scholarly journals Developing Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency: The Journey

2005 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hetty Roessingh ◽  
Pat Kover ◽  
David Watt
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Postsecondary Education ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Academic Language ◽  
Comparison Group ◽  
Educational Experiences ◽  
Academic Language Proficiency ◽  
Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency ◽  
Esl Learners

This study tracks the development of cognitive academic language proficiency of 47 academically competent high school ESL learners of differing age on arrival (AOA) who received instructed ESL support and one comparison group of six young arrivals who received little if any ESL support during their educational experiences. Although intake and outcome measures appear similar on the surface for all 47 students, variability in the subscores of the outcomes measure provided the catalyst for taking a closer look at progress during the ESL program. The outcomes provide a refined understanding of the development of cognitive academic language proficiency, and in particular the role of underlying proficiency and structured ESL support. The data suggest that the youngest arrivals (i.e., those aged 6-11) remain at risk in their postsecondary education. The outcomes also suggest that the acquisition of cultural capital and metaphoric competence remains a challenge for all learners.

scholarly journals Variability of ESL Learners' Acquisition of Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency: What Can We Learn From Achievement Measures?

2003 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hetty Roessingh ◽  
Pat Kover
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Academic Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
High Expectations ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Academic Language Proficiency ◽  
Achievement Measures ◽  
First Language Proficiency ◽  
Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency ◽  
Esl Learners

With the revamping of the Canada Immigration Act in 1985, the demographic profile of new arrivals to Canada took a marked shift to place a priority on better educated, business-class immigrants. Most of these immigrants are from the Pacific Rim, and they have high expectations for the academic achievement of their children in the Canadian school system. The purpose of this study was to look at age on arrival and first-language proficiency of these children, as these factors interact with instructed ESL support on achievement measures in grade 12. Analysis of the data reveals that although all learners benefit from structured ESL support, it is the younger-arriving ESL learners who have the most to gain, even after many years of little or no support. We note that all ESL learners, regardless of age on arrival, struggle to acquire the cultural and metaphoric competence that is beyond the linguistic threshold required for success, but nevertheless central to successful engagement in a literature-based program of studies.

scholarly journals Working With Younger-Arriving ESL Learners in High School English: Never Too Late to Reclaim Potential

2002 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 01 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hetty Roessingh ◽  
Pat Kover
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
English Literature ◽  
Literature Study ◽  
High School English ◽  
Academic Language Proficiency ◽  
Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency ◽  
Basic Vocabulary ◽  
Esl Learners

Younger-arriving ESL learners often come to high school ill prepared for the demands of English literature courses. Although they may have acquired the phonological and grammatical system of English with relative ease and developed a basic vocabulary, they lack the breadth and depth of vocabulary and the related concepts that are necessary to engage with the abstract nature and cultural embeddedness of literature study. In probing behind this linguistic facade, we have been able to help our students make gains in the development of cognitive academic language proficiency as reflected in standardized achievement measures of academic writing. The acquisition of the cultural capital necessary for success in literature studies, however, is more problematic. New questions arise about student identity and cultural understandings that are central to the success of ESL learners in high school.

scholarly journals Variability in ESL Outcomes: The Influence of Age on Arrival and Length of Residence on Achievement in High School

2008 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hetty Roessingh
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Growth Models ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Achievement Outcomes ◽  
Academic Language Proficiency ◽  
Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency ◽  
Standardized Measure ◽  
Esl Learners

This article integrates findings from earlier research (Roessingh and Kover, 2003; Roessingh, Kover, and Watt, 2005) linking distinct patterns of achievement for diverse age-on-arrival (AOA) cohorts of ESL learners on the grade 12 Alberta English language arts (ELA) examination to their vocabulary and reading comprehension scores on a standardized measure over time. Recasting the data and conducting simple statistical procedures can offer further insights into the features of cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP): the relationship between vocabulary development and academic performance. I consider ESL program effects and the connection between age on arrival, vocabulary size, and achievement outcomes as reflected on the ELA examination. I compare the ESL students' scores with those of a random sample of their native-speaking (NS) academic counterparts to note patterns among the various cohorts of learners. The results suggest that measures of language proficiency (e.g., vocabulary) can be used to gain direct insights into students' academic achievement. This work has important implications for the development of theoretical growth models that would establish language-learning trajectories of good ESL progress for varied AOA and lengths of residence (LOR) fitted against a NS trajectory.

scholarly journals De ELE al desarrollo de la CALP y de la metacompetencia bilingüe

2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 295
Author(s):  
Laura Sanfelici ◽  
Elena Firpo
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Academic Language ◽  
Academic Language Proficiency ◽  
Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency

