The Common Core State Standards
and the English Language Learners
Wen Ma, Ph.D.
Le Moyne College
Objectives of This Presentation:
• Provide an Overview of the New Language Arts
Progressions for English Language Learners
• Examine the NLAP Modules Based on the
Common Core State Standards
• Discuss Additional Challenges and Strategies
for Teaching ELLs
Common Core State Standards for ELA and
Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science ,
and Technical Subjects
• Reading Standards
 for Literature
 for Informational Text
 for Foundational Skills
• Standards for Writing
• Standards for Speaking and Listening
• Language Standards
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11 Reading Standards for literature and 10 for
informational text, on key ideas and details, craft and
structure, integration of knowledge and ideas, range of
reading and text complexity, responding to literature
4 Foundational Skills: print concepts, phonological
awareness, phonics and word recognition, and fluency
11 Standards for Writing, on text types and purposes,
production and distribution of writing, research to build
and present knowledge, range of writing, and
responding to literature
6 Standards for Speaking and Listening, on
comprehension and collaboration, presentation of
knowledge and ideas
6 Language Standards, on conventions of standard
English, knowledge of language, vocabulary acquisition
and use
These broad College and Career Readiness
Anchor Standards are further defined with
more grade and content-area specificity by the
Common Core Curriculum, or modules
EngageNY: https://www.engageny.org/commoncore-curriculum
Consequently, there are 6 Instructional shifts:
file:///C:/Users/maw/Downloads/common-coreshifts%20(8).pdf
How do these changes impact the expectations
for students who are English Language
Learners, with disabilities or special needs,
socioeconomically disadvantaged, or those
performing below or above grade levels?
The simple answer is that they, too, will be held
to the same standards, with modified pathways
towards these goals.
Requirements for English Language Learners:
“The National Governors Association for Best
Practices and the Council of Chief State School
Officers strongly believe that all students should be
held to the same high expectations outlined in the
Common Core State Standards. This includes students
who are English Language Learners (ELLs). However,
these students may require additional time,
appropriate instructional support, and aligned
assessments as they acquire both English language
proficiency and content area knowledge” (NYSED,
http://www.corestandards.org/assets/applicationfor-english-learners.pdf).
Since 2012, NYSED launched the Bilingual Common
Core Initiative to develop English as a Second
Language and Native Language Arts aligned with the
CCSS. Consequently, NYSED has developed New
Language Arts Progressions (NLAP) and Home
Language Arts Progressions (HLAP) for each standard
in each grade level (BCCI,
https://www.engageny.org/resource/new-yorkstate-bilingual-common-core-initiative)
New York State Bilingual Common Core
Initiative (NYSBCCI)
• Learning academic English is not only mastering a
series of grammatical structures, but also
developing the competency to participate in
discipline-specific social practices (i.e., acquiring
both language structures and disciplinary
practices associated with the content areas).
• Broader goal of bilingualism is that English as a
Second Language and native/home language help
the development of each other dynamically.
• NYS aims to promote real bilingual development.
New Language Arts Progressions
• Its goal is provide tools for teachers to plan CCSS
lessons for the ELLs.
• Focus on the needs of ELLs, although maybe applied
to students learning a foreign language.
• Integrate language and content, i.e., helping ELLs
acquire academic English and communicative skills to
learn across the curriculum.
• Categorize 4 modalities into 2 skill strands: receptive
(listening and reading) and productive (speaking and
writing), as well as oral and written domains.
• Identify 5 levels of progressions: entering, emerging,
transitioning, expanding, and commanding (cf. prior
beginning, intermediate, advanced, proficient).
Instructional Scaffolding for Each Level:
• Entering: e.g., use of pre-taught words, graphic
organizers, home language
• Emerging: use of pre-identified words, graphic
organizers, sentence starters, cloze paragraph
• Transitioning: use of controlled word glossary to
complete a graphic organizer about the content
• Expanding: use of glossaries with multiple words,
phrases, definitions and examples for speaking
and writing activities, after teacher modeling
• Commanding: independent work, with content
and language come together without scaffolds
New Language Arts Progressions
Modules:
https://www.engageny.org/resource/
new-york-state-bilingual-commoncore-initiative
• Let’s look at the Grade 3 NLAP module.
