Transcript wwww.coe.int MEETING THE CHALLENGE OF MULTILINGUAL CLASSROOMS: EXPLOITING PLURILINGUAL REPERTOIRES, MANAGING TRANSITIONS AND DEVELOPING PROFICIENCY IN THE LANGUAGE(S) OF SCHOOLING Intergovernmental seminar Strasbourg, 7-8 March 2012 www.coe.int/lang.

wwww.coe.int
MEETING THE CHALLENGE OF MULTILINGUAL
CLASSROOMS: EXPLOITING PLURILINGUAL
REPERTOIRES, MANAGING TRANSITIONS AND
DEVELOPING PROFICIENCY IN THE LANGUAGE(S)
OF SCHOOLING
Intergovernmental seminar Strasbourg, 7-8 March 2012
www.coe.int/lang
wwww.coe.int
DEVELOPING ‘ACADEMIC LANGUAGE’ IN
SECONDARY EDUCATION
Eike Thürmann
www.coe.int/lang
E. Thuermann: Developing ‘academic language’ in secondary education
Predictor
mathematical
competence
for Variance: Prediction
rate in %
Socioeconomic
status
Migration status
16.5
Cultural capital
2.0
3.0
Pre-school education 1.6
Family language
0.5
Employment father
0.3
Family structure
ns
(Prenzel et al. 2004)
3
What
matters: Not
the language
per se, but
the variety
normally
used for
teaching and
learning in
formal
education
E. Thuermann: Developing ‘academic language’ in secondary education
There is an urgent need to turn around
this situation: What we need is a
PEDAGOGY OF RIGOUR AND HOPE
I maintain that it is possible for second
language learners to develop deep
disciplinary knowledge and engage in
challenging academic activities if
teachers know how to support them to
achieve their potential.
Aída Walqui (2006)
4
CHANGE OF
PARADIGM:
From
„how teaching and
learning of content
is organised“
to
„how content is
taught and learnt
in a languagesensitive way“
E. Thuermann: Developing ‘academic language’ in secondary education
Principles
5
Goals
Sustain academic rigour
Hold high expectations
Engage students in quality interactions
Sustain a language focus
Develop quality curriculum
Walqui, A., L. van Lier
(2010). Scaffolding the
Academic Success of
Adolescent English
Language Learners: A
Pedagogy of Promise.
WestEd
E. Thuermann: Developing ‘academic language’ in secondary education
6
LANGUAGE-SENSITIVE CONTENT TEACHING:
Dual focus on content and language across the
curriculum – A whole-school language policy
Three strategies (and tools) to create awareness
(also of non-language specialists!):
I. A Curricular framework for academic language
competences
II. A Checklist for the evaluation of language-sensitive
content teaching
III.A set of techniques for subject-based language
scaffolding
E. Thuermann: Developing ‘academic language’ in secondary education
7
I. ACADEMIC LANGUAGE SKILLS TO BE ACQUIRED BY THE
END OF MANDATORY SCHOOLING
1. General classroom interaction: negotiation of meaning
and participation
2. Information retrieval and processing
3. Basic
cognitive-communicative
strategies
and
discourse functions
4. Documenting, presenting and exchanging of learning
results
5. Availability of linguistic means and language elements
Extensive analysis of curricular documents – Chamber of
Commerce requirements for vocational training – random
sample of task-setting in school-/textbooks - …
E. Thuermann: Developing ‘academic language’ in secondary education
8
I. ACADEMIC LANGUAGE SKILLS TO BE ACQUIRED BY THE
END OF MANDATORY SCHOOLING
negotiation of
meaning
information
retrieval
Semiotic systems
genre diagram
Picture
cognitive
activities
task
presentation
of results
Basic cognitivcommunicative
functions
Name
describe …
Availability olf linguistic means
Word level
Sentence level
Text level
What can we do to protect our ground-water? Make
a class poster and write all the things we can do …
E. Thuermann: Developing ‘academic language’ in secondary education
9
1. Basic General classroom interaction: negotiation of meaning
and participation
Students can clarify conditions for handling and
completion of tasks, organise their work procedures
effectively and arrive at results..
 putting relevant questions and asking for clarification where
necessary
 reacting appropriately to statements by other peers or teacher
 reading carefully through instructions for work and tasks to be
carried out in order to be certain what is expected and under what
conditions
 …
10 indicators
E. Thuermann: Developing ‘academic language’ in secondary education
10
3. Basic cognitive-communicative strategies and discourse
functions
Students can use appropriate language strategies
and tools to process information, experience, and
ideas applying basic language/discourse functions.
This entails mastering the following cognitive and language skills in
particular:
NAMING/DEFINING – DESCRIBING –
REPORTING/NARRATING – EXPLAINING –
ARGUING/TAKING (UP) A STANCE –
JUDGING/VALUING – MODELLING/SIMULATING
25 indicators
E. Thuermann: Developing ‘academic language’ in secondary education
11
3. Basic cognitive-communicative strategies and discourse
functions: e.g ARGUING/TAKING (UP) A STANCE
e.g. clarifying the advantages and drawbacks of differing facts and
ways of behaving, weighing (up) and discussing the pros and cons to
arrive at a personal viewpoint .
e.g. taking a stance for real-life situations which demand crucial
decision-making (e.g. abortion, medicide) by resorting to arguments
based on Christian ethics.
