Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T18:57:41.101Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Core academic language skills: An expanded operational construct and a novel instrument to chart school-relevant language proficiency in preadolescent and adolescent learners

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 March 2014

PAOLA UCCELLI ,
CHRISTOPHER D. BARR ,
CHRISTINA L. DOBBS ,
EMILY PHILLIPS GALLOWAY ,
ALEJANDRA MENESES  and
EMILIO SÁNCHEZ
PAOLA UCCELLI*
Affiliation:
Harvard Graduate School of Education
CHRISTOPHER D. BARR
Affiliation:
University of Houston
CHRISTINA L. DOBBS
Affiliation:
Boston University
EMILY PHILLIPS GALLOWAY
Affiliation:
Harvard Graduate School of Education
ALEJANDRA MENESES
Affiliation:
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
EMILIO SÁNCHEZ
Affiliation:
Universidad de Salamanca
*
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE Paola Uccelli, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Larson 320, Appian Way, Cambridge, MA 02138. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Beyond academic vocabulary, the constellation of skills that comprise academic language proficiency has remained imprecisely defined. This study proposes an expanded operationalization of this construct referred to as core academic language skills (CALS). CALS refers to the knowledge and deployment of a repertoire of language forms and functions that co-occur with school learning tasks across disciplines. Using an innovative instrument, we explored CALS in a cross-sectional sample of 235 students in Grades 4–8. The results revealed between- and within-grade variability in CALS. Psychometric analyses yielded strong reliability and supported the presence of a single CALS factor, which was found to be predictive of reading comprehension. Our findings suggest that the CALS construct and instrument appear promising for exploring students’ school-relevant language skills.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 36 , Issue 5 , September 2015 , pp. 1077 - 1109
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abedi, J., & Herman, J. (2010). Assessing English language learners’ opportunity to learn mathematics: Issues and limitations. Teachers College Record, 112, 723–746.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andersen, E. S. (1996). A cross-cultural study of children's register knowledge. In Slobin, D. I., Gerhardt, J., Kyratzis, A., & Guo, J. (Eds.), Social interaction, social context, and language: Essays in honor of Susan Ervin-Tripp (pp. 125–142). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
August, D., & Hakuta, K. (Eds.) (1997). Improving schooling for language-minority children: A research agenda. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.Google Scholar
August, D., & Shanahan, T. (2006). Developing literacy in second language learners: Report of the National Literacy Panel on language minority and youth. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Bailey, A. L. (2007). The language demands of school: Putting academic English to the test. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Bailey, F., Burkett, B., & Freeman, D. (2008). The mediating role of language in teaching and learning: A classroom perspective. In Spolsky, B. & Hult, F. (Eds.), The handbook of educational linguistics (pp. 606–625). Oxford: Blackwell.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benelli, B., Belacchi, C., Gini, G., & Lucangeli, D. (2006). “To define means to say what you know about things”: The development of definitional skills as metalinguistic acquisition. Journal of Child Language, 33, 71–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berman, R. A. (2004). Language development across childhood and adolescence (Vol. 3). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berman, R. A., & Nir-Sagiv, B. (2007). Comparing narrative and expository text construction across adolescence: A developmental paradox. Discourse Processes, 43, 79–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berman, R. A., & Ravid, D. (2009). Becoming a literate language user: Oral and written text construction across adolescence. In Olson, D. R. & Torrance, N. (Eds.), Cambridge handbook of literacy (pp. 92–111). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berman, R. A., & Verhoeven, L. (2002). Cross-linguistic perspectives on the development of text-production abilities: Speech and writing. Written Language and Literacy, 5, 1–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biancarosa, G., & Snow, C. E. (2004). Reading Next—A vision for action and research in middle and high school literacy: A report from Carnegie Corporation of New York. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education.Google Scholar
Biber, D. (1995). Dimensions of register variation: A cross-linguistic comparison. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biber, D., Conrad, S., & Reppen, R. (1998). Corpus linguistics: Investigating language structure and use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biber, D., & Reppen, R. (2002). What does frequency have to do with grammar teaching? Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 24, 199–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biemiller, A. (2010). Words worth teaching: Closing the vocabulary gap. Columbus, OH: SRA/McGraw–Hill.Google Scholar
Biemiller, A., & Slonim, N. (2001). Estimating root word vocabulary growth in normative and advantaged populations: Evidence for a common sequence of vocabulary acquisition. Journal of Educational Psychology, 93, 498–520.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bishop, D. V. (2003). Test for Reception of Grammar (version 2). London: Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Blum‐Kulka, S. (2008). Language, communication and literacy: Major steps in the development of literate discourse. In Klein, P. & Yablon, Y. (Eds.), From research to practice in early education (pp. 117–154). Jerusalem: Israeli Academy of Science.Google Scholar
