Building Academic Language: Essential Practices for Content Classrooms, Grades 5-12

Description

Building Academic Language shows what teachers can do to help all students develop the language needed to reach high levels of academic achievement." "Developing academic language involves more than acquiring content-specific vocabulary; it includes learning a wide range of general utility words, figurative expressions, grammatical conventions, and discussion strategies. Drawing from current theory and research, this book provides insights and practical guidance." "Building Academic Language offers many practical activities and classroom examples as well as a wide range of tips, tools, templates, and rubrics to help teachers integrate language development into content instruction and assessment every busy day. Building Academic Language......Page 3 CONTENTS......Page 9 LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES......Page 11 PREFACE......Page 15 Chapter ONE Understanding How Students Use Language......Page 21 THE ROLE OF HOME AND COMMUNITY......Page 22 DIVERSITY OF STUDENTS......Page 24 Types of Capital......Page 26 Registers......Page 28 Invisible Criteria......Page 29 THE NEED TO VALUE AND CHALLENGE......Page 31 Being on the Same Page......Page 32 Agreeing on Importance......Page 33 Working with Diverse Ways of Organizing Knowledge......Page 34 Getting to Know Students......Page 35 Chapter Reflections......Page 37 A BRIEF HISTORY OF ACADEMIC LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY......Page 39 General and Specialized Language......Page 40 Bricks and Mortar......Page 42 To Describe Complexity......Page 43 To Describe Higher-Order Thinking......Page 44 To Describe Abstraction......Page 45 Using Figurative Expressions......Page 47 Being Explicit for “Distant Audiences”......Page 49 Remaining “Detached” from the Message......Page 50 Conveying Nuances of Meaning with Modals......Page 51 Softening the Message with Qualifiers (Hedges)......Page 52 Using Prosody for Emphasis......Page 53 FEATURES OF ACADEMIC GRAMMAR......Page 54 Long Sentences......Page 55 Nominalization......Page 56 Condensed Complex Messages......Page 58 CONCLUSION......Page 59 Chapter Reflections......Page 60 LANGUAGE ACQUISITION BASICS......Page 61 Producing Language......Page 62 Negotiating Meaning......Page 63 Modeling Academic Language......Page 64 Modeling with Think-Alouds......Page 67 Scaffolding Thinking and Language......Page 68 BUILDING HABITS OF CONNECTION......Page 72 Connect with Metaphors......Page 73 Connect with Examples......Page 74 Personify......Page 75 BUILDING HABITS OF COMMUNICATION......Page 76 Use Controversial or Provocative Statements......Page 77 Co-Shape Conversations......Page 78 Repeat Student Responses......Page 79 Rephrase Student Responses......Page 80 Use Comments to Enrich Classroom Talk......Page 82 Stop to Think About How We Think......Page 84 Focus on Deeper Levels of Talk......Page 86 CONCLUSION......Page 87 Chapter Reflections......Page 88 Chapter FOUR Content-Area Variations of Academic Language......Page 89 Interpretation in Language Arts......Page 91 Persuasion in Language Arts......Page 94 Cause and Effect in Language Arts......Page 96 LANGUAGE OF HISTORY......Page 97 Cause and Effect in History......Page 98 Interpretation in History......Page 100 Perspective Taking in History......Page 103 LANGUAGE OF SCIENCE......Page 105 Description of Scientific Inquiry......Page 106 Cause and Effect in Science......Page 108 Interpretation in Science......Page 109 Comparison in Science......Page 110 LANGUAGE OF MATH......Page 111 Interpreting in Math......Page 113 Problem Solving in Math......Page 116 Chapter Reflections......Page 119 CHALLENGES AND BENEFITS OF CULTIVATING RICH CLASSROOM TALK......Page 121 Display