ESL Learners – Gibbons’ Key Concepts:

ESL – English as a Second Language

ESOL – English for Speakers of Other Languages

ELL – English Language Learners

LEP – Limited English Proficiency

  1. LANGUAGE AND CONTEXT
  2. Context of Culture
  3. speakers share particular assumptions and expectations
  4. take for granted the ways in which things are done
  5. how to participate in a class
  6. how to order a meal or write a business letter
  7. Context of Situation
  8. varies based on the particular occasion in which the language is being used
  9. 3 key characteristics
  10. what is being talked/written about
  11. relationship between speakers/reader-writer
  12. whether language is spoken is written
  1. REGISTER
  2. ability to use language that is appropriate to the context
  3. “here and now” = BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills)
  4. abstract = CALP (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency)
  5. 3 parts of register:
  6. FIELD = the topic of the text
  7. TENOR = relationship between speaker/listener or writer/reader
  8. MODE = channel of communication

“The more speakers are doing things together and engaging in dialogue, the more they can take for granted. As language moves away from the events it describes, and the possibility of feedback is removed, more and more of the meanings must be made explicit in the text.”

Gibbons quoting Martin (p. 3)

Language / Field / Tenor / Mode
Look, it’s making them move. Those didn’t stick. / magnetic attraction lab experiment / peers working together in lab / small group conversation
We found out the pins stuck to the magnet. / magnetic attraction lab experiment / reporting to teacher / conversation with teacher
Our experiment showed that magnets attract some metals. / magnetic attraction lab experiment / reporting to teacher / written lab report
Magnetic attraction occurs only between ferrous metals. / magnetic attraction lab experiment / general audience / children’s encyclopedia

“… viewing language development as a process of learning to control an increasing range of registers suggests that while all children are predisposed in a biological sense to learn language, whether or not they actually do, how well they learn to control it, and the range of registers and purposes for which they are able to use it are a matter of the social contexts in which they find themselves.” Gibbons, 5

ELL STUDENTS HAVE A MORE RESTRICTED RANGE OF CONTEXTS IN ENGLISH.

Why can’t the ELL students pass my class?

BICS – Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills

  • contextualized conversation
  • informal speech and constructions
  • cues from body language, expression, tone of voice, etc.
  • based on prior knowledge and experience
  • few, if any, of unknown vocabulary words
  • limited number of words in use
  • develops in 1-3 years

CALP – Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency

  • decontextualized reading and discussion
  • formal, academic speech and text structure
  • very few, if any, cues to prompt understanding
  • very little, if any, prior knowledge or experience
  • large number of unknown words and concepts
  • develops in 5-7 years

My notes, based on the work of Canadian author Jim Cummins.

Gibbons quotes Cummins (2000) – page 11

4 key areas that schools should address:

  1. community and parent participation
  2. cultural and linguistic incorporation
  3. assessment
  4. pedagogy

Gibbons quotes Thomas and Collier (1999) – page 11

3 Key Predictors of Academic Success

  1. English language support through subject-areas combined with support in the 1st language
  2. use of two languages to teach the curriculum
  3. socio-cultural climate of the school that includes ELL students, their language and cultural background and teachers’ expectations of students was high.

SCAFFOLDED INSTRUCTION

Gradual Release of Responsibility


Some ideological methods Gibbons notes:

1.“Empty Vessel” model of teaching

  • teachers “deposit” skills or knowledge in the empty memory banks of the students
  • students are passive receivers
  • language is a conduit or carrier of language

2.“Progressive” model of teaching

  • education is the result of intelligent inquiry and thought
  • students are actively involved in construction of knowledge
  • teacher’s role is to stage-manage appropriate learning experiences
  • lacks specific language teaching

3.“Collaboration” model (Gibbons’ preferred method)

