MODULE IN ADVANCED

ACADEMIC WRITING

Prepared by
DR. LEILANI M. IBAY-PAM0
Writing the Abstract of a Thesis or Dissertation

What is an abstract?

An abstract summarizes, usually in one paragraph of 300 words or

less, the major aspects of the entire paper in a prescribed sequence that

includes: 1) the overall purpose of the study and the research problem(s)

you investigated; 2) the research design of the study; 3) major findings or

trends found as a result of your analysis; and, 4) a brief summary of

your interpretations and conclusions.

It is an essential part of a thesis or dissertation paper. It is a

summary of a complete work. It gives readers a chance to discover the

key points of your dissertation, its research chapter, methodology and

results part. Writing a proper abstract is important. Students use

various techniques and guidelines to perform a perfect thesis abstract.

Proper structure of thesis dissertation is crucial. It should answer all the

study’s questions and be written to identify a major element of a

dissertation or thesis paper.

The structure of the abstract should mirror the structure of the

whole thesis, and should represent all its major elements. For example, if

your thesis has five chapters (introduction, literature review,

methodology, results, conclusion), there should be one or more sentences

assigned to summarize each chapter.

An abstract is not merely an introduction in the sense of a preface,

preamble, or advance organizer that prepares the reader for the thesis. In

addition to that function, it must be capable of substituting for the whole

thesis when there is insufficient time and space for the full text.

Importance of a Good Abstract

Sometimes your professor will ask you to include an abstract, or

general summary of your work, with your research paper. The abstract

allows you to elaborate upon each major aspect of the paper and helps

readers decide whether they want to read the rest of the paper.

Therefore, enough key information [e.g., summary results, observations,

trends, etc.] must be included to make the abstract useful to someone

who may want to examine your work.

How do you know when you have enough information in your

abstract? A simple rule-of-thumb is to imagine that you are another

researcher doing a similar study. Then ask yourself: if your abstract was

the only part of the paper you could access, would you be happy with the

amount of information presented there? Does it tell the whole story about

your study? If the answer is "no" then the abstract likely needs to be

revised.
Structure and Writing Style

A. Types of Abstracts

To begin, you need to determine which type of abstract you should

include with your paper. There are four general types.

Critical Abstract

A critical abstract provides, in addition to describing main findings

and information, a judgment or comment about the study’s validity,

reliability, or completeness. The researcher evaluates the paper and often

compares it with other works on the same subject. Critical abstracts are

generally 400-500 words in length due to the additional interpretive

commentary. These types of abstracts are used infrequently.

Descriptive Abstract

A descriptive abstract indicates the type of information found in

the work. It makes no judgments about the work, nor does it provide

results or conclusions of the research. It does incorporate key words

found in the text and may include the purpose, methods, and scope of

the research. Essentially, the descriptive abstract only describes the

work being summarized. Some researchers consider it an outline of the

work, rather than a summary. Descriptive abstracts are usually very

short, 100 words or less.

Informative Abstract

The majority of abstracts are informative. While they still do not

critique or evaluate a work, they do more than describe it. A good

informative abstract acts as a surrogate for the work itself. That is, the

researcher presents and explains all the main arguments and the

important results and evidence in the paper. An informative abstract

includes the information that can be found in a descriptive abstract

[purpose, methods, scope] but it also includes the results and

conclusions of the research and the recommendations of the author. The

length varies according to discipline, but an informative abstract is

usually no more than 300 words in length.

Highlight Abstract

A highlight abstract is specifically written to attract the reader’s

attention to the study. No pretense is made of there being either a

balanced or complete picture of the paper and, in fact, incomplete and

leading remarks may be used to spark the reader’s interest. In that a

highlight abstract cannot stand independent of its associated article, it is

not a true abstract and, therefore, rarely used in academic writing.

B. Writing Style

Use the active voice when possible, but note that much of your

abstract may require passive sentence constructions. Regardless, write

your abstract using concise, but complete, sentences. Get to the point

quickly and always use the past tense because you are reporting on a

study that has been completed.

Formatting

Abstracts should be formatted as a single paragraph in a block

format and with no paragraph indentations. In most cases, the abstract

page immediately follows the title page. Do not number the page. Rules

set forth in writing manual vary but, in general, you should center the

word "Abstract" at the top of the page with double spacing between the

heading and the abstract. The final sentences of an abstract concisely

summarize your study’s conclusions, implications, or applications to

practice and, if appropriate, can be followed by a statement about the

need for additional research revealed from the findings.

