academic language.
• If they cannot understand their instruction or
  participate in their classes, many may eventually
  drop out of school.

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The Solution

• Teach students to benefit from challenging
  instruction and participate in their classes.
• Provide instruction in academic English.

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Whats the problem?

• Instruction that is easy for language learners
  to understand may help students understand the
  gist of concepts but not give them deep
  understanding of these concepts.

Got the picture?
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Making clay models of planets for weeks only
helps students to understand the bare basics!
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Simplifying language for students does not help
them acquire academic literacy!
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Jupiter

• Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar
  system. Its diameter is 88,846 miles (142,984
  kilometers), more than 11 times that of Earth,
  and about one-tenth that of the sun. It would
  take more than 1,000 Earths to fill up the volume
  of the giant planet. When viewed from Earth,
  Jupiter appears brighter than most stars. It is
  usually the second brightest planetafter Venus.

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Jupiter

• Jupiter is a big, big planet. Jupiter is very
  bright.

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Comprehensible input is necessary -- but not
sufficient.

• It will not lead to the development of academic
  language.

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Not Less and Lower

• Not Less instruction and at a lower level
• But More instruction so children reach a higher
  level!

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What All Teachers Must Be Able to Do to
Help Entrenched Learners

• Teach writing well
• Teach reading well
• Teach oral language well
• Teach grammar well
• Teach vocabulary well
• Teach discourse well (genres, language
  functions)

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Support Marylands new EL Proficiency
Standards! Accepted by the Board on September
21 http//www.marylandpublicschools.org/MSDE/ pro
grams/title_III/elpsc.htm
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Help students learn and pay attention to language!
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What else all teachers must be able to do
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• Helpful
  Necessary
• Include language objectives
• Provide clear student-friendly
• explanations of language
• Model language use
• Provide sufficient review and
• practice
• Provide formative assessment

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Differentiation Instruction
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One size does not fit all.
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Even entrenched language learners are not all the
same. Some have special needs.

• Struggling readers
• Learners with disrupted formal educations

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Needs of struggling readers

• Phonemic awareness
• Decoding skills
• Fluency
• Vocabulary
• Comprehension

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Needs of all students who are not making much
progress improving their language

• English fundamentals
• Academic language

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Whats the problem?

• Language learners and others are often misplaced!
• We underestimated the amount of support teachers
  and students need.
• The current curricular materials sometimes have
  weaknesses (flimsy workbooks, not enough
  scaffolding, and on and on).

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Doh!
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There is a lot to teach, especially in the upper
grades!
Language
1
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Learners
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4
5
A
L
E
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Teachers need to work together to provide all
students, especially language learners, with a
coherent curriculum addressing Marylands new
standards!
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Greater Emphasis on Vocabulary

• The inclusion vocabulary instruction on a
  regular, daily basis.
• The inclusion of scaffolded vocabulary
  instruction.
• The instruction of word use, not just word
  meaning.

Closing the Achievement Gap
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Greater Emphasis on Writing

• The inclusion of writing instruction on a
  regular, daily basis.
• The inclusion of instruction that scaffolds
  academic writing -- not just informal, social
  everyday writing.

Closing the Achievement Gap
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Guided Practice Written Descriptions
Direction to Students Write a paragraph
describing Miss Lottie. You may want to use some
of these words and expressions

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Greater Emphasis on Academic English

• The inclusion of the instruction of academic
  English on a regular, daily basis.

Helping the Entrenched Learner
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It is easy to ignore academic English.If
students never receive instruction in academic
English, they fail to acquire academic English.

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The only way to give students a chance of
reaching standards is to teach them Academic
English.
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Lets compare academic English to informal,
everyday English.
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What makes this informal?

• Essay Question Ron Harris has said that
  childhood today is not the same as in the past.
  Do you agree?
• Ron Harris think that youth today is not the
  same as in the pass. Firstable he think that the
  present generation is kind of diffrent from my
  parents. People like him think that most kids
  today are more independence from parents. They
  also think that parents precise children grow up
  fast nowadays. Nowaday kids use the Internet with
  homework and stuff. And they ask their friends
  for help. .. UCI Freshman, Diagnostic Essay

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What makes this more academic?

• Ron Harris maintains that youth today is not
  the same as in the past. This position asserts
  that the present generation is significantly
  different from the previous one. Most
  adolescents today, so the argument goes, rely
  less on their parents than those in preceding
  generations. For instance, unlike the previous
  generation of teenagers, this generation depends
  on friends rather than parents for moral advice.
  In addition, rather than turning to their parents
  for homework assistance, todays youth often
  employs such resources as the Internet. The
  present youths decreased reliance on parents has
  led to their many difficulties.