  • Lev Vygotsky, Russian psychologist
  • individual’s development is the result of social, historical, and cultural experiences
  • we use our knowledge within the social contexts and situations of school
  • “Learning in the Zone of Proximal Development”
  • distance or the cognitive gap between what a child can do unaided and what the child can do jointly and in coordination with a more skilled expert
  • assisted performance leads learners to reach beyond what they are able to achieve alone
  • external, social dialogue (academic speech) is gradually internalized
  • METACOGNITION; not learning how to do a particular skill but becoming familiar with the kind of process to go through in order to complete subsequent similar skills
  • QUESTIONING
  • WHAT shows what additional information the student needs to provide for basic understanding
  • WHY pushes the dialogue forward to deeper understanding

4.Scaffolding

  • temporary assistance by which a teacher helps a learner know how to do something so that the learner will later be able to complete a similar task alone
  • learning is ahead of actual development
  • teacher maintains high expectations of all students but provides sufficient support for all students to be successful
  • students are engaged with authentic and cognitively challenging learning tasks

5.Language-centered Curriculum

  • Gibbons: language-centered curriculum will be of benefit to all children
  • subject-are language cannot be taken for granted but must be taught
  • find stimulating and effective means for teaching academic language
  • critically examine how language is being used in the classroom
  • reading, writing, speaking, and listening are all legitimate academic activities

IMPORTANCE OF CLASSROOM TALK

Vygotsky views dialogue as constructing the resources for thinking. Teachers need to stimulate “thinking aloud,” also known as “exploratory talk.” This allows students to explore and clarify concepts or to try out a line of thought, through questioning, hypothesizing, making logical deductions, and responding to others’ ideas. (Gibbons 14)

Group work is one of the best ways to help students express themselves, to produce comprehensible, coherent, and grammatically improved discussion.

6 Advantages to group work:

  1. Learners hear more language
  2. greater variety
  3. more language directed at them
  4. increased input
  5. Learners interact more
  6. increased output
  7. responsible for clarifying own meaning
  8. Information is contextualized and so is more meaningful
  9. There will be message redundancy
  10. similar ideas expressed in different ways
  11. questioning
  12. exchanging information
  13. solving problems
  14. Learners must ask genuine questions
  15. get information
  16. clarify points
  17. Positive affective consequences
  18. working with peers
  19. working with whole class

Group Requirements

  1. Groups must report

what they say must be clear and comprehensible

must be precise as others did not learn the same content in their groups

reporter must help others get a clear picture in their minds

  1. Give groups explicit instructions

write it on the board

demonstrate the activity

define new terms (observe…)

introduce more formal terms along with more familiar terms

DO NOT dumb down the process; just spend more time

  1. Group Talk is essential

have an authentic purpose

jigsaw activity for Expert (this activity) and Home (permanent) groups

Setting up Groups

Clear Outcome for Group

result

solving problem

sharing of information

Task is Cognitively Appropriate to the Learners

age appropriate

cognitively demanding

matches language development

Integrated with Broader Curriculum Topic

simultaneous content and language instruction

planning, preteaching, and familiarizing

All Students Involved

structure group to require participation

  1. assign roles (reader, recorder, presenter, timer, tc.)
  2. allow students to choose roles

group accountability

Provide Enough Time

ESL students will take longer

Allot time for directions, to complete task, and to summarize/present results

Students Know Proper Behavior

regular classroom rules

taking turns

communicating with groups

quiet group-work voices

negotiating through disagreements

Reporting

allows student a great deal of freedom in reporting

teacher controlled but NOT teacher dominated

teacher provides scaffolding and SLOWS DOWN the dialogue

  1. asking questions

Examples:Tell us what you learned.

Tell us about what you did.

What did you find out?

What would you like to tell us about?

What did you find most interesting?

  1. clarifying

Examples:Can you say that again?

I don’t quite understand. Can you tell me that again?

Tell me a little more.

Can you just expand on that a little more?

What do you mean?

Can you explain it again?

