Language for Academic Thinking
Language for Academic Thinking
Chapter two in “Building Academic Language” delves into the topic of academic language. It begins by defining the differences between social language (the less complex language used to build relationships) and academic language (more complex abstract language). The most interesting part of the chapter for me was the part relating to bricks and mortar. The bricks are the content specific words, while the mortar are the words which hold the bricks together. (Zwiers, p. 22) This idea of bricks and mortar is something that I have never really though about. This use of bricks and mortar and more specifically academic language in general, is extremely important in allowing complex ideas from a subject to be expressed verbally. I believe that many of the ideas that I have gathered in this chapter, will be of great benefit when I begin my teaching. These ideas such as bricks and mortar will hopefully allow me to better explain the subject material to my students.