Language

"It’s ironic that Black English speech is still dismissed and devalued as being linguistically broken, and at the same time is one of the richest sources of lexical innovation in English."

https://daily.jstor.org/black-english-matters/

We need to reconcile an asset based view of AAVE with the teaching of early reading. Seems like there's a tension there. How can we leverage the linguistic beauty of AAVE to learn to decode written English? What are those onramps between AAVE phonology and standard orthography?

This idea that the "science of reading" focuses only on phonics is reductionist and sets up a straw man.

The science of reading includes the understanding that language comprehension is just as important to reading as word-level recognition & decoding.

https://co.chalkbeat.org/2020/12/15/22174706/colorado-emphasis-phonics-reading-hurt-english-language-learners

I definitely get the need to stress that both are important and not to lose sight of that. But the "science of reading" ain't the fall guy here, folks.

The more I learn about learning to read and write, the more I see the importance in a concurrent and ongoing stress on language development. https://languageliteracy.blog/2021/03/14/phonology-how-it-relates-to-language-and-literacy/

Crazy to think that bi/multilingualism is not only normal but a mandate in some other countries, meanwhile the ongoing struggle to establish bilingual education programs in the U.S.

Been seeing a lot about bilingual cognitive advantages lately. . . Listen, there are a lot of very strong reasons to advocate for multilingualism. We don't need a supposed cognitive advantage to make the case. https://x.com/mandercorn/status/1316076278865448960

I may have just spent almost an hour comparing the English word 'precipitation' against its Arabic equivalent, looking at differences in phonology and morphology. Two great resources: https://www.asha.org/practice/multicultural/phono/ https://www.internationalphoneticalphabet.org/ipa-sounds/ipa-chart-with-sounds/

You began to attune your budding awareness to the prosody of human speech. You began to distinguish the voices of different speakers and between the sounds of different languages.

Language learning begins almost the moment we can hear or feel or move. When you were in the womb, your mother’s heartbeat, sonorous voice, and burbling digestive system bathed you in constant aural stimulation and sparked the rapid development of neural connections in your brain

When our children first come into our schools, whether in pre-K or in kindergarten, they already come with a wide range of unique experiences with language. However, not all have had the same level of exposure to the language of written text . . .

We are born to communicate with and learn from one another, to gesture, to imitate, to assign names and labels, to array things and events and actions into discourse. This amazing ability to learn and communicate is our universal birthright.

After we have entered into the world and the umbilical cord has been cut, language is the interstitial tissue that binds our interactions to the people and objects around us. We cry and wave, we grab and we coo, we point and laugh and babble and shriek.

The academic term for this type of language is “decontextualized” or “abstract” language, and children are exposed to this language whenever an adult reads books aloud to them and talks with them about what they read (“extra-textual talk”).

. . . , a language that tends to be more syntactically complex, with greater use of specialized and infrequent words, greater requirements for inferencing, and glimpses into realms of inquiry that lie beyond the immediate and concrete.

. . . with challenging concepts and ideas. Frankly, I don't think we leverage the power of read-alouds frequently nor effectively enough across our classrooms, and across content areas. #language #readalouds #sharedreading

. . . most especially as disciplinary language grows ever more specialized. The dense yet rich informational texts of social studies and science are ripe for read-alouds, providing opportunities for students to hear complex written text read fluently and engage intellectually. .

These early shared reading experiences improve later reading outcomes and motivation to read. But shared reading shouldn't stop once kids have learned to decode. Read-alouds should continue all the way up through secondary . . .

"The evidence is overwhelming that when students learn to read written forms that diverge from their spoken vernacular, this has a profoundly detrimental impact on learning to read"

Is this true -- that it is "overwhelming"?

https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/rrq.401 https://t.co/FHb63Lbqkb

"the meta-analysis provides evidence that a more complex relationship between dialect use & literacy exists, one that cannot be explained simply by differences, or mismatches, in speech and print, as suggested by the mismatch/linguistic interference theory."

There is definitely a fair amount of evidence on this, but not sure it's as clear as they claim here. The metaanalysis they cite, for example, makes a more nuanced claim:

I'd also want to dig deeper into how many languages/dialects this effect has been found for. Majority cited appear to be AAVE or Arabic diglossia. Does this finding apply to Chinese dialects and learning to read in Mandarin, for example?

@AndrewWatsonTTB Took on the quest! Some findings above. The quest continues. . .

Is learning a second or third language considered "natural" and acquired via exposure and use? Or does learning a new language require direct and explicit instruction? Or is some measure of both needed, varying based on context of use and individual learning profile?

I'm always perplexed when a conversation (or academic paper, for that matter) is about cognates and is not ALSO a conversation about morphology, and vice versa.

Has anyone studied the potentially differential impacts of a synthetic vs analytic phonics approach for students new to the English language? And if not, why the heck not?