  1. providing models for speaker

Group work supports learning:TEAM Together Everyone Achieves More

  • students develop understanding
  • students hypothesize (so… because … )
  • student talk becomes longer and more explicit
  • students begin to explain what they think
  • students can report to the rest of the class

Teacher’s Questions

  • are often framed in ways that do not allow students to make extended responses
  • should be open-ended questions allow students to begin their discussion where they feel most comfortable, rather than where the teacher’s question puts them
  • should allow the teacher to “lead from behind”
  • help students achieve in the zone of proximal development – at the “outer edges” of the student’s current achievement

Wait Time – time between a teacher asks a question and calls on a student

  • typically lasts only about 1 second
  • should last 3 to 8 seconds
  • can significantly improve student responses
  • can change student use of language
  • can improve attitudes and expectations by fostering success

Writing

  • 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries: read Bible and sign name
  • today, illiteracy means poverty and social alienation
  • poor literacy (reading and writing) locks out a person from knowledge, information, and ideas that are key to the culture of the society

Narratives:

  • sequenced in time
  • past tense
  • action verbs
  • dialogue
  • purpose
  • structure:
  • orientation
  • events
  • complication
  • resolution

Writing is based on “Curriculum Cycle”

  1. Building the Field
  2. establish background knowledge
  3. use speaking, listening, reading, information gathering, note taking
  4. Modeling the Text Type
  5. purpose
  6. overall structure
  7. Joint Construction (teacher and student write together
  8. Independent Writing

Scaffolding Language Scaffolding Learning: Teaching Second Language1

Learners in the Mainstream Classroom by Pauline Gibbons

©2002 Heinemann ISBN 0-325-00366-1

Types of School Text

Type of Text / Recount
  • What I did at the weekend
/ Narrative (story)
  • The elephant and the mouse
/ Report
  • Insects
/ Procedure
  • How to make a healthy meal
/ Discussion (one side)
Argument (two sides)
  • Should smoking be made illegal?

Purpose / To tell what happened / To entertain, teach / To give information / To tell how to do something / To persuade others; to take a position and justify it
Organization /
  • Orientation
(tells who, where, when)
  • Series of Events
  • Personal comment/ conclusion
/
  • Orientation (tells who, where, when)
  • Series of events
  • Problem
  • Resolution
/
  • General statement
  • Characteristic (e.g. habitat)
  • Characteristic (e.g. appearance)
  • Characteristic (e.g. food)
  • May have sub-headings
/
  • Goal
  • Steps in Sequence
/
  • Personal statement of position
  • Argument(s) and supporting evidence
  • Possible counter- argument(s) and supporting evidence
  • Conclusion

Connectives
(Linking Words) /
  • to do with time
  • first, then, next, at the end of the day afterwards
/
  • to do with time
  • one day, once upon a time, later, afterwards, in the end
/
  • not usually used
/
  • first, second, third
  • first, then, finally
/
  • first, second, in addition
  • therefore, however
  • on the other hand

Other language features /
  • Past tense
  • Tells about what happened
  • Describing words
/
  • Past tense
  • Tells about what happened
  • May have dialogue and verbs of “saying”
/
  • Uses “to be” and “to have” (e.g. A fly is an insect. It has six legs.)
  • Special vocabulary
/
  • Uses verbs to give instructions (e.g. take, mix, add, chop, bake, etc.)
/
  • May use persuasive language
  • (e.g. it is obviously wrong; it is clearly stupid that)

Gibbons page 58

Scaffolding Language Scaffolding Learning: Teaching Second Language1

Learners in the Mainstream Classroom by Pauline Gibbons

©2002 Heinemann ISBN 0-325-00366-1

Sample Writing Template:

Title:

What the discussion is about, and my opinion
The topic of this discussion is …
My opinion is that …
Arguments for
There are a number of reasons why I believe this.
First …
Second …
Third ….
Counterarguments (arguments against)
On the other hand …
In addition …
They also say …
Conclusion
However, my view is that …
because …

READING IN A SECOND LANGUAGE

thr hs bn a lt of dbat ovr th pst tn yrs abt th tchng of rdng. Sme see rdng as th mastry of phncs, othrs as a process of prdctn whrby the rdr uss bckgrnd knwldge and knwldge of the lngge systm to prdct mng

Thees differing views have infelunced the way raeding has bene tuahgt. Appraochse have varied between those who argue that the teaching of phonics is the most imprtoant element of a raeding program, and those who argue fro a whoel-langguae appraohc in whchi childnre learn to raed by predicting maenngi.

