Transcript STANDARDS-BASED ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEMS: DESIGN …

Opportunity to Learn:
Integrating Academic Language
& Related Processes
Zenaida Aguirre-Muñoz
Texas Tech University/CRESST
Christy K. Boscardin
UCLA/CRESST
CRESST Conference
Los Angeles, CA
September 10, 2004
Overview
• Measurement of opportunity to learn
sensitive to English learners’ needs
• Framework for defining academic
language-ELA
• Building teacher capacity to provide
ELs’ needed opportunities
Opportunity to Learn
The mere presence of a curriculum
does not necessarily guarantee
opportunity to learn.
Winfield, 1993
Previous OTL Dimensions
• Porter & CRESST studies
• Teacher knowledge
• Content coverage and related
classroom processes
• Classroom resources
• Assessment practices
Previous Findings-Survey Method
• Student level
• Gender
• Course grades
• English proficiency
• Teacher level
• Teacher Expertise
• Content Coverage
• Socio-economic Status
• Differential impact between ELs and nonELs
• Content coverage
• Gender
Current CRESST OTL Study
Research Questions:
• What are the OTL factors that
contribute to increased EL
achievement in ELA?
• What is the impact of academic
language on EL Achievement?
• What is the reliability of the CRESST
survey instrument designed to
measure OTL?
Key Writing Assessment
Characteristics
• Model for Standards-Based
Instruction
• Literary Analysis
• Curriculum-Embedded Design
• Flexibility of Administration
• Open Scoring Criteria
• Direct Assessment of
Standards
Assessment Prompt
In a work of literature, a heroic character is often someone with
extraordinary courage or ability who performs noble deeds or makes
sacrifices. However, an ordinary person who faces extraordinary
challenges can also be a heroic character.
Select a heroic character from a literary work you have read in class
this year. Using specific details from the text, explain why you think this
character is heroic. Some of the things you can write about are the
character’s:
• physical and personality traits
• impact on the story
• thoughts and motivations
• actions and relationships with other characters
Proficient Criteria
The response demonstrates solid reading comprehension skills and
the ability to analyze a major literary element (characterization).
•
Some of the important character features are described
clearly (RC 2.0; WA 2.4)
•
Some statements about the heroic qualities of a
character are generally supported or explained through
references to the text (RC 2.7; WC 1.1)
•
Most ideas are logically organized (WA 2.2, 2.4;WS 1.0,
1.2, 1.6)
•
Mechanical errors may be present but do not impede
communication in most of the response. (WC 1.0)
Framework for Investigating ELSensitive OTL
Content
knowledge
Processes
EL-Specific
Balance
Domain-AL
Language
Acquisition
Pedagogy
Attitudes
&
Beliefs
Coverage
Breadth/Depth
Time/Quality
Focus of CRESST OTL Instrument
• Integration of EL-specific
opportunities
• Teacher expertise
• Content coverage-explicit
instruction on academic language
• EL-directed instructional practice
• Assessment practice-feedback to
students
Instrument Reliability
α
n
(items)
Teacher expertise
.95
10
Content coverage
.93
9
Direct instruction
.89
7
EL-directed practice
.93
6
Assessment
.86
9
OTL Dimension
What is Academic Language?
Language used in the classroom for the purpose of
acquiring knowledge
• Specific terminology
• Structure for communicating
Differs from oral language (spoken, informal discourse)
• Register (level of formality)
• Function (language to accomplish specific tasks)
Requires awareness of
• Expectations (e.g., analyze, compare, summarize, etc.)
• Author’s/Speaker’s purpose/point of view
Academic Language
Definition Parameters
• Academic written discourseresponse to literature
• Correspond to English (L2)
language development stage
• Transparent to teachers and
students
Functional Grammar-Halliday
• Provides a general framework
for examining language
• Examines discourse patterns
associated with the context
and genre of writing
• Corpus-based research in EL
writing development
Characteristics of Academic
Written Discourse
• Expanded noun phrases
• Variety of processes (verbs)
• Variety of cohesion strategiesuse of abstraction
• Impersonal Context
• Implicit point of view
Goals of the Institute
• Build teacher knowledge
• Patterns of academic written language
• Strategies for supporting English learner
writing
• Provide teachers with tools for
evaluating student writing:
• Word choice for specific purposes
(expressing point of view)
• Expression and organization of ideas
The Revision Process
From Graphic Organizer...
The Revision Process
...to First Draft...
The Revision Process
...to Final Draft
The Revision Process
Original Draft
The Revision Process
Final Draft
Three Perspectives in Analyzing
Written Language
• What’s going on
• word choice
• Text structure
• word choice
• expression of ideas (logical organization)
• Writer’s point of view
• word choice
• author’s intent
Participants
(aka nouns/noun phrases)
• Referring to people, places, things
or ideas, participants represent
entities that interact with each
other in what is ‘going-on’ in the
text.
• Participants differ in function
depending on the nature of events
described by the language.
Expanding Noun Phrases
Noun
• The house
Adjective + Noun
• The old house
Adjective + Noun + Prepositional Phrase
• The old house on the corner
Adjective + Noun + Prepositional Phrase +
Prepositional Phrase
• The old house on the corner with the rusty gate
Processes
(aka verbs/verb phrases)
• Carry the information directly
related to what is ‘going-on’ in the
text, focusing on the
representation of experience that
the verb provides.
• A verb phrase, rather than a single
verb, constitutes a process, which
results in various types of
processes associated with different
kinds of participants.
Types of Processes
• Actions: doings and happenings
Mako went to kill the ghost of the lagoon.
• Attributive: characteristics and
qualities (states of being)
Mako was brave.
• Mental: thoughts and beliefs
Mako felt revengeful about the ghost of lagoon.
• Attitudinal: feelings and opinions
towards participants and events
Mako loved his faithful companion.
• Saying: reporting and quoting
Nadia’s father told everyone not to talk about her dead brother.
Text Structure:
Clausal Units
Text must be divided into meaningful
chunks of information.
Strategy:
Independent clause + all embedded
information (subordinate/embedded
clauses, prepositional phrases)
Theme/Rheme
• Theme refers to propositional content that
functions as the “point of departure of the
message” (Halliday,1994).
•
Theme often comes in the subject position in a
clause.
•
Rheme refers to the rest of the clause other than
theme, comes in the predicate position.
• Theme/rheme coincides with
subject/predicate distinction, though this is
not always the case.
Theme Analysis
At 2:00pm the sky turned dark and storm clouds
gathered. When the storm finally arrived, he was
in his room listening to music.
At 2:00pm the sky turned dark and storm clouds
gathered. He was in his room listening to music
when the storm finally arrived.
Strategies for Linking
Themes and Rhemes: Building
Cohesion
• Transition words
• Noun Phrases
• Prepositional Phrases
Noun Phrases Creating Cohesion
We saw many vintage homes in the
neighborhood. The old house on the
corner with the rusty gate was
unoccupied.
Noun Phrases Creating Cohesion
Lolita, who hates cats, jumped in disgust
when the cat leaped into her lap. Her
sudden movement caused the bowl full of
cereal to tip over and drench her favorite
skirt.
Prepositional Phrase
Creating Cohesion
In our family it was always important to
prepare special food for the holidays. On
Thanksgiving Day, we roast a turkey, bake
apple pie and enjoy our time together.
Teachers Learned...
• How to dissect linguistic features
of text that reveal meaning
• How to guide students in gaining
control of:
• Participant references
• Text structure
• Academic Tone
Academic Language
Impact on EL Achievement
Stay tuned…
www.cresst.org