Academic Language for ESL Learners

ACADEMIC LANGUAGE FOR ESL LEARNERS

2007

A basic fact that can be revealed about the English language today is that that it is regarded as a universal language for communication throughout the world . Whether for colloquial or academic purposes , English has gained the popularity as the basic medium of communication everywhere . Nevertheless , it is worth noting that there are differences when it comes to presenting the English language- especially when using it for academic purposes . The language for the academic purposes comes with greater clarity and utilizes better uses of

words (a thesaurus can be handy . We have academic magazines , journals as well as thousands of research resources that are initially printed in English . Universities worldwide employ only English as the medium of communication for education . The necessity of learning the English language has grown

The research sources would be easy to understand only if one has a thorough understanding of the English vocabulary and text use that includes the usage of sophisticated words and phrases . It would be impossible for any person whose language skills are not fluent on an such literatures . It is therefore essential to understand that the ESL (English-as a second-language ) learners be familiar with the academic usage of the English language . These learners belong to a bilingual background and thus face the difficulty of understanding the academic language . The academic English language , as stated by the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition is as follows

The National Center for Research on Cultural Diversity and Second Language Learning defines academic language broadly to include

semantic and syntactic features such as vocabulary items , sentence structure , transition markers , and cohesive ties and

language functions and tasks that are part of the social studies classroom routine , such as defining terms , explaining historical significance , reading expository text , and preparing research reports (NCELA , 2006

On the whole , the academic language proceeds beyond the vocabulary that is utilized in our every-day communications . Academic English language is what we find in textbooks , research articles journals and other academic sources . Possessing strong social English communication skills does not represent a strong academic language usage . Using English as an academic language should be developed that includes proficiency in grammar , sentence structures as well as spellings . The written content should be technically correct . The kind of English proficiency that an ESL learner should learn in to gain an understanding into the academic aspects on the cognitive academic language proficiency (otherwise known as the CALP that is mainly characterized by the text used in the school or university literatures in subjects such as science , social science and mathematics . Clara Lee Brown states

Due to its decontextualized nature , ESL students struggle to comprehend what they read and to express what they know in writing . CALP English used in context-reduced academic learning demands high cognition on the part of the ESL student . In addition , Cummins reports that it takes 5 to 7 years for ESL students to be proficient in CALP English Unlike BICS learning , CALP learning is a long-term undertaking . Collier suggests that it can take up to 10 years for ESL students to reach grade-level CALP English depending on the kind of English instruction they receive . Collier Thomas report that the ESL students who were taught in pull-out ESL settings took the longest time to reach grade level (Brown , 2004

Academic language varies with subjects such as the academic language used in mathematics would be different from the academic language used in social sciences as they have their own technical terms and explanations . The academic language used in scientific literatures would be different compared to the academic language used in language arts . Excerpts from the academic journals elucidate the comparisons and the following below are excerpts from a science academic and a history academic

Plasmid profiling of antibiotic resistant Escherichia coli isolates revealed that the isolates contained various size R-plasmids Although some strains exhibited different antibiotic resistance patterns , some of their plasmids had similar migration patterns on agarose gel electrophoresis . Multiple resistances are conferred by R-plasmids of different sizes . The high prevalence of antibiotic resistance conferring plasmids observed in this study may be due to the increasing widespread use of antibiotics (Al-Harthy , 2006 . [Science excerpt]

Recent scholars , however , have taken a much more open stance against the canonical version of Charles 's trial . John Adamson asserts that a preoccupation with Charles 's army still at large in Ireland shaped the proceedings at Whitehall in December 1648 and January 1649 It was the Parliament-men 's fear of Charles 's ability to command his Irish army that encouraged the army and Parliamentary leaders to try him in late December (Tubb , 2006 . [History excerpt]

The following examples exhibit a tremendous difference and the different subjects make the difference more visible . The scientific academic journal article uses a complex language with terms that are not familiar to any common man . The same applies to the historical journal article that uses a simple yet a different style to relay its academic concept . The scientific academic journal not only exhibits an advanced form of the language but also represents terms that most of us are not familiar with

