The Third Languageof Academic English

Five key mental habits help English language learnersacquire the language of school.

Academic language is thelinguistic glue that holds thetasks, texts, and tests ofschool together. If studentscan t use this glue well, their

academic work is likely tt) fall apart, Idefine academic Utngua^it' as the set ofwords and phrases that {1 > describecontent-area knowledge and proce-dures, (2) express complex thinkingprocesses and abstract concepts, and(3) create cohesion and clarity inwritten and oral discourse.

For English language learners,academic English is like a thirdlanguage, their second language beingthe social English of the hallways,community, and media. And whereasstudents are exposed to social English invarious settings, academic languageacquisition is generally limited to theclassroom. This third language is full ofnew words, figurative expressions,grammar structures, verb tenses, andcommunication strategies. Many Englishlanguage learners, even those with well-developed social language, struggle tomaster the complex language of school.

Learning HabitsTeachers need to help English languagelearners develop a set of automaticstrategies—what I call learning habits—that they can use to acquire academiclanguage in any setting. 1 he fivelearning habits discussed here can helpstudents recognize and understand

JeffZwiers

academic language in a variety of class-room contexts, I developed the list bydrawing on research from languageacquisition theory, academic languagedevelopment, and constructivistlearning methods.

To help students cultivate these

Because we are immersed

in an ocean of academic

language daily, it's hard

to notice the habits

we automatically engage

in to comprehend

such language.

habits, educators must first refiect ontheir own academic language profi-ciency. Because we are immersed in anocean of academic language daily, it'shard to notice the habits we automati-cally engage in to comprehend suchlanguage. For example, yoti are prob-ably not struggling to read this article,which is saturated with academiclanguage. The ocean anak)gy and theword saturated are examples of thekind of academic language that we take

for granted—and so is the phrase takefor granted. Wlien we become aware ofour own habits and strategies, we canmodel them and make them available toour students.

Use Contextto Interpret MeaningI teach students to use context to helpfigure out an unfamiliar word or expres-sion. (Context is a combination of themeaning of surrounding words, anyaccompanying visuals, and the overallmeaning of a passage. I encotiragestudents to "scope out the neighbor-hood where the word lives," and showhow this "neighborhood" providesclues to meaning. When listening tospoken academic language, studentscan guess the meaning of unfamiliarwords by paying attention to thespeaker s purpose, intonation, and facialexpressions, as well as to key words thespeaker emphasizes or repeats.

Such guesses will remain stored inthe brain, sotnetimes unconscitmsly,until the student sees or hears the wordagain. As a student encounters thetai^et word or expression in morecontexts, the student s bmin continuesto sculpt the word s meaning and storeit in memory. Most of us learned themajority of words we know from seeingthem in context—often not just one ortwo times, but hundreds of times ormore.

I model for students how I go

6 0 E D I I C A T T O N A I . I . F A n i ; K S H l P / D F < : E M B b R 2 ( ) ( ) 4 / j A M I A K 1 2 0 0 5

through this process in my ownreading. For example, I might thinkaloud.

When I find a word I don't know, Ilook at the words around it. I takeout the unknown word and tryreplacing it with words I do knowthat would make sense. Thissentence says, "His desultory waysled him to the four comers of theglobe," When 1 remove the unknownword desultory, I get, "His some-thing ways led him to the fourcomers of the globe." 1 guess thatdesultory means wandering, trav-eling, or curious. Now I write thesepossible meanings on a sticky noteand stick it to that page of the book.The next time I see the word desul-tory, in this text or another book, Iwill see if my current meanings fit.

1 have students try this process withan appropriate text. If they run intonumerous utiknown words. 1 suggestthey concentrate on words the authorrepeats, which are probably important.Students discuss and refine their guesseswith partners, then check their guessesagainst the dictionary meaning. A keyaspect of this habit is learning to make

the concrete-abstract connection, toquickly change the concrete meaning ofa term into an abstract meaning that fitsthe context. For example, when educa-tors read the expression "to scaffoldlearning," they do not envision literalscaffolds at construction sites; theythink of temporary teaching supports.

