Academic Language: The
Gateway to Student
Achievement
Fall 2013 -2014
Susan Gordon
Gaithersburg High School
Short Version!
Outcomes:
 Define academic vocabulary and student discourse as
key components of instruction at Gaithersburg High
School and access to Common Core.
 Explain the interdependent relationship between
academic language development and academic
achievement.
GHS 2013 – 2014
Instructional Focus
• Students need to use
and apply academic
language and
structured academic
discourse to problem
solve and think
critically.
• Teachers will provide
explicit academic
vocabulary instruction
and structured
academic student
discourse, in each
lesson sequence.
The Role of Vocabulary Knowledge in
English learner School Success
…..Vocabulary knowledge is the single best
predictor of second language learners’
academic achievement across subject
matter domains .”
(For over 40% of GHS students English is
their second language)
Saville-Troike (1984) What really matters in second language learning for
academic achievement
Title I and the Vocabulary Gap
U. S. Preschoolers Vocabulary Exposure
 College-educated professional families: 2, 250 words
 Not college-educated, working class families: 1, 250 words
 Welfare families: 620 words
Flynn, James R. (2008) Where Have All the Liberals Gone? Race, Class and Ideals in America.
Cambridge University Press: 102.
Expressive Word Knowledge
 Words we understand and can use
comfortably and competently in spoken and
written communication
 Smaller than receptive word knowledge
 When limited it can be stigmatizing during
advanced academic and social interactions
and discourse.
Key Academic Vocabulary
 Academic is an adjective that refers to the subjects we learn in
school and the content material we acquire through listening to
instructions and lectures in school and reading text with
technical words. Academic also refers to the thinking
processes students use to talk and write about the content that
they learn. Vocabulary is a noun. Vocabulary is a synonym
for word or set of words. Therefore, the term academic
vocabulary refers to the words or phrases that students must
acquire and express (in speech and writing) to comprehend the
language of instruction and lectures, the technical words in
text, and words that describe the thinking processes and
functions of school.
 Examples of academic vocabulary related to the language of
classroom instruction are when teachers say: You will compose
the first paragraph of a five paragraph essay that includes a
thesis statement, a hook and conclusion. The verb compose
and the nouns: paragraph, essay thesis, statement, hook and
conclusion can all be considered academic vocabulary.
Academic Vocabulary, cont.
 An example of academic vocabulary produced during teacher
lectures may include the following: Today we will examine the root
causes of the Civil War that are related to the economic situation in
the United States during the early 1800’s. The academic
vocabulary found in this sentence include: examine, causes,
economic and situation. These same words would be the
academic vocabulary identified from text on the same subject.
However, Civil war is considered a technical academic vocabulary
word that has a specific relationship to the study of social studies
 Examples of academic vocabulary that students use to express
thinking skills are those function words related to Bloom’s
taxonomy: describe, discuss, explain, debate, compare, analyze,
synthesize, etc.
 Finally, each content area has technical vocabulary that is specific
to the content area. Examples in art are composition, depth,
perspective; in ELA figurative language; Social Studies
democracy, treaty, economy, society; Science; cell,
What does explicit
vocabulary instruction
mean?
 Explicit is an adjective.
 Explicit means specific, precise and clear
 When a teacher provides explicit vocabulary
instruction students know exactly which words are
the most important to learn and they are given clear
and precise definitions and examples.
What is student discourse?
 Student discourse –
 Discourse is a noun.
 Student discourse refers to the need for students
to learn and produce academic speech and writing
that is content-specific, organized, varied and
often complex.
 Why is it important to specifically teach and
encourage student discourse in your classrooms?
Academic Language
Academic Vocabulary and
Student Discourse
Just like you have been witnessing the
building of the new GHS brick by brick,
students build academic language from
academic words, to grammatically correct
sentences spoken in an academic register,
to discourse which is complex organized
and more lengthy. Students build
academic language brick by brick until
they are able to sustain complex student
discourse.
Plan the Academic Language for a Lesson
 Consider and list what essential academic vocabulary
(words) that you will explicitly teach
 Consider and write the precise definitions you will
provide for the students. (sentences)
 Consider the explicit student discourse
(speaking/writing) that you will model and have
students generate related to the vocabulary and
concepts developed during the lesson or group of
lessons.
How to Identify Words that Warrant
Robust Instruction?
 Big idea words that relate to
lesson concepts
 High-utility academic toolkit
 Stereotype, outsourcing,
fossil fuel
 consequence, issue analyze
words
 High utility disciplinary
 Economy, metaphor,
species
toolkit words
 Words to competently
discuss a lesson topic
 Words relevant to
discussing the theme or
issues not in the text (esp.
with literature)
Planning Academic language
for a lesson
Word -Academic
Vocabulary
Academic Vocabulary:
Words that
describe an idea,
process or
technical word
from the content
area
Example
Plane
A plane refers to a flat
surface that extends
on in all directions
forever and must
consist of three points
that are not all on the
same line.
Planning Academic language
for a lesson
Sentence
Sentence/s that
model how to use
the word for
written and oral
practice in an
academic register
Exemplar
 This diagram
accurately
represents a plane
because…
However, the other
diagram is not a
plane because….
Planning Academic language
for a lesson
Discourse
 Sentence frames
model language for a
speaking or writing
assignment with
specific academic
vocabulary and
language targets
written in an
academic register.
Exemplar
 This diagram appropriately
represents a plane because
a plane extends in all
directions without end. In
addition, two out of three
of the points in this
diagram are not on the
same line, another
characteristic of a plane.
The other diagram does not
exhibit the essential
characteristics of a plane.