Nicole Merino

Cathy Zozakiewicz

SCALE

Academic Language: Making Working Sense of Expectations for Candidates

in the edTPA

Goals/Outcomes of Session

• Define Academic Language

• Examine Academic Lang. Components of edTPA

• Identify Academic Language Demands within an

Elementary Math Lesson

• Complete Language Activities within edTPA

• Develop Ways to Support Candidates

CENTRAL GOAL: To Be Able to Identify AL in Order

to Support Candidates

2

Where Are We Right Now?

• Individual Free Write:

What is our present definition of academic

language? What does it mean in our own

words? How might we explain it to our Teacher

Candidates? (TC)

• Share Outs with Whole Group

• Academic language represents the language of the discipline that students need to learn and use to participate and engage in meaningful ways in the content area.

• Academic language is the oral and written language used for academic purposes and the the means by which students develop and express content understandings.

Academic Language…

Academic language is hard for us to

see: it is like water to fish.

Remember the Fish

Bowl…

edTPA

• Academic language development is making the language of the school, content, and classroom explicit to expand students’ control over language and improve their language choices according to the purpose(FUNCTION) and audience for the message.

Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity

Academic Language

Set of words

Grammar

Organizational Strategies

• Zwiers’ describes academic

language as “the set of

words, grammar, and

organizational strategies

used to describe complex

ideas, higher-order thinking

processes, and abstract

concepts” (p. 20).

• What are the words &

structures that students

need to know to understand

& make meaning in a

content area?

Academic Language

Terms

Linguistic Processes

Patterns

• “When we teach a

subject, or any topic or

text within that subject,

we must teach the

academic vocabulary for

dealing with it—not just

the words, but also the

linguistic processes and

patterns for delving

deeply into and operating

upon that content”

(Wilhelm, p. 44).

• There are language demands that

teachers need to consider as they plan

to support student learning of content,

which include:

• Vocabulary

• Language functions

• Syntax

• Discourse

Academic Language Demands

Vocabulary

Vocabulary includes words and phrases (and symbols) that are used within disciplines including:

1. words and phrases with subject specific meanings that differ from meanings used in everyday life (e.g., table, ruler, force, balance);

2. general academic vocabulary used across disciplines (e.g., compare, analyze, evaluate); and

3. subject-specific words defined for use in the discipline.

Language Functions

• Language Functions are the content and

language focus of learning tasks often

represented by the active verbs within the

learning outcomes. Functions are the

purposes for which language is used.

Examples of Functions in Performing Arts

• Describing techniques or methods used in a given period or style of performance

• Summarizing information

• Evaluating performances

• Classifying based on attributes

Academic

Language

Functions –

Purposes of

Language

Chamot and O’Malley, 1974

• Compare - explain graphic organizer showing contrast

• Order - describe timeline, continuum or cycle

• Classify - describe organizing principles

• Analyze - describe features or main idea

• Infer - generate hypotheses to suggest cause/outcomes

• Justify & Persuade - give evidence why “A” is important

• Solve Problems - describe problem-solving procedures

• Synthesize - summarize information cohesively

• Evaluate - identify criteria, explain priorities, etc.

Syntax is…

The set of conventions for organizing symbols,

words, and phrases together into structures (e.g.,

sentences, graphs, tables, in music – a staff, etc).

Examples in mathematics:

Grammar and Syntax

1 Grammar consists of set rules regarding language and

sentence structure, such as no splitting infinitives and no

hanging prepositions.

1 Syntax, in reference to sentences, is how a sentence is

worded and structured and in ways that can impact meaning.

This includes consists types of sentence (Declarative,

Interrogative, Exclamatory, Imperative) and word order

(passive vs. active voice), and even length of sentences

(short vs. long).

Discourse is…

Discourse includes the structures of written and oral

language, as well as how members of the discipline talk,

write and participate in knowledge construction. Discipline

specific discourse has distinctive features or ways of

structuring oral or written language (text structures) that

provide useful ways for the content to be communicated.

Within Discourse – Some

Text Categories or Modes of

Communication

1 Narration/Narrative

2 Description

3 Exposition/Expository

4 Argument

Think about how these texts/modes are

used or developed in

different subject areas.

Narration/Narrative TextNarration recounts an event or a series of related events.

• "Narration is . . . a component of much of the writing done in the

workplace. Police officers write crime reports, and insurance

investigators write accident reports, both of which narrate

sequences of events. Physical therapists and nurses write narrative

accounts of their patients' progress, and teachers narrate events for

disciplinary reports. Supervisors write narrative accounts of

employees' actions for individual personnel files, and company

officials use narration to report on the company's performance

during the fiscal year for its stockholders." (Barbara Fine Clouse,

Patterns for a Purpose)

Narration/Narrative Text

Narration recounts an event or a series of related

events.

• "Jokes, fables, fairy tales, short stories, plays, novels,

and other forms of literature are narrative if they tell a

story. Although some narrations provide only the basic

who, what, when, where, and why of an occurrence in an

essentially chronological arrangement, as in a

newspaper account of a murder, others contain such

features as plot, conflict, suspense, characterization, and

description to intensify readers' interest." (Lynn Z.

Bloom, The Essay Connection, Houghton Mifflin, 2001)

Descriptive Text…

A writing strategy using sensory details to portray a

person, place, or thing. Two Types of Description:

Objective and Impressionistic

1. "Objective description attempts to report accurately the

appearance of the object as a thing in itself, independent of

the observer's perception of it or feelings about it. It is a

factual account, the purpose of which is to inform a reader

who has not been able to see with his own eyes. The writer

regards himself as a kind of camera, recording and

reproducing, though in words, a true picture. . . .

