LLED 360

I like how this chapter discusses important thinking skills within each of the four disciplines. I also like how it informs teachers on how to help their students build on these skills by providing lots of excerpts of how other teachers scaffold their student’s learning. By examining the four disciplines in detail, the author allows teachers to get a glimpse on the variation of academic language that students face every day in other classrooms. Hopefully by realizing this, teachers may avoid stepping into their “expert blind spots” (69) and learn to take the extra time in developing lesson plans that will go over all necessary information in order for novices within their field to succeed. I agree with Zwiers when he claims teachers need to “[know] how novices think and struggle as they are learning the content” (70). Just as a history teacher would develop their students’ abilities in taking on different perspectives by being “able to think ‘in the shoes’ of another person” (83), it is just as important for teachers to place themselves inside their students’ shoes in order to figure out what they’re struggling with. Once teachers understand this, the process of devising a way of helping their students won’t be too difficult.

Last week we did our reading on vocabulary and how important it was.  While reflecting on this topic, I realized that as I child I had a lot of problems with vocabulary.  My problem was that I was a very visual person.  When people spoke to me I would visualize the words I was hearing to make sense of them.  However, this led to problems with the different forms of words.  If something was said to me orally then I wasn’t always able to figure out how to spell it.  In my mind there was a disconnect between the oral and print forms.  For example, I have a friend named Cedise.  I know this is an uncommon name, but nevertheless it is a name.  So when someone was telling me about the Cedise Sky High, I wondered if this highway was named after my friend.  A few years later I saw a sign that read Sea to Sky highway.  All of a sudden it clicked, for years I had been writing the Cedise Sky Highway because most people pronounce it the same as Sea to Sky highway.  (most people pronounce it sea-dis-ky).  As a result I realized that it would be very useful to not only speak new words but to also show how they are spelt!

Academic language can be adapted to many different uses. Each discipline uses its own discipline-specific variations of academic language. Sometimes the meaning of this language overlaps between disciplines, while in other instances it may carry an entirely different meaning. For instance, there are multiple uses of the word perspective in art, and although some of these uses may be similar to how it might be used when discussing science or history, there are certain uses that are entirely unique to the discipline. In addition to shared language, there is academic language that is entirely unique within a given discipline. It may eventually become so specialized within their discipline that it could become entirely unrecognizable to those outside the discipline.

Ensuring language competency cannot be the sole burden of English teachers but must be emphasized across all disciplines, a contemporary expectation that isn’t yet being universally adopted amongst educators. The danger is in that educators are experts in their discipline, and in many cases may overlook properly introducing complex language or its discipline-specific application simply because it seems rudimentary to them. It is crucial for educators to understand how students think and what they may be challenged by, and to become more aware of the way in which they reference existing language to explain new terminology.

In the language arts, the student’s ability to convey a literal understanding, to develop an intertextual reading, and to identify and explain recurring themes demonstrates understanding and thoughtful engagement by the student. In the language of history, it is used to establish context, content, and to interpret ideas and events from a particular time and to develop both a critical and empathetic understanding of how it is related to that which precedes and follows it. The language of science is often represented in ways that have little crossover with other disciplines. It is highly technical, empirical, objective, literal, well-organized, and hierarchical. The language of mathematics is perhaps the most distinct as it shares almost no academic language with other disciplines; it uses unfamiliar symbols and unusual methods of organization. It’s abstract nature makes it heavily reliant on a thorough understanding of prior concepts.

Academic language doesn’t always need to be overtly explained, and can often be inferred and reinforced in dialogue with students. Because of a lack of appropriate language to express an understanding, students will often provide fragmented answers to questions posed in the classroom. Demonstrating appropriate use of academic language specific to that discipline by neutrally rephrasing these statements is perhaps the most popular method to subtly develop academic language, and seems to be widely employed across many disciplines.

