The Importance of Academic Language in the New Standards

1. The Importance of Academic Language in the New Standards Laura J. Wright, PhD *NCELA is supported by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA), awarded to Leed Management Consulting, Inc. in Silver Spring, Maryland, in collaboration with Synergy Enterprises, Inc. and the Center for Applied Linguistics.

2. Overview • EL students in charter schools • New content standards • Connecting new standards and ELP/D standards: The ELPD Framework • ELP/D standards • Academic language • Examples and resources

3. ELs in Charter Schools subtitle

4. Data on EL Students in Charter Schools • Four states with highest number of charter schools are among the top 5 with highest Hispanic student1 enrollment (AZ, CA, FL, TX) • Estimate: 16.5% of charter students are ELs, but such data are reported to be incomplete and/or ambiguous • Missing data due to non-reporting and interpretational issues • 2013-14 first year for U.S. Department of Education to collect school-level data (rather than district-level) on EL enrollment • Four evaluation studies on Latinos 1 and ELs in charter schools • 1 Nearly half (45%) of all U.S. Latino children are EL students (Kohler, A.D. & Lazarin, M., 2007).

5. National Content Standards

7. Common Core State Standards • English Language Arts & Technical Subjects • Mathematics • 46 states have adopted the CCSS to date

8. Other Content Standards • Next Generation Science Standards • Common Career Technical Core • State Standards

9. Opportunities of the New Standards • New national standards provide an opportunity to re-conceptualize what literacy and language development mean for ELs in academic contexts.

10. Instruction for EL Students • The paradigm of the new standards for English learners requires: • Teaching language and content • Complementary and reinforcing content and English Language Development instruction Background on college and career readiness standards

11. The Common Core of State Standards states the following with regard to ELs, the development of native like proficiency in English takes many years and will not be achieved by all ELLs especially if they start schooling in the US in the later grades. Teachers should recognize that it is possible to achieve the standards for reading and literature, writing & research, language development and speaking & listening without manifesting native-like control of conventions and vocabulary. From Application of Common Core State Standards for English Language Learners, retrieved June 27, 2012, from http://www.corestandards.org/assets/application-for-english-learners.pdf.

12. Shifts in Instruction • Non-fiction texts • Argumentation • Close reading of complex texts • Conceptual understanding and disciplinary practice • Development of academic vocabulary and academic language

13. Connecting Content and ELP/D Standards The ELPD Framework

14. Content Standards and Language Demands: The Framework for English Language Proficiency Development (ELPD) Standards • Corresponds to CCSS and the NGSS • Provides guidance to states on how to use the expectations of the CCSS and NGSS as tools for the creation and evaluation of ELP/D standards • Illustrates that ELs need to access grade-level content, as well as build language proficiency

15. The ELPD Framework The Framework: • outlines the underlying English language practices found in the CCSS and the NGSS • communicates to EL stakeholders the language that all ELs must acquire in order to successfully engage the CCSS and NGSS • specifies a procedure by which to evaluate the degree of alignment present between the Framework and ELP/D standards under consideration or adopted by states.

16. ELP/D Standards WIDA ELPA21

17. 2012 Amplification of WIDA Standards • Informed by the latest developments in both English language development research and states' content standards for college and career readiness. • Connected to college and career readiness standards • Focused on • Higher order thinking • Features of Academic language

18. Features of Academic Language in WIDA’s Standards

20. ELPA21 Standards

21. Academic Language

22. Academic English • Broadly speaking, Academic English is defined as the language that is needed for school success. Beyond that, however, scholars differ in the ways they define it. • BICS/CALP • Competence • SFL • Pragmatics • New literacy studies

23. Foundations of Academic Language & Literacy • Literacy is greater than alphabetic knowledge; it involves ways of knowing, being, and doing. • Literacy involves multiple sign systems of which, language and languages are important. • Literacy develops within social contexts; it is a process of cultural transmission. • The social contexts of literacy practices are always associated with power relations. •  Students’ home literacy and language practices can be valued and leveraged to support their development of academic literacy practices.

24. Foundations of Academic Language & Literacy • There are multiple perspectives on academic language that influence approaches to language teaching. • Academic literacy and language practices vary by discipline and content area. • Developing academic language is process of language socialization.

25. Recommendations and Examples

26. Recommendations Schools should: • Understand implicit language demands of the new standards • Support explicit academic language development • Provide complementary ELD instruction • Support native language and literacy development • Practice ongoing formative assessment

27. CCSS Instruction and EL StudentsResources • Academic Language Development Network • Videos, articles • Education Connections (CAL/ University of Oregon) • Lesson planning template, Resource Library, webinars • Understanding Language (Stanford) • Videos, articles, MOOCs

28. Professional Development Programs to Support Academic Language Development • Guided Language Acquisition Design (GLAD) • WIDA LADDER • Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL) • Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP)

29. NCELA Resources • NCELA Nexus: askncela@leedmci.com • Resource Library: www.ncela.ed.gov

30. References Anstrom, K., DiCerbo, P., Butler, F., Katz, A., Millet, J., & Rivera, C. (2010). A review of the literature on academic English: Implications for K-12 English language learners. Arlington, VA: The George Washington University Center for Equity and Excellence in Education. Bunch, G. C. (2006). "Academic English" in the 7th grade: Broadening the lens, expanding access. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 5, 284-301. Council of Chief State School Officers. (2012). Framework for English language proficiency development standards corresponding to the Common Core State Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards. Washington, DC: Author. Cummins, J. (1981) .The role of primary language development in promoting educational success for language minority students. In California State Department of Education (Ed.), Schooling and language minority students: A theoretical framework. Los Angeles: California State University; Evaluation, Dissemination and Assessment Center. Cummins, J., & Man, Y. F. E. (2007). Academic language: What is it and how do we acquire it? In J. Cummins & C. Davison (Eds.), International handbook of English language teaching (Vol. 2, pp. 797-810). Norwell, MA: Springer. Echevarría, J., Vogt, M. E., & Short, D. J. (2013). Making content comprehensible for English learners: The SIOP Model (4th ed.). Boston: Pearson. Ellis, R. (2008). The study of second language acquisition. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. García, O. (2009.) Education, multilingualism and translanguaging in the 21st century. In A. Mohanty, M. Panda, R. Phillipson, & T. Skutnabb-Kangas (Eds.), Multilingual education for social justice: Globalising the local (pp. 128-145). New Delhi, India: Orient Blackswan. Gee, J. P. (2008). What is academic language? In A. S. Rosebery & B. Warren (Eds.), Teaching science to English language learners: Building on students’ strengths (pp. 57-70). Arlington, VA: National Science Teachers Association. Gibbons, P. (2002). Scaffolding language, scaffolding learning: Teaching second language learners in the mainstream classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

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32. Thank you! *NCELA is supported by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA), awarded to Leed Management Consulting, Inc. in Silver Spring, Maryland, in collaboration with Synergy Enterprises, Inc. and the Center for Applied Linguistics.