Composing Your Abstract

Although it is the first section of your paper, the abstract should be

written last since it will summarize the contents of your entire paper. A

good strategy to begin composing your abstract is to take whole

sentences or key phrases from each section of the paper and put them in
a sequence that summarizes the contents. Then revise or add connecting

phrases or words to make the narrative flow clearly and smoothly. Note

that statistical findings should be reported parenthetically [i.e., written in

parentheses].

Before handing in your final paper, check to make sure that the

information in the abstract completely agrees with what you have written

in the paper. Think of the abstract as a sequential set of complete

sentences describing the most crucial information using the fewest

necessary words.

The abstract SHOULD NOT contain:

 Lengthy background or contextual information,

 Redundant phrases, unnecessary adverbs and adjectives, and

repetitive information;

 Acronyms or abbreviations,

 References to other literature [say something like, "current

research shows that..." or "studies have indicated..."],

 Using ellipticals [i.e., ending with "..."] or incomplete sentences,

 Jargon or terms that may be confusing to the reader,

 Citations to other works, and

 Any sort of image, illustration, figure, or table, or references to

them.
Thesis Abstract Writing Guidelines

Thesis abstract (same as dissertation abstract) answers the main

questions of an entire paper. This short summary is a single page of text.

It needs to show key methods used in a work, problems analyzed and

gathered outcomes of a complex research work. This kind of academic

assignment requires profound knowledge. People, who read abstracts,

prefer those summaries (not executive summaries) that remain short, but

very informative, with presented implications and clear study results.

An abstract is a small version of your dissertation or thesis. This

small description ensures a better understanding of an entire paper,

discovers the present condition of analyzed problems, distinguishes main

objectives and determines existing expectations. A profound analysis of a

major question is requested. Abstract needs to be less than five percent

of the dissertation. Students write thesis abstracts of a proper length, get

information for the summary using their own personal background

information, knowledge and analyses’ fallouts.

Thesis abstract includes main analyzed objectives, compound

research questions, problem statements, detailed methodology, and

conclusions. Abstract needs to include source references and acronyms.

It allows describing the top point of a dissertation paper providing a good

understanding of the studied subjects and discovering numerous

outcomes. Key theories and hypotheses are requested parts. They bring

needed thesis abstract accurate form and allow saving time for this
essential part flawless completion.

Size and Structure

Generally, the maximum sizes for abstracts are 150 words

(Masters' thesis) and 350 words (Doctoral dissertation). Always refer to

your institutional format as every institution has its own.

To preserve visual coherence, you may wish to limit the abstract

for your doctoral dissertation to one double-spaced page, about 280

words.

The structure of the abstract should mirror the structure of the

whole thesis, and should represent all its major elements.

For example, if your thesis has five chapters (introduction,

literature review, methodology, results, conclusion), there should be one

or more sentences assigned to summarize each chapter.

Clearly Specify Your Research Questions

As in the thesis itself, your research questions are critical in

ensuring that the abstract is coherent and logically structured. They

form the skeleton to which other elements adhere. They should be

presented near the beginning of the abstract. There is only room for one

to three questions. If there are more than three major research questions

in your thesis, you should consider restructuring them by reducing some

to subsidiary status.
Don't Forget the Results

The most common error in abstracts is failure to present results.

The primary function of your thesis (and by extension your abstract) is

not to tell readers what you did, it is to tell them what you discovered.

Other information, such as the account of your research methods, is

needed mainly to back the claims you make about your results.

Approximately the last half of the abstract should be dedicated to

summarizing and interpreting your results.

Sample abstract #1

This study aims to propose a five-year strategic plan to sustain and

enhance English language immersion programs. It uses the qualitative
descriptive method design with interview as the main tool in gathering
data. The brochures, programs, and information available at the
respondent university's websites were subjected to document analysis to
describe the structure of the existing ELIPs. The document analysis
revealed that the structure of the existing ELIPs are 1) collaboration and
linkage-based, 2) culture-based, 3) needs- based, 4) blended mode, and
5) time-driven. Interview questions were developed using a priori codes.
The data collected from the interviews were transcribed and analyzed
and revealed four themes that pertain to the ELIP's best practices, which
are 1) securing a sustainable program, 2) ensuring efficient and effective
teaching force, 3) fostering school partnership and 4) facilitating relevant
and responsive methodology. From the structure and best practices, a
five-year strategic plan was developed.