Bowers, E., & Vasilyeva, M. (2011). The relation between teacher input and lexical growth of preschoolers. Applied Psycholinguistics, 32, 221–241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butler, F. A., Bailey, A. L., Stevens, R., Huang, B., & Lord, C. (2004). Academic English in 5th-grade mathematics, science, and social studies textbooks (CSE report 642). Los Angeles: University of California, National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing.Google Scholar
Cain, K. (2007). Syntactic awareness and reading ability: Is there any evidence for a special relationship? Applied Psycholinguistics, 28, 679–694.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cain, K., & Oakhill, J. V. (2006). Profiles of children with specific reading comprehension difficulties. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, 683–696.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cain, K., Oakhill, J. V., & Bryant, P. E. (2000). Investigating the causes of reading comprehension failure: The comprehension-age match design. Reading and Writing, 12, 31–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlisle, J. F. (2000). Awareness of the structure and meaning of morphologically complex words: Impact on reading. Reading and Writing, 12, 169–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chafe, W., & Danielewicz, J. (1987). Properties of spoken and written language. In Horowitz, R. and Samuels, S. J. (Eds.), Comprehending oral and written language (pp. 83–113). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chamot, A. U., & O'Malley, J. M. (1994). The CALLA handbook: Implementing the cognitive academic language learning approach. Reading, MA: Addison–Wesley.Google Scholar
Christie, F., & Derewianka, B. (2008). School discourse: Learning to write across the years of schooling. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Common Core State Standards Initiative. (2010). English language arts standards. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/Google Scholar
Cortes, V. (2004). Lexical bundles in published and student disciplinary writing: Examples from history and biology. English for Specific Purposes, 23, 397–423.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cortes, V. (2006). Teaching lexical bundles in the disciplines: An example from a writing intensive history class. Linguistics and Education, 17, 391–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crosson, A., Lesaux, N., & Martiniello, M. (2008). Factors that influence comprehension of connectives among language minority children from Spanish-speaking backgrounds. Applied Psycholinguistics, 29, 603–624.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crowhurst, M. (1990). Teaching and learning the writing of persuasive/argumentative discourse.Canadian Journal of Education, 15, 348–359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cummins, J. (1981). Bilingualism and minority-language children. Toronto: OISE Press.Google Scholar
Cummins, J. (2000). Language, power, and pedagogy: Bilingual children in the crossfire. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cummins, J. (2001). Negotiating identities: Education for empowerment in a diverse society (2nd ed.). Los Angeles: California Association for Bilingual Education.Google Scholar
Dale, E., & O'Rourke, J. (1981). The living word vocabulary. Chicago: World Book–Childcraft International.Google Scholar
Derewianka, B. M. (2003). Grammatical metaphor in the transition to adolescence. In Simon-Vandenbergen, A., Taverniers, M., & Ravelli, L. (Eds.), Grammatical metaphor: Views from systemic functional linguistics (pp. 185–220). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deshler, D. D., Palincsar, A. S., Biancarosa, G., & Nair, M. (2007). Informed choices for struggling adolescent readers: A research-based guide to instructional programs and practice. New York: International Reading Association.Google Scholar
Dickinson, D. K., & Tabors, P. O. (2001). Beginning literacy with language: Young children learning at home and school. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.Google Scholar
Fang, Z. (2012). Approaches to developing content area literacies: A synthesis and a critique. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 56, 111–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferguson, C. (1994). Dialect, register, and genre: Working assumptions about conventionalism. In Biber, D. & Finegan, E. (Eds.), Sociolinguistic perspectives on register (pp. 15–30). New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flowerdew, L. (2003). A combined corpus and systemic–functional analysis of the problem–solution pattern in a student and professional corpus of technical writing. TESOL Quarterly, 37, 489–511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibbons, P. (1998). Classroom talk and the learning of new registers in a second language. Language and Education, 12, 99–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Givón, T. (1992). The grammar of referential coherence as mental processing instructions. Linguistics, 30, 5–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graves, M. F. (2007). Vocabulary instruction in the middle grades. Voices from the Middle, 15, 13–19.Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K. (1980). Three aspects of children's language development: Learning language, learning through language, learning about language. In Halliday, M. A. K. (Ed.), The language of early childhood (pp. 308–326). New York: Continuum.Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K. (2004). The language of science—Collected Works of M.A.K. Halliday (Vol. 5). New York: Continuum.Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K., & Hasan, R. (1976). Cohesion in English. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K., & Martin, J. R. (1993). Writing science: Literacy and discursive power. London: Falmer Press.Google Scholar
Hart, B., & Risley, R. T. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young American children. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.Google Scholar
