Language Development for English Language Learners

1. Language Development for English Language Learners Mabel O. Rivera Ani C. Moughamian David J. Francis

2. The Center on Instruction is operated by RMC Research Corporation in partnership with the Florida Center for Reading Research at Florida State University; Instructional Research Group; the Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics at the University of Houston; and The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk at The University of Texas at Austin.The contents of this PowerPoint were developed under cooperative agreement S283B050034 withthe U.S. Department of Education. However, these contents do not necessarilyrepresent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should notassume endorsement by the Federal Government.2009 The Center on Instruction requests that no changes be made to the content or appearance of this product.To download a copy of this document, visit www.centeroninstruction.org

3. Download a copy of this document at www.centeroninstruction.org

4. Language Development for English Language Learners Funded by U.S. Department of Education • DEMOGRAPHICS • LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT • ASSESSMENT • VOCABULARY • ACADEMIC LANGUAGE

5. Frequently Used Terms Funded by U.S. Department of Education Language Minority Student (LM) Limited English Proficient (LEP)/English Language Learner (ELL)

6. Who AreEnglish Language Learners (ELLs)? Funded by U.S. Department of Education National-origin minority students with limited English proficiency Membership is expected to be temporary

7. DEMOGRAPHICS Funded by U.S. Department of Education

8. ELLs Form a Large, Growing Population Funded by U.S. Department of Education

9. ELLs and General School Populations Funded by U.S. Department of Education

10. Fastest Growing ELL Populations Funded by U.S. Department of Education • Students who immigrated before kindergarten • U.S.-born children of immigrants (native-born) • 76% of ELLs in grades K-8 • 56% of ELLs in grades 9-12 (Batalova, Fix, and Murray, 2007) By 2015, second generation children of immigrants are expected to be 30% of the school-aged population.

11. Numbers of ELL Students (U.S. Department of Education, NCELA, 2007) Funded by U.S. Department of Education

12. Density of ELL Populations (U.S. Department of Education, NCELA, 2007) Funded by U.S. Department of Education

13. Growth of ELL Populations (U.S. Department of Education, NCELA, 2007) Funded by U.S. Department of Education

14. The Most Common Languages ofEnglish Language Learners Funded by U.S. Department of Education

15. Differences Among ELLs Funded by U.S. Department of Education Native language(s) Level of native language/literacy skills Level of English language/literacy skills Length of time family has lived in US Previous schooling experience Familiarity with school routines Content-area knowledge Parental education

16. At School Entry Identification Home survey Language proficiency tests Other input (e.g., teachers) Monitoring Language – Title III Achievement – Title I Language Minority Learners ELLs (or LEP) IFEP Language Prof. Tests Slide courtesy of N. Lesaux and M. Kieffer, Harvard Graduate School of Education IFEP = Initially Fluent English Proficient Funded by U.S. Department of Education

17. Over Time Language Minority Learners RFEP Language Prof. Tests ELLs (or LEP) IFEP Slide courtesy of N. Lesaux and M. Kieffer, Harvard Graduate School of Education RFEP = Reclassified Fluent English Proficient Funded by U.S. Department of Education

18. Unique Learning Challenges Funded by U.S. Department of Education Develop content knowledge and skills defined by state standards while simultaneously acquiringa second (or third)language; Demonstrate their learning on an assessment in English.

19. Performance Outcomes Funded by U.S. Department of Education • Some states look at academic performance on state tests after ELLs are reclassified as fluent English proficient. • Although some reclassified ELLs do well, many still struggle with: • listening, speaking, reading, and writing that involves academic language • access to content-area knowledge

20. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT Funded by U.S. Department of Education

21. What is Language? Funded by U.S. Department of Education A written or oral system of communication that uses symbols and has rules for their use. The gateway for learning A primary way we communicate

22. Language Components Funded by U.S. Department of Education • Phonology - the patterns of basic speech units and the accepted rules of pronunciation • Morphology - the study of the smallest meaningful units of speech (morphemes) • Syntax - how individual words and basic meaningful units are combined to create sentences • Semantics - the ways in which a language conveys meaning • Pragmatics - the contextually appropriate use of language

23. Language Development Milestones Funded by U.S. Department of Education Milestones are a guide to normal development. Language development is cumulative: we master simple skills before more complex ones.

24. First Language Acquisition Theories Funded by U.S. Department of Education Nativist: Children are born with specific abilities that facilitate language learning. Interactionist: Children’s general cognitive abilities enable them to learnlanguage through interactions with their environment and other people.

25. Nativist Linguistic Theorists Funded by U.S. Department of Education Noam Chomsky – Universal Grammar Eric Lenneberg – Critical Period for language acquisition Kenji Hakuta – L1 skills facilitate L2 acquisition Robert DeKeyser – The role of language aptitude in adults

26. Interactionist Linguist Theorists Funded by U.S. Department of Education • Catherine Snow; Elizabeth Bates; Michael Tomasello • Language learning results from general cognitive abilities and the interactions between the learner and his/her environment

27. Note Some languages are easier to learn than others, depending on the complexity of their symbol system and their degree of transferability. Funded by U.S. Department of Education

28. The Alphabetic Principle The idea that letters and letter patterns represent the sounds of spoken language Funded by U.S. Department of Education

29. Orthographies – the symbols and the rules for writing them (spelling) – may be: Funded by U.S. Department of Education • Transparent (e.g., Spanish) and allow a few or just one association between symbols and sounds. • Opaque(e.g., English) and allow many ways—including combinations of symbols—of associating symbols and sounds.