Recognize Words ThatDescribe Thinking SkillsOne of the principal roles of academiclanguage is to describe such complex,higher-order thinking processes ascomparing, analyzing, evaluating,synthesizing, and persuading (Chamot &(> Malley, 1994). As teachers, we mustnotice the concepts and thinkingprocesses asscxriated with the contentwe are teaching and identify theacademic language that describes thesethinking skills (Zwiers, 2004).

For example, if you ask students tocompare the foreign policies of twopresidents, pause to discuss themeaning of the term cotnpare. Highlightsome of the terms commonly used tosignal the process of comparing: like-

Mostof US learned

the majority of words

we know from seeing

them in context.

wise, on the other hand, similarly.Train students to analyze the academiclanguage in texts, which in tum helpsthem figure out the author s thinking,purpose, and text structure.

One way to help students recognizeacademic language is to create an"Academic Language Bank"(Cunningham, 1995). Work withstudents to pick out key academic termsand expressions from texts—notspecialized, "big" vocabxilary items likephotosynthesis, but such terms asrather, therefore, doesn't hold water,justify, and support. Write terms andtheir definitions on pieces of greenpaper and tape them on the wall. Thebank can be an ever-evolving referencetool to help students understand, value,and use academic language.

Read Challenging butUnderstandable MaterialsReading is a powerful way to pushstudents beyond social language intoacademic language ((iibbons, 2002).Reading texts helps students see theorganizational structure of sentencesand paragraphs in both narrative andexpository form. In contrast to listening,reading aUows students to revisitconfusing parts and fix up comprehen-sion glitches. Reading gives studentstime to see and process many newwords and expressions that are notcommonly used in conversation.

So how do we build the habit ofreading in English when getting Englishlanguage learners to read in their firstlanguage is often hard enough? One

ASSOCIATION FOR SiiPtRvisioN AND CLIRRICIII.1. M DEVELOPMENI 61

way is to read aloud tostudents as they follow along,stopping at times tt) modelyour thinking out loud, to goover new words, or to talkabout what is happening in apassage. Have students comeup with questions, makepredictions, developsummaries, and talk or writeabout the text in smallgroups. 1 he DirectedReading-Thinking Activity(Stauffer, 1975) and GuidedReading (Fountas & Pinncll,2000) are popular strategiesfor modeling and scaffoldingthe thinking that is needed tocomprehend as one reads.Literature (;ircles (Short &Burke, 1991) and ReciprocalTeaching (Palinscar & Brown, 1984) areeffective models for .student-led discus-sions about readings.

To stimulate reading, bring in mate-rials besides books—magazines, news-papers, song lyrics, letters, short stories,and so on—focused on topics thatappeal to kids. Emphasize the impor-tance of reading for meaning, anilremind students that they don t need toknow every word to get a passage smeaning.

1 have students fill out a chart fortexts they read in school, answering thefollowing questions: What was theauthor's ptirpose in writing this piece?Is the piece fiction or nonfiction? Whatacademic thinking skills did I use as Iread this? What did 1 learn from readingthis? Wliat do I still want to know, andwhat new words and terms did Iencounter? These charts encourageacademic responses and help cultivatediscussion.

Take Risksin the New LanguageEducators must set up leaming environ-ments in which students feel safe lotake risks with their evolving academiclanguage. Speaking challenges an

Middle school students created this "language bank" to illustratetheir understanding of words used in academic contexts.

English language learner to communi-cate a complex message to real listeners(Lightbrown. 2003). To speak in agroup, a student must actively thinkabout and organize the message quicklyand clearly so that listeners will under-stand. Whether or not the messagecomes out grammatically correct, thisthinking strengthens the student'sacademic language processing. Rivers(1994) highlights the need for languagelearners to constnict their own mean-ings and negotiate meaning with otherspeakers. If students remain silent,never communicating their thoughts,they will not hear direct responses totheir comments. Direct responses fromother speakers represent what Krashen(1982) calls comprehensible input—language that students hear or read thatis understandable enough for theirbrains to acquire and process.

For example, in a discussion in ascience class on pollution, an Englishlanguage learner might hesitate to giveher opinion, waiting until she canformulate a grammatically perfectsentence, if that student remains silent,she remains passive and tends to tuneout. If she speaks up, even with animperfectly constructed message, she

learns actively from genuineconversation. Other students'responses will connectdirectly to what she said.