E. Thuermann: Developing ‘academic language’ in secondary education
12
2. Information retrieval and processing
4. Documenting, presenting and exchanging of learning results
16 indicators
8
Genre-based
indicators
curriculum stream
(Hammond 2001)
E. Thuermann: Developing ‘academic language’ in secondary education
13
5. Availability of linguistic means and language elements
• level of individual words and collocations : e.g.
o using one’s knowledge about the structure of composite nouns and
adjectives to decipher the meaning of technical terms (e.g. burnable, in-flamm-able], acid-resistant]
• Sentence level: e.g.
o indicating the impersonal nature of statements through the use of
the passive or other appropriate forms of expression (such as “X can
be measured” and “it should be added that”)
o accurately describing features (for example by adding attributes and
attributive clauses)
• Level of the text: e.g.
o avoiding presuppositions
o introducing new topics/content in a well-ordered fashion
38 indicators
E. Thuermann: Developing ‘academic language’ in secondary education
14
BOTTOM-UP VERIFICATION
• appropriately labelling living things, objects,
processes, events, topics and viewpoints
• assessing
and
specifying
their
specific
characteristics
• Identify and correctly name seasons and most
important festivities of the Christian Church
Year (e.g. Lent, Passion Time, Pentecost,
Advent, Christmas …)
• Identify and denote most important Jewish
and Muslim festivities
Religious Education
E. Thuermann: Developing ‘academic language’ in secondary education
II.A CHECKLIST FOR THE EVALUATION OF
LANGUAGE-SENSITIVE CONTENT TEACHING
Areas of observation
1. Dual-focussed transparent target-setting = 6 indicators
2. Teacher´s use of language = 9 indicators
3. Classroom interaction and opportunities for verbal action = 13
indicators
4. Subject-specific language scaffolding = 7 indicators
5. Linguistically adequate materials and media for teaching and
learning = 7 indicators
6. Assessment of language competences = 6 indicators
15
E. Thuermann: Developing ‘academic language’ in secondary education
16
1. In my geography classes I communicate the specific language
requirements of content teaching to my pupils in such a way that they
fully understand which language activities they are expected to perform
and which language competences they are supposed to acquire.
++
+
-
--
1.1
At the beginning of a teaching unit I clearly point out and explain
what we want to find out (= geography content) as well as which
language competences and activities are relevant for successfully dealing
with tasks and assignments.
e.g. →in the shape of dual/focused advance organizers
Indicators 1.2 – 1.6
E. Thuermann: Developing ‘academic language’ in secondary education
17
Glossary for subject specialists (language pedagogy)
Focus on content
Focus on language
e.g.: Advance organizer = information that is
At prior
the end
the up-coming
teaching
will by
have
presented
tooflearning
and that
canunit
be we
used
learnt
the learner
to organize and interpret new incoming
in which
way
water is the necessary
how we specify
measures
information.
They
provide
scaffolding
distributed across the globe of quantity in absolute and
for students
to ….
relative terms (e.g. water
covers 70.9% of the Earth's
In language-sensitive content teaching
o.how
have
surface)a.
and
we a
transform diagrams
(bar
dual focus and raise students´awareness
for subjectcharts,
pie charts) into
specific content as well as pertinent
language
descriptive statements
competences.
in which states water
appears on earth and which
properties can be attributed
to ….
how to connect to connect
single descriptive
statements and arrive at a
short coherent written text
…
E. Thuermann: Developing ‘academic language’ in secondary education
II.A CHECKLIST FOR THE EVALUATION OF
LANGUAGE-SENSITIVE CONTENT TEACHING
Selfevaluation
Reflective
teaching
Peerevaluation
classroom development
teacher training
18
E. Thuermann: Developing ‘academic language’ in secondary education
III.
A
19
SET OF TECHNIQUES FOR SUBJECT-BASED
LANGUAGE SCAFFOLDING
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Task-based organisation of learning
Extend periods of written work (writing across the curriculum,
writing to learn science)
Decelerate rate of classroom interaction
Make use of plurilingual competences (language awareness)
Terminology: visualise subject-specific cognitive concepts
Extend repertoire of „grammar words“ (synsemantica)
Offer list of functional „chunks“ to choose from
Extend wait time
Open up triadic dialogues (IRF-cycles)
Discover the distinctive features of subject-specific genres
…
E. Thuermann: Developing ‘academic language’ in secondary education
20
Hammond, Jennifer (ed.) (2001). Scaffolding. Teaching and
Learning in Language and Literacy Education. Newtown, Austr.
(PETA).
Walqui, A., L. van Lier (2010). Scaffolding the Academic Success
of Adolescent English Language Learners: A Pedagogy of
Promise. WestEd
Walqui, Aida (2006).Scaffolding Instruction for English Language
Learners: A Conceptual Framework. In: The International
Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 9/2. 159-180.
http://www.educacion.gob.es/exterior/centros/losangeles/es/
series/201003-Scaffolding-Walqui.pdf