Languages in the school curriculum: Models for teaching and - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Centre for Research in in La Language Development th throughout th the Li Lifespan (La LaDeLi) University of f Essex, Ju June 22-23rd, 2017

Languages in the school curriculum: Models for teaching and assessment

Constant Leung

Language and curricularization

Language in education  Language in archives and in society Language in curriculum  selection based on principles (cultural, ideological, social …) Curricularized language – act of cultural and educational design Curricularized language models – ideological constructions

Main focus: EAL Context: England

Model of curricularized language → shape curriculum & assessment specifications

Conceptual fr frames

Language of schooling

• Language of wider societal

communication

• Home/1st language for majority

students

• Curricularization:
• Everyday communicative capacity assumed
• Literature for celebration of culture
• Grammar for ‘standards’

Languages – AL, FL, ML, (SL)

• AL - Language of wider societal

communication

• FL/ML - Language of wider societal

communication ; for some, home/1st language

• Curricularization:

AL – moving towards language of schooling – building communicative capacity FL/ML – language knowledge, transactional capacity, culture & literature for awareness

Curricularized ML: La Language knowledge + + Cultural awareness of f oth thers

+

• Lexical,

phonological, syntactical knowledge

• Sociocultural

conditions of language use

• Sensitivity to social

conventions

• Functional use of

linguistic resources

• Drawing on scenarios
• r scripts of

interactional exchanges

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‘… foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world’

(DfE, 2013 KS3 Programmes of Study)

Assessin ing ML: : General la language proficiency

‘develop their [examinees’] ability to communicate confidently and coherently with native speakers in speech and writing, conveying what they want to say with increasing accuracy’ (edexcel, GCSE Spanish 2018)

EAL: Communicative Competence in in School

• Lexical, phonological,

syntactical knowledge

• Sociocultural

conditions of language use

• Sensitivity to social

conventions

• Functional use of

linguistic resources

• Drawing on

scenarios or scripts

• f interactional

exchanges

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Social + school knowledge

Curriculum assumptions v. . Realities

Early Years Primary Secondary

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NC assumes age-related language & cultural backgrounds & uninterrupted UK schooling experiences

EAL diverse entry points

What is EAL: : L Linguistic perspective

Lexico-grammar Pragmatics (conventions of use)

School Local community

English Language Proficiency Models

General proficiency - MFL

Foreign language

Context-embedded proficiency

EAL/Language of schooling

Pupil as

• utsider

Pupil as part of participating local community

Content-language integration approaches

What is EAL: : Curriculum perspectives

Learning area

Beginners For more advanced learners

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Content-language integration

Subject content & language expressions:

Subject specific uses of vocabulary and discourse expressions are identified and classroom strategies are built around these in order to promote both understanding of the subject content and learning of English at the same time.

e.g. mathematics uses English language vocabulary and structures in particular ways, e.g. the notion of subtraction can be expressed by ‘subtract from’, ‘decreased by’, ‘less’, ‘take away’ and so on, and language expressions such as ‘If a is a positive number, then –a is a negative number …’ to represent the axioms of opposites (Dale & Cuevas, 1987:17).

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Content-language orientation

Mohan’s knowledge framework (1986 & 2001):

Background knowledge

CLASSIFICATION PRINCIPLES EVALUATION

Face-to-face situation

DESCRIPTION SEQUENCE CHOICE

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KS3 History textbook: Peace and War (1993) Shepherd, C. et al, John Murray Ltd. p.44.

In 1700 Liverpool had been a small sea port with a population of 5000. In 1709 Liverpool slave traders set out on their first voyage to buy and sell slaves. By 1771 there were 106 ships a year sailing from Liverpool, which between them carried 282,000

• slaves. In the 1790s Liverpool’s slave trade alone

accounted for fifteen percent of Britain’s entire

• verseas trade. By 1800 Liverpool was a successful

booming city of 78,000 people.

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Sentence In 1700 … description In 1709 … description By 1771 … description In the 1790s Liverpool’s … description By 1800 … description Discourse

In1700 … In1709 … By 1771 … In the 1790s Liverpool’s … By 1800 ...

Sequence

Knowledge structure

Classroom multimedia support: timeline

Porcupines

Porcupines are rodents (gnawing animals). Biologists classify them as Old World porcupines and New world porcupines. Old World porcupines live in Africa, south-eastern Asia, India, and southern

• Europe. Most kinds of Old World porcupines grow about 3 feet (91

centimeters) long, including the tail. They make their homes in tunnels in the ground, and do not climb trees. New World porcupines live in North and South America. These animals spend much time in trees. Several South American porcupines, called coendous, can even hang by their tails. Only one kind, the North American porcupine, lives in North America. North American porcupines are about 3 feet (91 centimeters) long, and weigh about 20 pounds (9 kilograms). Their yellowish-white quills are 2 to 3 inches (5 to 8 centimeters) long. Their fur is brownish-

• black. North American porcupines live chiefly in pine forests. They

eat green vegetation and tree bark. They often climb trees to strip bark from the upper part of the tree. They may kill a tree in this way.

Classroom multimedia support: A tree diagram

Context xt-embedding Descriptors