Academic Language and English Language Learners

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Alharbi, A. S. (2020). Wikis in Language Learning: Merits and Limitations. Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 2(4), 79-88.

Anstrom, K., DiCerbo, P., Butler, F., Katz, A., Millet, J., & Rivera, C. (2010). A review of the literature on academic English: Implications for K-12 English language learners. The George Washington University Center for Equity and Excellence in Education.

Bailey, A. L. (Ed.). (2007). The language demands of school: Putting academic English to the test. Yale University Press.

Bailey, A. L., & Butler, F. A. (2003). An evidentiary framework for operationalizing academic language for broad application to K-12 education: A design document. CSE Report .Center for Research on Evaluation Standards and Student Testing CRESST.

Baumann, J. F., & Graves, M. F. (2010). What is academic vocabulary?. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 54(1), 4.

Bibi, F., Rizwan, S., & Rehman, R. (2020). Effect of student teams achievement division (STAD) on paragraph writing skills of elementary students. PalArch's Journal of Archaeology of Egypt/Egyptology, 17(6), 13005-13015.

Birr Moje, E., Overby, M., Tysvaer, N., & Morris, K. (2008). The complex world of adolescent literacy: Myths, motivations, and mysteries. Harvard Educational Review, 78(1), 107-154.

Bolton, K., & Kuteeva, M. (2012). English as an academic language at a Swedish university: Parallel language use and the ‘threat’ of English. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 33(5), 429-447.

Butler, F. A., Bailey, A. L., Stevens, R., Huang, B., & Lord, C. (2004). Academic English in fifth-grade mathematics, science, and social studies textbooks. CSE report 642. Center for Research on Evaluation Standards and Student Testing CRESST.

Camping, A., Graham, S., Ng, C., Atiken, A., Wilson, J., & Wdowin, J. (2019). Writing motivational incentives of middle school emergent bilingual students. Journal of Second Language Writing. Manuscript submitted for publication.

Compares the motivational incentives for writing of middle school emergent bilingual students with their peers whose first language was English.
While the writing motivational incentives of EL and REP students were similar, one or both of these groups of emergent bilingual students had statistically higher scores than Native English (NE) students on all but one of the motivational incentives for writing.
NE students were more motivated than emergent bilingual students to write for better grades, and they also had higher
scores on the writing test. REP students scored higher on this test than EL students. While motivational incentives for writing predicted NE students’ writing performance, this was not the case for EL and REP students.

Coxhead, A. (2000). A new academic word list. TESOL Quarterly, 34(2), 213-238.

Coxhead, A., & Byrd, P. (2007). Preparing writing teachers to teach the vocabulary and grammar of academic prose. Journal of Second Language Writing, 16(3), 129-147.

Cummins, J. (1979). Cognitive/academic language proficiency, linguistic interdependence, the optimum age question and some other matters. Working Papers on Bilingualism, No. 19. Ontario Inst. for Studies in Education, Toronto. Bilingual Education Project.

Cummins, J. (2000). Academic language learning, transformative pedagogy, and information technology: Towards a critical balance. TESOL Quarterly, 34(3), 537-548.

Cummins, J. (2008). BICS and CALP: Empirical and theoretical status of the distinction. Encyclopedia of Language and Education, 2(2), 71-83.

Denham, K. (2020). Positioning students as linguistic and social experts: Teaching grammar and linguistics in the United States. L1 Educational Studies in Language and Literature, (Research on L1 grammar in schooling: mediation at the heart of learning grammar).

DiCerbo, P. A., Anstrom, K. A., Baker, L. L., & Rivera, C. (2014). A review of the literature on teaching academic English to English language learners. Review of Educational Research, 84(3), 446-482.

Duff, P. A. (2010). Language socialization into academic discourse communities. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 30, 169.

Fang, Z., Schleppegrell, M. J., & Cox, B. E. (2006). Understanding the language demands of schooling: Nouns in academic registers. Journal of Literacy Research, 38(3), 247-273.

Fang, Z., Schleppegrell, M. J., & Cox, B. E. (2006). Understanding the language demands of schooling: Nouns in academic registers. Journal of Literacy Research, 38(3), 247-273.

Floyd, R.G., Ozuru, Y., McNamara, D. (2011) Comprehension challenges in the fourth grade: The roles of text cohesion, text genre, and readers' prior knowledge. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 4(1), 229-257.