Sample abstract #2

The study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of cooperative

learning in improving the speaking skills of Grade 7 students of
Pangasinan Universal Institute, Pangasinan during the school year 2019-
2020. The Grade 7 students in class are the sources of data. The pre-
test and post-test were used in the study. The gathered data were
analyzed and computed through Mean and standard deviation and the z-
test was used to test if there was a significant difference between the
pretest and posttest of students after the intervention. After the
cooperative learning as an intervention, the students improved their
speaking skills and therefore there was a significant difference between
their pretest and posttest scores because the post-test scores were
higher than the pretest scores. The students exhibited positive attitude
towards cooperative learning as evidenced by the computed average
mean of 4.21 which is “strongly agree” to the indicators of attitudes
towards cooperative learning. The researcher concluded that cooperative
learning is an effective intervention in improving students’ speaking
skills and confidence. The researcher recommends to the teachers
teaching English to use cooperative learning to improve their students'
speaking skills and overall academic performance. It is also suggested to
further researchers to investigate the effectiveness of this strategy on
other language skills.

Sample Abstract #3

Technology integration in English language instruction has been

greatly encouraged worldwide. The use of technology resources in
classroom instruction has been reported as a representation of a
significant advance in contemporary English teaching methods. However,
it is important to emphasize that the successful integration of technology
into the teaching and learning of English is principally dependent on the
teachers’ extent of utilization of technology in the classroom, their level of
self-efficacy in using technology resources, and on the barriers that affect
or hinder their technology integration into their instruction. Given the
present situation where the world suffers from COVID-19, educators are
now facing major changes in their teaching methods and platforms.
For the purpose of this study, 50 English teachers from public and
private secondary schools were sampled across 12 secondary schools in
Camiling, Tarlac to respond to a survey questionnaire. Data gathered
were analyzed and interpreted using descriptive research and by
determining the weighted average mean. The results revealed that the
English teachers seldom use technology in English language instruction.
It was also revealed that the respondents have a neutral stand in
technology integration. Additionally, deficiency in professional
development opportunities for gaining knowledge and skills for teachers
was reported as the dominant barrier in the technology integration in the
classroom of the respondents. Given the present situation where the
world suffers from COVID-19, educators are now facing major changes in
their teaching methods and platforms. Thus, the researcher developed a
training program proposal to enhance teachers’ awareness and readiness
for technology integration in English language instruction which can be
described as timely and most applicable in this difficult time.
Based on these findings, the researcher recommends that English
teachers must be provided with intensive ICT-based trainings which will
improve their skills and knowledge about technology integration in
English language instruction and boost their technology competence.
School administrators must also ensure that technology resources are
sufficient to be used by teachers and learners. Moreover, teachers should
also be more open-minded in welcoming new teaching methods involving
technology. Technical support and maintenance should also be provided
for efficient troubleshooting. This assures the teachers of the immediate
assistance that they can get in case of technical problems. Lastly, school
administrators must, on their own, develop a school-wide technology
integration program that will ensure consistency in its implementation.

Paraphrasing

A paraphrase restates another’s idea (or your own previously

published idea) in your own words. Paraphrasing allows you to

summarize and synthesize information from one or more sources, focus

on significant information, and compare and contrast relevant details.

Paraphrasing is one way to use a text in your own writing without

directly quoting source material. Anytime you are taking information

from a source that is not your own, you need to specify where you got

that information.

A paraphrase is...

 Your own rendition of essential information and ideas expressed by

someone else, presented in a new form.

 One legitimate way (when accompanied by accurate

 documentation) to borrow from a source.

 A more detailed restatement than a summary, which focuses

concisely on a single main idea.

Paraphrasing is a valuable skill because...

 t is better than quoting information from an undistinguished

passage.

 It helps you control the temptation to quote too much.

 The mental process required for successful paraphrasing helps you

to grasp the full meaning of the original.

6 Steps to Effective Paraphrasing

1) Reread the original passage until you understand its full meaning.

2) Set the original aside, and write your paraphrase on a note card.

