Teaching the Context of Language

Denise Recarte

ESL Instructional Coach

OBJECTIVES

DEFINE the variety of contexts students interact IN and WITH and their characteristics

ANALYZE the linguistic demands of those contexts and ways to prepare students to be successful in those environments

Get to know your neighbor

THINK

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What does “teaching language in context mean”?

How importantis it to understand your context?

“…growth of mind is always growth assisted from the outside.” (Bruner, 1965)

Understanding your

context…

Understanding your

context…

Understanding your

context…

Understanding your

context…

What are the contexts students

must navigate?

School?

THINK

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What is an example of a context students must navigate?

SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTS

• Cafeteria• Hallway• Content classes• Study hall• Locker rooms• Athletic fields• Library• Computer lab

• Home• Friends’ homes • Supermarket• Government offices• Restaurants• Sporting events• Employment• Social events

ACADEMIC ENVIRONMENTS

•Academic subjects• Internet• Literary genres• Textbooks•Classroom lectures•Reference books• Tests/quizzes

COGNITIVE TASKS

Bloom’s Taxono

my

TYPES OF CONTEXTS

COGNITIVE

PHYSICAL

ACADEMIC

“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.”

-Ludwig Wittgenstein

DEFINE

your objective

Teachers define lesson objectives based on what students are able to do in a certain content…performance objectives

Jerome Bruner (1915-)

“…suppose we consider the possibility that performance skills are something more than the requisite attention and memory limits, that they involve a certain conceptual knowledge of the world and a certain capacity to appreciate the way language can be used.” (1981)

Students need to define objectives based on their understanding of the context

Jerome Bruner (1915-)

“…suppose we consider the possibility that performance skills are something more than the requisite attention and memory limits, that they involve a certain conceptual knowledge of the world and a certain capacity to appreciate the way language can be used.” (1981)

Jerome Bruner (1915-)

“A knowledge of the world, organized in terms of a system of concepts, might give one hints as to where distinctions could be expected to occur in the language, might even alert one to the distinctions.” (1981)

THINK

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What is a task that that students engage in that requires specific (distinct) language?

WHAT DO STUDENTS KNOW?

“…it is good practice [for students] to use their head to solve a problem by reflecting on what they already know or have learned.”

-Jerome Bruner (1971)

STUDENTS KNOW THEIR WORLD

my country

new country

HANDOUT: Context Construction

MAKE CONNECTIONSSTUDENTS’ KNOWLEDGE

• Xiomara helps out her in her parents’ restaurant

• Didier solved math problems “backwards”

• Raheela bargained with vendors in a market in Pakistan

• Sohail attends Arabic school in the evening and can explain the Qu’ran

• Nicolas takes pride in El Salvador and know the history and geography

POSSIBLE CONNECTION• Economics, mental math,

leadership• Seeing multiple perspectives in

math problem solving• Mental math, negotiating,

leadership• Summarizing, verbalizing

complex issues• Memory, knowledge of social

issues, geography, maps and cultureHANDOUT: Cognitive Context

Construction(Fay, 2004)

THINK

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What is an example of background knowledge that your students bring with them?

“Entering the culture is perhaps most readily done by entering a dialogue with a more experienced member of it.”

-Jerome Bruner (1973)

THINK

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What word can you use to summarize Bruner’s ideas?

REFERENCES

Bruner, J. (1981). The social context of language acquisition. Language & Communication, 1(2), 155-178.

Bruner, J. (1971). The relevance of education. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 74.

Kinsella, Kate. The language functions toolkit.

Fay, K., & Whaley, S. (2004). Becoming one community: Reading & writing with English language learners. Stenhouse Publishers.