The CALLA Handbook – Chapter 1

What is CALLA?

Dr. Ellen de Kanter

University of St. Thomas

Instructional Strategies for the Content Area in ESL

BIED 5336

Background and Rationale

Learning StrategiesAcademic Language SkillsAcademic ContentInfluence of Cognitive Theory

Background and Rationale

Most Students can profit from instruction in learning strategies.

Many students lack academic language skills that would enable them to use English as a tool for learning.

Adding academic content to the ESL curriculum prepares students for grade-level content classrooms.

CALLA has been influenced and supported by cognitive theory, research, and ongoing classroom use.

Overview of CALLA

The CALLA ModelContent TopicsAcademic Language SkillsLearning Strategy Instruction

Calla Integrates Language DevelopmentContent Area InstructionExplicit Instruction in Learning Strategies

Theoretical Framework

What is Learned?Cognitive TheoryKind of MemoryDeclarative KnowledgeProcedural Knowledge

IF my goal is to engage in conversation with sally, and Sally is monolingual in English, THEN the subgoal is to use my second language.

Theoretical Framework

Production Systems in math problem SolvingUnderstand the QuestionFind the Needed DataDevelop a PlanSolve the problemCheck Back

Theoretical Framework

Meta Cognitive Knowledge

Theoretical Framework

How is New Information learned?Learning Declarative Knowledge

Learning Procedural knowledge

Theoretical Framework

Theoretical Framework

Learning is an active and dynamic process.Three types of knowledge.

Declarative: Knowledge of Facts.Procedural: Knowledge of “ How To” do

things.Metacognitive: Relate current learning tasks to

past knowledge and learning procedures.

Theoretical Framework

Declarative and procedural knowledge are learned in different ways and retrieved from memory in different ways.

Teachers should learn to recognize declarative and procedural knowledge in content materials, identify strategies used by students, and influence strategy use.

Theoretical Framework

Students can take control over their own learning and develop independent learning

Related Instructional Concepts

Language Across the curriculum

Language Learning Approach

Whole Language Phonemic Awareness Process writing Cooperative learning Cognitive Instruction

Related Instructional Concepts

Language Across the Curriculum: practiced in all subjects.

The Language Experience Approach: particularly advantageous with beginning level ESL students.

Whole Language: valuable for all students. Process Writing: recommended for all types of writing in

all content areas. Cooperative Learning: A learning stratagy taught overtly

in CALLA. Cognitive Instruction: Calla is based on cognitive theory

and research.

WHOLE LANGUAGE

Refers to an approach--not a program. Listening, speaking, reading, and writing are presented as an integrated whole. Children are challenged to take risks in using language for a purpose.The teacher always moves from the whole rather than the part. Skills are not taught in isolation, but in context of language that is real. Therefore, literature is a vital focus in whole language teaching. It is used to expand students' vocabularies and to give them words and patterns they need to express their feelings and thoughts to others. There is a natural integration with other areas of the curriculum such as math, social studies, science, and music. Emphasis is placed on developing the thinking processes such as organizing information for speaking and writing, making predictions, and making inferences. These processes are essential for preparing the ESL student to develop readiness to enter the mainstream curriculum.Curriculum Guide for ESL.

Alief ISD

Whole Language

Flowchart for Planning Integrated unit

Whole Language

Commonsense Assumptions 1. Learning proceeds from

part to whole. 2. Lessons should be teacher

centered is the transfer of knowledge from the teacher to the student.

3. Lessons should prepare students to function in society after schooling.

4. Learning takes place as individuals practice skills and form habits.

Whole Language Principles 1. Learning proceeds from

whole to part. 2. Lessons should be learner

centered because learning because learning is the active construction of know-ledge by the student.

3. Lessons should have meaning and purpose for students now.

4. Learning takes place as groups engage in meaningful social interaction.

Whole Language, Cont.

5 .In a second language, oral language acquisition precedes the development of literacy.

6. Learning should take place in English to facilitate the acquisition of English.

7 .The learning potential of bilingual students is limited.

5.In a second language, oral and written language are acquired simultaneously.

6. Learning should take place in the first language to build concepts and facilitate the acquisition of English.

7.Learning potential is expanded through faith in the learner.

(Freeman & Freeman, 1991)

WHOLE LANGUAGE CHECKLIST

1. DOES THE LESSON MOVE FROM THE GENERAL TO THE SPECIFIC? ARE DETAILS PRESENTED WITHIN A GENERAL CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK?

2. IS THERE AN ATTEMPT TO DRAW ON STUDENT BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE AND INTERESTS? ARE STUDENTS GIVEN CHOICES?

3. IS THE CONTENT MEANINGFUL ? DOES IT SERVE A PURPOSE FOR THE LEARNERS?

4. DO STUDENTS WORK TOGETHER COOPERATIVELY? DO STUDENTS INTERACT WITH ONE ANOTHER OR DO THEY ONLY REACT TO THE TEACHER?

5. DO STUDENTS HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO READ AND WRITE AS WELL AS SPEAK AND LISTEN DURING THE LESSON?

