What is Academic Literacy?

The dispositions and habits of mind that enable students to enter the ongoing conversations appropriate to college thinking, reading, writing, and speaking are inter-related and multi-tiered. Students should be aware of the various logical, emotional, and personal appeals used in argument; additionally, they need skills enabling them to define, summarize, detail, explain, evaluate, compare/ contrast, and analyze. Students should also have a fundamental understanding of audience, tone, language usage, and rhetorical strategies to navigate appropriately in various disciplines.

Academic Literacy, page 13

Teaching Reading is Teaching Thinking

Pre-Assessment

Teaching Reading is Teaching Thinking

Academic Language

Instruction

Pre-Assessment

Teaching Reading is Teaching Thinking

VocabularyDevelopment

Academic Language

Instruction

Pre-Assessment

Teaching Reading is Teaching Thinking

ReadingInstruction

VocabularyDevelopment

Academic Language

Instruction

Pre-Assessment

Teaching Reading is Teaching Thinking

ReadingInstruction

VocabularyDevelopment

Academic Language

Instruction

IndependentChoice

Reading

Pre-Assessment

Teaching Reading is Teaching Thinking

ReadingInstruction

VocabularyDevelopment

Academic Language

Instruction

IndependentChoice

Reading

Pre-Assessment

WritingInstruction

Teaching Reading is Teaching Thinking

ReadingInstruction

VocabularyDevelopment

Academic Language

Instruction

IndependentChoice

Reading

Pre-Assessment

WritingInstruction Post-

Assessment

Effective Reading and

Writing Instruction

Academic Language KnowledgeUnderstanding of the language necessary to analyze and express concepts in the domain or content area, including vocabulary, syntactic structures, and text types

Domain Content KnowledgeUnderstanding of the concepts and skills that need to be taught in a specific domain or content area

Pedagogical Content KnowledgeAbility to convey content knowledge through multiple models of teaching for student understanding and achievement

Knowledge of StudentKnowledge of student re: content (level, conceptual understanding, skill, attitudes), academic register (specific to domain), and background (cultural, linguistic, experiential)

TEACHING ACADEMIC LANGUAGE LEARNERS

Characteristics of Academic Language

• Greater use of content-specific vocabulary.

Characteristics of Academic Language

• Greater use of content-specific vocabulary.• Less repetition.

Characteristics of Academic Language

• Greater use of content-specific vocabulary.• Less repetition.• Greater use of more complex grammatical structures to

pack more information into a single sentence.

Characteristics of Academic Language

• Greater use of content-specific vocabulary.• Less repetition.• Greater use of more complex grammatical structures to

pack more information into a single sentence.• Use of a greater variety of conjunctions and connective

words and phrases to convey coherence between ideas (e.g. however, furthermore, nevertheless, as a result, first, second, third, in sum).

Characteristics of Academic Language

• Typically the text must stand alone and is less interactive.

Characteristics of Academic Language

• Typically the text must stand alone and is less interactive.

• Greater use of formatting conventions and graphics to convey meaning (e.g. headings, paragraphs, charts, images).