WRITING FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES MAKING CONTENT COMPREHENSIBLE FOR ENGLISH LEARNERS

By: Finalia Anjar Dianita 07420250 VF

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS IKIP PGRI SEMARANG 2009/2010

Outlining Paragraph 1 Topic: Background of the students. Paragraph 2 Topic: Models of learning teacher. Paragraph 3 Topic: Historical Education. Paragraph 4 Topic: The meaning of Research. Paragraph 5 Topic: The one important aspect of Research. Paragraph 6 Topic: More traditional linguistic applied. Paragraph 7 Topic: The best way to understanding content comprehensible for English learner.

MAKING CONTENT CkOMPREHENSIBLE FOR ENGLISH LEARNERS

INTRODUCTION The students backgrounds are variability. They after mood different pathways for academy success. We also have students who have grown up in village so they speak a language other than English at home. At one end of the range of students in this group are those students who are literate in their home language, such as java and Indonesia and they need English to add their knowledge base in school. At the other end are those who are not literate in any language. They have mastered neither English nor the home language and may be caught in Indonesia that is hard to escape. To meet this challenge, fundamental shifts need to occur in teacher development, program design, curricula and materials, and instructional and assessment practices. Many English learners receive much of their instruction from content area teachers or sides who have not had appropriate professional development to address their second language development needs or to make content instruction comprehensible. This situation hinders their academic success. Some instance try to provide in service workshop to teachers, but in order to be effective, they must be on going, sustained, and targeted to the teachers classroom and professional knowledge needs. Traditional models of teachers training one short or short term workshop have been shown to be ineffective. Rather, professional development strategies found to improve teaching are : sustained, intensive development with modeling, coaching, and problem solving; collaborative endeavors for educators to share knowledge; experiential opportunities that change teachers on actual teaching, assessment and observation; and development grounded in research but also drawing from teacher experience and inquiry, connected to the teachers classes, students, and subjects thought ( NCTAF, 1997; Darling Hammond, 1998; Darling Hammond & Mc Laughlin , 1995 )

English learner also has difficulty in school when there is a mismatch among program design, instructional goals, and student needs. Historically, school offered ESL (English as a Second Language) or bilingual education programs to ELS (English Learners) with specially trained teachers, yet kept those teachers and students separate from regular school programs. Depending on school or state policy and resource availability ELS were schooled in English as a second language or bilingual classes and were not concern of the regular content classroom teacher until they exited the language support program. In theory, the ELs would make that transition when they were proficient in English and able to perform subject area course work in English medium classroom. In practice, however students exit before they are proficient in academic English, for several reasons: (1) the number of these students increased without a comparable increase in certified teachers, so it became impossible to relegate the education of these students to separate, specialized classes; (2) policies have been enacted where the number of years that students are permitted access to language support service are quite limited, such as in several school were students are moved into regular classroom after one year; (3) programs failed to recognize that while learning English, ELs must simultaneously learn academic content. BODY Research has shown that it may take students from four to ten years of study, depending on the background factors described above, before they are proficient in academic English (Cummins, 1981; Thomas &Collier, 2002). In their national research study, Thomas and Collier found that there is a large achievement gap between ELS and narrative English speakers across most program models. For this gap to be closed with bilingual / ESL content programs, students must gain three to four NCE (Normal Curve Equivalent) points each fear than native English speakers gain. The only way to do that is to have wellimplemented, cognitively challenging, not segregated and sustained programs of five to six year duration. Typical programs of two to three years are ineffective in closing the large achievement gap.

One important aspect of research expertise involves being aware of and able to articulate the theoretical premises embodied in different approaches to research. The ways in which we perceive the world and our relationship to it, however, this understanding may be, frame our understanding of the nature of research, the purpose of which we engage in it, the kinds of research questions we ask, and the methods we choose to seek answers to those questions we ask, and the methods we choose to seek answers to those questions. Before undertaking a discussion on possibilities for research on language and culture. It is useful to review some of the more fundamental presuppositions embedded in a sociocultural perspective. A first premise has to do with the nature of knowledge. As we have discussed, a more traditional Linguistic applied perspective configures knowledge as a relational, universal entity with unchanging properties that exists separate from and independent of the knower. Language knowledge specifically is perceived as abstract, symbolic representations that, although located in the head of individuals, can be extracted from individual mind, and subjected to inquiry independently of the varied ways in which they are used. To improve our knowledge about English there are many was to do it. SIOP (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol) is one of the best way to understanding content comprehensible for English learners. The first section of the SIOP is: 1. Lesson Preparation As we all know, lesson planning is critical to both a students and a teachers success. For maximum learning to occur, produce lessons must be planned that enable students to make connections between their own knowledge and experiences, and the new information being taught (Rummehart, 1995). With careful planning, we make learning meaningful and relevant by including appropriate motivating materials and activities that foster real-life application of concepts studied. Traditionally, to meet the needs of students who struggled with grade level reading materials, texts were rewritten according to readability formulae