In many ways, language is more important than that which it describes. The books, facts, theories, and subjects will continue to change for students, but the specific language and the general linguistic ability that it develops will be a relatively static asset in sustaining an ongoing understanding of the world around them.

There are certain words that are used with great frequency that elude general definition. In the arts, perhaps there are no words quite as vague and yet loaded with meaning as the words creative, beautiful and abstract. What do these words mean to you? How do you use them in colloquial speech? In what ways are they used in your particular discipline?

To master using appropriate language in a certain subject area, students will first need to learn terminologies and concepts in that subject. It is essential for them to memorize words, use certain sentence structures, analyze unique ideas and express their own thoughts in particular patterns. Part of a teacher’s responsibility is to help them grasp all the above with scaffolding.

However, it does not stop just there. Rather than something used only in classrooms, language is supposed to be an inner ability which one will employ for every aspect of life. When a teacher teaches a subject, he or she should not only consider students’ language growth inside the classroom, but also think about how students can apply this newly acquired language growth in real life situations. For example, in a literature class a student may seem to understand theme and motif quite well, and he can identify these elements for an in-class reading, but one question remains for the teacher — is he able to do this only because there are so many hints and aid from the teacher and fellow students’ comments in the class, or can he actually utilize these concepts when he reads other literature in order to gain bigger satisfaction, reflect upon the social issue addressed in the work, or gain new perspectives for his thinking? Thus the teacher should always keep in mind that ultimately language growth is for helping the student become more competent.

It is also important to remember that language growths in each subject are not isolated. In a historical novel, the author may very well use a lot of real historical figures and events to make the illustration more vivid. Students without the proper language ability in history may have difficulty to comprehend the meaning because of lack of knowledge in background, timeline and social norms of a particular time. The same applies to scientific novels, popular science books, or even trivial things like bank statements (which will include basic math). It is the teacher’s job to remind students that they should constantly try to apply their language growth in as many fields as possible for their own benefits.

Chang Liu

In a nutshell, vocabulary is a fundamental part of reading comprehension. In other words, if you don’t know enough words, you are going to have trouble grasping what you read. On one hand, a few words you don’t know will not interfere with your comprehension significantly. However, if there are too many words you don’t know, comprehension will suffer. The sole purpose of reading is comprehending the content of the books or textbooks, therefore, too many not understood words will cause the reader to not comprehend the content.

Students with strong vocabularies are more successful in school than students with weak vocabularies. It is not wrong to say that people with strong vocabularies will be more likely to enjoy successful careers. This is true because words are in fact the tools not just of better reading, but of better writing, speaking, listening, and even thinking as well. The more words you have in your toolbox, the more effective  and even persuasive your communication/message can be.

In today’s society, a strong vocabulary is more crucial than ever before. This is so because there are fewer less people working in farms and factories. Thus, there are far more jobs that provide services and/or process information than in the past. More than anything else, words are tools of our trade: words we use in reading writing, speaking and listening. Furthermore, it not uncommon for people to change jobs and be promoted and learning new skills at an ever-increasing pace. Therefore, the key to success in this case will be the abilities to communicate effectively and learn quickly. In brief,  a strong vocabulary is mandatory for both of these skills.

The section in chapter four titled “Interpretation in Language Arts” prompted me to consider the ways in which I will approach “interpretation” in my teaching, as it is such a major component to any English literature class. Zwiers reminds us that “[s]tudents are still apprentices in the types of thinking needed to read between the lines and interpret deeper meanings. We must be creative at scaffolding the complexity that has now become automatic to us” (72). After spending so many post-secondary years in English and theatre classes, I need to be constantly aware of my “interpretive” discourse that has become a second nature to me, recognizing that my students are in the early stages of developing this form of dialogue as well as understanding all of the jargon that can be used to interpret.