Another advantage oftaking risks with academiclanguage is that the teachercan model the student'smessage back to her withcorrect grammar. If a studentsays, "I think that we notneed more factories becausepolltition," the teacher couldrespond. Interesting. Youthink that we don't needfactories because of theirpollution. Does anyonedisagree?" This answer vali-dates the student's response,models the correct way to sayit, and keeps the conversa-

tion focused on meaning.

Converse with Native SpeakersAbout Academic TopicsThis can be the most challenging habit(3f all for English language learners todevelop because c<Jnversing with nativespeakers of English can be scary. FewEnglish language leamers get enoughexperience conversing in English aboutschool topics. Yet such conversation isvital. English language leamers mayhave done exercises, answered ques-tions, created brochures, or even givenoral presentations, but few have had in-depth conversations about a topic witha native speaker of English.

I encourage my students to see everynative speaker as a temporary teacherand every conversation as a chance tolearn .something new. I actually assignEnglish-Ieaming students to have aconversation, however brief, with anative English speaker and to record ona notccard how the talk went. 1 suggestthat they approach the native speakerand say, "I need to practice speakingEnglish for a few minutes. (;an you helpme?" They are armed with a list ofpossible questions or conversationtopics with an academic flavor to them,

6 2 E n | i C A T [ O N A [ . I , t : A I > t R S l l I P / D E C H M B E R 2 (K) l / j A M I A R ̂ 2 0 ( ) ' i

Educators must set up learning environments

in which students feel safe to take risks with their

evolving academic language.

such as• Wliat do you think about the

current president?• What is your favorite class/film/

book? Why?• Why do we study history? Science?

Literature? Math?One way to help students conquer

their fear of talking to native speakers isto model successful conversations, Ihave a friend come into class and—withstudents gathered around watchingus—hold a conversation with me,talking slightly more slowly and clearlythan normal. I often choose a controver-sial topic to model ways to disagreerespectfully. Students listen and takenotes on specific words they hear,nonverbal communication strategiesthey notice, and questions they haveabout conversational practice.

Owning the LanguageMany English language learners need tolcam English at accelerated rates toperform on grade level. Fluency insocial language is not enough to helpclose the achievement gaps that areoften created by a lack of academiclanguage. We must train our students tohear, ^Kimess, and own the academiclanguage that they need for success. Q!

ReferencesC:hamot, A. 11., & OMallcy, J, M. (1994),

'Ihe CALIA handbook: Implementingthe cognitive academic languagelearning approach. New York:Addison-Wesley.

Cunningham, P. (1995). Phonics they use:Words/or reading and writing (2nded.). New York: HarperCollins.

Fountas, I, C, & Pinnell, G, S, (2000).Guiding readers and writers in grades,i-6; Teaching comprehension, genre,and cotttenl literacy. Portsmouth, NH:

Heinemann,(iibbons, P, (2(K)2), Scaffolding language,

scaffolding learning: Teaching secondlanguage learners in the mainstreamclassroom. Portsmouth, NH: Heine-mann.

Krashen, S, (1982), Principles and prac-tice in second language acquisition.Oxford, UK: Pergamon.

Lightbrown, P. (2(M)3), flow languagesare learned. Oxford, UK: OxfordUniversity Press,

PaUnscar, A, S,, & Brown, A, L, (19H4),Rccipn>cal teaching of coniprehension-fbstcring and comprehension-monitoring activities. Cognitionand Instruction, I, 117-175.

Rivers, W. (199'i). (.omprehension andprudiictiun: The interactive duo. In R.Bantsch & C. James (Eds,), Heyond thermmitor model: Comments on currenttheory and practice in secondlanguage acquisition. Boston: Heinle.

Short, K, G,. & Burke, C, (1991). Creatingcurriculum: Teachers and students asa community of learners. Portsmouth,NH: Heinemann.

Stauffcr, R. G, (1975), Directing thereading-thinking process. New York:Hari>t:r & Row.

Zwiers, J. (2(K)4), Developing academicthinking skills in grades 6-12: A hand-book of multiple intelligence activities.Newark, DE: International ReadingAssociation.

Copyright © 2(X)4 Jeff Zwiers.

Jeff Zwiers is an Adjunct Instructor inthe Teacher Education Department at theUniversity of San Francisco; jazwiers©usfca.edu.

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