Descriptive Text…

A writing strategy using sensory details to portray a

person, place, or thing. Two Types of Description:

Objective and Impressionistic

2. "Impressionistic description is very different. Focusing

upon the mood or feeling the object evokes in the observer

rather than upon the object as it exists in itself,

impressionism does not seek to inform but to arouse

emotion. It attempts to make us feel more than to make us

see. . . .

Exposition/Expository Text

A statement or text intended to give information about (or an

explanation of) an issue, subject, method, or idea.

• "One of the traditional classifications of discourse that has as a

function to inform or to instruct or to present ideas and general truths

objectively (Woodson, 1979).

• Expository writing: Any form of writing that conveys information

and explains ideas. As one of the four traditional modes of

discourse, expository writing may include elements of narration,

description, and argumentation, but unlike creative writing or

persuasive writing, its primary goal is to deliver information about an

issue, subject, method, or idea.

Argumentation/Argument

• The process of forming reasons, justifying beliefs, and drawing

conclusions with the aim of influencing the thoughts and/or actions

of others.

• "The three goals of critical argumentation are to identify, analyze,

and evaluate arguments. The term 'argument' is used in a special

sense, referring to the giving of reasons to support or criticize a

claim that is questionable, or open to doubt. To say something is a

successful argument in this sense means that it gives a good

reason, or several reasons, to support or criticize a claim (Walton,

2006).

Observations of AL in Use

• Our Task:

– Watch video clip of a veteran elementary teacher

during a lesson on

fractionshttp://www.learner.org/resources/series33.ht

ml

– Take notes to identify the language demands –

vocabulary/symbols, language functions, syntax

and/or discourse

– Consider how this teacher is supporting student

language use

Debriefing about Video on AL

• Share your observations with 1-2 table

partners. What academic language did

you identify? What supports?

• Share synopsis of group discussion with

whole group

• Discussion – our thoughts and questions

What Did We Observe?

• Vocabulary?

• Language Functions?

• Other Language Demands?

Two Evaluated Components of

Academic Language in the edTPA

• In Planning Task 1: Prompt 4 - Rubric 4

• In Assessment Task 3: Prompt 3 -Rubric 14

27

Using Fraction Lesson, Let’s Work Through Planning

Prompt 4 – Seeing This Through Candidate’s Eyes

• 4A. Language Demand: Language Function. Identify one language

function essential for students to learn the content and skills within your

central focus. Listed below are some sample language functions. You may

choose one of these or another more appropriate for your learning segment:

• Analyze Categorize Compare/contrast

• Describe Explain Calculate

• 4B. Identify a key learning task from your plans that provides students with

opportunities to practice using the language function. In which lesson does

the learning task occur? (Give lesson/day number.)

28

Planning Prompt 4 - Supporting Literacy

Development Through Language continued…

• 4C. Additional Language Demands. Given the language function and task

identified above, describe the following associated language demands

(written or oral) students need to understand and/or use.

– Vocabulary, key phrases or symbols

Plus at least one of the following:

– Syntax

– Discourse

Consider the range of students’ understandings of the language function and

other demands—what do students already know, what are they struggling

with, and/or what is new to them?

• 4D. Language Supports. Refer to your lesson plans and instructional

materials as needed in your response to the prompt.

Describe the instructional supports (during and/or prior to the learning

task) that help students understand and successfully use the language

function and additional language identified in prompts 4a–c.

29

Assessment Prompt 3

Evidence of Language Understanding and Use:

You may provide evidence of language use with your video

clip(s) from Task 2, through the student work samples analyzed

in Task 3, or an additional video clip.

Refer to examples from the clip(s) (with time stamps) and/or student

work samples as evidence.

• Explain the extent to which your students were able to use language

(selected function, vocabulary, and additional identified demands) to

develop content understandings.

30

Why include Academic Language in

the edTPA?

• Why do you think Academic Language has been included in the edTPA?

• How do you think you might explain this to your teacher candidates?

• Who is academic language for?

Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning

and Equity

Why include Academic Language in

the edTPA?

• Academic language is different from everyday language. Some students are not exposed to this language outside of school.

• Much of academic language is discipline-specific and deepens subject matter THINKING.

• Unless we make academic language explicit for learning, some students will be excluded from classroom discourse and future opportunities that depend on having acquired this language.

Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning

and Equity

WHY ELSE?

• Writing requires something to say, the

words to say it, and the structure with

which to write it (McCracken &

McCracken, 1986).

Final Thoughts and Questions

• Final Thoughts and Questions

• Thank You So Much For Coming!

• More Academic Language Resources:

– edTPA Website:

– Fraction Lesson available at:

http://www.learner.org/resources/series33.htm

l

Academic Language

• “When we teach a subject,

or any topic or text within

that subject, we must teach

the academic vocabulary for

dealing with it—not just the

words, but also the linguistic

processes and patterns for

delving deeply into and

operating upon that content”

(Wilhelm, p. 44).

Terms

Linguistic Processes

Patterns

Academic Language

Terms

Using Terms

Using Structures

Linguistic Features

Genres specific to contents

Words that are used to signal that genre/task

• Each genre generally has one or more

corresponding linguistic features.

– Retell an event - regular and irregular past

tense verbs

– Describe people/things - adjectives

– Describe place - prepositions

– Describe actions - adverbs and -ing verb

endings

– Compare/Contrast attributes -er and -est

endings

– Give/Carry out commands - imperative verbs

– Generate hypotheses - if…then

– Justify or persuade - logical connectors

(however, furthermore, therefore)

Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity

Academic Language

Tools

Looking at one task

Sentence Frames

• Generate hypothesis

– Language Arts

– Math

– Social Studies

– Science

• In order to do this task for each

content area, requires that

students

– Know what a they are being

asked to do

– Have something to say

– Have the words to say it, or

– Have the structures to write it