Some Key Understandings of Additional Language Learning

Written & spoken language differ and offer different

Challenges for studentsThere are further differences to consider:

•Content (field)•Relationships between speaker and audience (tenor)•Spoken vs. written (mode)

•Together referred to as register

Adapted from Gibbons, From Talking to Writing: the Mode Continuum

Personal experience

Osamu shared his experience as an Additional Language Learner

giving the example of the USE measurement system

In the classroom

Students learn to vary the register as they progress through school

This is a strong argument for integrating content and language learning

In the classroom

The less shared knowledge the more explicit language must become

“The more students are doing things together and engaging in dialogue, the more they can take for granted.”

Take away

Conversational language develops quite rapidly(one or two years)

Academic registers (may take five to seven)