30. English: An Opaque Orthography Funded by U.S. Department of Education English may use many combinations of symbols for a given sound. For example, • “f” and “ph” in fantasy and pharmacy • “ee,” “ei,” and “ea”in need, receive, and read • “u” for umbrella or Utah

31. Spanish: A Transparent Orthography • There is generally a 1:1 correspondence between letters and sounds. For example: /p/ /a/ /s/ /e/ /o/ paseo /a/ s/ i/ /a/ Asia Funded by U.S. Department of Education

32. Second Language Acquisition Funded by U.S. Department of Education Factors: • Age of first contact with new language (L2) • Proficiency in first language (L1) • Language-learning ability • Intensity of instruction and opportunities to learn

33. ASSESSMENT Funded by U.S. Department of Education

34. Assessment Challenges Funded by U.S. Department of Education Assessments of content-area knowledge and skills are also inherently tests of language proficiency. They require additional cognitive resources of ELLs, who thus have fewer cognitive resources to attend to the content.

35. Components of Language Proficiency Funded by U.S. Department of Education • Oral (listening and speaking) skills • Written (reading and writing) skills • Academic and non-academic language

36. Purpose ofLanguage Proficiency Tests for ELLs Funded by U.S. Department of Education • To determine placement in language programs • To monitor students’ progress while in these programs • To guide decisions about when students should exit the programs (August & Hakuta, 1997)

37. In What LanguageShould ELLs Be Assessed? Funded by U.S. Department of Education Native Language: • May give more accurate picture of student’s knowledge and skills • May be less predictive of English skills than an English assessment, depending upon schooling history English: • May better predict English skills than a native language assessment • May reflect misunderstandings of assessment directions more than actual skill levels • May also reflect the ELL’s schooling experiences in English

38. Testing in Both Languages Funded by U.S. Department of Education May provide a clearer picture of knowledge, skills, abilities, and instructional needs Ideally, instructions, even for English assessments, should be given in the student’s first language for bilingual/ biliterate ELLs

39. Testing in Both Languages:Challenges Funded by U.S. Department of Education Difficult to find comparable assessments in first language and English Technically and financially demanding Variations in dialect Many skills being assessed depend on instruction, but much instruction is only in English

40. VOCABULARY Funded by U.S. Department of Education

41. Language is Central to Learning Funded by U.S. Department of Education Key areas of instruction: • Vocabulary knowledge – an important predictor of reading fluency and reading comprehension for ELLs and non-ELLs (Grabe, 1991; McLaughlin, 1987) • Academic language – critical for reading and understanding content

42. Policy Context ofLanguage Development Instruction Funded by U.S. Department of Education Schools must provide instruction that allows ELLs to acquire content-area knowledge while they are developing proficiency in English (NCLB, 2001).

43. Principles of Vocabulary Instruction Funded by U.S. Department of Education Teach high utility words that appear often across content areas and are key to comprehension. Present definitions and examples of use in context. Provide multiple exposures to meaningful information about the word (Stahl & Nagy, 2006). Use cognate knowledge (Dressler, 2000). Teach word analysis and other word-learning skills. Engage students in learning words through talking about, comparing, analyzing, and using target words.

44. Vocabulary and Comprehension: Upper Elementary Grades Funded by U.S. Department of Education Native English speakers often depend on background knowledge and inferential skills when reading text. ELLs seem to rely more on their vocabulary knowledge when reading the same texts.

45. Vocabulary Instruction to Support Text Comprehension Funded by U.S. Department of Education ELLs’ reading comprehension can be improved with targeted vocabulary intervention (Carlo et al., 2004). Students may need long-term intervention for maximum impact and comprehension development (McLaughlin, August, & Snow, 2000).

46. Vocabulary and Comprehension Funded by U.S. Department of Education Key components of instruction for ELLs: • Developing increased flexibility of English-language use • Learning words (vocabulary) in context • Distinguishing between important and unimportant text details and events • Responding orally to texts in increasingly skillful ways • Participating in student conversations related to text (Anderson & Roit, 1998)

47. Vocabulary-Building Instructional Strategies Funded by U.S. Department of Education • High frequency English words • General purpose academic words • Content-area vocabulary • English-Spanish cognates (for Spanish-speaking ELLs) • Words conveying key concepts • High-utility words • Relevant to content under study • Words that are meaningful to students (Gersten, Baker, & Unok Marks, 1998; Stahl & Nagy, 2006)

48. ACADEMIC LANGUAGE Funded by U.S. Department of Education

49. Dimensions of Language Funded by U.S. Department of Education Conversational language Used daily to communicate with others Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS) (Cummins, 1979) Academic language The language of text and content areas Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) (Cummins, 1979)

50. Use of Academic Language Funded by U.S. Department of Education To participate fully in the classroom and learn new content, ELLs must be able to • Use and understand academic language in its various forms, for a variety of purposes; • Learn new words (vocabulary) in context; • Determine the difference between relevant and less relevant text in a given passage and the necessity of a specific reading and/or language task; and • Participate in student conversations related to text.