6. IS THERE SUPPORT FOR THE STUDENTS' FIRST LANGUAGE AND CULTURE?

COMPONENT PROCESSES OF LEARNING TO READ

Phonological Awareness Listening games, rhymes, sentences and words, syllables, initial sounds

(s-and), final sounds (san-d), phonemic segmentation (s-a-n-d), letter names and sounds.

Kindergarten through grade one--precedes alphabetic principle--should precede assessment in this area.

Print Awareness Alphabetic Awareness Orthographic Awareness Comprehension Practice

.

(The PEER Program, HISD, 1996)

DEFINITIONS: PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS/PHONOLOGICALPROCESSING/PHONOLOGICAL SKILLS

Sensitivity to segments in the speech stream. Demonstrated by ability to produce and recognize rhymes, to alliterate, and to segment and blend words into syllables (e.g., re-pub-lic), onset; rimes (e.g. c-at); and phonemes--e.g., [ability to segment medial phonemes and transpose phonemes--e.g., play Pig Latin--is reciprocal, with, rather than a precursor to reading]

PHONEMIC AWARENESS is the ability to deal explicitly and segmentally with sound units smaller than the syllable (i.e., phonemes).

READING

A balanced approach (Honig, 1996) is:

"one that combines the language and literature and literature rich activities associated with whole language aimed at enhancing meaning, understanding, and the love of language with explicit teaching of the skills needed to develop fluency with print, including the automatic recognition of a growing number of words and the ability to decode new words."(p. 2)

One in five have trouble reading (Shaywitz, Shaywitz, Fletcher and Esobar, 1990)

all children take what they know about internal sound structures of words and apply this knowledge to print (Liberman, Shankweiler, and Liberman, 1989). Consequently, all children learn to read by sounding out words regardless of how they are taught. When children

.

READING, Cont.

are successful early readers, it is clear that this skill is maximized. When they fail to learn to read, it is clear that this particular skill does not develop properly (Stanovich,1986; Vellutino, 1987).

…children raised in alternative language environments may have difficulty learning to decode words because of differences in dialect or because they had significant exposure to languages other than the primary language of instruction. In many of these children, the problem still revolves around their development of phonological awareness skillls (Vellutino, 1987).

Approximately 80 percent of all children served as learning disabled in the public schools have problems with reading (Lerner, 1989). Of these cases, it has been estimated that 90 percent have problems with development of decoding skills (Lyon, 1995; Lyon and Watson, 1981 ).

(The PEER Program, HISD, 1996)

COOPERATIVE LEARNING

Cooperative Learning is the structuring of classrooms so that students work together in small heterogeneous groups to meet common learning objectives.

Their contribution to group work results in group as well as personal accomplishment.

The student interaction occurring during Cooperative Learning promotes academic achievement and positivefeelings about school, teachers, other students, and self .

ROLE OF TEACHERS INCOOPERATIVE LEARNING

1. Set instructional objectives.2. Make decisions relevant togrouping, room arrangements,materials, and role assignments.3. Set tasks and positiveinterdependence..4. Evaluate learning and groupcooperation."It is important to explain that theirrole has shifted from transmitters ofknowledge to mediators of thinking."IDRA NEWSLETTER XVI {9), 1989

PROCESS WRITING

1. Prewriting (preparing, purpose, main idea, details).talking, questioning, clustering, reading, journals2. Drafting (getting ideas on paper).fast writing, buddy/dialogue journals, logs3. Revising (reordering, reviewing).peer response groups, show and not tell4. Editing (correcting grammar, spelling, mechanics).peer editing groups, proof reading5. Publishing (creating classroom library, sharing).bulletin boards, school papers, school book fairsPeregoy & Boyle, 2001

ACTIVE LEARNING

DefinitionIt refers to the level of engagement by thestudent in the instructional process. The teacherand student share the responsibility for learning.T heoretical BaseIt derives from situated cognition theorists suchas Paolo Freire (instruction is most effective whensituated within a student's own knowledge and worldview), and L.S. Vygotsky's "zone of proximaldevelopment" ( students learn best when newi nformation presented is just beyond the reach oftheir present knowledge) .Community and CultureKey elements of the approach come from LuisMoll's "Funds of Knowledge" model (languageminority students come to school with knowledgeand strengths that should be utilized bythe school).Students learn content, develop conceptualknowledge, acquire language through a discoveryoriented approach to learning. The learner is viewedas responsible for discovering, constructing, andcreating something new--and the teacher is seen asa resource and facilitator .V. Fern, K. Anstrom, B. Silcox, Directions inLanguage and Education, Vol. 1 (2), NCBE

Freirei (1970, 1973, 1985) 1985)andFreire&Macedo (1987) have argued for a literacy thatmakes oppressed communities socially andpomically conscious about their subservientrole and lowly status in society. Theargument is that literacy must go welt beyondthe skills of reading and writing. It mustmake people aware of their socioculturalcontext and their political environment. Thismay occur through mother tongue literacy,multilingual literacy ( and local/international'multiple' literacies of value in differingcontexts) and localllteracies (Street,1984).(Baker, C. , 1996, p. 308)

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