Reflective Journal About Readings

¶ … languages learned at school can take a variety of different forms and consist of many different influences. For example, there are informal social languages that can differ significantly from the types of languages that are considered to academic languages. Social languages can consist of foreign language or local informal dialects whereas the academic language is more formalized and needed to become more competent in school in general as they are used in several disciplines.

Halliday (1993) is cited as suggesting that language has three purposes in school: The use of language: how to speak, read, write and listen to language Through language: al about the world inside and outside the classroom About language: phonics, grammar, and spelling The social language, being less formal, is learned more naturally and does not necessarily have to be studied. For example, social language can go on without any formal conventions as people simply communicate naturally.

However, the academic language is more cognitively demanding and students must adhere to its institutionalized form to help them grasp more complex concepts as they proceed through their education. One of the challenges for teachers is how to recognize CLD learners' experiences and background knowledge, how it manifests, and how to use it to further educational purposes. The immigration trend that has been seen in the U.S.

has begun to shift from dense populations of immigrants at traditional locations such as Texas, Florida, and California to more diverse locations across many states. The mix of cultures offers a variety of different skills and perspectives. Students have different skill sets and abilities naturally and a teacher can leverage these abilities to help students learn new materials more effectively. Sometimes the students' ability to provide personal insights to classroom problems can be surprising.

The example was given of a group of students that were culturally and language diverse in which a basic math problem was presented to them that involved a bus fare. The students got the answer wrong in terms of the basic math, but instead they were able to use many practical heuristics to change the priorities in the decision. For example, some students explained that buying the more expensive pass would allow a greater ability to share the pass with other family members.

Although the answer was not technically the correct one that was expected, the students illustrated a high level of reasoning skills. However, if the teacher was not perceptive to these reasoning processes, the students could have perceived as simply wrong. Chapters 2, 3, & 4 There are a range of implications for these trends that affect students both in and out of the classroom such as high rates of poverty and significantly different language dynamics.

There has been a significant debate about the reliability of standardized assessments relative to this group given the fact that members of various CLD groups have different language needs. As a result, the assessments for these students are continually evolving and developing to more accurately account for linguistic variances in the population. In addition to the principles mentioned, there are also many tools that can be used to design curriculums and provide indicators to monitor progress.

The TESOL English language proficiency (ELP) standards to help English language learners (ELL) acquire the academic language need to support their studies. There are also many other content standards that can be used as performance indicators. There are many ways that teachers can help develop these skills in students including students that speak primary languages other than English.

For example, one suggestion that is offered is that students that learn the academic language in their native tongue can covert these skills to the English language more easily than having to learn both the language and structure of the English academic language together. The academic language can facilitate learning through several different principles that are offered in the text. However, the TESOL ELP standards have been designed to illustrate the relationships between language, content, and language proficiency and has also been designed to meet state and national standards.

Model Performance Indicator (MPI) analysis 1 What are the variables used to construct the Model Performance Indicators (MPIs) in the WIDA standards? What is a strand of MPIs? WIDA advances academic language development and academic achievement for linguistically diverse students through high quality standards, assessments, research, and professional development for educators (WIDA, N.d.).

The contributions students bring to school or classroom that are based on their: Linguistic assets Cultural assets Experiential assets Social and Emotion assets A strand of MPIs consists of the five levels of English language proficiency for a given topic and language domain, from Entering (1) through Bridging (5). The horizontal strands of MPIs illustrate the progression of language development for a given grade level cluster.

Strands of MPIs characteristically are (WIDA, 2007): thematically connected through common example topics or genres that have been identified from state academic content standards scaffolded from one language proficiency level (or MPI) to the next, based on the criteria of the Performance Definitions; namely, linguistic complexity, vocabulary usage and language control developmentally appropriate, designed for ELLs at a specified grade level cluster academically rigorous, with the highest level of English language proficiency (Reaching) corresponding to language expectations of proficient English speakers at the highest grade level of the cluster 2 Consider the parts of an MPI (content, language function, context).

Analyze ONE of the MPIs you.