Language Use in Different Academic Fields: ESL, Health Professions Programs, and Calculus

NJCCC Best Practices 2017 Panel

Lauren Drew & Johanna van Gendt, Hudson County Community College

JoAnne Diamantidis & Bina Dugan, Bergen Community College

Larry Kwon, Union County College

Academic Vocabulary in ESL Writing

Lauren Drew & Johanna van Gendt

ESL Department

Hudson County Community College

Reflective Course & Materials Design

Course Materials

Student Production

(Output)

In-House ESL

Descriptors

Assessment

Students’ Needs

Reflective Course & Materials Design

Course Materials

Student Production

(Output)

In-House ESL

Descriptors

Assessment

Students’ Needs

ESL Vocabulary Project:

§  Analyzes students’ production

§  Creates needs driven course materials

§  Results in better, more sophisticated writing

ESL Level Descriptors Level Vocabulary Requirements within Level Descriptor

0à1 Ø  uses basic vocabulary found in the Level 0 dictionary Ø  verbs often limited to be, have, do, like, work, study, watch

1à2 q  contains basic vocabulary with descriptive adjectives added q  verbs besides be, have, do, like, work, study, watch are used

2à3 Ø  colloquialisms such as gonna, wanna, good, nice, stuff, kids, ’cuz, and my country are not used

Ø  increasing sophistication is shown in the use of some academic vocabulary

3à4 q  some words on the ‘Academic Word List’ are used q multi-syllabic words are used throughout q  colloquialisms such as gonna, wanna, good, nice, stuff, kids, ’cuz, or

my country are not used

4à5 Ø  a variety of academic vocabulary is used Ø  multi-syllabic words are used throughout Ø  formal register is observed Ø  good discrimination among word forms is evident

Vocabulary Acquisition ´  How can we target students’ active vocabulary within

their ESL writing classes?

Active Vocabulary

Passive Vocabulary

“The tradition in ESL/EFL has been to make vocabulary learning the responsibility of the ‘reading teacher’ with the result that vocabulary is often approached at the recognition level rather than with the ultimate goal of having the students learn to use the academic words in their own writing.” (Coxhead: 2007)

Coxhead, Averil. “Preparing Writing Teachers to Teach the Vocabulary and Grammar of Academic Prose.” Journal of Second Language Writing 16.3(2007): 129-147.

Analysis of the Most Frequently Used Words in Level 3 Student Writing from Wordsmith Software

Students overuse the word ‘people’. They need these words: Togo’s citizens (line 75); save shoppers/ consumers money and time (line 77); and immigrants (line 81).

Students’ Needs à Materials Creation

Addressing and Meeting the Social and Cultural needs of the ESL student who wants to enter Health Professions

NJCCC Best Practices Conference, April 21, 2017 JoAnne Diamantidis, MSN, RN and Bina Dugan, MA TESOL

Gaps in Clinical

u  JoAnne’s experiences at the hospital - language - culture - job placement

u  Research: Ledbetter and Gardner

u  iBEST program

Pilot Program – SPE100HP Fall 2016 Content-based instruction

u  medical vocabulary

u  medical dialogues

u  process recording / interviews

u  disease research project

u  visit to health professions building / guest speakers

u  contact with JoAnne multiple times over the semester (8-10 times)

Medical Vocabulary u  JoAnne chose 60 vocabulary words that are high frequency

in the hospital

u  ex. RN, chronic vs. acute, benign vs. malignant, NPO

u  students looked up the words for meanings and pronunciation, and wrote sentences

Example of Medical Vocabulary answers u  x-ray

u  A) It makes images that helps to diagnose problems.

B) (X)-ray

C) Last night my sister felt a severe pain in her arm so my mom took her to the doctor and he decided to made an X-ray to make sure if her arm was broken or not.

Medical Dialogues

u  students created situations with the vocabulary u  as words were added, the assignments were cumulative u  ex. Look at the following scenarios between 2 people.

Create a dialogue that they might have. Each person should say at least 3 things. Try to use at least 3 vocabulary words per scenario. soccer mom and coach dad teaching kid to ride bike technician drawing blood and patient ER Doctor and specialist witness and 911 operator

Examples of Medical Dialogues

A. What's your emergency?

B. I have a lot of chest pain, and I have trouble breathing!

A. Had this happen to you before?

B. Yes, I have been to the doctor before, and he told me it's angina, which is a symptom of chest pain.

A. OK! The ambulance is on it's way.

Recording dialogues with Adobe Spark u  Dental Hygienist and Patient

https://spark.adobe.com/video/xXMWc3XrsMunv

u  Ultrasound Tech and Patient https://spark.adobe.com/video/mdUQRLJhpgEjj

Process Recording

Assignment #1 Interview a family member, friend, coworker or tutor – discuss how to ask questions: information versus yes/no - ask questions about health issues and/or how they maintain their health - record questions, answers, and feelings/emotions of both parties

- JoAnne filled out a rubric (process recording form) - Bina filled out a rubric (presentation, pronunciation)

Student response Patient response Thought or feelings      

                                       

Studentname: Pa,entini,als: Pa,entrela,onshiptoyou: Se5ng: Date:

modified from BCC Nursing Program Process Recording Form

Assignment #2 Interview a Live Scripted Actor (nursing / acting students) – preview scenarios – anticipate responses/vocabulary u  Patient # 1

A 30-year old parent came today to the doctor’s office for a flu vaccine. Had the flu last year and became very sick. Has three small children at home and is worried if the children should get the flu vaccine also. Asks questions about the flu vaccine and what to do for the children. 

u  Patient #2 A 40-year old with severe heart burn. Wants to know what foods cause heart burn and what to eat. Asks about taking medicine.

