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Academic Language Strategies for edTPA

The document discusses academic language and its importance in education. It defines key terms related to academic language such as language functions, vocabulary, discourse, syntax, and language demands. It explains that teachers must consider language demands, such as vocabulary, discourse, and syntax, when planning lessons to support student learning of content. The document also provides examples of language functions in math and discusses how teachers can provide language supports for students, such as using sentence frames, connecting oral language to visuals, and encouraging precise academic language use.

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83 views10 pages

Academic Language Strategies for edTPA

The document discusses academic language and its importance in education. It defines key terms related to academic language such as language functions, vocabulary, discourse, syntax, and language demands. It explains that teachers must consider language demands, such as vocabulary, discourse, and syntax, when planning lessons to support student learning of content. The document also provides examples of language functions in math and discusses how teachers can provide language supports for students, such as using sentence frames, connecting oral language to visuals, and encouraging precise academic language use.

Uploaded by

AD
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Academic Language

Student
Voices
Secret Language

School is where you go to learn


a secret language but they don’t
tell you that it’s there. You have
to figure it out on your own. It’s
like an initiation to a secret club.
Maya, 8th grade.
Pre-Service Teachers are asked to:
 Select one key language function essential for students to learn
Academic within the central focus.
Language—
edTPA  Identify a key learning task from plans that provide students
opportunities to practice using the language function.

 Language Demands (consider language function & task)


describe the language demands (written or oral) students need
to understand and/or use.
 Vocabulary
 Syntax
 Discourse

 Language Supports: Describe instructional supports that will


help students understand and use language function &
additional language demands.

 Assessments: What formal and informal assessments will


provide evidence of students’ understanding and fluency?

TPA Glossary: Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity


Language Functions
 content and focus of the learning task
edTPA Terms  represented by action verb within the
Academic Language
learning outcome (describing,
Vocabulary
comparing, summarizing, etc.)
Discourse

Language Demand

Language Functions

Syntax
Math

Language
 Compare/Contrast Functions
 Conjecture
 Describe
 Explain
 Prove
 Simplify
 Solve
There are language demands that
teachers need to consider as they
edTPA
plan to support student learning of
content, which include:
Vocabulary
Discourse
Syntax
Vocabulary
 includes words and phrases (and
edTPA
Terms
symbols) that are used within
disciplines including:
Academic Language
 words and phrases with subject specific
Vocabulary meanings that differ from meanings used in
Discourse
everyday life (e.g., table, ruler, force,
balance);
Language Demand
 general academic vocabulary used across
Language Functions disciplines (e.g., compare, analyze,
Syntax evaluate); and
 subject-specific words defined for use in the
discipline.
Discourse
 Structures of written and oral language
edTPA
Terms  How members of the discipline talk,
Academic Language
write, and participate in knowledge
Vocabulary
construction
Discourse
 Discipline-specific: Math
Language Demand  Describe how representations are related
Language Functions (numeric to graphical to symbolic)
Syntax
 Explanations
 Writing (exit slips) to explain or describe
Syntax
 Set of conventions for organizing
edTPA Terms
symbols, words and phrases together
into structures (e.g., sentences, graphs,
Academic Language
tables)
Vocabulary

Discourse
 Examples from mathematics:
Language Demand

Language Functions

Syntax
How Do We Provide Language Supports
for Academic Language?
Use sentence frames, or guided notes.

connecting oral language to visual representations (e.g., pointing to elements of a


graph on the board as you're talking about it, using gestures);

 "revoicing" students' contributions using slightly more academic language, and


double-speaking (i.e., saying it using both academic and non-academic language).
with the assumption that you will be developing academic language OVER TIME -
i.e., you don't expect them to use the academic phrases right
 using and encouraging kids to use "technical writing tools" to justify thinking,
including color, arrows, labels, etc., in addition to language;
 giving them opportunitites to communicate their thinking in pairs or groups,
rather than always in whole class;
 being precise about their referents when they're explaining something (i.e., try
to avoid "this" and "that", and instead name the thing they're mentioning.

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