Eric S Dwyer
820 15 Street, #1
Miami Beach, Florida 33139
tel: 305 348-2078
fax: 305 348-2086
email: dwyere@fiu.edu
Introduction
We need to define what academic language is. If we subscribe to Delpit’s (1998) axiom that children learn how to discover how language is put together, we ourselves then need to know what components we should be guiding them toward discovering. In the language education fields, we have identified a number of areas and quantified them. Cummins (1979) describes Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP). During debates on why English Language Learners (ELLs) struggle more than native speakers, language educators often express concern that ELLs who have been in the country for a short time may only have had enough English preparation to operate effectively in simpler activities, i.e, those that only require BICS. This is particularly evident in areas where ELLs participate with native speakers in that ELLs appear not to have experienced an appropriate quantity of input concerning CALP accessible material or critical thinking skills to prepare them for classes designed specifically for native English speakers. Collier and Thomas’s (2001) research highlights school models that help ELLs catch up with their English-speaking counterparts. Of note, they state that the sheltered English methodologies (e.g., Chamot and O'Malley, 1994; Echevarria, 1998; Jameson, 2000; Cloud, Genessee, and Hamayan, 2000; Klingner and Vaughn, 2000), as well as the literacy strategies these methods encompass, help ELLs develop academic language and critical thinking skills necessary to be catching up and ultimately working at the same level as native speakers.
Academic Language: Vocabulary
To date, concentration on Cummins’s (1979) BICS and CALP, as well as Bloom’s (1956) Taxonomy have focused on vocabulary. However, to suggest that vocabulary is the only means of analyzing or understanding academic language would be short sighted. Cook (1989) identified varying levels of discourse, listing them from the most rudimentary to more global and complex, including sounds and letters, lexis and grammar, cohesion, conversational mechanics, discourse function, discourse type, shared knowledge, and relationships, all of which could certainly be applied to a sense of what makes up academic language.
In terms of specific vocabulary, however, Gardner (1999) demonstrated that the input of specific words related to CALP progress may only come from materials aimed toward academic development. In his comparison of a Laura Ingalls Wilder novel and National Geographic, he found that the most commonly written word in the Little House book was the name of its main character “Laura” with additional vocabulary seemingly to possess mostly qualities of BICS. The language he found in National Geographic, on the other hand, seemed to include more CALP-related vocabulary. Therefore, Gardner concluded that although pleasure reading (c.f., Cho and Krashen, 1995) is recommended, children may require some specific guidance in order to be receiving appropriate quantities of academic vocabulary.
Coxhead (2001) and Nation (2001) have also concentrated on codifying academic vocabulary, developing extensive lists of vocabulary words often found in English language materials and identifying high-frequency words and academic words. (These studies also directly refer to West’s (1955) word lists of most commonly used vocabulary.) Coxhead (2001) developed a list of 570 academic words, claiming that this lexicon accounts for nearly 10 percent of all language found at college level. To my knowledge, however, such an account of vocabulary building has never been done for students at elementary or secondary levels.
Academic Language: Grammar
Of Cox’s (1989) discourse elements, grammar has often been acknowledged as a primary component of language scholarship. For adult ELL’s, grammar is often a highly targeted element of language learning, especially in English language institutes where many courses in grammar are offered. Famous textbooks used in these classes exist, such as Azar’s (2001) Basic English Grammar, Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman’s (1998) The Grammar Book, and Firsten and Killian’s (1994) Troublesome English—all listed as seminal works by the TESOL P-12 Teacher Education Standards (Stack et al, 2002). Although there are established books of grammar available, the grammar, approached as an academic form of language, especially at elementary and secondary levels, has to my knowledge been little evaluated. Furthermore, younger ELLs often take the same exams their native-speaking counterparts take to advance in school or graduate. As a result, the academic language of these tests could be a valuable focus in such an inquiry regarding the academic grammar these ELLs face.
ELLs and high-stakes academic grammar
With valued contribution from Patricia Killian, I conducted a pilot study, examining high stakes testing preparation books in an effort to uncover principal grammar points ELLs should understand and process in order in order to pass the high stakes tests. Table 1 shows the preparation books analyzed. From these texts, nine grammar points stood out as difficulties ELLs should encounter from a grammatical perspective. The list of these nine academic grammar points and actual examples from these texts are shown in Table 2.