• Examine Standard 2 for Reading and
Writing respectively, cf. receptive
(listening and reading) and productive
(speaking and writing) specifics for each
of the 5 levels.
• Look at the example to address the
linguistic demands.
• Discuss the instructional scaffolding for
the same Common Core standard for
differing levels.
Additional Resources and Strategies
Pedagogical Framework for Academic Language
Academic language refers to the genre or style of language (both in oral and written forms) used for
academic purposes across the curriculum. It is characteristic of the kind of language in subject area
books. There are discipline-specific words, grammatical structures, and textual features for academic
English, which are different from every language [cf. Cummings’ distinction between basic interpersonal
communicative skills (BICS) and cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP)].
Language function denotes one of the communicative purposes through language, such as analyze,
argue, categorize, compare/contrast, describe, explain, interpret, predict, question, retell, and
summarize.
A learning task is a specific activity that the students need to complete in connection with the language
function. E.g., analyze the plot of Three Little Pigs in one paragraph; argue for a particular position (e.g.,
no homework should be allowed below third grade) in a 3-paragraph essay; describe a field trip to the
Museum of Fine Arts); explain a table on the dairy production in Upstate NY.
Language demand is the necessary language needed for the students to complete the learning task,
especially in terms of how the teacher may support them with the related vocabulary, syntax, discourse.
Vocabulary refers to the body of words that stand for ideas and concepts. They are the building blocks
for larger linguistic structures that stand for bigger ideas.
Syntax refers to a set of rules and conventions for organizing ideas conveyed by words, symbols, and
phrases together into meaningful structures (e.g., sentences, graphs, or tables).
Discourse includes the structures of written and oral language, as well as how members from different
fields/professions talk, write, and participate in knowledge construction. Discipline-specific discourse
has distinctive features or ways of structuring oral or written language (text structures) that provide
useful ways for the content to be communicated by members of that discipline.
The English Language Puzzle
(L1 & L2 processes, English sound system, English writing system, English lexicon &
morphology, English sentence/discourse/text & syntax, listening/speaking/reading/writing
academic English for learning across the curriculum)
L1 Acquisition
L2 Acquisition/
Syntax
Learning
Reading/Writing/
Morphology
Listening/Speaking
Academic English
Written Language/
Orthography
Spoken
Language/
Phonology
Essential Phonological and Morphological Concepts for Teachers
Alphabetic Principle: A principle that suggests letters in the alphabet map to phonemes, the minimum sound units
represented in written language
Linguistic Awareness: An understanding of the technical features of language, including the sound system, the writing
system, the rules of spelling, the conventions of written text, as well as technical terms and labels used to talk and think
about reading.
Phonemic Awareness: An understanding that speech is composed of a series of individual sounds (with the smallest
one being phoneme), not unlike text is composed of individual words (with the smallest writing symbol being individual
letters). It is a powerful predictor of children’s later reading achievement.
Phonological Awareness: The ability to hear, recognize, and comprehend the sounds in our language. It involves
hearing the sounds of language apart from meaning [sentences can be segmented into words; words can be segmented
into syllables/individual sounds; words can begin or end with the same sounds; individual sounds of words can be
blended together; individual sounds of words can be manipulated (added, deleted, or substituted)].
Concepts about Print: Knowledge that words are represented by print, that letters of the alphabet are represented in
different ways, and that letters can represent multiple sounds or the same sound represented by different letters.
