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Author: Marcia |
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Date Posted: 13:17:00 09/08/10 Wed Educators must focus on the academic language needed for academic achievement One of the most pressing needs faced by English Language Learners is Academic language (CALP - Cognitive-Academic Language Proficiency), that is the sort of language students and professionals need to succeed in school and in any career where mastering large and complex bodies of information and concepts is needed (Fillmore and Snow 2000). In order to prepare students to deal with the different style of language used in “academic word”, educators must focus on the academic language and literacy needed for academic achievement. Although there isn’t a clear line separating Academic language, (the language of texts and formal writing), from everyday conversational language, (the language that people use socially for interaction, referred by Cummins, 1984 as BICS - Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills), the distinctions among them are consistent. According to Cummins there is “Linguistic Evidence for the conversational/Academic Language Distinction” and the aspects of language through linguistics researches can be identified empirically. Their differences are assumed, and knowing them is important for effective academic instruction. Academic language needed for academic achievement is more correlated with the function of the specific purpose of the academic communication. Teacher must focus on that because in "Academic World" the function of language relies on communicates complex information. They use specific and technical vocabulary with precise meanings. It includes specialized terminology, conventional text structures, key concepts and it is related with more abstract and cognition function of language such as hypothesizing, summarizing, evaluating, analyzing, inferring, generalizing and explaining. We see there is a connection between these two types of language: using students' everyday experiences can help students learn academic language, i.e., if a task in a social context is familiar to them, they may be able to adopt appropriate language from that task and transfer it to school-based tasks (Rhoda Coleman and Claude Goldenberg). Fluency in social language is not enough to help close the achievement gaps that are often created by the lack of academic language. English language learners need to learn English at accelerated rates to perform on grade level. Even students with well developed social language struggle to master the complex language of school. Educators must train their students to hear, harness, and own the academic language that they need for success. They also need to help English language learners develop a set of automatic strategies (learning habits) that they can use to acquire academic language in any setting. [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |