View Robin Scarcella's
discussion related to academic vocabulary and the brief presentation on academic
vocabulary from "What Works." A transcript of the presentation is
provided as a resource. Respond to the prompt below.
Consider what types of support ELLs may need in developing
literacy to be successful in the academic content areas. Consider
the best practices discussed in topic 2 as well as phonology,
grammar, semantics, syntax and pragmatics as it applies to content area
reading and writing. Review texts or reading materials from one content area
of your choice, and explain how you might help a content teacher create
learning opportunities that would support literacy? Where are their
opportunities to support language development from a linguistic perspective
(studying word parts in science, use of past tense in social studies, etc.) and
where are their opportunities to build background, foster interaction, build
vocabulary and make content meaningful to increase comprehension? Post your response on your blog only.
ELLs need much support in developing literacy and success in
their academic content areas. If I were
an ESL teacher working with a content teacher, I would meet with that teacher
during staff development time and come up with a plan to support the
instruction going on in the content classroom.
Coordination and communication are vital. For example, if the subject of the content
area were social studies, I would develop a plan to pre-teach the vocabulary
for those students. If the lesson was to
be about the United States Civil War, I might introduce the students to the
topic so they have foreknowledge of the subject before the lesson. I would teach vocabulary that might be
specific to this lesson and allow them to become familiar with using it. I would also incorporate topics such as
historical people and events so the students become comfortable with the
subject matter before the content is presented in the mainstream classroom.
As Dr. Scarcella stressed, it is not enough just to have the
ELL students learn the definition of words, but to actually have them use them. I may divide my students into leveled groups
to practice using the new, specialized academic vocabulary that they will be
learning in their content classroom. It
also might help to use cognitive strategies to slow down the study of the text in
order to aid in comprehension. I also
would encourage and be willing to assist the mainstream teacher in using
sheltering in the content classroom.
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