Laura A. Hill-Bonnet, Stanford University edTPA Conference November 2, 2013

1. Demystifying "Academic" Language: Supporting candidates and colleagues in the everyday events of school Laura A. Hill-Bonnet, Stanford University edTPA Conference November 2, 2013 University of San Diego

2. Goals and Orientation • We will approach AL from a contextual point of view rather than a linguistic one, identifying it and defining it by the tasks we ask students to do in school. • That is, once we are able to identify what we do in schools, only then we can then examine how we do it (i.e. what we say and the words we use). Laura Hill-Bonnet, STEP (Stanford Teacher Education Program), 11/2/13

3. “Although content based instruction, sheltered instruction, and academic language instruction are valuable attempts to bring together subject matter instruction and second language instruction, their predominate emphases have been on the study and practice of language elements rather than on immersion in rich environments that use language for sense making.” (Lee, Quinn, & Valdès, p. 9, 2013) Laura Hill-Bonnet, STEP (Stanford Teacher Education Program), 11/2/13

4. We make language choices. Context Fluency Purposes Function Structures of language Form Laura Hill-Bonnet, STEP (Stanford Teacher Education Program), 11/2/13

5. Laura Hill-Bonnet, STEP (Stanford Teacher Education Program), 11/2/13

6. Purposes of Academic Language Chamot and O’Malley, 1974/1994 • Seek Information - use who, what, when, where, how • Inform - recount information or retell • Compare - explain graphic organizer showing contrast • Order - describe timeline, continuum or cycle • Classify - describe organizing principles • Analyze - describe features or main idea • Infer - generate hypotheses to suggest cause/outcomes • Justify & Persuade - give evidence why “A” is important • Solve Problems - describe problem-solving procedures • Synthesize - summarize information cohesively • Evaluate - identify criteria, explain priorities, etc. Laura Hill-Bonnet, STEP (Stanford Teacher Education Program), 11/2/13

7. The work we do in classrooms… • Take a look at the following video clip • First, ask yourself what the teacher and students are doing. • Then listen for what the teacher and students are saying to accomplish those tasks. • What do you notice? What do you hear? Laura Hill-Bonnet, STEP (Stanford Teacher Education Program), 11/2/13

8. I left them by asking ,“If the chain just wrapped around the tube, how could you calculate the length,” with the aim of allowing them to use their mathematical reasoning to identify this as the circumference and potentially connect that to arc length to find the curved part of the chain touching the tube. The conversation at [1:05]…., in which the boy walks me through how they found that each of the straight pieces of chain were 5 feet each because “if this is a tangent too, then this would also be five feet” when comparing it to the tangent length found from half of the truck bed. Laura Hill-Bonnet, STEP (Stanford Teacher Education Program), 11/2/13

9. Context matters… Laura Hill-Bonnet, STEP (Stanford Teacher Education Program), 11/2/13

10. Same class, different tasks • “students will describe characteristics of an ecosystem” • the function is “to describe” • student response: “In the dessert it is hot and dry and plants such as cacti have adapted to live in those conditions.” • students need access to forms such as adjectives that describe characteristics (hot and dry), or exemplars like “such as.” • “students will make a prediction about which ecosystem is in greater danger.” • the function is “to predict” • student response: “I predict that if both desserts and wetlands experience a decrease in water availability, then the dessert plants are more likely to survive because they are better adapted to dry conditions.” • students will need the forms necessary to perform a prediction, such as “I predict,” “if…then,” or “more likely.” • In both cases they need access to content specific vocabulary such as “dessert, wetland, plant, adaptation, condition, etc.” Laura Hill-Bonnet, STEP (Stanford Teacher Education Program), 11/2/13

11. Supporting our Candidates in identifying Academic Language What does AL look and sound like in classrooms??

12. Laura Hill-Bonnet, STEP (Stanford Teacher Education Program), 11/2/13

13. Academic Language “demands” in instruction • For example: • discussing ideas and asking questions, • summarizing instructional and disciplinary texts, • giving instructions, • delivering to a mini-lesson, • explaining thinking aloud, • sharing behavioral expectations (“raise your hands”) Laura Hill-Bonnet, STEP (Stanford Teacher Education Program), 11/2/13

14. TCs are asked to: • Consider language demands associated with content understandings in the learning segment. These include the oral and written academic language that students will need to understand or produce in your learning segment. • Identify the key academic language demand and explain why it is integral to the central focus for the segment and appropriate to students’ academic language development. • Consider language functions and language forms, essential vocabulary, symbols, and/or phrases for the concepts and skills being taught, and instructional language necessary for students to understand or produce oral and/or written language within learning tasks and activities. Laura Hill-Bonnet, STEP (Stanford Teacher Education Program), 11/2/13