Questions......Page 123 Open-Ended Questions......Page 126 Questions in Response to Student Responses......Page 128 Pseudo-Discussions with IRF......Page 130 CRAFTING WHOLE-CLASS DISCUSSIONS......Page 132 Leading Classroom Discussions......Page 133 Lecturing......Page 136 Improving Academic Listening......Page 138 Providing Silence and Time to Think......Page 141 Conversation Circles and Lines......Page 142 Interview Grids and Mixers......Page 143 Prediction Cafe......Page 145 Simulations......Page 146 Radio Talk Show......Page 149 Structured Academic Controversy......Page 150 Chapter Reflections......Page 152 Chapter SIX Academic Listening and Speaking in Small Groups......Page 155 CHALLENGES OF USING GROUPS......Page 156 FORMS OF GROUP DISCUSSION......Page 157 PROCESS OVER PRODUCT: THINKING TOGETHER......Page 159 DESIGNING AND SUPPORTING ACADEMIC GROUPS......Page 160 LANGUAGE FOR WORKING IN GROUPS......Page 162 TECHNIQUES FOR REPORTING OUT......Page 163 GROUP ACTIVITIES......Page 164 Conversation Scaffolds......Page 165 Drama-Based Group Activities......Page 168 Jigsaw-esque Group Activities......Page 172 Pair Activities......Page 174 CONCLUSION......Page 181 Chapter Reflections......Page 182 Chapter SEVEN Language for Academic Reading......Page 183 KEY COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES FOR ACADEMIC READING......Page 184 Read-Aloud......Page 187 Comprehend-Aloud......Page 188 Improv Read-Aloud......Page 189 Lyric Summaries......Page 191 Anticipation Chats......Page 193 Role-Based Discussion Groups......Page 195 Partner Problem Solving......Page 196 Figuring Out the Figuratives......Page 198 Dissection of Textbook Thinking and Language......Page 199 Historical Source Analysis Table......Page 200 READING ACTIVITIES THAT BUILD ACADEMIC GRAMMAR......Page 202 Marking Up Long Sentences......Page 203 Analyzing Tests......Page 205 VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION......Page 207 Teaching the Bricks......Page 208 Building Word-Learning Habits......Page 209 Using Word Walls......Page 211 Chapter Reflections......Page 212 Chapter EIGHT Language for Academic Writing......Page 215 THE INFLUENCE OF ORAL LANGUAGE......Page 216 WRITING EXPOSITORY GENRES......Page 218 Using Pre-Writing Visual Organizers......Page 220 Dissecting and Analyzing......Page 221 Understanding Coherence and Cohesion......Page 226 A CLOSER LOOK: PERSUASIVE WRITING......Page 227 Using a Rubric......Page 228 Organizing Ideas with a Persuasion Scale......Page 229 Learning Logs and Journals......Page 233 Written Recap......Page 235 Written Dialogs......Page 236 Perspective Papers......Page 237 Chapter Reflections......Page 239 LESSON PLANNING......Page 241 Assessment-Driven Instruction......Page 242 Sample Lesson Plan......Page 246 ACADEMIC LANGUAGE IN SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENTS......Page 251 Building Language with Performance Assessments......Page 253 Performance Assessment Examples......Page 255 Designing Rubrics......Page 257 Oral Presentations......Page 259 ONGOING ASSESSMENT OF ACADEMIC LANGUAGE......Page 263 Academic Feedback......Page 264 Diagnostic Observations......Page 265 Recording the Language of Thinking......Page 266 Minute-by-Minute Assessment of Learning......Page 268 Individualized Assessment......Page 269 Chapter Reflections......Page 272 Chapter TEN Concluding Thoughts......Page 275 TEACHING THE TOOLS OF THE TRADE......Page 276 CONCLUSION......Page 279 Appendix A Recommended Resources on Academic Language......Page 281 Appendix B Frequently Used Academic Terms......Page 285 Appendix C Suggestions for Before, During, and After Mini-Lectures......Page 291 Appendix D Permanently Borrowing the Language of Standards......Page 295 References......Page 297 About the Author......Page 309 INDEX......Page 311