Heath, S. B. (1983). Ways with words: Language, life, and work in communities and classrooms. New York: McGraw–Hill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heath, S. B. (2012). Words at work and play: Three decades in family and community life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunston, S., & Francis, G. (2000). Pattern grammar: A corpus-driven approach to the lexical grammar of English. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hyland, K. (2004). Disciplinary discourses: Social interactions in academic writing. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Hyland, K. (2005). Metadiscourse. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Hyland, K. (2009). Academic discourse. London: ContinuumGoogle Scholar
Hyöna, J., & Lorch, R. F. (2004). Effects of topic headings on text processing: Evidence from adult readers’ eye fixation patterns. Learning and Instruction, 14, 131–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kieffer, M. J. (2009). The development of morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge in adolescent language minority learners and their classmates. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Harvard Graduate School of Education.Google Scholar
Kieffer, M. J., & Lesaux, N. K. (2007). Breaking words down to build meaning: Vocabulary, morphology, and reading comprehension in the urban classroom. Reading Teacher, 61, 134–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kieffer, M. J., & Lesaux, N. K. (2008). The role of derivational morphological awareness in the reading comprehension of Spanish-speaking English language learners. Reading and Writing, 21, 783–804.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kieffer, M. J., & Lesaux, N. K. (2010). Morphing into adolescents: Active word learning for English language learners and their classmates in middle school. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 54, 47–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kintsch, W. (2004). The construction–integration model of text comprehension and its implications for instruction. In Ruddell, R. & Unrau, N. (Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of reading (5th ed., pp. 1270–1328). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.Google Scholar
Krashen, S. (2013). Academic gibberish. RELC Journal: A Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 43, 283–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurland, B. F., & Snow, C. E. (1997). Longitudinal measurement of growth in definitional skill. Journal of Child Language, 24, 603–625.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Layton, A., Robinson, J., & Lawson, M. (1998). The relationship between syntactic awareness and reading performance. Journal of Research in Reading, 21, 5–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lesaux, N. K., Crosson, A., Kieffer, M. J., & Pierce, M. (2010). Uneven profiles: Language minority learners’ word reading, vocabulary, and reading comprehension skills. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 31, 475–483.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lesaux, N. K., Kieffer, M. J., Faller, S. E., & Kelley, J. G. (2010). The effectiveness and ease of implementation of an academic vocabulary intervention for sixth graders in urban middle schools. Reading Research Quarterly, 45, 196–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mancilla-Martinez, J., & Lesaux, N. K. (2010). Predictors of reading comprehension for struggling readers: The case of Spanish-speaking language minority learners. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102, 701–711.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marinellie, S. A. (2001). What does “apple” mean? Learning to define words. Young Exceptional Children, 4, 2–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martiniello, M. (2008). Language and the performance of English language learners in math word problems. Harvard Educational Review, 78, 333–368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mather, N., Hammill, D. D., Allen, E. A., & Roberts, R. (2004). Test of Silent Word Reading Fluency (TOSWRF). Austin, TX: Pro Education.Google Scholar
Meyer, B. J. F., & Poon, L. W. (2001). Effects of structure training and signaling on recall of text. Journal of Educational Psychology, 93, 141–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, B. J. F., & Rice, G. E. (1982). The interaction of reader strategies and the organization of text. Text: Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of Discourse, 2, 155–192.Google Scholar
Mokhtari, K., & Thompson, H. B. (2006). How problems of reading fluency and comprehension are related to difficulties in syntactic awareness skills among fifth graders. Reading Research and Instruction, 46, 73–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagy, W., Berninger, V. W., & Abbott, R. D. (2006). Contributions of morphology beyond phonology to literacy outcomes of upper elementary and middle-school students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98, 134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagy, W. M., & Townsend, D. (2012). Words as tools: “Learning academic vocabulary” as language acquisition. Reading Research Quarterly, 47, 91–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nation, K., & Snowling, M. J. (2000). Factors influencing syntactic awareness skills in normal readers and poor comprehenders. Applied Psycholinguistics, 21, 229–241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Research Council. (2010). Language diversity, school learning, and closing achievement gaps: A workshop summary. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. Retrieved from http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12907Google Scholar
Ninio, A., & Snow, C. E. (1996). Pragmatic development. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Nippold, M. A. (2007). Later language development: School-aged children, adolescents, and young adults (3rd ed.). Dallas, TX: Pro-Ed.Google Scholar