15. Language Demands (lesson components that are challenging) Language Functions (what we ask students to DO in those challenging components) Language Forms (linguistic structures of those functions) Laura Hill-Bonnet, STEP (Stanford Teacher Education Program), 11/2/13

16. Functions(genres/purposes) • The tasks or purposes AND uses of language. • We use language to accomplish something in formal or informal settings, for social or academic purposes. • Social purposes include: exchanging greetings, expressing needs, making jokes, indicating agreement or disagreement, participating in personal conversations, etc. • Academic purposes include: Laura Hill-Bonnet, STEP (Stanford Teacher Education Program), 11/2/13

17. Identifying AL Functions and Forms • To identify the key AL demands we ask credential candidates to think about the following areas of their lesson plans: • Content Standard(look at the verb) • Learning objectives (look at the verb) • Assessment Laura Hill-Bonnet, STEP (Stanford Teacher Education Program), 11/2/13

18. Identifying AL Functions and Forms • What is it that you want students to do/read/write/say/draw? • Say/write/draft what an “appropriate” student response might be. • What content words does it contain? • What grammatical structures does it contain? Laura Hill-Bonnet, STEP (Stanford Teacher Education Program), 11/2/13

19. Example- H/SS • CA H/SS 10.5.4 • Understand the nature of the WWI • Students will be able to evaluate the causes of the 1st World War in writing. • Students will be able to use sentence structures that include phrases such as “more important than,” and “on the one hand...,” “however.” Laura Hill-Bonnet, STEP (Stanford Teacher Education Program), 11/2/13

20. Forms (linguistic structures) • Content-specific vocabulary • The words that hold our language together and are essential to comprehension. They are words that determine relationships between and among words. Laura Hill-Bonnet, STEP (Stanford Teacher Education Program), 11/2/13

21. For example… • Connecting words: because, then, but, sometimes, before, therefore, however and whereas • Prepositions and prepositional phrases: on, in, under, behind, next to, in front of, between, among and in the background • Basic regular and irregular verbs: leave, live, eat, use, saw, and went • Pronouns: she, he, his, their, it, each other, and themselves • Academic vocabulary:notice, think, analyze, plan, compare, proof, and characteristics Laura Hill-Bonnet, STEP (Stanford Teacher Education Program), 11/2/13

22. Social Studies • In social studies, long sentences with multiple embedded clauses are common. • Cause and effect statements are frequent. • Because there will be more people in the world in the future, we will need more land on which to build towns and cities. • Various verb forms are used: • “I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble.” Augustus is supposed to have spoken these words as he lay dying. He was Rome’s first emperor, and started the first of its great building programs. He claimed that he had had over 80 temples rebuilt. • Frequent use of pronouns it and they as referents. Laura Hill-Bonnet, STEP (Stanford Teacher Education Program), 11/2/13

23. Mathematics • Comparatives: • 6 is greater than 4 • Maria earns six times as much as Peter • Lin is as old as Roberto • Prepositions: • (divided) into, divided by, • 2 multipliedby6 and X exceeds 2 by7 • Passive voice: • X is defined as a number greater than 7. • Reversals: The number a is five less than b. • Logical connectors: if…then • If a is positive then -a is negative. Laura Hill-Bonnet, STEP (Stanford Teacher Education Program), 11/2/13

24. Science • Use of passive voice • Multiple embeddings • Long noun phrases serving as subjects or objects • If…then constructions • Logical connectors (if, because, however, consequently) Laura Hill-Bonnet, STEP (Stanford Teacher Education Program), 11/2/13

25. Science The Calvin cycle is sometimes referred to as the “light-independent reactions”because, unlike the light reactions, it does not require light to begin. However, this does not mean that the Calvin cycle can continue running in a plant kept in the dark. The Calvin cycle requires two inputs supplied by the light reactions, ATP and NADPH. Laura Hill-Bonnet, STEP (Stanford Teacher Education Program), 11/2/13

26. References and Resources • Chamot, A.U. & O'Malley, J.M. (1994). The CALLA Handbook: Implementing the Cognitive Language Learning Approach. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. • Hill-Bonnet, L. (2013). Not just more words, but more functional words. Education Week Teacher http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2013/08/01/fp_hill-bonnet_vocab.html • Lee, O., Quinn, H., & Valdes, G. (2013). Science and Language for English Language Learners in relations to Next Generation Science Standards with Implications for Common Core State Standareds for English Langauge Arts and Mathematics. Educational Researcher http://ell.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/3_EdResearcher%2011%20April%202013%20Lee_Quinn_Valdes%20copy.pdf Laura Hill-Bonnet, STEP (Stanford Teacher Education Program), 11/2/13

27. Thank you! • laurahb1@stanford.edu Laura Hill-Bonnet, STEP (Stanford Teacher Education Program), 11/2/13