3) Jot down a few words below your paraphrase to remind you later

how you envision using this material. At the top of the note card,

write a key word or phrase to indicate the subject of your

paraphrase.

4) Check your rendition with the original to make sure that your

version accurately expresses all the essential information in a new

form.

5) Use quotation marks to identify any unique term or phraseology

you have borrowed exactly from the source.

 6) Record the source (including the page) on your note card so that

you can credit it easily if you decide to incorporate the material

into your paper.

Paraphrasing APA Style

Published authors paraphrase their sources most of the time,

rather than directly quoting the sources; student authors should emulate

this practice by paraphrasing more than directly quoting.

When you paraphrase, cite the original work using either the

narrative or parenthetical citation format.

Although it is not required to provide a page or paragraph number

in the citation, you may include one (in addition to the author and year)

when it would help interested readers locate the relevant passage within

a long or complex work (e.g., a book).

Example:

Webster-Stratton (2016) described a case example of a 4-year-old

girl who showed an insecure attachment to her mother; in working with

the family dyad, the therapist focused on increasing the mother’s

empathy for her child (pp. 152–153).

These guidelines pertain to when you read a primary source and

paraphrase it yourself. If you read a paraphrase of a primary source in a

published work and want to cite that source, it is best to read and cite

the primary source directly if possible; if not, use a secondary source

citation.

Secondary Sources

In scholarly work, a primary source reports original content; a

secondary source refers to content first reported in another source.

Cite secondary sources sparingly—for instance, when the original

work is out of print, unavailable, or available only in a language that you

do not understand.If possible, as a matter of good scholarly practice, find

the primary source, read it, and cite it directly rather than citing a

secondary source. For example, rather than citing an instructor’s lecture

or a textbook or encyclopedia that in turn cites original research, find,

read, and cite the original research directly (unless an instructor has

directed you to do otherwise).

Follow these directions when citing a secondary source:

 In the reference list, provide an entry for the secondary source that

you used.In the text, identify the primary source and write “as

cited in” the secondary source that you used.

 If the year of publication of the primary source is known, also

include it in the text citation.

For example, if you read a work by Lyon et al. (2014) in which

Rabbitt (1982) was cited, and you were unable to read Rabbitt’s work
yourself, cite Rabbitt’s work as the original source, followed by Lyon et

al.’s work as the secondary source. Only Lyon et al.’s work appears in the

reference list.

(Rabbitt, 1982, as cited in Lyon et al., 2014)

If the year of the primary source is unknown, omit it from the in-

text citation.

Allport’s diary (as cited in Nicholson, 2003)

Paraphrasing MLA style for in-text citation.

The original passage:

Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and

as a result they overuse quotations in the final [research] paper. Probably

only about 10% of your final manuscript should appear as directly

quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact

transcribing of source materials while taking notes. Lester, James D.

Writing Research Papers. 2nd ed., 1976, pp. 46-47.

A legitimate paraphrase:

In research papers, students often quote excessively, failing to keep

quoted material down to a desirable level. Since the problem usually

originates during note taking, it is essential to minimize the material

recorded verbatim (Lester 46-47).

An acceptable paraphrase:

Students should take just a few notes in direct quotation from

sources to help minimize the amount of quoted material in a research

paper (Lester 46-47).

A plagiarized version:

Students often use too many direct quotations when they take

notes, resulting in too many of them in the final research paper. In fact,

probably only about 10% of the final copy should consist of directly

quoted material. So it is important to limit the amount of source material

copied while taking notes.

A note about plagiarism:

This example has been classed as plagiarism, in part, because of

its failure to deploy any citation. Plagiarism is a serious offense in the

academic world. However, we acknowledge that plagiarism is a difficult

term to define; that its definition may be contextually sensitive; and that

not all instances of plagiarism are created equal—that is, there are

varying “degrees of egregiousness” for different cases of plagiarism.

What Is Academic Language?

Language is the fundamental resource or tool with which teachers

and children work together in schools (Frances Christie, 2005).

For the last couple of decades the language education community

has been grappling with defining the construct of academic language and

situating it within an assets-based model to ensure the academic

success of linguistically and culturally diverse students. Along come the

Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in 2010, and poof, academic

language assumes a front and center position in curriculum design and

enactment, impacting every teacher, every day. This chapter summarizes

the thinking on academic language use and its application to schooling.