Consonants: Speech sound in which the breath is at least partly obstructed (cf. IPA chart)
Vowels: Speech sound made with vibration of the vocal cords but without audible friction (cf. IPA chart)
Onsets: The initial part of a word (a consonant, consonant blend, or diagraph) that precedes the vowel, e.g. take, great,
think
Rimes: The part of a word that includes the vowel and any consonants that follow, e.g., my, his, theirs, literacy
Syllables: A syllable is vowel or a cluster of sounds containing a vowel and pronounced as a unit, e.g., I, be, car, make,
beau~ty, beau~ti~ful, beau~ti~ful~ly
Phonics: Method of teaching reading based on sounds
Orthography refers to all aspects of writing, including spelling, using punctuation marks, and understanding other
language conventions (e.g., using upper case for the first letter in the first word of a sentence, indenting the first
sentence of a paragraph, or keeping a letter space between words, etc.).
Graphic Organizers
Moving from Input, Comprehensible Input to Intake
Input refers to what is linguistically available to the learner (in speech and
writing).
Comprehensible input refers to the language items that are heard or read by
the learner and that are slightly ahead of the learner’s current state of
grammatical knowledge.
Intake (cf. Corder, 1967) refers to what is actually internalized or taken in by
the learner.
References and Resources
78 scaffolding strategies from CAL, http://www.cal.org/what-we-do/projects/project-excell/the-go-to-strategies
109 Common Core Resources for Teachers by Content Area: http://www.teachthought.com/learning/curriculum/109-common-coreresources-for-teachers-by-content-area/
105,000 of the best questions from NY Regents, State Assessments, Academic Competitions, and more: http://www.problem-attic.com/
ACCESS for ELLs (Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State for English Language Learners) is a secure largescale English language proficiency assessment given to Kindergarten through 12th graders who have been identified as English language
learners (ELLs), ACCESS for ELLs : https://www.wida.us/assessment/ACCESS/
Bilingual Common Core Initiative: https://www.engageny.org/resource/new-york-state-bilingual-common-core-initiative
Difference between Scaffolding and differentiation: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/scaffolding-lessons-six-strategies-rebecca-alber
Expeditionary Learning: http://commoncoresuccess.elschools.org/
Five parts of language: http://www.ehow.com/info_8371475_five-parts-language-development.html
Learning Inventories: https://wvde.state.wv.us/strategybank/LearningInventories.html
National Board English as a New Language Certification Standards: http://boardcertifiedteachers.org/certificate-areas
New York State P-12 Common Core Learning Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy
http://www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/common_core_standards/pdfdocs/nysp12cclsela.pdf
Project Based Learning (PBL): https://www.engageny.org/resource/march-2015-nti-participant-led-professional-development-sessions
Rubric Basics: https://www.engageny.org/sites/default/files/resource/attachments/appendix_protocols_and_resources.pdf
Scaffolding Instruction for English Language Learners: A Resource Guide for English Language Arts:
https://www.engageny.org/resource/scaffolding-instruction-english-language-learners-resource-guides-english-language-arts-and
SCSD: Portfolio Alternative Assessment (PAAL) for Level I and Level II Students Resources and Supports for English Language Learners,
http://www.syracusecityschools.com/districtpage.cfm?pageid=840]
SDAIE Strategies (Specially Designed Academic Instruction for English) http://www.supportrealteachers.org/strategies-for-english-languagelearners.html
Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium Smarter Balanced is a state-led consortium working collaboratively to develop next-generation
assessments aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) that accurately measure student progress toward college and career
readiness, www.smarterbalanced.org/blog/
TESOL/NCATE English Proficiency Standards: http://www.tesol.org/advance-the-field/standards
The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) is a group of states working together to develop a set of
assessments that measure whether students are on track to be successful in college and their careers. These computer-based K–12
assessments in Mathematics and English Language Arts/Literacy give teachers, schools, students, and parents better information whether
students are on track in their learning and for success after high school, and tools to help teachers customize learning to meet student
needs, http://parcconline.org/about-parcc
The Understanding Language Initiative (in collaboration) with the Council of Chief State Schools Officers is developing the: English Language
Proficiency Development Framework
The webinar and PowerPoint
slides can be accessed at
www.isnetworked.org
Wen Ma can be reached for
questions or comments at
maw@lemoyne.edu