But it shou__ be obvi___ to anyo__ readi__ thi__ th__ goo__ read___ use a rang__ of strateg___ to gai__ mean___ fro__ writ___ tex__.

How do we make meaning?

  1. phonics/phonemic awareness
  2. background knowledge
  3. syntactic knowledge

SCHEMA THEORY

The knowledge that we have about the world is organized in interrelated patterns based on our previous experience and knowledge. When we apply schema theory to reading, we see that effective readers draw upon culturally acquired knowledge to guide and influence the comprehension process.

Example”Type of Story:

Bank Robbers Hold Hostages

Area Manager required, permanent position

The Sly Cat and the Clever Mouse

Now try this one!

The procedure is actually quite simple. First you arrange things into different groups. Of course, one pile may be sufficient, depending on how much you have to do. If you have to go somewhere else due to lack of facilities, then that is the next step; otherwise you are pretty well set. It is important not to overdo things. That is, it is better to do too few things at once than too many. In the short run this may not seem important, but complications can easily arise. A mistake can be expensive as well. … After the procedure is completed, one arranges the materials into different groups again. Then they can be put into their appropriate places. Eventually they can be used once more, and the whole cycle will then have to be repeated.

(Gibbons, page 89 – adapted from Bransford and Johnson 1972)

4 Components of Literacy Success

  1. Reader as Code Breaker
  2. sound-symbol relationship
  3. left-to-right directionality
  4. alphabet knowledge
  1. Reader as Text Participant
  2. connects with personal background knowledge
  3. knowledge of world
  4. cultural knowledge
  5. knowledge of genre
  6. must have the resources to match text with appropriate content and cultural knowledge
  7. Reader as Text User
  8. participate in social activities that use written text
  9. read within a range of social contexts (novels, menus, textbooks, etc.)
  10. be able to talk about text
  11. recognize genre
  12. novel and character study
  13. significance in informative text
  1. Reader as Text Analyst
  2. recognizing in the text what is assumed, implied, unquestioned
  3. recognizes that, however authoritative they appear, a particular view of the world is contained in text
  4. subtle
  5. manipulative
  6. ex. advertising, Opinion/Editorials, position papers, essays

Key factor: ESL students who can read in their 1st language will have an easier time of reading in their second language.

2 Goals:

  1. Help students understand the text they are reading
  2. Help students master strategies to read similar texts on their own

How? Help students BEFORE they read, WHILE they read, and AFTER they read.

Context consists of three things:

  1. the language that surrounds the unknown word
  2. our knowledge of the topic
  3. what we know about similar words

Example of Strategy for Context Vocabulary:

Read to the end of the sentence to see if this helps you understand the word

Look at the text that comes before and after the word; the word may be easier to understand with clues that come later.

Use pictures to help you guess the meaning.

Think about the function of the word. Is it a verb? noun? adjective?

Look for the same word somewhere else; the meaning might be more clear there.

Look for familiar word parts, such a prefixes, roots, and suffixes.

Use a bilingual or English dictionary. However, over reliance may

  • slow up reading and hurt comprehension
  • prevent use of strategies listed above
  • result in inaccurate comprehension because of multiple meanings
  • result in incomplete understanding because of limited dictionary meanings

How to Choose Books for ESL students

  1. Look for coherent text so that students can make predictions.
  2. Look for rich models of language.
  3. Try to challenge readers without overwhelming them.

How to Choose Books for Beginning ESL Students

  1. repetitive language
  2. repetitive events
  3. universal themes
  4. supportive illustration
  5. clear print and well-laid-out pages (not too busy)
  6. good, authentic models of language
  7. content and language that can be scaffolded for the ESL reader
  8. content and language that will extend the ESL reader’s knowledge of reading and the world
  9. content that is of interest and will be enjoyable

How to Choose Nonfiction for Older Readers