It examines the roles of academic language, its dimensions and

underlying theories, and the developmental nature of language learning.

It concludes with a call for educators to recognize the paradigm shift we

are currently witnessing and to seize the opportunity to promote social

justice for students everywhere.

The Role of Language in Schooling and Beyond

Language is perhaps the most powerful tool available to teachers,

since language is pervasive in every aspect of the teaching and learning

process. Whether it is a nod signifying agreement, a command such as

“Eyes on me!” or an explanation such as, “This is one way to simplify an

equation,” language is always a resource for making and communicating

meaning.

Language serves many purposes in schools. In addition to being a

place for social networking and for socializing students into ways of

“doing school,” school is one context for learning. In school, students use

language to make sense of the world that surrounds them, and, in the

process, they are (1) learning language, (2) learning through language,

and (3) learning about language (Halliday, 1993).

One unique characteristic of humans is that we never stop

learning language. From birth to age 7, children learn an enormous

amount of language. Although this amount declines as students reach

age 17 or 18, we continue to learn and enhance the language we need as

we navigate through new stages and contexts in life.

Language is at the center of the learning process; humans learn

through language. Language is a way of seeing, understanding, and

communicating about the world. Learning in schools and classrooms is

largely accomplished through language. In school, “We could virtually

say that ‘language is the curriculum’” (Derewianka, 1990, p. 3).

Beginning with the early stages of language learning, children

formulate— consciously or unconsciously—their own rules about how

language works. Later, children add new rules and amend old ones so

that their sentences and usages resemble the language used by adults

and those that surround them. As children learn the language of the

home, they learn several different language styles, which vary according
to the setting, the speakers, and the goal of communication. These styles

are also called registers.

Different Registers

The concept of register is typically concerned with variations in

language conditioned by uses rather than users and involves

consideration of the situation or context of use, the purpose,

subjectmatter and content of the message, and the relationship between

the participants. (Romaine, 1994, p. 20) In the study of language, a

register is a variety of a language used for a specific purpose and

audience in a particular social setting.

Registers are simply a particular kind of language being produced

within the context of a social situation. Below are three ways of saying

the same thing, depending on the relationship between speakers and the

circumstance:

I would be very appreciative if you would make less noise.

Please be quiet.

Shut up!

Throughout the day a person may use several different registers.

For example, let’s listen in as Nicole, a 37-year-old nurse, uses several

registers.
 In school contexts, teachers and students also use a variety of

registers. Many researchers and educators have made a distinction

between everyday and academic language (Cummins, 1986). Social

language is associated with everyday, casual interactions; it’s the

language we use to order an ice cream, talk with a neighbor, or chat with

family members. In schools, this is the language students use in the

playground, cafeteria, or in the hallway. However, social language is also

very much used in classroom dialog, as illustrated in the following

examples:

“Turn to your elbow partner and figure out the answer.” (Grade 2

teacher to students)

“Hold your horses; we are not there yet!” (history teacher to high

school students). “Dunno how to save my work.” (Grade 4 student to

teacher)

“That’s a cool shirt, Dylan. Did you see the game?” (principal to

middle school student).

“Dude, you need to get caught up with your group.” (Grade 5

teacher to student). Everyday language is very much a part of

classrooms and schools; however, with its colloquial and idiomatic

expressions, it can be considered in the academic range for those

students who have not previously been exposed to it. At the other end of

the academic language spectrum is the more formal, specialized register

associated with disciplinary material. With today’s emphasis on

academic registers, many educators immediately think about vocabulary

as the distinguishing feature. Although vocabulary is a very important

dimension of academic language, as will become evident in the next

sections, it is only one aspect.

The Nature of Academic Language

What’s hard about learning in academic content areas is that each

area is tied to academic specialist varieties of language (and other special

symbol systems) that are complex, technical, and initially alienating to

many learners (Gee, 2004).

Although in recent years academic language has been at the center

of many educational efforts, educators and researchers have

conceptualized academic language in different ways. Several recent

studies point to teachers’ understandings of academic language as

challenging content-area vocabulary, or “hard words” (e.g., Ernst-Slavit

& Mason, 2011; Homza, 2011; Lee, 2011; Wong Fillmore, 2011).