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Jack Springer thinks that the government should
allow people the right to own a gun but I dont
agree with him. People like him think that the
government is infringing on our democratic rights
when it restricts gun ownership. They think that
most people who own guns are responsible citizens
who keep the guns for sport and recreation. They
also think that the police are unable to stop
violent crime and we need guns to protect
ourselves. But I think he is wrong. I agree
with Josephine Bluff who thinks that guns
increase the amount of violent crime in the
community. I also think that human life is worth
more than giving shooters the right to go
shooting on the weekend. And I also think that
many of the guns that are kept around the house
end up being used in violent domestic disputes or
teenage suicides.
Converting an Informal Text Into the Language of
School
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Converting an Informal Text Into the Language of
School

• Jack Springer maintains that the government
  should allow people the right to own a gun. This
  position asserts that the government is
  infringing on our democratic rights when it
  restricts gun ownership. Most people who own
  guns, so the argument goes, are responsible
  citizens who keep the guns for sport and
  recreation. It is further contended that the
  police are unable to stop violent crime and we
  need guns to protect ourselves. However, as
  Josephine Bluff states, guns increase the amount
  of violent crime in the community. Moreover,
  human life is worth more than giving shooters the
  right to go shooting on the weekend. In
  addition, many of the guns that are kept around
  the house are used in violent domestic disputes
  or teenage suicides.
• Adapted from Bill Daley, 1997
• http//wwww.eslplanet.com/teachertools/argueweb/i
  nform.html

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Converting Informal English Into Academic
English

• Guy
• Kid
• A bunch of
• Stuff
• But (to begin a sentence)

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What to Keep in Mind Entrenched students fail
to learn academic English because of

• The absence of a coherent, core curriculum
• The students absence of exposure to books and to
  people who use academic English
• The students absence of opportunities to use
  academic English
• The students absence of motivation to develop
  and use academic English
• The students absence of solid instruction
  including sufficient and supportive feedback

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Greater Emphasis On Instructional Feedback

• Underlining/circling errors
• Using check marks (v) in the margins
• Using symbols over errors
• Giving students a global response on their use of
  language at the top of the page (such as checks,
  v,v, v or grades, A-F)--used judiciously.

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Corrective Feedback Symbols
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Giving feedback to students in the margins of
papers can be helpful.

• vb
• He was going start a war.
• Rule Use going to V.

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Although he helped her, but she was not her
friend.

• Rule Only use one although or one but in the
  same sentence.

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John F.Kennedy was kill.

• Rule Be V ed

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Becoming familiar with the errors of entrenched
learners

• What errors do your students frequently make?

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Word Form Errors (wf)

• It is obvious that there are a growing number of
  courage people.

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Word Form Errors (wf)

• Therefore, they must deal with the tension
  situation sooner or later.

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Missing Article Errors (the, a, an -- )

• He seems to have different view on subject.

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Article Where None Is Required

• A future filled with the equality was the goal of
  Martin Luther King, Jr.s nonviolent actions.

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Incorrect Prepositions (ww/id/)

• Social progress is hindered if people insist
  obeying unjust laws.

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Passive Voice Errors (vb)

• Catcher in the Right was write by Saliger.

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Greater Emphasis on Reading Comprehension

• The instruction of reading comprehension on a
  regular, daily basis.
• 1. Reading strategies -- including note-taking
  with graphic organizers
• 2. Language analysis and discussions -- as a
  critical part of reading comprehension
  instruction

Closing the Achievement Gap
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Partner Work
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Partner Sharing
Example

• Partner Sharing
• (6 minutes)
• 1 minute Review The Doggy Text.
• 1 minute Identify the main idea.
• 4 minutes Take turns summarizing The Doggy
  Text. Use some of these words
• The main idea is ________ .
• Take on human mannerisms
• Share an ice cream cone
• Mimic

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Greater Emphasis on Reading Comprehension
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Explicit Emphasis on the Development of Grammar

• In the primary grades
• In the secondary grades
• In adult education

Helping Entrenched Learners
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Greater Emphasis on the Development of Academic
Language in Oral Communication

• Well-structured activities designed to develop
  the entrenched students oral language (e.g.,
  helping the student hear word endings and use
  them).

Helping Entrenched Learners
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Grouping Practices
Ineffective Effective
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Remember Learners tend to acquire the language
of those with whom they associate.
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Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect
practice makes perfect. ..Vince
Lombardi
They understand that students learn new language
by correctly practicing the language repeatedly
until the language is mastered.
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Correctly using language again and again
leads to accuracy and fluency.
Adapted from David Howe 2006
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Practice Makes Perfect
Source David Howe 2006
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Practice Makes Permanent!
If you practice a feature of language
incorrectly, you can learn it incorrectly!
Source David Howe 2006
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The importance of getting students to use
specific language features is often overlooked.
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Effective Guided Practice Oral Descriptions
Example

• Teachers can ask students to describe an
  object, a person, or a concept that has been
  described in detail in their textbooks.

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Conclusion
The potential for learning is not finite or
bounded. Students should not be expected to
prove themselves linguistically before they can
claim their full entitlement. The responsibility
for their language development belongs to the
school and ultimately to their teachers. -
Pauline Gibbons Scaffolding Language,
Scaffolding Learning (pg. 138)
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References

• Doing What Works is a web site developed by
  the U.S. Department of Education. It summarizes
  findings vetted by IES and provides instructional
  implementation ideas and examples to assist
  teachers in the field. lthttp//65.103.99.76/dww_ne
  w/index.htmlgt
• You will find much of the research
  supporting
• this presentation cited on this web site.