(Gray & Leary, 1935: Ruddell, 2001). The adapted texts included controlled vocabulary and a limited number of concept, resulting in the omission of critical pieces of information. We have learned that if students exposure to content concepts is limited by vocabulary-controlled materials, the amount of information. We have learned that if students exposure to content concepts is limited by vocabulary-controlled materials, the amount of information they learn over time is considerably less than that of their peers who use grade-level texts. The result is that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer (Stanovich, 1986). Therefore, it is imperative that we plan lessons that are not negatively biased for students acquiring English and that include age-appropriate content and materials. Effective sheltered instruction involves the use of many supplementary materials that support the core curriculum and contextualize learning. A variety of supplementary materials also support different learning styles and multiple ways of knowing (multiple intelligences) because information and concept are presented in a multifaceted manner students can see, hear, feel, perform, create and participate in order to make connection and construct personal, relevant meanings. Example of supplementary materials that can be used to create context and support content concept include the following: Hands-on manipulatives Realia Pictures Visuals Multimedia Demonstration Related literature Adapted text

2. Building Background In our work in classroom, we have seen teachers with good intentions go through the motions of lesson. They have a lesson plan and follow the plan, but fail to connect with the students, this focuses on building background is closely tied to lesson preparation and teachers assessment of the students knowledge and experience of the topic at hand. Concept linked to students Background. Teachers may provide explicit links to students background by asking questions that preview an upcoming topic-such as, Have you ever seen a cat? or How do people usually feel about rats? Why? or Have you ever been sick? and then directly relating it to the text by saying, Well, today were going to read about some rats. Lets see how similar the rats in the story are to the ones you have just described from your experience. Links made between past learning and new concepts It is also important for teachers to make explicit connections between new learning and the material, vocabulary, and concepts previously covered in class. Links between past learning and new learning can be made through a discussion-such as, Who remember what we learned about .? By preserving and referring to word banks, outlines, charts, maps, and graphic organizers, teachers have tools for reminding students of previous learning. This is particularly important for ELS who receive so much input through the new language. A review of prior lessons indicates the key information they should remember. Key vocabulary emphasized In a synthesis of twenty years of research on vocabulary instruction, blachowiz & fisher (2000) determined four man principles that should guide instruction. 1) Students should be active in developing their understanding of words and ways or learn them.

2) Students should personalize word learning 3) Students should be immersed in words 4) Students should build on multiple sources of information to learn words through repeated exposures. 3. Comprehensive Input Appropriate speech for ELS For this item, speech refers to (1) rate and enunciation and (2) complexity of speech. Student who are at the beginning levels of English proficiency benefit from teachers who slow down their rate of speech and enunciate clearly while speaking. For advanced and transitional students, teachers should use a rate of speech that is normal for a regular classroom. Use of Techniques Effective SL teacher make content concept clear and understandable for English learners through the use of a variety of techniques that make content comprehensible. The observed some teachers who teach the same way for English learners as they do for native speakers, except that they use pictures for English learners. The techniques in the sheltered instruction observation protocol are critical for providing meaningful, understandable lesson to students learning English, including adapting the content to studentss proficiency level; nighlighting key vocabulary; using scaffolding techniques and providing opportunities for students to use strategies; and providing activities that allow students to apply newly acquired content and language knowledge.

CONCLUSION After 5 years of collaboration with practicing teachers, CREDE researchers developed a model of high quality sheltered instruction, known as the SIOP model. This model takes into account the special language development needs of English language learners which distinguishes it from high quality nonsheltered teaching. A study conducted to establish the validity and reliability of the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol found that the instrument is a highly reliable and valid measure of sheltered instruction. Researchers compared English language learning students in classes whose teachers had been trained in implementing the SIOP to a high degree to a control group (taught by teachers not trained in the SIOP Model) using a prompt that required narrative writing. They scored the prompt using the writing rubric of the Illinois Measure of Annual Growth in English (IMAGE) Test. The English learners in classes whose teachers had been trained in implementing the SIOP to a high degree demonstrated significantly higher writing scores than the control group. Researchers compared English learners in classes whose teachers had been trained in implementing the SIOP to a high degree to a control group (taught by teachers not trained in the SIOP Model) using a prompt that required expository writing. They scored the prompt using the writing rubric the Illionis Measure of Annual Growth in English (IMAGE) Test. The English learners in classes whose teachers had been trained in implementing the SIOP to a high degree demonstrated significantly higher writing scores than the control group and made greater gains from the pre-test to the post-test.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hornby, AS. 1995. Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Schramper, Betty. 2006. Understanding and Using English Grammar. Washington: Binarupa Aksara. Wishon, Burks. 1980. Lets Write English. Canada: Universal Copyright Convention. http://www.google.com