However, academic language is a complex concept. “The difference in

purpose, audience, and context results in clear differences in terms of

language use in the selection of words, formality, sentence construction,

and discourse patterns” (Gottlieb & ErnstSlavit, 2013, p. 2).

In this section, we will provide a working definition of academic

language, explain its importance in fostering academic thinking, describe

the main roles of academic language, and explain three dimensions or

components that characterize academic language.

In general terms, academic language refers to the language used in

school to acquire new or deeper understanding of the content and

communicate that understanding to others (Bailey & Heritage, 2008;

Gottlieb & Ernst-Slavit, 2013; Gottlieb, Katz, & Ernst-Slavit, 2009;

Schleppegrell, 2004). Because academic language conveys the kind of

abstract, technical, and complex ideas and phenomena of the disciplines,

it allows users to think and act, for example, as scientists, historians,

and mathematicians. Thus, academic language promotes and affords a

kind of thinking different from everyday language. As put by William

Nagy and Dianna Townsend (2012), “Learning academic language is not

learning new words to do the same thing that one could have done with

other words; it is learning to do new things with language and acquiring

new tools for these purposes” (p. 93).

Viewing academic language not as an end in itself but as a means

to foster academic thinking can be very helpful in moving away from a

focus on teaching academic language when it is not contextualized in

meaningful academic activities. Along these lines, Zwiers (2008) contends

that academic language serves three interrelated and broad roles: to

describe complexity, higher order thinking, and abstraction. Each

purpose is briefly summarized in Figure 1.1.

Throughout this chapter and book series, we discuss academic

language as including more than vocabulary or phrases pertinent to the

topic at hand. As can be deduced from the above discussion, academic

language necessitates more than knowledge of single words to describe

complex concepts, thinking processes, and abstract ideas and

relationships. The academic language needed for students to access

disciplinary content and textbooks and successfully participate in

activities and assessments involves knowledge and ability to use specific

linguistic features associated with academic disciplines. These features

include discourse features, grammatical constructions, and vocabulary

across different language domains (listening, speaking, reading, writing)

and content areas (language arts, mathematics, science, history, among

others).
 When thinking about academic language use in classrooms,

teachers generally start from the bottom level (with words and

expressions) and then fold vocabulary into different configurations or

syntactic structures that, in turn, combine to create unique genres.

However, it might be easier for teachers and students to envision how

discourse is the overarching dimension or umbrella that helps shapes

the types of applicable sentence structures that, in turn, dictate the most

appropriate words and expressions. Figure 1.2 shows the hierarchical

nature of the dimensions of academic language along with some

examples.
Evolving Perspectives of Academic Language

The construct of academic language developed from research in the

mid 1970s to the 1980s. Since then, academic language—also called

academic English, scientific language, the language of school—has been

defined differently by authors and disciplinary perspectives. This next

section provides a brief summary of the different frameworks used in the

last decades to approach the construct of academic language. (For

reviews of the literature, please see Anstrom et al., 2010, and Snow &

Uccelli, 2009). To facilitate the discussion, this review is organized

around five main orientations:

• Academic language versus social language (e.g., Cummins, 1986;

Scarcella, 2008)

• Systemic linguistic perspectives (e.g., Gibbons, 2002, 2009;

Halliday, 1978; Halliday & Martin, 1993; Schleppegrell, 2004)

• Language skills perspectives (e.g., Bailey & Heritage, 2008;

Scarcella, 2008)

• Sociocultural perspectives (e.g., Gee, 2004, 2005; Heath, 1983)

• Language as social action (e.g., García & Leiva, 2013; García &

Sylvan, 2011; van Lier, 2007, 2012; van Lier & Walqui, 2012)
Academic Language Versus Social Language Perspectives

In the early 1980s, Jim Cummins, drawing on research with

bilingual children, described different kinds of language proficiency,

focusing on assessment issues and arguing that assessment of students’

language proficiency should involve more than tests of spoken

interaction. This pivotal work makes a clear distinction between basic

interpersonal communication skills (BICS) and cognitive academic

language proficiency (CALP). In essence, BICS is the casual, everyday

language that students use when they are talking to friends and

neighbors, during recess, or at the lunchroom (e.g., “Give me that book.”