The importance of academic language for ESL learners is absolutely crucial , especially those who are work or are currently to educational and academic fields as these fields require a thorough command over the English language in a more advanced way . Unlike social language , academic language requires a comprehensive understanding Therefore , the English Language Learners should be well-acquainted with the academic language so that their educational or academic goals are easier to obtain . This especially applies to students who are currently in their high school or universities where the syllabus of different subjects requires them to write academic s on several s Furthermore , the English Language Learners should be able to understand the several components of academic English so that they are familiar

Developing academic language for ESL or ELL learners is an absolute necessity viewing the current status of the language into account . There are several methods and techniques to help the English Language learners to acquaint themselves with the academic language that would help them in their educational and academic motives . The English Language Learners get to learn the language as well as content at the same time if their academic language is given importance . Teaching the content-area curriculum to students in to improve the student 's academic language is an absolute necessity as they would further be moving on to universities specializing in different fields . We need more than just an ESL syllabus- we need a competent language syllabus that deals with the academic stance of the English language too . As Kenneth Shore states

Students who speak English as a second language (ESL constitute a significant percentage of the nation 's school population schools currently provide programs for nearly 3 million ESL students and it is estimated that this population is growing two and half times faster than that of native English-speaking students . Many of these newcomers are likely to have difficulties adjusting to their new environment . As teachers , we face multiple challenges : We need to teach the content-area curriculum , while at the same time supporting students English-language development , and helping them adjust to a new school and a new culture (Shore , 2001

Making the students familiar with several different content or subject areas with regards to the academic language can help to a great extent . Furthermore , teaching them content-related areas would help familiarize them to several technical aspects of the content such as content presentation and vocabulary . Jennifer Malia states that the English Language Learner teachers should incorporate the model writing process stages such as previewing , drafts and editing to help the student develop fluency over the written and communication skills of the academic language (Malia , 2006 . Writing and re-writing (in to make the drafts compatible to the academic standards ) is a good practice for the ESL or ELL learners to have a perfect grasp over the content-related area of the academic language

It is difficult for ESL or ELL learners to grasp those textbooks concepts that the native English speakers could understand and hence , they face the learning difficulty in this stance . Therefore , the ELL 's or the ESL learners should be taught in a way that the concepts of the academic language (of the subject in use ) are easy for them Learning through textbooks is a good start . The needs of the ELL or ESL learners should be taken into account and the kind of response that the teacher expects from the students also matters . For instance , it would be wise to actually understand what to expect from the ELL or ESL learners after they read the textbook . What concepts we want them to understand and what areas pose a difficulty for them . A thorough evaluation of the student 's ability will help the teacher to develop a particular stance that would be helpful in meeting the academic needs of the students . This is called the scaffolding strategy technique where the teacher first evaluates her expectations , then the students ' ability followed by a gradual shift of the learning responsibility to the students (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory , n .d

The kind of academic language that should be taught to the ELL or the ESL learners also matters . Teaching the subjects or content that the students are interested to learn can help enhance their academic language skills as they are willing to learn and make a change in this regard due to their interest . The modeling strategy works well in this stance . As stated by Paul F . Cook , the modeling technique helps the teacher to interact well with her students through regular sessions with the parents as well as discussing the interest of the student as well As such , a program entitled Educational Supervision Program was developed in to help the teachers improve their supervision ability and deal more effectively with their students on an academic level . Therefore , the entire program aims at developing a better attitude . The ELL teachers should be aware that the students are not familiar with many concepts of the academic language and should hence aim at improving their ability by believing in the students capability and interest in the subject followed by knowledge of the preferable outcome of their actions (Cook , 1982

