Chapter 8: Language for Academic Writing
During my short practicum, I had the opportunity to observe a grade 9 English class. After the lesson I had a brief conversation with the teacher, during which she lamented the fact that many of her junior classes had come into high school unequipped with some of the basic language requirements expected to be met by the time they reached high school. Some demonstrated fairly shaky understanding of some of the key features of academic writing, such as identifying parts of speech such as verbs, adjectives, proper nouns etc.
Her remedy to this was to return to the base expectations of the curriculum, building the foundations of language and giving them the basic tools of academic language before asking them write creatively or expressively. I liken this to the arts; a student could have grandiose ideas of a project or piece they want to undertake, yet without the tools to enact their concepts such as an understanding of line, form, shape, shadow, tone, color etc., their voices are lost or misrepresented. It is difficult to make the translation of thoughts and ideas into any type of language, especially academic or school writing.
One way to teach academic language is to repeat the brick words in context, and to have to students repeated the words. Hand gestures are a great way to model language in a kinesthetic way, for example when talking about ‘form’ and shape’ having the students create forms with their hands, and then in turn asking them to describe the gesture with adjectives such as round, sharp, straight, large etc. Perspective writing can also be another useful tool as it incorporates a theatrical quality that is fun and interactive. Asking students to embody the person, object, or place, and having them describe something from an imaginary perspective are effective methods to add humor and imagination into the writing process.
Kathy