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Academic Language is believed to be one of the most important factors in the academic success of English Language learners (ELLs), and it has been shown to be a major contributor to achievement gaps between ELLs and English-proficient students.

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Today, Marine from Tales from a Very Busy Teacher is our guest blogger. She's sharing how she has successfully implemented strategies for teaching academic language in her classroom.

Academic language is (and has been) making a big impact in elementary school classrooms. Academic language gives students the skills to communicate, engage, and participate more effectively in content areas across the curriculum.

After learning about academic language through reading educational studies, attending professional development seminars, and collaborating with my colleagues, I figured out a way to help my students not only learn the words for academic language but also understand the words and use them way after the lessons are over.

Here are five ways you can use academic language in your classroom.

I take about 30-40 minutes to teach a direct instruction lesson on what the word means, how to use the word in a sentence, and the why behind learning that specific word. I have been doing about two words a week, and I have been trying to integrate these lessons into my speaking and listening time. Teaching an explicit lesson with each word is crucial to students' understanding of that word. It can't be done in a "here's the word, look up the definition" format. It must be taught directly.

I created little sheets with sentence frames that my students could use throughout the school day. They can be placed into interactive notebooks (for speaking and listening or academic language), or they can be placed on top of their desks for quick access during lessons in different content areas. The sentence frames provide my students with parameters for their speaking.

It's really uplifting to hear students using these frames during their conversations with each other, during lessons, or just in non-structured interactions.

One of my colleagues asked me, "What do you do when you're done teaching all of the words?" I thought it was a great question! After teaching the lessons where students learn and gain practice with the words, what do you do? Well, as the classroom teacher, it's important to integrate academic language into your daily classroom practice. Use the words in your objectives for other lessons, use the words in classroom discussions, and ask students to use them in their writing across disciplines. I also use academic language tickets to have students practice the words after lessons have been taught. I use them for tickets out, as morning work, or as independent practice. Just because you teach the lesson, doesn't mean you or your students are done with the word. It's important to continue the practice throughout the year.

Every time I teach a lesson, I add my word posters to my academic language wall. This is a simple reminder for students. It reminds them of the words they've learned, how to use those words, and to think about those words across disciplines.

After I teach my academic language lessons, I have students cut out the chart they filled out during the lesson, and they glue that chart into their academic language notebook. As students accumulate the word charts, their academic language notebooks become an academic language dictionary they can use throughout the school year.

Using academic language in your classroom will prepare your students for future academic success. Implement these five strategies to help your students reach those goals.

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5 Tips for Teaching Academic Language - Minds in Bloom

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Today, Marine from Tales from a Very Busy Teacher is our guest blogger. She's sharing how she has successfully implemented strategies for teaching academic language in her classroom. Academic language is (and has been) making a big impact in elementary school classrooms. Academic language gives students the skills to communicate, engage, and participate more effectively in content areas across the curriculum.

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1. Encourage students to read diverse texts: Reading and then thinking and talking about different genres is a robust sequence for learning academic language.

2. Introduce summary frames: Summarizing is a simple and fail-safe approach to academic language activities. Students read a section of text to themselves before verbally summarizing the passage to a partner. Alternatively, learners can complete sentence frames, or guides for summarization. Some examples:

If the main idea of the paragraph is problem/solution, use the frame: “_____ wanted _____ but ______ so ______.”

If the main idea of the paragraph is cause/effect, use the frame: “_____ happens because ______.”

3. Help students translate from academic to social language (and back): Model how to say something in a more academic way or how to paraphrase academic texts into more conversational language. Provide students with a difficult expository passage, like the inventor’s paradox, and have teams reinterpret the text using everyday language.

4. Have students complete scripts of academic routines: Some discourse routines seem obvious to adults, but are more complex than NASA for young learners unless you provide scaffolding, like these speech examples:

“The topic of my presentation is ______.”

“In the first part, I give a few basic definitions. In the next section, I will explain ______. In part three, I am going to show ______.”

5. Dynamically introduce academic vocabulary: Repeated encounters with a word in various authentic contexts can help students internalize the definition. They also benefit when teachers make their first encounters with vocabulary sticky. Use the word in a funny or personal story.

6. Help students diagram similarities and differences: When students generate a list of similarities and differences between words and complete a Venn diagram, like this one comparing and contrasting moths and butterflies, they are working with one of Robert Marzano’s high-yield instructional strategies.

7. Have students write with a transition handout: Formal academic writing challenges students of all ages. Before students write, give them a handout of transitions. Model where transitions fit, and describe how they help the reader.

8. Teach key words for understanding standardized test prompts: Kechia Williams teaches 10 terms that help students understand prompts and ace standardized tests.

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Activate Background/Prior Knowledge

KWL

R.A.N.

PReP (Prereading Plan)

Initial Associations – brainstorm what is already known.

Reflections – reflect on initial associations. “What made you think of that?”

Reformulate Knowledge – recall additional information about the topic.  “Do you have new or different ideas or thoughts?”

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Can be used for vocabulary and academic language

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Engage and Prepare -

Movie trailer

Connect with Prior Learning

We have been reading about fictional characters.  Now we are going to read about a non-fictional person.

State WHAT Students Will Learn

We are going to learn about the life of Amelia Earhart and what happened to her when she tried to be the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean solo in a plane.

State HOW Students Will Learn

We are going to read a book that tells us about her life.

Connect with Future Learning

We will use the information we learn to write an opinion piece about you think about Amelia Earhart.

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RATIONALE: Why would Marzano’s six step process be effective? 

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RATIONALE: Why would Marzano’s six step process be effective? 

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Set goals

Provide feedback

Help students interact with new knowledge

Provide students with simulations and low-stakes competition

Engage with students, allowing them to talk about themselves and noticing when they aren’t engaged

Establish and maintain classroom rules

Maintain relationships with students

Communicate high expectations.

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Divides learning into steps to keep students engaged and to make sure they learn the material.
1. Provide a description, explanation, or example of the new term. (Include a non-linguistic representation of the term for ESL kids.)

2. Ask students to restate the description, explanation, or example in their own words. (Allow students whose primary existing knowledge base is still in their native language  to write in it.)

3. Ask students to construct a picture, symbol, or graphic representing the word.

4. Engage students periodically in activities that help them add to their knowledge of the terms in their notebooks.

5. Periodically ask students to discuss the terms with one another. (Allow in native language when appropriate)

6. Involve students periodically in games that allow them to play
with terms.

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Tier 3 –

Pertain to specific content area

Tier 2 –

Sophisticated words found in a variety of text

Cross-curricular terms

Tier 1 –

everyday words familiar to most students.

Primarily learned through conversation

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1. Copying definitions

2. Writing sentences

3. Memorizing definitions

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Direct, explicit instruction of words in context

1. Conceptual maps

2. Strategic selection of meaningful words.

3. Connecting new concepts/meanings to existing knowledge base.

Word walls