Alex Regan , the ELL Outlook Editor proposes an interesting framework for teachers to teach academic language to ELL learners in the most appropriate manner . Regan states that a perfect start for any ELL learner towards academic language is actually through the textbook and within the textbook , the teacher should be able to specify the main ideas and explain the vocabulary to the students . This should help the student enhance his or her skill initially as he or she start to familiarize themselves with the academic stance of the language which is different from the colloquial or social language . The non-native English speakers face a difficulty adapting to the academic language as they are unable to understand the complex vocabulary of the subject . This leads to the creation of vague ideas that in turn affect the student 's confidence thereby creating a lack of interest in the subject . The ELL teacher should maintain the student 's interest by first focusing on the main idea of the text so that the student remains focused (Regan , 2005 . The next concern of the teacher should be to focus on the difficult aspects of the text now . This includes grammatical structures vocabulary , and other cohesive features where the authors of the textbook use a particular approach towards their students such as ellipsis , substitution and conjunction . Ellipsis as stated by Regan is information that is necessary to understanding a text but is not made explicit Substitution is the usage of the same word but in a different manner , such as using synonyms to avoid repetition and conjunction is , words that link clauses or sentences and sometimes also convey the nature of the relationship between them (Regan , 2005 . Contextualizing also plays an important stance in developing the academic language learning ability of the students . The students should be able to distinguish and use proper words when composing academic reports for their academics and this means to familiarize with the contextual aspect of the academic language . As stated by Teacher Vision

Successful educators of English-language learners , including those with learning difficulties , understand that demonstrating language proficiency depends heavily on contextual factors . This distinction is a critical one for classroom teachers working with English-language learners with learning difficulties (Teacher Vision , n .d

The students should be made to write more often in their verbal vocabulary and ask them to make changes to their written content (which is in their own language ) into a proper presentable content (in an academic form . This would help them distinguish between the social language and the academic language thereby increasing their understanding towards the language itself . Once they are able to distinguish between both , the task of the teacher becomes easier as he or she continues to concentrate on other aspects of the academic language . The students will be able to understand in a more thorough sense this way

Other ways to help ELL learners in their academic language learning ability is to use several technological sources present today such as graphics , audio tapes , electronic audio and video s etc Their listening and writing abilities develop in an easier manner this way as the technological sources provide easy sources of learning . Their academic language learning abilities should be developed in such a way that they should be made to answer high-level questions and not just ESL language questions to improve their language ability . Creating opportunities for students to develop their academic language through cooperative activities is another way to develop their academic learning skills . An example of creating such an opportunity is to make the students write creative academic essays or reports of their interest and ask them to make the corrections themselves as though they were the ELL teachers

The students should be able to describe , elucidate , justify evaluate and express a thorough comprehension of the subject areas and processes . This would include justifying their opinions through research materials that would vary from books to academic journals . Creating such an atmosphere of learning for the students would not only instill more interest in their chosen subject areas but they will be able to overcome the language barrier that they have been often faced when composing a high-level academic report . Their confidence level would have increased and they would be willing to read content from other areas as well thereby improving their skills to a higher level . This includes reading and writing in all subject areas (The Evergreen State College , 2005

According to Karen Cadiero-Caplan , every Latino student faces many problems when it comes to acheiveing educational equity and excellence in high school level . Therefore , she states

There is a need for a Language Policy that is supportive of additive language programs that have multi-literacy as an educational outcome and world standard . Second , accountability of school programs and services that ensures equal opportunity to the core curriculum and uses multiple measures to assess the language and academic development of Latino ELL 's is needed . Finally , there is a need for high academic standards that promote bi-literacy , including courses that are rigorous and aligned to the core curriculum necessary for access to the college and university systems of our nation (Cadiero-Caplan , 2004

The need to do this is an absolute necessity . The problems in academic language learning are not only faced by Latino learners but other multi-lingual learners as well . Any non-native English speaker is bound to face problems using academic language if the following strategies mentioned above are not implemented and we 'd continue to face educational problems by the non-native English speakers where they lack the command and control over their academic language . Academics play an important role throughout , especially when the students are extremely career-oriented and thus , their goals and ambitions of such non-native English speakers would be easy to implement only if we can make it easier for them to learn

