Proceedings of the International Teaching and Education Conference
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Enhancing Literacy Skills of Diverse Learners Through Academic Language Instruction
Irina Malykhina
ABSTRACT:
Academic language is a critical component of literacy instruction. Academic language is the means for students to make meaning of content in each discipline because it involves knowledge of higher-order academic vocabulary that is content specific. To be able to read and write about learned content, English learners must have a command of specific academic vocabulary that is used in academic texts in each content area. Researchers have emphasized the importance of developing and implementing effective academic language instruction that focuses on building students’ proficiency of academic vocabulary in all subject areas. To support students’ academic growth and to help them make sense of new learning, teachers who teach language arts, math, social studies, and science must have content-specific linguistic knowledge and know how to provide effective academic vocabulary instruction to English learners across all content areas. This article focuses on discussing findings of the qualitative study that involved general education teachers who teach language arts, math, science and social studies in multilingual multicultural schools in North America. The purpose of the study was to gain a deeper understanding of teachers’ experiences implementing academic language instruction for diverse learners across all academic disciplines.
keywords: content subjects, English learners, language proficiency, teaching, vocabulary