I could appreciate the text’s example of scaffolding through a conversation in which the teacher discusses interpreting the story with a student (72, 73). I find that interpreting and textual analysis through discussions such as this one are tremendously helpful to the learning process. When teachers ask questions to break down the “hidden” meanings in a text it enables the students to come up with the answers themselves rather than the teacher providing the answers. Also, it models the thinking process for the students, so that they will eventually be able to ask the critical questions themselves when trying to interpret meaning from a text. This method is also directly relatable to interpreting in a drama class, as the teacher will often prompt students with a variety of questions so that they can interpret certain characters or derive meaning from the scene they are rehearsing.

Sara Martens

Now that I am no longer working everyday after class, I have regained my sanity  and have some time to go back and reflect on various topics we have gone through as a class.

I would first like to discuss about chapters 1 and 2 about building academic language together with the group presentation on those chapters. Through my experience as a tutor and coach, I love to teach through colloquialisms and metaphors since it’s easier to retain less abstract information so I wasn’t too sure where I stood with my opinion on this chapter. I think a nice mix of both is good; initially introduce concepts using as few new academic words as possible, then once the students are familiar, formalize the concepts by using academic language and teach the meanings of new ‘bricks’. I guess in a metaphorical sense, I like to cover my bricks with mortar before I assemble my walls. Maybe I’m still slightly insane.

Regarding the presentation, I really enjoyed the example of teacher paraphrasing what the student says, as this connects a colloquial word (what the student said) with academic language (what the teacher paraphrases). I also enjoyed the concept of the in-class exercise, as it really demonstrates how important mortar is when instructing and teaching. Unfortunately, I got paired up first with a home-ec teacher whose parents were both math teachers, and I love to cook. So when I was instructed to draw a sieve, santoku knife, mortar and pestle, and spring-form pan (which I knew but my partner didn’t!), these were all items with which I had experience. And needless to say, my partner’s mathematical background was strong enough that she didn’t need much from me to solve the equation; thus we were both already fairly proficient in the ‘bricks’ of each other’s disciplines. But the second time around, when we were allowed to do anything, it was still easier to communicate!

-Linh

The perspective of Fang and Schleppegrell (2010), who point out to the changes in literacy demands imposed by secondary schooling, can be directly linked with Chapter 2 of Zwiers’s book. The reason for this connection is that both works view the challenges that secondary students face as a result of their immersion into academic language, which is qualitatively distinct from the previous language foundations they had. This immersion must not be abrupt, because academic language requires the development of new capacities from students in a process that should be stimulated and directed by teachers. In light of this, the Functional Language Analysis can be a valuable approach to help teachers outline their methodology to guide students in becoming literate in this level of language. Nonetheless, I personally found such a strategy rather intricate and challenging to be fully comprehended in a few pages. Even though the article is very well-written and presents a compelling introduction to the Functional Language Analysis, it certainly condensates many aspects of the approach, and therefore incites further research on the matter for educators who want to use it.

Vitor Giberti

The acquiring of vocabulary comes quite naturally to many people. For these people it can be very difficult to remember the particular moments that solidified ones knowledge and “ownership” of a new vocabulary word.  In fact, it is hard to remember how or when we learned most words at all!

I found this article* helpful because it broke down the learning of vocabulary into its smallest parts. After reading this, I can better identify the ways in which I acquired vocabulary and this helps me to gain insight on the experiences that my students may have.

I learned a great deal of vocabulary through my reading, as I loved to read in my spare time (“incidental word learning through reading”)*. I also learned much of my most sophisticated vocabulary from conversing with my parents and older sister (“oral language experiences at home”)*. They used more complex words and I incidentally and incrementally formed understanding and eventually took ownership of this vocabulary for myself. I also loved watching television shows that showcased lawyers, as well political debates and I loved anything that involved people with British accents (usually in the form of Public Broadcasting programs). This viewing exposed me to many terms and that were academic and were in contextual settings. I had the added resource of my parents (watching with me) to ask questions about vocabulary that I could not quite grasp. My parents also taught me a number of skills to help me decipher vocabulary for myself. They showed how to find the “root” word and also how to use contextual clues to interpret meaning. I also had regular access to the internet and attended thriving public schools, where my teachers used many methods to introduce us to words, from spelling tests to reading novels out loud as a class.

