With rigorous state standards, there has been greater attention to teaching academic language to multilingual learners. However, the reality is that academic language is a new language for all learners. It differs from the type of language used in everyday settings and most students have had little exposure to the type of language used in school. For example, all students need to learn terminology used in various content areas such as extinction in science, dividend in math and territory in social studies, and much, much more. While acquiring new words and expanding one’s vocabulary is critical for school success, there is more to academic language than vocabulary. Students must learn and use other aspects of academic language such as:
Active and Passive Voice
Social studies mostly uses passive voice – The National Industrial Recovery Act was declared unconstitutional in 1935.
Science uses both passive and active voice – They collected samples from ten counties in Arizona and Samples were collected from ten counties in Arizona.
The English language arts include a variety of text types but active voice is typically used in stories – The kid chased the dog out of the house.
Math uses active voice – Multiply the number rows by the number of seats to find the seating capacity of the room.
Grammar and Language Structures
Complex sentence structure is new to many students. For example, the use of dependent and independent clauses such as Since the music hall was crowded, Showen sat outside to listen to the concert. And, While I was careful to observe the experiment, I almost dropped the beaker since I didn’t realize it was hot. Embedded clauses can be difficult because the subject of the verb can be confusing, as in The spider, which had built its web under my chair, pounced on its prey. There are many other aspects of grammar that can be tricky for students such as if-then clauses and verb tenses.
Language Skills and Functions
Reading, writing, speaking and listening are skills that need to be explicitly taught and practiced within the context of content learning. Will students need to read and find evidence in the text to support their answer? Does the lesson call for students to debate a topic and argue a position? Will students watch a video and identify the major points or details? Does the lesson require students to make predictions or draw conclusions?
It’s easy for teachers to underestimate the level of academic language that students need to know and use in content lessons. The examples above represent only a fraction of what students need to be successful in school.
Language objectives are an effective way of teaching academic language by integrating it into content area lessons. For multilingual learners, as well as many English-speaking students, making academic language visible and teaching it explicitly in content lessons is critical. Their growing academic language proficiency depends on having opportunities to learn about how English works and is used in texts and tasks.
Let me begin the discussion of language objectives by saying that there isn’t one particular way to write language objectives. Any focus on academic language will contribute to advancing language proficiency.
Content objectives represent what students will learn about the topic being studied.
Language objectives are what students will learn about language in the lesson that will advance their English proficiency. We suggest that teachers consider the many aspects of English as they design, post, and share the lesson’s language objectives with students. For example:
Content objective:
Students will identify the causes of the Great Depression and of the economic crisis of 2008.
Language objectives:
Students will use conjunctions when explaining the causes of the two events.
Students will compare the causes of the events using comparative language.
In this case, specific uses of language will be reviewed, for example, by referring to a posted list of conjunctions and discussing comparative language using examples. The activity might be to discuss the events with a partner and write sentences about the causes and points of comparison on a poster. The discussion and written points will provide the opportunity for students to use conjunctions and comparative language.
Using language objectives as a “teachable moment” advances students’ language learning; language teaching and practice are embedded into content lessons. Teachers don’t need to have a strong background in English grammar to design effective language objectives. ESL or ELD standards provide language structures and grammar points that students need to learn and are an excellent resource for teachers as you write language objectives.
We suggest that you select and write language objectives that address the type of academic language your multilingual learners need to understand the content and perform the activities in the lesson.
This puts the focus squarely on teaching and learning, not activities.
Activities are not language objectives, although they may provide language practice. Here’s another example to help make the distinction clear. Students will complete a Venn diagram is not a language objective. A Venn diagram is a tool that can help a student demonstrate meeting an objective such as, Students will read a text to find and record similarities and differences between two animals. If they complete the graphic organizer after reading, the teacher can see whether they can read for a purpose and find details. The Venn diagram might in fact be used later as a resource to support another language objective such as Students will use comparative language to discuss similarities and differences with a partner, but while it has captured information and is used to talk about that information, it is not the learning objective.
Multilingual learners require opportunities throughout their school day to learn about and practice using English, not just during time with the ESL or ELD teacher. Writing language objectives prompts teachers to think about the language needed for full participation of all students in a lesson and makes the specific aspect of English being learned and practiced visible to students.
For further discussion on language objectives, see Developing Academic Language Using the SIOP Model and Making Content Comprehensible for Multilingual Learners: The SIOP® Model