We examined young readers’ comprehension as a function of text genre (narrative, science), text cohesion (high, low), and readers’ abilities (reading decoding skills and world knowledge). The overarching purpose of this study was to contribute to our understanding of the fourth grade slump. Overall, the study indicates that the fourth grade slump is at least partially attributable to the emergence of complex dependencies between the nature of the text and the reader’s prior knowledge. The results also suggested that simply adding cohesion cues, and not explanatory information, is not likely to be sufficient for young readers as an approach to improving comprehension of challenging texts.

Fillmore, L. W., & Snow, C. E. (2000). What teachers need to know about language. Center for Applied Linguistics

Foorman, B. R., Koon, S., Petscher, Y., Mitchell, A., & Truckenmiller, A. (2015). Examining general and specific factors in the dimensionality of oral language and reading in 4th–10th grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 107(3), 884.

Francis, D. J., Rivera, M., Lesaux, N., Kieffer, M., & Rivera, H. (2006). Based Recommendations for Instruction and Academic Interventions. Practical guidelines for the education of English Language Learners. Book 1 of 3. Center on Instruction.

Gatlin-Nash, B., Johnson, L., & Lee-James, R. (2020) Linguistic Differences and Learning to Read for Nonmainstream Dialect Speakers. Perspectives on Language and Literacy.

Gardner, D., & Davies, M. (2014). A new academic vocabulary list. Applied linguistics, 35(3), 305-327.

Gee, J. P. (2005). Language in the science classroom: Academic social languages as the heart of school-based literacy. Establishing scientific classroom discourse communities: Multiple voices of teaching and learning research, (pp. 19-37). Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Geist, M., & Hahn, A. (2021). The effect of collaborative writing on individual writing strategies: A case study of two L2 English writers. Working Collaboratively in Second/Foreign Language Learning, 30, 117.

Gibbons, P. (1998). Classroom talk and the learning of new registers in a second language. Language and Education, 12(2), 99-118.

Graham, S., Hebert, M., Fishman, E., Ray, A. B., & Rouse, A. G. (2020). Do Children With Specific Language Impairment Have a Learning Disability in Writing? A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 1–19. DOI: 10.1177/0022219420917338.

This meta-analysis examines whether children classified with specific language impairment (SLI) experience difficulties with writing. The study concluded that children with SLI experience difficulties in comparison in typically developing peers matched on age.

Huynh, N., & Anh, K. H. (2020). Impact of teaching critical thinking tasks for enhancing paragraph writing performance of EFL learners. International Journal of Education, 8(4), 784-803.

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(1), 47-56.

Kieffer, M. J., & Lesaux, N. K. (2012). Effects of academic language instruction on relational and syntactic aspects of morphological awareness for sixth graders from linguistically diverse backgrounds. The Elementary School Journal, 112(3), 519-545.

Kim, Y. S. G., Petscher, Y., Uccelli, P., & Kelcey, B. (2019). Academic language and listening comprehension—Two sides of the same coin? An empirical examination of their dimensionality, relations to reading comprehension, and assessment modality. Journal of Educational Psychology.https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000430

LaRusso, M., Kim, H. Y., Selman, R., Uccelli, P., Dawson, T., Jones, S., ... & Snow, C. (2016). Contributions of academic language, perspective taking, and complex reasoning to deep reading comprehension. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 9(2), 201-222.https://doi.org/10.1080/19345747.2015.1116035

Lawrence, J. F., Francis, D., Paré-Blagoev, J., & Snow, C. E. (2017). The poor get richer: Heterogeneity in the efficacy of a school-level intervention for academic language. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 10(4), 767-793.https://doi.org/10.1080/19345747.2016.1237596

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 linguistically diverse students in urban middle schools. Reading Research Quarterly, 45(2), 196-228.https://doi.org/10.1598/RRQ.45.2.3

Li, M., & Zhang, M. (2021). Collaborative writing in L2 classrooms: A research agenda. Language Teaching, 1-19.

Lorang, M. L. (2022). Effects of pre-literacy on high school English Learners (ELS) in the rural upper Midwest. University of South Dakota. (Honors Thesis)

Maamuujav, U. & Krishnan, J. & Collins, P. (2019). The utility of infographics in L2 writing classes: A practical strategy to scaffold writing development. TESOL Journal. 10.1002/tesj.484.

Considering the complexity of writing from students' and instructors' standpoints, this article proposes an integration of infographics into the L2 writing curriculum as a means of (1) supporting the writing development of multilingual students and (2) scaffolding the cognitive demands L2 writers face while composing. It also calls attention to communicative and rhetorical functions of writing. The curricular integration of infographics in second language writing courses is grounded in the process‐based writing approach that involves careful and iterative planning, writing, and revision.

