Language Policy Unit - DG II Council of Europe, Strasbourg, Francewww.coe.int/lang

Subject literacies and access to quality education

Strasbourg, 27 – 28 September 2012

SUBJECT LITERACIES AND ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATIONStrasbourg, 27 – 28 September 2012

Aims and objectives – main issues and priorities –

working methods

E. Thürmann

What do we mean by „subject literacy“?

SUBJECT LITERACIES AND ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION, STRASBOURG, 27 – 28 SEPTEMBER 2012

Two leading questions

• How can educators provide learning opportunities for students to gain control over a language variety which is crucial for successful learning in and across all school subjects and extend their capacity to move freely across a broad spectrum of language varieties in and out of school?

• Are frameworks for academic language use a viable option for mapping such learning opportuinities into curriculum documents and guidelines?

SUBJECT LITERACIES AND ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION, STRASBOURG, 27 – 28 SEPTEMBER 2012

Aims and ObjectivesPrepare envisaged awareness-raising intergovernmental

conference in 2013 on “Language Requirements in Subject Learning – Frameworks for Curriculum

Development”•Take stock of CoE´s relevant documents on the role of language in knowledge building and subject literacies•Compare and contrast two approaches to framework construction (Norway, North-Rhine-Westfalia)•Take stock of developments in other countries (educational contexts)•Consider options for frameworks from the perspective of content domains (las, science, mathematics, social sciences)•Identify need for support and recommend further action

SUBJECT LITERACIES AND ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION, STRASBOURG, 27 – 28 SEPTEMBER 2012

Issues and Priorities• What do we have to consider when talking about

language use and language requirements of the content classroom?

• How can we bridge the gap between content standards and the academic language implicit in these standards?

• Which options for a Framework structure?

• Which priorities for developing descriptors, defining curricular standards and their implementation?

What do we have to consider when talking about language in the content classroom?

Classroom language use

Science

Organise procedures- negotiate meaning

Retrieve informat-ion and acquire knowledge

(Re-) Structure mental concepts

Present learning out-comes

Evaluate learning process

Make social noise

• Teacher-learner interaction (monologic – dialogic instruction – IRF-cycle)

• learner-learner interaction (various types of „talk“)

• Basic colloquial language (BCL)• School Navigational Language

(SNL)• Essential Academic

Language (EAL)• Curriculum Content

Language (CCL)

Cp. Bailey & Heritage (2008) - (Scarcella (2008)

ScienceScience

SUBJECT LITERACIES AND ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION, STRASBOURG, 27 – 28 SEPTEMBER 2012

What do we have to consider when talking about language in the content classroom?

Language use in classrooms is a blend of different varieties

ScienceScience

SUBJECT LITERACIES AND ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION, STRASBOURG, 27 – 28 SEPTEMBER 2012

What do we have to consider when talking about language in the content classroom?

Contenental DriftScientists of the early 20th century believed that oceans and continents

were geographically fixed. They regarded the surface of the planet as a static skin spread over a molten, gradually cooling

interior. They believed that the cooling of the planet resulted in its contraction,

which caused the outer skin to contort and wrinkle into mountains and valleys. Many people noticed, however, that the eastern shorelines of South America and the western shoreline of Africa seemed to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. One

scientist who took this observation seriously was Alfred Wegener. Wegener.

Basic colloquiaql use

Essential academic use

Curriculum content use

intimate casual consultative formal frozenMore or less: distanced – decontextualised – dispassionate – exact – objective – complex – highly structured – complete – unambiguous – explicit …

• Basic colloquial language (BCL)• School Navigational Language

(SNL)• Essential Academic Language

(EAL)• Curriculum Content Language

(CCL)

What do we have to consider when talking about language in the content classroom?

Bridging the gap between content standards and implicit academic language

Students are able to …

identify similarities and differences as a result of

criteria-based comparisons, e.g. anatomy and morphology

of organisms.

• Semiotic system?• Discourse

funtion(s)?• Mode

(oral/written)?• Skill(s)?• Discourse

function(s)?

Choice of linguistic/textual

means

Science

Biology

Bridging the gap between content standards and implicit academic language

http://lalas.ceee.gwu.edu/

linguistic elements – language meanspronunciation spelling lexis grammar

correctness, appropriateness

text- / discourse competencecoherence/cohesion – references – linearity – development of ideas - structure …

cognitive-

language functions

subject-specific content

semiotic systems -

genresliteracy

Which options for a Framework structure?

SUBJECT LITERACIES AND ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION, STRASBOURG, 27 – 28 SEPTEMBER 2012

SUBJECT LITERACIES AND ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION, STRASBOURG, 27 – 28 SEPTEMBER 2012

The approach to subject literacies and common educational language objectives across the

curriculum can only be managed with the help of a

common framework. A two-way approach seems to be a

viable strategy for conceptualising the framework

´s architecture. language

requirements of the content classroom

common educational language objectives

e.g.Norway - NRW

language requirements of

the content classroom

common educational language objectives

Which options for a Framework structure?

Which priorities for developing descriptors, defining curricular standards and implementation?

level actionsupra, CoE LPU

• focus on a common framework structure which is compatible with aims and objectives of subject teaching across the curriculum

• support for filling the framework dimensions (e.g. genres, cognitive-language functions, language means) with inventories of possible descriptors to choose from

• application of general descriptors to specific subject areas, to a range of subject literacies

• …

cp. Francis Goullier (2012)

Which priorities for developing descriptors, defining curricular standards and implementation?

level actionMacro: ministries, national / regional / local authorities

• Update and enrich curricular documents across the whole range of content areas by applying a / the framework for language of education (essential academic language) as a coordinating tool

• Provide ressources for the training and the mission of „Literacy Coaches“

• Update and enrich teachers´ professional policy profile accordingly and implement it through teacher education

• Recommend new strategies for textbook providers

Which priorities for developing descriptors, defining curricular standards and implementation?

level actionmeso: individual schoolMicro: teachers / classrooms

• exploit school autonomy and strive for consensus of a whole-school language learning policy (school-based language development plan)

• set up an academic language analysis team to bridge the gap between content standards and the academic language implicit in these standards

• critical-friends approach to classroom observation using a set of criteria for language-sensitive subject teaching and learning

• network with other schools focussing on subject literacy and language of education

• …

Which priorities for developing descriptors, defining curricular standards and implementation?

level actionnano: individual learner

• invest in language of education and subject literacy to boost „cultural capital“

• take notice of and adopt communicative strategies and textual patterns which help to solve problems encountered in the learning process

• be aware of his/her own socio-cultural background and language biography and its intrinsic norms and values with respect to academic requirements

• be willing and able to switch codes in and out of school according to situational requirements

• …

Working methods

Working methods

Thanks for your attention