Looking back, I realize that I grew up with the opposite experience of “word poverty”*. I had a wealth of words. I remember sometimes being insulted by peers because I used too many “big words” and I was always surprised by their accusation, as I had acquired them incrementally and incidentally in my word wealthy life, and was shocked that they could not understand me. It didn’t occur to me at the time that I was incredibly privileged to be in this kind of vocabulary rich environment. Now as I think about my current and future students, I wonder what kind of language environments they are being exposed to outside of school and how I can use my influence to create the kind of environments that will help them to succeed.

In some ways, the study of theatre makes the language “playing field” a bit more even. This is because many of the theatrical terms are taken from languages from all over the world. For instance, Bertolt Brecht’s word “Verfremdungseffekt ” is of German origins and in clowning (commedia dell’arte) much of the language comes from Italy, such as a comedic “lazzi”. These terms will be a challenge for mainstream English speakers as well as ELLs and this may help to bridge the gap between their language learning experiences and make ELLs more comfortable as they see their English speaking counterparts having to work from a place of less privilege. However, this stresses the importance of the skills around teaching vocabulary for theater teachers, as we will sometimes be working with much less commonly known terms.

*Lehr, Osbourne & Heibert. A Focus on Vocabulary.http://vineproject.ucsc.edu/resources/A%20Focus%20on%20Vocabulary%20PREL.pdf

Melanie Reich

Class discussions and assigned readings have collectively highlighted the increased difficulty that English Language Learners encounter compared to their peers. In addition to  having to master the vernacular language in order to understand, be understood, and be accepted into social dynamics, ELLs must also incorporate academic language as used in the classroom.

Each subject area either introduces new vocabulary, offers alternative definitions and connotations to familiar language, or both. The shear amount of information that students are expected to retain can be overwhelming and discouraging. As an English learner I can be challenged and feel intimidated by unfamiliar fields. The examples and scaffolding described in the text struck me with the idea that subject specific classroom environments should then try to create a “practice arena” for students instead of a delivery system. Exposing students to language, its use, and encouraging students to engage and not be afraid to manipulate the terms creates a safer space. Combine this with being as aware as possible of the limitations that the accepted language of our academic fields present can optimize the goal of having students feel accepted into the subject’s community. Common transition words, expressions, attached significance to the weight, and use of a word need to be articulated and explained. The use of such terms can then be encouraged and used as often as it remains relevant. Language is like a muscle as it can only become stronger and more developed through use and exercise.

Besides familiarity with a language, the types of thought that exist for different cultures and families must be taken into consideration. Being Canadian, I often take for granted how society has shaped my values, flexibility to express myself, and my thought processes developed through parental influence and my education experience. How I choose to explore material, question information, and challenge my surroundings, whether it be academic sources, my peers, teachers, parents or role models, have been intrinsically shaped by the society and culture by which I have been surrounded. As a teacher, if I continuously bring these ideals and expectations into my classroom, then there are may diverse students that may struggle with this type of encouraged critical or creative thinking as it has yet to have been introduced within their own family and cultural circles, and vice versa.

Being consciousness of the level and type of language chosen within a classroom setting, the abstract themes and modes of thinking we choose to encourage require equal amounts of consideration. Being open minded and flexible are key features to lesson structures. Without these qualities, students that lie outside the traditional societal framework, linguistically or by customs, can be left behind unintentionally. Now, when I am faced with having to discuss the concepts of function, rational, prime, and integer in math classrooms, I must specifically acknowledge all of the extra baggage that is tied to each of these terms. All of the reflection, scaffolding, and self-expression that has been introduced and continuously revisited over the last month are going to become essential tools.