Content-Area Variations of Academic Language in Physical Education
Chapter four introduces the readers to four different disciplines of academia where different language needs to be used. As stated in the chapter, it is very important for teachers to develop pedagogical content knowledge, and really understand how a novice learner feels when they are learning the discipline’s language. It is important for teachers not to lose site of the fact that their students are at a different level than they are, and that teachers need to teach to the novice learner.
Although the chapter focused on learning language for Science, Mathematics, Language Arts, and History, I believe that these concepts can be used in my discipline of Physical Education. For instance when teaching team games, cause and effect is very important to understand the tactics and strategies surrounding sport. An example of cause and effect that a teacher could use would be:
T: “Ok Jimmy, if Matt is advancing towards the goal line with the ball, where would the best place for you to move to as a support player?”
S: “I should go beside Matt.”
T: “Ok so if you move towards Matt, where will your defender go?”
S: “He will follow me.”
T: “Correct he will follow you towards Matt and the ball, and then there will be two defenders on Matt, his and yours. What about if you moved away from Matt towards the sidelines to provide width, where would your defender go?”
S: “He would follow me, and then Matt would only have one defender on him.”
T: “Exactly, so because Matt would only have one defender on him, he would have more time and space with the ball to look for the best passing option.”
It is important that when teaching, teachers use different cue words and specific language to help direct student’s thinking. Physical Education is an example of a discipline where teachers can use different language strategies to help students understand the concepts. As well as cause and effect, interpretation would also be good to help students understand what their opponent’s team is doing. All in all, it is really important for teachers to understand that learning language does not only happen in English, but it must be continuously incorporated into all subject matter.