Our goal is to reach optimum encoding of a word across its sounds, spelling, and meaning so that it is anchored in our long-term memory (i.e. fluent, automatic access and retrieval). http://languageliteracy.blog/2022/03/13/an-ontogenesis-model-of-word-learning-in-a-second-language/

We all need to stop diminishing and devaluing de/encoding. It's not easy to gain. It's not rote. It does take applied effort over time.

Written language is an amazing feat of our species and every time an individual person gains the ability to read and write, we should celebrate

And when they gain that ability in more than one language . . . exponential celebrations 🎉

There's a tension between multilingual learner advocates and SOR advocates that can be far more exaggerated than it needs to be.

Structured literacy (SOR) provides a great anchor for contrastive analysis, a foundational practice for building cross- and meta-linguistic awareness.

Furthermore, the stress is on explicit instruction of linguistic features, such as morphology and syntax, that are especially important for students learning English as a newer language.

And multicomponent approaches for all who need more supports.

https://www.readingrockets.org/article/structured-literacy-instruction-basics

Structured literacy isn't just about phonics, as it is so often misinterpreted. Approaches that are supportive of MLs--like @GreatCitySchls "3Ls," @ELeducation "language dives," and protocols for oracy--align with a structured literacy approach.

Structuring opportunities for direct instruction and analysis of spoken linguistic features and of how they relate to orthography can benefit all children.

By enhancing those opportunities with connections to students' home languages, MLs can bring their strengths to the table.

PSA: for an older student who comes to the US and speaks a language other than English, putting them on a laptop to do phonics as a default is not serving them well.

Unless there has been significant interrupted or inconsistent formal education, they will bring foundational literacy and advanced language and knowledge in their home language(s).

Instead, ascertain what they bring in their home language. NY state provides the MLS screener. Or provide a prompt, and ask them to write a response in their home language. If they are constructing words, sentences, and passages in their home language, they are fully literate.

Leverage their home language and literacy to make connections to the spoken and written forms of English. No, you aren't teaching them their language: you are inviting them to share their knowledge. But having at minimum basic awareness of their spoken and written language is key

CUNY-NYSIEB has a great overview of cultural and linguistic aspects of different languages in NY state https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.cuny-nysieb.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/NYSLanguageProfiles.pdf&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwi-j6D0-Yz7AhX2kIkEHb83BY4QFnoECAsQAg&usg=AOvVaw0bVH7exrig1O8zJu1Z4fNt

Using contrastive analysis, you can support students in comparing and contrasting their existing knowledge of the phonology, orthography, morphology, syntax, and meaning in their home language to English, and teach in to the areas that are most dissimilar.

ASHA also has some great resources on the linguistic features of specific languages and dialects https://www.asha.org/practice/multicultural/phono/

If they do require systematic instruction in the alphabetic principle, grapheme-phoneme correspondences, and so on, then by all means provide it. Just don't forget that they also need lots of structured discussion and peer interaction and access to texts in multiple modalities..

and in their home language aligned to core content and topics, when and where available, to support connecting to and building upon their existing conceptual knowledge.

You know that you can still invite students to compare words in English to words in their home languages even if they aren't cognates, right?

Then I can feel more confident in bringing my preexisting knowledge and skills to bear. And when I am supported in producing the language of instruction through scaffolds and in participation through clear and consistent routines, I can engage in instruction very quickly.

Think about it for a second: if I come into a new country not yet speaking much of the majority language, I still possess language--the language I use at home.

I can certainly produce that language! And when bridges are built between home language & the language of instruction

I strongly disagree with this premise: "As teachers the expectation should not be that learners are producing language."

This idea of a "silent period" is unfortunately based on outdated theory and should not be used to lower expectations for language.

https://wp.me/papLcz-dO

I shudder to think of teachers waiting a year to expect their students to speak!

Please don't do this! Expect more and support more. Provide plentiful opportunities for kids to hear, see, read, speak, and write words, phrases, sentences, and passages.

Equity for multilingual learners is about scaffolding up content, rather than watering it down. https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/what-does-equity-really-mean-for-multilingual-learners

What do your students at beginning levels of English language learning need that is separate from core instruction? For how long? Seems to be a fundamental area of tension in our field that boils down to values and theories of language development.

But if we think of language as communicative, social, and interactive, and that it develops in tandem and reciprocally through rich disciplinary content and texts, then we will seek to engage students learning the language in grade-level tasks alongside their proficient peers.

How we think about language matters.

If we think of it as mere oral language proficiency, and if we think that language is a prerequisite for grade-level texts and content, then we might think putting kids on a program on a laptop or an app on a device will teach them language.

There is a fertile topsoil we are born with in our brains, imprinted by the interplay of sights and sounds and movement of those who interact with us. http://languageliteracy.blog/2023/09/02/the-inner-scaffold-for-language-and-literacy/

Like reading, using language drives increasing specialization of our brain—and this specialization, in turn, drives greater cognitive ability and communicative reach. https://languageandliteracy.blog/language-like-reading-may-not-be-innate

Outdated terms on language development such as "pre-production" or "silent period" can reinforce the misconception that English Learners have no language. ELs bring to our schools the language they use at home. Effective instruction recognizes and builds upon their HLs.