Nippold, M. A., Hegel, S., Sohlberg, M., & Schwarz, L. (1999). Defining abstract entities: Development in pre-adolescent, adolescent, and young adults. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 42, 473–481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oakhill, J., & Cain, K. (2000) Children's difficulties in text comprehension: Assessing causal issues. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 5, 51–59.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ochs, E. (1993). Constructing social identity: A language socialization perspective. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 26, 287–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Reilly, T., & McNamara, D. S. (2007). The impact of science knowledge, reading skill, and reading strategy knowledge on more traditional “high-stakes” measures of high school students’ science achievement. American Educational Research Journal, 44, 161–196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perfetti, C. A., Landi, N., & Oakhill, J. (2005). The acquisition of reading comprehension skills. In Snowling, M. J. & Hulme, C. (Eds.), The science of reading: A handbook (pp. 227–247). Malden, MA: Blackwell.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Proctor, P., Dalton, B., Uccelli, B. G., Mo, E., Snow, C. E., & Neugebauer, S. (2011). Improving comprehension online: Effects of deep vocabulary instruction with bilingual and monolingual fifth graders. Reading and Writing, 24, 517–544.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Proctor, P., Uccelli, P., Dalton, B., & Snow, C. E. (2009). Understanding depth of vocabulary and improving comprehension online with bilingual and monolingual children. Reading and Writing, 25, 311–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
RAND Reading Study Group. (2002). Toward an R&D program in reading comprehension. Santa Monica, CA: RAND.Google Scholar
Ravid, D., & Tolchinsky, L. (2002). Developing linguistic literacy: A comprehensive model. Journal of Child Language, 29, 419–448.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rex, L. A., Thomas, E. E., & Engel, S. (2010). Applying Toulmin: Teaching logical reasoning and argumentative writing. English Journal, 99, 56–62.Google Scholar
Reznitskaya, A., Anderson, R., & Kuo, L. (2007). Teaching and learning argumentation. Elementary School Journal, 107, 449–472.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sánchez, E., & García, J. R. (2009). The relation of knowledge of textual integration devices to expository text comprehension under different assessment conditions. Reading and Writing, 22, 1081–1108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scarcella, R. (2003). Academic English: A conceptual framework. Davis, CA: University of California, Linguistic Minority Research Institute.Google Scholar
Schleppegrell, M. J. (2001). Linguistic features of the language of schooling. Linguistics and Education, 12, 431–459.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schleppegrell, M. J. (2004). The language of schooling: A functional linguistics perspective. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schleppegrell, M. J. (2012). Academic language in teaching and learning introduction to special issue. Elementary School Journal, 112, 409–418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schleppegrell, M. J., Achugar, M., & Oteíza, T. (2004). The grammar of history: Enhancing content-based instruction through a functional focus on language. TESOL Quarterly, 38, 67–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shanahan, T., & Shanahan, C. (2008). Teaching disciplinary literacy to adolescents: Rethinking content- area literacy. Harvard Educational Review, 78, 40–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simpson-Vlach, R., & Ellis, N. C. (2010). An academic formulas list: New methods in phraseology research. Applied Linguistics, 31, 487–512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snow, C. E., & Uccelli, P. (2009). The challenge of academic language. In Olson, D. R. & Torrance, N. (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of literacy (pp. 112–133). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stahl, S. A., & Nagy, W. E. (2006). Teaching word meanings. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Stanford University, Graduate School of Education. (n.d.). Understanding language: Language, literacy and learning in the content areas. Retrieved November 20, 2013, from http://ell.stanford.edu/Google Scholar
Stein, N. L., & Glenn, C. G. (1978). An analysis of story comprehension in elementary school children. In Freedle, R. (Ed.), Discourse processing: Multidisciplinary perspectives (pp. 53–120). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Swales, J. M. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Taylor, N. A., Greenberg, D., Laures-Gore, J., & Wise, J. C. (2011). Exploring the syntactic skills of struggling adult readers. Reading and Writing, 25, 1385–1402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toulmin, S. (1958). The uses of argument. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Uccelli, P., & Barr, C. D. (2011). Psychometric report of the academic language evaluation. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Uccelli, P., Dobbs, C., & Scott, J. (2013). Mastering academic language: Organization and stance in the persuasive writing of high school students. Written Communication, 30, 36–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uccelli, P., Rosenthal, F., & Barr, C. D. (2011). Promising connections: Play, multimodality, and more than one language in learning connectives at school. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA.Google Scholar
Valdés, G. (2004). Between support and marginalization: The development of academic language in linguistic minority children. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 7, 102–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Lier, L., & Walqui, A. (2012, January). Language and the common core state standards. Paper presented at the Understanding Language Conference, Stanford, CA. Retrieved from http://ell.stanford.edu/papers/languageGoogle Scholar
Wong-Fillmore, L., & Fillmore, C. J. (2012, January). What does text complexity mean for English learners and language minority students? Paper presented at the Understanding Language Conference, Stanford, CA. Retrieved from http://ell.stanford.edu/papers/languageGoogle Scholar
Zeno, S. M., Ivens, S. H., Millard, R. T., & Duvvuri, R. (1995). The educator's word frequency guide. Brewster, NY: Touchstone Applied Science Associates.Google Scholar