Progress in Developing Language Fluency and Complexity
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Partners in Innovation: Integrating ELD and Science The Exploratorium and Sonoma Valley Unified School District STUDENT PROGRESSIONS IN SCIENCE AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT Progress in Developing Language Fluency and Complexity The Integrating ELD (English Language Development) and Science program, a partnership between the What Is the Partners in Innovation: Exploratorium and Sonoma Valley Unified School Integrating ELD and Science program? District (SVUSD), offers elementary students wide- The goal of the Partners in Innovation: ranging opportunities to interact with and make Integrating ELD and Science program was meaning of natural phenomenon through science to enhance K-5 students’ English Language inquiry. In turn, students’ individual and collective Development and science learning. Over five years the program promoted the investigations create rich and varied opportunities implementation of an integrated ELD and for using language. The kind of student-centered and science instructional approach by providing student-generated learning produced by the Integrating concrete supports to teachers in four ELD and Science program happens in deep and complex critical dimensions: curriculum, professional ways, but often “below the radar screen” of what can development, professional learning community, and district backing. With its be detected through formal standardized student focus on learning language in the context assessments. of hands-on science, the program aimed to establish a robust, districtwide elementary As an alternate construct to achievement testing, the science program as well as to accelerate concept of student progressions provides a view of the language development of its English how children build their knowledge over time. The Language Learners. student progressions lens can illuminate specific critical dimensions of ELD and science learning, such as developing thinking skills or science content knowledge, as well as affective aspects of learning that are critical precursors to students’ academic success. The student progressions concept is presented here to show how SVUSD students at large fulfilled the primary purpose of the Integrating ELD and Science program—making positive and often dramatic progress in developing both their oral and written language fluency, as well as their communication skills. The data is gleaned from a range of sources: classroom observations conducted by researchers from both Inverness Research and the Research Group at the Lawrence Hall of Science; teachers’ survey responses; teacher reflections from interviews and written testimonies; as well as exemplars of student conversations. What does the field say about the kinds of learning experiences that support students’ progress in language development? Those who study the field of language acquisition and learning fall into two schools of thought. One believes that language learning is an individual cognitive process enhanced by direct instruction focused on the different building blocks of language—its grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and meaning. This view emphasizes learning correct form and structure. The other school of thought views language acquisition as primarily a social process occurring within authentic contexts among learners and speakers of the target language. It espouses the benefits of students describing, explaining, asking and answering questions, narrating experiences, etc., within meaningful settings. This view values expression of thoughts, ideas, and meaning over correctness of language. The latter school of thought served as the pedagogical underpinnings of the Integrating ELD and Science program. Why does science provide an especially rich context for acquiring language in classrooms? Firsthand, inquiry-focused science experiences grounded in real-world phenomena offer opportunities for rich discourse and literacy development by providing diverse and multiple ways for children to hear and use language. Such instruction also offers opportunities for working and learning cooperatively. Groups of students easily generate spontaneous, everyday language while thinking, talking, and writing about their developing understandings based on their investigations—thus developing their fluency with language naturalistically as they engage with the phenomena in front of them. As students engage more frequently with hands-on science they also hear, become familiar with, and eventually use precise academic language and even technical terminology. The Integrating ELD and Science program deliberately capitalized on this mutually beneficial relationship between inquiry-based science and language development. It aimed to design student experiences centering simultaneously on science and immersion in language. Believing that contexts that support language learning are those offering diverse opportunities for engaging learners’ interest and wonder, the program endeavored to generate excitement and enthusiasm, thereby deliberately reducing students’ inhibition and anxiety about learning a second language. Observing, manipulating, questioning, conversing with partners and small groups, discussing with the whole class, illustrating and writing thoughts, reading a range of texts including their own, the teacher’s, and published works—all of these experiences were intended to promote students’ participation, raising their motivation and willingness to risk expressing their ideas, and leading them into active “language-ing.” How did SVUSD teachers expand their classroom practice to support the language development of their students through science? The Integrating ELD and Science program developed and distributed to teachers grade-specific, hands-on science kits that included activities for language development incorporated into the materials. The program also offered teachers professional development support for learning how to integrate science and language development teaching. As a result, SVUSD teachers reported that their participation in the program contributed to their ability to create rich language development contexts within the science lessons.1 Teachers’ ratings in response to the following question show the extent of pedagogical practices supportive of language development. Rating are based on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being “No change” and 5 being “Much more change.” Percentages represent combined responses of 3, 4, and 5. 1 For the first four years of the Integrating ELD and Science program, Inverness Research and the Research Group at the Lawrence Hall of Science, UC Berkeley, administered a teacher survey to participating teachers. The data cited here is from the 2014 teacher survey results, the last of the 2 four annual surveys. To what extent has your participation in the Integrating ELD and Science program increased the frequency with which you engage in the following practices? 85% of teachers design scaffolded activities for 83% of teachers design differentiated activities students to talk about science content to each for students to read about related science other. content. 83% of teachers design scaffolded activities 89% of teachers structure class time to listen to enable students to demonstrate their to students explaining their understandings. aural comprehension of language related to 76% of teachers adapt their English speech science. and language to a range of levels of English 87% of teachers design scaffolded activities Language Learners. for students to write about their scientific 78% of teachers provide extended wait time thinking. for students to construct responses in English. 83% of teachers provide visual supports such 85% of teachers design teacher-student as real objects, pictures, demonstrations, discourse to extend language beyond one etc. for students to understand teacher word responses from students. explanations. What does an integrated ELD and science SVUSD classroom look like? And how does it promote students’ language development? Stepping Inside a Language-Rich 2nd Grade Classroom 2 Walking into Mrs. Galveston’s classroom is like stepping inside Ladybug Wonderland. Her 2nd grade room is filled with everything ladybug—photographs of ladybugs, children’s drawings of ladybugs with their body parts clearly labeled, posters, word walls with dozens of vocabulary words pertaining to ladybugs, books ranging from large colorful picture books to adult style reference books on insects, live ladybugs in petri dishes on each student’s desk, hand held lenses, children’s Science Journals open to pages with ladybug descriptions and illustrations, and even more ladybug books lined up on the portable book shelf near a circular rug. It is impossible not to smile and impossible not to become intensely interested in these colorful beetles. Twenty-one children, 12 of whom are classified as ELL and 2 of whom are “full inclusion” students, are preparing for a Science Talk, moving away from their desks to sit on the edge of the rug. They have been studying “The Life Cycle of a Ladybug” for several weeks. Mrs. Galveston has been in the classroom for 24 years, and has gravitated toward teaching the lower grades where “teachers can make a real difference.” 2 Although names of teachers and students are changed to maintain anonymity, classroom descriptions and student examples are based on observations conducted over the duration of the Integrating ELD and Science program as well as on pre-observation interviews with classroom teachers. 3 I was an art specialist in college, and still love art.