REFERENCES

NCELA (2006 . Academic English . Retrieved online on the 22nd of May 2007 at HYPERLINK "http /www .ncela .gwu .edu /resabout /literacy /2_academic .htm http /www .ncela .gwu .edu /resabout /literacy /2_academic .htm

Brown . Clara Lee (2004 . Content Based ESL curriculum and academic language proficiency . University of Tennessee , Retrieved online on the 22nd of May , 2007 at HYPERLINK "http /iteslj .org /Techniques /Brown-CBEC .html http /iteslj .org /Techniques /Brown-CBEC .html

Tubb , Amos (2006 . Parliament intends to take away the King 's life print and the decision to execute Charles I . Canadian Journal of History . Printed and published on the 22nd of December , 2006

Al-Harthy , Asila H (2006 . Plasmid pro of antibiotic resistant Escherichia Coli from chicken intestines . Journal of Alabama Academy of science . Printed and published on the 1st of July , 2006 Malia , Jennifer (2006 . ESL college writing in the main stream classroom . Academic Exchange Quarterly . Printed and published on the 22nd of March , 2006 . Retrieved online on the 26th of May , 2007 at HYPERLINK "http /www .highbeam .com /doc /1G .html http /www .highbeam .com /doc /1G .html

Shore , Kenneth (2001 . Success for ESL students : 12 practical tips to help second-language learners . Instructor (1990 . Published on 1st of March , 2001 . Retrieved online on the 26th of May , 2007 at HYPERLINK "http /www .highbeam .com /doc /1G1- .html http /www .highbeam .com /doc /1G1- .html

North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (n .d . Scaffolding Learning Point Associates . Retrieved online on the 26th of May , 2007 at HYPERLINK "http /www .ncrel .org /sdrs /areas /issues /students /learning /lr1scaf .htm http /www .ncrel .org /sdrs /areas /issues /students /learning /lr1scaf .htm

Cook , Paul F (1982 . Improving supervision in teaching using behavior modeling techniques . Annual Meeting of American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education . Retrieved online on the 26th of May , 2007 at HYPERLINK "http /eric .ed .gov /ERICWebPortal /custom /portlets /recordDetails /detailmi ni .jsp ?_nfpb true _ ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0 ED213676 ERICExtSearch_S earchType_0 eric_accno accno ED213676 http /eric .ed .gov /ERICWebPortal /custom /portlets /recordDetails /detailmin i .jsp ?_nfpb true _ ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0 ED213676 ERICExtSearch_Se archType_0 eric_accno accno ED213676

Regan , Alex (2005 . Teaching the Academic language of the textbooks : a preliminary framework for performing the textual analysis . The ELL Outlook . Retrieved online on the 26th of May , 2007 at HYPERLINK "http /www .coursecrafters .com /ELL-Outlook /2005 /nov_dec /ELLOutlookITIArt icle1 .htm http /www .coursecrafters .com /ELL-Outlook /2005 /nov_dec /ELLOutlookITIArti cle1 .htm

Teacher Vision (n .d .Teaching academic language . Retrieved online on the 27th of May , 2007 at HYPERLINK "http /www .teachervision .fen .com /learning-disabilities /bilingual-educat ion /10265 .html http /www .teachervision .fen .com /learning-disabilities /bilingual-educati on /10265 .html

The Evergreen State College (2005 . Academic Language Learning Published on the 31st of January , 2005 . Retrieved online on the 27th of May , 2007 at HYPERLINK "http /academic .evergreen .edu /R /romanoe /L3 20MIT /index .htm http /academic .evergreen .edu /R /romanoe /L3 20MIT /index .htm

Cadiero-Caplan , Karen (2004 . Towards promoting bi-literacy and academic achievement : educational programs for high school Latino English Language Learners . High School Journal . Published on the 1st of February , 2004 . Retrieved online on the 27th of May , 2007 at HYPERLINK "http /www .highbeam .com /doc /1G .html http /www .highbeam .com /doc /1G .html

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ACADEMIC LANGUAGE FOR ESL LEARNERS

DATE : May 27 , 2007 ...