El trabajo se propone ilustrar la investigación que ha llevado a la ideación, diseño y desarrollo del proyecto LI.LO (acrónimo de Lengua Italiana y Lengua de Origen), dirigido a estudiantes de ciudadanía no italiana nacidos en Italia, de entre 11 y 14 años, cuya lengua de origen sea el español. El proyecto tiene como objetivo el desarrollo, por parte de los estudiantes, de<br />la competencia que en literatura especializada se llama Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency, es decir, la habilidad de manipular la lengua y los conceptos más abstractos, en contextos de estudio. La metodología adoptada en la primera fase ha previsto la suministración de pruebas de lengua y de las disciplinas en los dos idiomas objeto del estudio (italiano y<br />español) y de una biografía lingüística. El resultado de los test han puesto de relieve que los estudiantes de origen hispanohablante han obtenido puntuaciones inferiores tanto con respecto a sus compañeros italianos, como respecto a la competencia lingüística y académica en su lengua de<br />origen. La metodología usada en la segunda fase es la del taller, llevado a cabo en el aula de informática en modalidad blended, a través del uso de una plataforma creada ad hoc para el curso. Los resultados del análisis de la segunda fase han evidenciado que el curso LI.LO. ha sido útil para desarrollar la CALP en las habilidades de comprensión en ambas lenguas y en las habilidades de uso de la lengua, con especial significado en la lengua italiana.

scholarly journals Academic Discourse in English Medium Instruction Contexts: A Look at Teacher Explanations

10.29007/cl6r ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Ángeles Martín-Del-Pozo
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Academic Language ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Learning Content ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Academic Language Proficiency ◽  
Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency ◽  
English Medium Instruction ◽  
Research Questions

Teaching and learning content subjects through English requires a competence in academic language which Cummins (1984) labeled CALP (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency). Revisiting this concept could shed light on the academic language skills necessary for communication in bilingual classrooms. A first step in this long journey could be a deeper comprehension of the academic linguistic or cognitive discourse functions (Dalton-Puffer, 2013). This paper approaches the function of explaining.To accomplish this aim, six lecturers teaching through English at Escuela de Ingeniería de Informática (Segovia, Spain) were videotaped. Lessons were transcribed to create a corpus. The main research questions followed Dalton-Puffer´s (2007) model for a secondary education context:1. How many occurrences of the academic function of explanation are there in the corpus?2. What is the linguistic form of these explanations?3. Is there any signaling language or metalanguage around them?The seventy explanation fragments found were classified in three categories following Brown´s taxonomy (2006).• Interpretative explanations respond to the question ‘What?’ and are very close to definitions.• Descriptive explanations respond to the question ‘How?’ and centre on processes, structures and procedure.• Reason giving explanations respond to the question ‘Why?’ and provide reasons and causes.The findings show a rich frequency of this academic function in contrast to the very limited comparable previous studies in bilingual classrooms (Dalton-Puffer, 2007). Bar graphs of frequencies and distribution of types per lecturer are presented. Regarding qualitative aspects, the samples found offer insights about how explaining is performed in bilingual content lectures. The form of these explanations and the metalanguage signaling them are analyzed and illustrated with numerous examples from the corpus.Taking as starting point the description of the explanations present in lecturer discourse some reflections about their potential for the learning of content and language are provided. The conclusions section suggests some pedagogical implications for the linguistic education of both students and lecturers in English medium instruction environments.

scholarly journals Strategies Used by Lecturers in Teaching English Productive Skills at English Study Program of FKIP UIR

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 48-59
Author(s):  
Muhammad Ilyas
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Academic Language ◽  
Collaborative Writing ◽  
Video Recording ◽  
Writing Classroom ◽  
Teaching English ◽  
Study Program ◽  
The Social ◽  
Academic Language Proficiency ◽  
Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency

Teaching English productive skills was considered to become the most difficult lesson, the students needed to have good pronunciation, master structure, discourse and the social context of cultural competence. Besides, speaking and writing  were difficult, more effort was required on the part of the students and lecturers. It was not enough for the students to listen only. This research tried to explore the strategies used by the lecturers and their influences in developing students’ cognitive academic language proficiency by working on students’ English productive  skills. This research was a descriptive qualitative research. It consisted of only one variable, which the researcher wanted to explore the description of strategies used by the lecturers and their influences on students’ English productive skills at English study program of FKIP UIR. In this research, researcher only focused on exploring the strategies used by the lecturers and describing the influences from those strategies on students’ English productive skills. The result of this research showed that there were some strategies used by lecturers in teaching English productive skills at English study program of FKIP UIR, they were: (1) in the speaking classroom; Buzz group, think-pair-share, circle of voices, video recording method. (2) in the Writing classroom; collaborative writing technique. All of those strategies were suitable for teaching speaking or writing and gave description for reader to increase students’ English productive skills.

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