Examination of these kinds of grammar points should shed light on the goals of ELLs as they progress toward high school graduation. Students entering English-medium schools at earlier ages will clearly have more opportunities to conquer these difficult points. Teachers of elementary level ELLs can keep such points in mind as they help their students in programs requiring transition to mainstream classes. All secondary teachers may actually wish to place regular emphasis and practice of these grammar issues into their curricula as they assist students with catching up to their native-speaking counterparts. For us as researchers, this grammar list may initiate examination of the components of academic language beyond vocabulary.
Table 1. High stakes preparatory textbooks used for analysis of grammar.
|
Textbook |
Subject |
grade level |
|
Comprehensive Reading and
Writing Assessment (Lund Orciuch and
Babcock, 2000) |
Literacy |
8th grade |
|
Comprehensive Math Assessment (Emery, Mitchell, and Mitchell, 2000) |
Math |
8th grade |
|
Comprehensive Reading and
Writing Assessment (Lund Orciuch and
Babcock, 2000) |
Literacy |
4th grade |
|
Comprehensive Math Assessment (Emery, Mitchell and Mitchell, 2000) |
Math |
4th grade |
|
1. 2-Word verbs ·
Blood also picks up
wastes at this time. ·
If Lynette takes
one marble out without looking, which two colors have an equal chance of
being picked? ·
Fill in the
missing numbers and the + or - sign. ·
If you can find out
what is important in the story, you will figure
out the main idea. 2. Modals (may, might, must, would,
could, should, can) ·
Why might this
be a sign that you have an infection? ·
What words would
you use to describe flowering plants? ·
Should factory
farms be used to feed people? 3. Instructions ·
Take a deep breath and
blow up a balloon. ·
Predict how much the
water level will go up if you add the pebbles. ·
Write the total number
of oatmeal, blueberry, and lemon muffins. ·
Suppose a plant is dug
up and its root hairs are destroyed. 4. Strung prepositional phrases · The parts of the respiratory system are shown
in the drawings on the next two
pages. · Plants that produce new plants of the same kind
from seeds are called seed plants. · Be sure to support or explain your answer to
these questions by including details
from the reading
or listening selection. 5. Questions ·
If she wants to be at
the field 15 minutes before the game starts, what time should she leave
her house? ·
How many different
ways can he pay for it using only dimes, nickels, and pennies? ·
How do your results
and conclusions compare with those of your classmates? 6. Passives ·
As it contracts, blood
is squeezed through a valve into the right ventricle. ·
How are materials
carried from the roots to all parts of a plant? ·
How many green triangles
are needed to cover 1/3 of the figure to the right? 7. Infinitive phrases ·
Finding a way to
get the whales to move is an example
of problem solving. ·
When Dr. Roger Payne
went to South America to study white whales, his children went too. ·
To budget your time
for each part of the test, look quickly through the entire session before
you
being answering questions. ·
It is important to
ask your teacher to explain any
directions that you do not understand. 8. Clipped passives/relative clauses ·
Blood sent through
the body gives up its oxygen to cells. ·
The people
discussed here spend their time looking for answers to questions about
illnesses. ·
Captain Luskin,
once caught by the giant clam, sailed to find the Spanish shipwreck San
Antonio. 9. Complex sentences ·
Don suggests (that)
dog owners take the time to train their dogs, and to be sure to have some fun with them
every day. ·
While you are
reading this story, a scientist somewhere in the world may be discovering something new
about whales. · What you learn will help you understand more about the different parts of a plant. |
Alderson, J. R. and Urquhart, A. H. (1984). This Test is unfair. I’m not an economist. In P. C. Carrell, J. Devine, and D. E. Eskey (Eds.). Interactive approaches to second language reading (pp 168-182). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Azar, B. (2001). Basic English Grammar ELC, Volume A (2nd Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson ESL.
Bloom, B. S. (Ed.) (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals: Handbook I, cognitive domain. New York: Toronto: Longmans, Green.