“Let’s sit by the window.” “See ya’ later.”). BICS, according to Cummins,
rely more on contextual cues for transmitting meaning (e.g., body

language, facial expressions, gestures, objects). CALP, on the other hand,

is more complex and abstract and relies less on contextual cues for

meaning. (For example, “Functions are used to solve equations for

variables and to show a relationship between the variables.” “The process

is called photosynthesis.” “Meriwether Lewis was born at a time of

conflict and just before a major revolution.”)

While the BICS and CALP distinction has brought to the forefront

the importance of academic language for all students, but particularly for

English language learners (ELLs), it has been criticized for its

conceptualization of CALP as decontextualized language (see, e.g.,

Bartolomé, 1998; Gee, 1990) and for promoting deficit thinking by

focusing on the low cognitive/academic skills of students (see, e.g.,

Edelsky, 2006; Edelsky et al., 1983; MacSwan & Rolstad, 2003). This

distinction may not suffice to explain the complexities of the language

needed to succeed in school, as students are exposed to and interact

with multiple literacies (e.g., visual, digital, print) every day. Different

kinds of proficiency are needed, including social language. Bailey (2007)

has warned us not to believe that “there is something inherent in social

language that makes it less sophisticated or less cognitively demanding

than language used in an academic context” (p. 9). In fact, social

language is much needed to construct meaning in the classroom, but for

ELLs who may not be acclimated to school, it’s part of the language they
must learn!

Systemic Functional Linguistic Perspectives

About four decades ago, Michael Halliday (e.g., 1978) developed an

approach to understand how meaning is constructed depending on the

different purposes and language choices. Systemic functional linguistics

provides a framework to look systematically at the relationships between

form and meaning in the language used in various social contexts. More

specifically, for scholars espousing a systemic functional linguistic

approach, the linguistic system is made up of three strata: meaning

(semantics), sound (phonology), and wording or lexicogrammar (syntax,

morphology, and lexis). Researchers have argued that teachers need to

be able to conduct linguistic analyses of their curriculum in order to

identify potential challenges for students, particularly ELLs (Achugar,

Schleppegrell, & Oteíza, 2007; de Oliveira, 2013; Fang & Schleppegrell,

2008; Gibbons, 2009; Schleppegrell, 2001), and functional linguistics

provides a framework for conducting such analyses. Language functions

are the goals a speaker is trying to accomplish through the use of

specific language structures and vocabulary, in other words, the purpose

for communicating. In the classroom setting language functions can be

equated with the question: What are we asking students to do with

language? Examples of the many language functions are describing,

listing, and summarizing. (See Chapter 3 for additional examples of

language functions found in content and language standards.)

Researchers contend that identifying the language functions underlying

grade-level content is an important consideration for classroom teachers

(Gibbons, 2009; Schleppegrell, 2004). By focusing on the meaning-

making role that language plays in content-area learning, this

perspective provides “a metalanguage for analyzing language that

highlights issues of overall organization and voice and goes beyond

structural categories such as noun and verb to show the meanings that

follow from different language choices” (Schleppegrell, 2007, p. 123).

The work of Pauline Gibbons (1998, 2003, 2009) is of particular

importance for classroom teachers. Influenced by the work of Halliday

and Vygotsky (see, for example, Halliday, 1978; Vygotsky, 1978, 1987),

Gibbons (2003, 2009) illustrates how language development for learning

can be supported, for example, in the context of teaching a science unit

on magnetism. Later in this chapter, we point to the different registers

used in a science unit, where we observe the different types of language

needed to interact in this classroom (see Fig. 1.6). Beginning with

language that is more conversational, students eventually move to learn

the science concepts and produce the language that is more academic

and needed in required oral and written reports.

Language Skills Perspectives

Several approaches focus on the “academic language demands”

students must meet to participate in school tasks and activities, specified

by educators’ grade-level expectations, and required by different

standards. The emphasis here is on the language needed to acquire new

and deeper understanding of the content areas and communicate that

understanding to others (TESOL, 2006; WIDA, 2012). Work in this area

has focused on the grammatical and lexical features of written and oral

language used in school settings in conjunction with the language

functions (e.g., summarizing, explaining) required in most classrooms.

