ELL Strategies to Improve Learning

What Makes Content Areas Easy or Hard for ELL Students?

Math

Easy Some notation is

the same Some is “hands-

on” Some concepts

transfer Lower volume of

written material Computation uses

less “language”

Hard Some notation is

different Some processes

are different Word problems,

vocabulary Concepts are often

abstract

Science

Easy Demonstrations,

“hands-on” Visuals, pictures,

diagrams

Hard Cause-effect, if-then

relationships Hypothesis-testing Volume of

vocabulary Terms with technical

& non-technical meanings (table, kingdom, power, etc.)

Social Studies

Easy Interesting to

different cultures Opportunities to

incorporate ELL students culture

Hard Technical & non-

technical terms (subjects, power, etc.)

Volume of reading Cultural

assumptions are not always explicit

Abstract concepts

Literature

Easy Interesting to

student from another culture

Opportunities to incorporate ELL students culture

Hard Volume of reading

requires analysis & evaluation

Required background knowledge

Variety of language used (poetry, Shakespeare, root words, etc.)

BICS versus CALP

Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills Skills involved in everyday communication;

listening, speaking, carrying on basic conversation, understanding speakers & getting basic needs met.

Pronunciation Grammar Vocabulary Not related to academic achievement Universal across all native speakers Attained after 2 or 3 years in the host country

BICS versus CALP

Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency

Skills that are needed to succeed in the academic classroom; problem solving, inferring, analyzing, synthesizing & predicting.

Language of the classroom; decontextualized Language outside of the immediate

interpersonal context CALP in 1st & 2nd language overlaps in spite of

differences in language Related to literacy skills Attained between 5 to 7 years in the host

country

BICS versus CALP

Cognitively Undemanding (BICS)

Cognitively Demanding (CALP)

A C

B D

Content Embedde

d Content Reduced

BICS versus CALP

Quadrant AFollowing directions, face-to-face conversation, getting absence excuse, buying popcorn, oral presentations, art, music & PE classes

Quadrant BDemonstrations, experiments, audio-visual lessons, basic math facts, projects & activities, health instruction, social studies, science experiments

BICS versus CALP

Quadrant CTelephone conversation, note on the refrigerator, written directions, instructions without diagrams or illustrations

Quadrant D Standardized tests, reading & writing, math concepts & applications, abstract concepts, lecture with few illustrations, social science texts, mainstream English texts

BICS versus CALP

Cognitively Undemanding (BICS)

Cognitively Demanding (CALP)

A C

B D

Content Embedded

Content Reduced

Three Principles Which Help ELL Students in Content Classrooms

Increase Comprehensibility

Increase Interaction

Increase Thinking Skills

Increase Comprehensibility

• Provide additional/non-verbal clues (pictures, objects, demonstrations, gestures, intonation cues, etc.)

• Share lesson objectives in “student language”

• Break new material into smaller chunks with frequent comprehension checks

Increasing Comprehensibility Use a lesson sequence which proceeds:

From prior knowledge to new knowledge From the concrete to the abstract From oral language to texts From more contextual support to less

contextual support• Use Contextual Support (visuals, hands-

on, non-verbal clues, etc.) to communicate the overall message, then correlate the message with the language.

Increase Comprehensibility

Did I make the instruction understandable to my students by providing clear, meaningful context & reinforcement?

Visual aids, labels, classroom routines, realia, graphic organizers, previewing content, activating prior knowledge, role-plays, theme-based instruction, chants, songs, etc.

Increase Interaction

One-on-one Interaction

Small Group Interaction

Provide opportunities for active participation to share ideas & language in smaller setting

Increase Interaction

Think-Write-Pair-Share Numbered Heads Together Jigsaw Peer Tutoring Pair Assignments Cooperative Projects

Increasing Interaction

Did I give students multiple opportunities to practice the content, to build understanding, & to improve their command of the language through peer interaction?

Pair work, think-write-pair-share, cooperative learning, peer editing, shared writing, shared reading, dialogue journals, choral response, etc.

Increase Thinking Skills

Think Alouds

How do you know that? Why do you think that?

Graphic Organizers to show relationships

Use of Cognitive Strategies (imagery, summarization, making inferences, transfer, deduction, classification, grouping, note-taking, elaboration

Increasing Thinking Skills

Did I provide students with adequate exposure to & practice with higher order thinking skills & learning strategies?

Think alouds, explicit instruction, graphic organizers, summarizing, making inferences, analyzing, evaluating, comparing, contrasting, responding to how & why questions, etc.