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Fostering Academic Literacy What Educators Should Know About Language

Fostering Academic Literacy What Educators Should Know About Language. Academic Language. Higher education demands a new linguistic register:

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Fostering Academic Literacy What Educators Should Know About Language

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  1. Fostering Academic Literacy What Educators Should Know About Language

  2. Academic Language Higher education demands a new linguistic register: “Millions of bright and capable students around the world struggle in school and even give up because they lack the abilities to use language in ways that are expected in academic settings” (Zwiers, 2008).

  3. The Problem to Solve • Academic language is necessary; also a type of “entrapment” -- educators require this language but many “do not explicitly teach” it (Zwiers, 2007). • Further, there is “no simple definition of what academic language is,” despite its crucial role in student success (Snow & Uccelli, 2009).

  4. The Problem to Solve • Academic language demands on new college students: • Gatekeeping function • Invisible, hidden criteria • No one’s home dialect • Difficult to define

  5. The Problem to Solve Students who are transitioning to college are especially hard-hit by unexplained linguistic demands. • Differences from high school • Differences across disciplines • Differences across genres and modalities • Differences across professors • Moving target

  6. The Problem to Solve “Most teachers are typically left to deal with language problems in classrooms in terms of … ‘common sense,’ which in many respects proves counterproductive to the educational enterprise” (Jackendoff, 2007: 260).

  7. The Argument • Both educators and students (in all disciplines) need overt knowledge about language structure and use.

  8. Linguistics and K-12 Teachers • Adger, Wolfram, & Christian (2007) • Benjamin & Berger (2010) • Charity Hudley & Mallinson (2011, 2014) • Denham & Lobeck (2010) • Schleppegrell (2012) • Wilde (2012)

  9. The Goal Educators need to be able to … • make explicit their academic language demands • identify genre and style differences by discipline • understand language varieties among their students (Leung & Street, 2012)

  10. Meta-awareness Approach • Using linguistic knowledge that already exists • Turning the subjective into objective • Incorporating findings of linguistics

  11. “Unwritten Rules” of Academic English Which statement about using “I” is correct? • Never use “I” in academic writing. • Never use “I” in science writing, only in humanities papers. • Use “I” when you believe it furthers your argument.

  12. “Unwritten Rules” of Academic English Why do you need to use academic English? • To please your professors. • Because academic English is the expected form. • Because other types of English come from vague thinking. • Because other types of English are ungrammatical.

  13. Generate Conversations • Question from Teacher: Why do students say ‘conversate’? Why don’t they use ‘converse’? • Question from Student: My teacher keeps correcting me when I say or write ‘based off of.’ What is wrong with that? I hear it all the time, and it seems fine to me.

  14. Generate Conversations • Question from Teacher: Why is students’ writing so prone to run-on sentences and sentence fragments? • Question from Student: Passive sentences are bad! Um, what is a passive sentence?

  15. The Three Rs • Documentary for professional development • Raise questions • Uncover assumptions and misaligned expectations • Generate conversations between students and educators

  16. Citations • Adger, C.T., Wolfram, W. and Christian, D. (2007) Dialects in Schools and Communities (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. • Benjamin, A. and Berger, J. (2010). Teaching Grammar: What Really Works. New York: Routledge. • Charity Hudley, A. H. and Mallinson, C. (2011) Understanding English Language Variation in U.S. Schools. New York: Teachers College Press.

  17. Citations • Denham, K. and Lobeck, A. (2010) Linguistics at School: Language Awareness in Primary and Secondary Education. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. • Jackendoff, R. (2007) A whole lot of challenges for linguistics. Journal of EnglishLinguistics, 35 (3), 253-262.

  18. Citations • Leung, C. and Street, B. (eds) (2012) English: A Changing Medium for Education. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters. • Noguchi, R.R. (1991) Grammar and the Teaching of Writing: Limits and Possibilities. Urbana, IL: NCTE.

  19. Citations • Pearson, P.D. (2007) An endangered species act for literacy education. Journal of Literacy Research, 39, 145-162. • Schleppegrell, M.J. (2012) Academic Language in Teaching and Learning. The Elementary School Journal 112 (3), 409-418.

  20. Citations • Snow, C.E. and Uccelli, P. (2009) The challenge of academic language. In D.R. Olson and N. Torrance (eds) The Cambridge Handbook of Literacy (pp. 112-133). New York: Cambridge University Press. • Wilde, S. (2012) Funner Grammar: Fresh Ways to Teach Usage, Language, and Writing Conventions. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

  21. Citations • Zwiers, J. (2007) Teacher practices and perspectives for developing academic language. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 17 (1), 93-116. • Zwiers, J. (2008) Building Academic Language: Essential Practices for Content Classrooms. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

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