Teaching Academic Language

Q and A on Academic Language

1. What is academic language?
The variety of language used in formal academic
discourse (educational media, textbooks, nonfiction
texts, formal assessments, lectures, correspondence,
public debate, official forms of communication, academic
papers and presentation in college courses).
2. Why is academic language important?
Learning academic English is probably one of the surest,
most reliable ways of attaining socio-economic success in
the United States today (Scarcella, 2003).
3. Dont we already use and teach academic language?
In classroom interaction the use of academic language is
at best erratic. Direct teaching of academic language is
sporadic. A small minority of students are able to pick it
up (acquire it without direct instruction).
What is the difference between social and academic language?
Social language






Academic
language





What is the difference between social and academic language?
Social language
Imprecise phrasing
Repetitions
False starts
Fillers
Characteristic speech habits
Overuse of formulaic
sequences
Wordiness
Lesser control of sentence
structure
Less technical vocabulary
Fewer markers to signal
relationship of ideas
Frequent topic shifting
Spontaneity
Less concern with logical
relationship among ideas
Academic language
Precision and economy of
expression
Logical progression of ideas
Controlled sentence structure
Formal grammar
Variety in sentence structure
Markers that signal relationship
among ideas
Sophisticated vocabulary
Control of topics
Adequate details
Support provided for claims
Content knowledge
Conceptual/abstract treatment
of phenomena
Adherence to the expectations
of the specific genre
What characterizes academic language?
Academic language
Precision and economy of expression
Logical progression of ideas
Controlled sentence structure
Formal grammar
Variety in sentence structure
Markers that signal relationship among ideas
Sophisticated vocabulary
Control of topics
Adequate details
Support provided for claims
Content knowledge
Conceptual/abstract treatment of phenomena
Adherence to the expectations of the specific genre
Features in an everyday
conversation
Proficiency
Phonological
features
Grammatical
features
Vocabulary
features
Sociolinguistic
features
Discourse
features
Strategies
Metalinguistic
abilities
Background
knowledge
Higher order
thinking
(Scarcella, 2003)
Features in expository essay writing
Proficiency
Phonological
features
Grammatical
features
Vocabulary
features
Sociolinguistic
features
Discourse
features
Strategies
Metalinguistic
abilities
Background
knowledge
Higher
order
thinking
(Scarcella, 2003)
Features in
everyday conversations v. expository essay writing
(Scarcella, 2003)
Features in academic language
(Scarcella, 2003)
Academic language
Precision and economy of expression
Logical progression of ideas
Controlled sentence structure
Formal grammar
Variety in sentence structure
Markers that signal relationship
among ideas
Sophisticated vocabulary
Control of topics
Adequate details
Support provided for claims
Content knowledge
Conceptual/abstract treatment of
phenomena
Adherence to the expectations of the
specific genre
Features in academic language
(Scarcella, 2003)
Academic language
Precision and economy of expression
Logical progression of ideas
Controlled sentence structure
Formal grammar
Variety in sentence structure
Markers that signal relationship
among ideas
Sophisticated vocabulary
Control of topics
Adequate details
Support provided for claims
Content knowledge
Conceptual/abstract treatment of
phenomena
Adherence to the expectations of the
specific genre
What is involved in developing
academic language?
Grammatical features
Phrase level grammar (verb
forms, verb tenses,
prepositional phrases,
expressions of time, quantity,
capitalization)
Clause level grammar (subject-
verb agreement, sentence
combining, noun, adjective,
adverb clauses, punctuation)
Discourse features
Characteristics of acad. genres
(news report, lab report, book
review, essay, presentation,
debate, discussion, business
letter, research paper)
Standards of acad. discourse
Vocabulary
General academic vocabulary
Content specific vocabulary
Higher order thinking
Logical organization
Relationship among ideas
Support of ideas
Analysis
Evaluation
Synthesis
Metalinguistics skills
Paying attention to language
and text features
Analyzing language
Playing and creating with
language

Caveat: Content vocabulary teaching
is necessary but insufficient
There is a prevalent tendency to limit the
discussion and teaching of academic language
to content specific vocabulary.
While it is very important to emphasize and
teach key vocabulary in every discipline and
every single lesson, that is a minimal
expectation if our goal for students is to
achieve success with academic language.

Teaching key content vocabulary directly is needed;
consider going further by adding
Teacher modeling of academic language orally and in writing, using
well-formed sentences, explicitly logical presentation, think-alouds
Direct instruction of general academic vocabulary, sentence
patterns, development and organization academic writing and
speaking projects ( = incorporating an academic language objective
into every content area lesson)
Frequent opportunities to practice academic language in
meaningful activities with peers (multiple rehearsals and
performances of talks; multiple drafts; multiple roles; games that
require repetitions; opportunities for extended oral contributions,
such as interviews, speeches, show-and-tells)
Feedback on the use of academic language with recasts,
reformulations, corrections, elaborations
Resource: Scarcellas framework for academic
language
Scarcella, R. (2003). Academic English: A conceptual framework. The
University of California Linguistic Minority Research Institute
Technical Report 2003-1. Available
http://lmri.ucsb.edu/publications/03_scarcella.pdf