For example, important work by Robin Scarcella (2008) discusses the

types of cognitive knowledge, skills, and strategies students need to

acquire to succeed in the content areas. In her work, mostly with college

students, Scarcella highlights the foundational knowledge of English,

that is, the basic skills needed to communicate inside and outside of

school, such as knowing how to read and write using appropriate verb

tenses, as a precursor for academic language. In addition, she

emphasizes the importance of learning academic vocabulary (e.g.,

argument, empirical) and language features (e.g., using passive voice,

stating a thesis) across content areas as a way of ensuring

understanding of and success in content specific classes.

The work of Alison Bailey and Margaret Heritage (2008) provides

initial ways of cataloguing the language all students, including ELLs,

need to succeed in school. These researchers distinguish school

navigational language (SNL) and curriculum content language (CCL),

where SNL is the language used to communicate with teachers and

others in the school (e.g., “Get your red pens out.” “Do we have to write a

summary?”), and CCL is the language used in teaching and learning

content (e.g., “The plot revolved around two main characters.” “This time

we are using an expanded algorithm.”). In sum, work in this area

describes academic language in terms of its utility in today’s standards-

driven classrooms.

Sociocultural Perspectives

Sociocultural perspectives view language learning as a social

practice, consider students as active participants in the construction of

knowledge, and take into account a variety of social and cultural factors

involved in the teaching and learning process. From this perspective,

there is much more to learning a language than its structural aspects. In

classrooms, students need to learn when they can ask a question about

a classroom presentation, under what circumstances can they copy

information from a text, or when can they speak without raising their

hands. Within this stance, language learning is seen as a social practice,

where talk and interaction are central to human development and

learning.

Sociocultural approaches highlight the role that many factors

inside and outside of school play in the acquisition of academic

language. In her groundbreaking ethnographic study, Shirley Brice

Heath (1983) studied child language and teacher preparation in two

working-class communities in North Carolina: Roadville and Trackton.

Her findings revealed that the language socialization processes, including

home literacy practices, played a pivotal role in students’ success at

school. In her analysis, Heath explained why some teachers and

students had difficulties understanding one another and why typical

school questions were not answered. Her work brought forth the fact that

certain language socializations were more compatible with school

environments than others.

Along these lines, Jim Gee’s work (e.g., 1990, 2004, 2005) points to

the advantages held by students raised in middle- and upper-class

homes, where the language of school might be spoken at home. For these

students, a wide range of linguistic, cognitive, and cultural patterns

acquired at home support many of the features of school language.

Consequently, students from more privileged groups more easily acquire

the thinking processes and linguistic conventions necessary to succeed

in school. In contrast, for most ELLs who speak another language at

home, school might be the only place where they encounter the

specialized language of the content areas, via their teachers who model

how this kind of English is used (Ernst-Slavit & Mason, 2011). This

discussion is elaborated on in the final section of this chapter, Academic

Language and Social Justice.

Language as Social Action Perspectives

A relatively recent perspective views language as action. In general

terms, action-based learning involves the acquisition of knowledge

through activities that involve the concept or skill to be learned. In the

field of language learning, this presumes that language must be

scaffolded by social activity in terms of actions, interactions, and

manipulations (van Lier, 1996). Within this context, the learner’s agency

and identity need to be located at the center of the teaching and learning

process, and learners are seen not only as future competent users of the

language to be learned but also as autonomous learners.

In school contexts, an action-based perspective can be understood

as somewhat connected to other approaches, such as content-based,

projectbased, task-based, exploratory, and experiential teaching and

learning approaches (van Lier, 2007). A common trait in all these

approaches is the emphasis on the learner as an active participant, as

someone with agency. Through an action-based perspective, ELLs engage

in meaningful activities (e.g., research, projects, presentations) that

pique their interest and foster language development through processes

that involve perceiving, interacting, planning, researching, discussing,

and coconstructing diverse academic products (van Lier & Walqui 2012).

In these situations, language development takes place not only because

of the meaningful ways in which students are interacting with each

other, the teacher, and the materials, but also because activities are

carefully planned and language is systematically scaffolded by the

teacher.

In sum, an action-based teaching and learning approach places

the agency of the learner at the center of the pedagogical process.

Language is not seen as a set of rules or list of words but as a type of

human action. In addition, language learning is not only a cognitive

process but involves the mind, body, emotions, and all the senses.

Viewing language learning within an action-based perspective places the

forms and functions of language in the backdrop while foregrounding the

role that language plays in doing things.