Castro Feinberg, R. (2002). Bilingual Education: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC CLIO.
Celce-Murcia, M. and Larsen-Freeman, D. (1998). The Grammar Book: An ESL/EFL Teacher’s Course. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Chamot, A. U. and O’Malley, J. M. (1994). The CALLA Handbook: Implementing the Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing.
Cho, K.S. and Krashen, S. (1995). “From Sweet Valley Kids to Harlequins in one year.” California English, 1, 18-19.
Cloud, N., Genessee, F., and Hamayan, E. (2000). Dual Language Instruction. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Collier, V. and Thomas, W. (1989). How quickly can immigrants become proficient in school English? Journal of Educational Issues of language Minority Students 5, 26-38.
Collier, V. and Thomas, W. (2001). Reforming Schools for English Language Learners: Achievement Gap Closure. Presentation at NABE 2001: 30th Annual International Bilingual/Multicultural Education Conference, February 20-24, Phoenix.
Cook, G. (1989). Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Coxhead, Averil (2000). “A New Academic Word List.” TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 34, No. 2, Summer.
Cummins, J. (1979). Cognitive/academic language proficiency, linguistic interdependence, the optimum age question and some other matters. Working Papers on Bilingualism19, 121-29.
Cummins, J. (2001). Language, Power, and Pedagogy. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd.
Delpit, L. (1998). The silenced dialogue: Power and pedagogy in educating other people’s children. Harvard Educational Review 58, 280-298.
Dwyer, E. & Killian, P. (2001). Helping low-level ESOL students achieve CALP. Paper presented at TESOL 35th Annual Convention and Exposition, February Saint Louis, Missouri.
Echevarria, J. & Graves, A. (1998). Sheltered Content Instruction: Teaching Students with Diverse Abilities. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Emery, D., Mitchell, B., and Mitchell, S. (2000). Comprehensive Math Assessment, Level 4. Merrimack, N.H.: Options Publishing, Inc.
Emery, D., Mitchell, B., and Mitchell, S. (2000). Comprehensive Math Assessment, Level 8. Merrimack, N.H.: Options Publishing, Inc.
Firsten, R. and Killian, P. (1994). Troublesome English: A Teaching Grammar for ESOL Instructors. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents.
Gardner, D. (1999). Vocabulary acquisition through reading: Assessing the lexical composition of theme-based text collection in upper-elementary education. Doctoral Dissertation. Northern Arizona University.
Jameson, J. (1998). Enriching Content Classes for Secondary ESOL Students. McHenry, IL: Delta Systems.
Klingner, J.K. and Vaughn, S. (2000). The Helping Behaviors of Fifth Graders While Using Collaborative Strategic Reading During ESL Content Classes. TESOL Quarterly, 34 (1), Spring, 69-98.
Krashen, S. (1996). Under Attack: The Case Against Bilingual Education. Culver City, CA: Language Education Associates.
Lund Orciuch, C. (2000). Options Publishing. Comprehensive Reading and Writing Assessment, Level 8. Merrimack, N.H.: Options Publishing, Inc.
Lund Orciuch, C. and Babcock, D. (2000). Options Publishing. Comprehensive Reading and Writing Assessment, Level 8. Merrimack, N.H.: Options Publishing, Inc.
Nation, P. (2001). Learning Vocabulary in Lexical Sets: Dangers and Guidelines. TESOL Journal, 9 (2) Summer, 6-10.
Stack, L., Buchanan, K., Dwyer, E., Harper, C., Huffman, C.L., Kuhlman, N., Macías, A.H., McCloskey, M.L., and Witt, B (2002). TESOL P-12 Teacher Education Standards. Alexandria, VA: TESOL Publications.
Thomas,
W., and Collier, V. (1997). School effectiveness for language minority
students. NCBE Resource Collection Series, no. 9. Washington, DC: National
Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education. [Online]. Available: http://www.ncbe.gwu.edu/ncbepubs/resource/effectiveness/index.htm.
West, M. (1955). Learning to read a foreign language, and other essays on language teaching (2nd ed.). London: Longman.