Matuchniak, T., Olson, C. B., & Scarcella, R. (2014). Examining the text-based, on-demand, analytical writing of mainstreamed Latino English learners in a randomized field trial of the Pathway Project intervention. Reading and Writing, 27(6), 973-994.

This study examines how the Pathway Project intervention impacted English Learners’ abilities to analyze literature, use academic words, and include commentary in their essays, finding significant effects of the intervention

McKeown, M. G., Crosson, A. C., Moore, D. W., & Beck, I. L. (2018). Word knowledge and comprehension effects of an academic vocabulary intervention for middle school students. American Educational Research Journal, 55(3), 572-616. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831217744181

Meneses, A., Uccelli, P., Santelices, M. V., Ruiz, M., Acevedo, D., & Figueroa, J. (2018). Academic language as a predictor of reading comprehension in monolingual Spanish‐speaking readers: Evidence from Chilean early adolescents. Reading Research Quarterly, 53(2), 223-247.https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.192

Nagy, W., & Townsend, D. (2012). Words as tools: Learning academic vocabulary as language acquisition. Reading Research Quarterly, 47(1), 91-108. https://doi.org/10.1002/RRQ.011

Nazzal, J. S., Olson,C. B., & Chung, H. Q. (n.d). Differences in Academic Writing across Four Levels of Community College Composition Courses. Teaching English in the Two Year College, 47,263-296.

This study examines the difference in students' academic writing across different levels of community college composition courses. The results of this study aim to inform faculty about the development of reform efforts to best support community college students' learning needs.

Olson, C. B., & Land, R. (2007). A cognitive strategies approach to reading and writing instruction for English language learners in secondary school. Research in the Teaching of English, 269-303.

The study examines the effects of a cognitive strategies approach to improving secondary reading and writing. Teachers and students were exposed to an extensive set of cognitive strategies and a wide array of curricular approaches to use in a manner designed to cultivate deep knowledge and application of those strategies in reading and writing over an extended period of time consistency of positive outcomes on multiple measures strongly points to the efficacy of using this approach.

Olson, C. B., Matuchniak, T., Chung, H. Q., Stumpf, R., & Farkas, G. (2017). Reducing achievement gaps in academic writing for Latinos and English learners in Grades 7–12. Journal of Educational Psychology, 109(1), 1.

This study reports 2 years of findings from a randomized controlled trial designed to replicate and demonstrate the efficacy of an existing, successful professional development program, the Pathway Project, that uses a cognitive strategies approach to text-based analytical writing.

Olson, C. B., Scarcella, R., & Matuchniak, T. (2015). English learners, writing, and the Common Core. The Elementary School Journal, 115(4), 570-592.

This article addresses how teachers can prepare English learners to meet the CCSS for writing in grades K–8. It considers the degree and type of additional scaffolding English learners need to write at a level required in the standards, gives examples of best practices for teaching English learners, and provides specific lessons and activities for the types of writing emphasized in the standards. In addition, the relevant research on English-learning writers in grades K–8 as well as on effective interventions geared toward helping English learners attain higher level academic literacy is reviewed.

Osman, W. H., & Januin, J. (2021). Analysing ESL persuasive essay writing using Toulmin’s model of argument. Psychology and Education, 58(1), 1810-1821.

Phillips Galloway, E., & Uccelli, P. (2019). Examining developmental relations between core academic language skills and reading comprehension for English learners and their peers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 111(1), 15.https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000276

Puspitasari, E., & Aufar, A. (2021, January). A Phenomenological Exploration of EFL Students’ Experiences With Graded Readers. In 4th International Conference on Sustainable Innovation 2020–Social, Humanity, and Education (ICoSIHESS 2020) (pp. 412-418). Atlantis Press.

Ranney, S. (2012). Defining and teaching academic language: Developments in K‐12 ESL. Language and Linguistics Compass, 6(9), 560-574.https://doi.org/10.1002/lnc3.354

Scarcella, R. (2003). Academic English: A conceptual framework. UC Berkeley: University of California Linguistic Minority Research Institute. Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6pd082d4

Scarcella, R., Olson, C.B., & Matuchniak, T. (2018). Literacy development and second language writing. The TESOL Encyclopedia for English Language Teaching. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118784235.eelt0526

Although there has been increasing attention toward literacy development and L2 writing, there is not much empirical research done in this area. This article gives a summary of the available research on constraints on L2 writing development and effective practices for teaching writing.

Academic Language and English Language Learning

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