- ask questions and follow up questions based on responses - each actor was given a situation to use, but was free to answer in anyway - after interview, students and actors interacted = additional learning experience

- actor filled out a feedback form - JoAnne Filled out a rubric (process recording form) - Bina filled out a rubric (pronunciation, speaking skills)

Disease Research Project

u  research a disease (ex. diabetes, heart disease, zika)

u  receive library instruction on research and citations

u  include: name (medical & lay terms), signs & symptoms, medicines, and treatments

u  create 10-minute Power Point or Prezi u  JoAnne filled out a rubric (medical content)

Bina filled out a rubric (presentation, pronunciation)

TESTS TO DETECT AND DIAGNOSE �

ü Physical exam and history

ü Fecal occult blood test

ü Colonoscopy

ü Biopsy�

Visit to Health Professions Building

u  Students toured classrooms and labs

u  Professors from 5 programs gave 10-15 minute presentations on their requirements, prerequisites and application process

u  Students: - reported feeling more comfortable with the building and would be more likely to visit, ask questions. -learned more details about the programs listen to native speakers / professors ask questions about prerequisites and program timelines

Findings and What’s Next?

Survey given to pilot project students in December 2016 We asked students questions about different aspects of the course. The results were overwhelmingly positive. “I’ve been learning what I wanted to learn such as medical terminology, health care programs in the USA and diseases.” “Because this class is very useful when I go to hospital or clinic visit a doctor. Before this class, I’m very scare go to see the doctor. Now I feel better.”

Changes to SPE100HP in Spring 2017

u  give more specific medical feedback on dialogues

u  encourage students to attend a course of their desired health professions program – present to class about it

u  after interviewing Live Actor interview - present what they learned from the “patient” in a format used in a hospital

What’s Next?

u  Data to be investigated

u How many ESL students apply to the health professions?

u Entrance statistics for specific programs

u Completion rates of former ESL students

u How many repeat classes?

u  Explore using mentors: advisors for the health professions

Effectsoflanguageonstudentlearningofmathema,csLarryKwonfromUnionCountyCollege

Needforthestudy

•  IhaveobservedthatsomecommunitycollegestudentswhoaremajoringintheSTEMfieldsareweakinprerequisitemathema,csinadvancedmathema,ccourses.

•  Thisbecomesalearningparadoxinpartbecausegenerallyfacultyusetheprerequisitematerialstoteachnewmaterialsinadvancedmathema,ccourses(Sfard,2008).

•  UsingtheprerequisitematerialstoteachnewmaterialscomesfromConstruc,vismbyPiaget(1980):itisthatnewknowledgemaybebuiltfromexis,ngknowledgeorexperiencesrelatedtothenewknowledge.

•  Usingmetaphoricalwordsindiscourses(teaching)may7illthegapbetweennewknowledgeandnon-relatedpreexistingknowledgeorexperiences(Sfard,2008).

•  Theroleofmetaphoricallyusedwordsistotransformlesstangibleideasorimagesofnewknowledgeintomoretangibleandfamiliaronesbyconnectingtonon-relatedpreexistingknowledgeforaclearunderstanding(Sfard,2008)

Somewordsthatwecommonlyusemetaphorically:•  Theskywasdarkandangry.•  Hewatereddownhisproposalquitealotandintheenditwasn'tradicalenough.

Inmathema,cs,mostsymbolsandalgebraicexpressionsareconsideredasmetaphorsthatimplicitlycontainsprocessesofac,ons

Epsilon-DeltaDefini,onofalimitLetfbeafunc'ondefinedonanopenintervalcontainingc(exceptpossiblyatc),andletLbearealnumber.Thestatement

meansthatforeachε>0,thereexistsδ>0suchthatif

€

limx→c

f (x) = L

€

0< x −c <δ

€

f (x)− L <εThen,

(1)  Arealnumberisanextensionofthera,onal

numbersthatiscon,nuous.Thisisreferredtoas

theAxiomofCompleteness(AbboZ,2001).In

addi,on,realnumbersareopera,onalthataddi,on

andmul,plica,onarecommuta,ve,associa,ve,

andthedistribu,vepropertyholds.

Ifwelabeleachrealnumberasadotandplaceallthedots

inastraightline,thereisnogapsorholesfoundbetween

anytwodots(realnumbers)inthestraightline.Thislineis

calledthe(real)numberline.Becauseofthis,weareable

tomeasureadistancebetweenanytwonumbersby

subtrac=ngthenumbers.Thisalsoexplainsthatanytwo

dotscanbemeasurableeveniftheyareveryclosetoeach

otherinthenumberline.

SfardA.(2008).Thinkingascommunication.CambridgeUniversityPress

Piaget,J.(1980).AdaptationandIntelligence(S.Eames,tans),UniversityofChicagoPress,Chicago(originalpublished1974)

Abbott.S.(2000).UnderstandingAnalysis.SpringerScience.

References

QandA