WELCOME to LCRT 5810: Workshop in Language Development

& Acquisition

PROFESSOR:

Sherry Taylor. Ph.D. Associate Professor

Literacy, Language & Culturally Responsive Teaching Program

GETTING STARTED: • Sign in your attendance &

Get a name tag • Find a seat & introduce

yourself to those around you.

• Peruse the questions located in the center of the table & share your responses with those sitting near you.

• We will get started at 9:00

Class Session #1, August 23rd • Introductions• Considering language & linguistics • Syllabus & Course Overview• Textbooks & Readings • Examining Language in the Classroom Assignment

• Case Study Overview

• Learner Background Assignment

• Home/School Match-Mismatch

• Ways With Words Introduction

• Next Session

Professor Information & Introduction

Sherry Taylor. Ph.D. Associate Professor in Literacy, Language & Culturally Responsive Teaching Program

AREAS of STUDY: • Bilingual/Bicultural Elementary Education• Applied Linguistics/TESOL (K-12 & adult)• Second Language Acquisition/Spanish Linguistics

AREAS of TEACHING • PK-12 Teaching in the areas of Literacy, Language,

ESL in: Illinois, Colorado & Guanajuato & Michoacan, MX

• Adult ESL/EFL: Colorado, Ohio & Guanajuato, MX • Spanish as a foreign language: Ohio State University• Teacher Education: Ohio State University, University

of Wisconsin-Madison, CU Denver

RESEARCH INTERESTS• Teachers’ cognition and culturally responsive

teaching• Transitions & literacy challenges of US- born Mexican

children returning to Mexican schools

+ Introductions

Let’s do a quick ‘whip around’ to

find out what you teach and where you work.

Now form a group of four-ish.

Introduce yourselves and share a little more about your professional context and

any personal context you desire.

LANGUAGEThinking about what you know & how you use it

Consider your own use of

language

Everyday, we use language in a variety of social contexts & cultural contexts.

Think about 1 day last week Discuss the way you spoke and used written language

at work, e.g., with your students, your colleagues, and an administrator.

Discuss the ways you speak and use written language in your personal life, e.g., at home, at play, in social media, and with family members.

As you reflect on your language use, how does your language vary when you change contexts &

conversation partners? And, as your role changes?

Thinking about language & your

involvement with it

Clearly, you are a user of language! But you are also an observer of language!

• What does it mean to be an observer of language? • How might you define an observer of language? • In what ways and for what purposes do teachers

observe language?

Consider the following questions that will organize our discussions in LCRT 5810 :

• What is human language? • How do we learn or acquire it?

•Why does human language take the form it does?

Reflecting on the Interview Questions (on table tops)

• What do you think language is?

• How did YOU answer the other questions about language?

• How would YOUR STUDENTS answer the questions?

Children are language learners by virtue of being born into human society.

They construct knowledge about language as they use it to engage with the people and objects in their

environments and as they use language to make sense of their surroundings.

(Halliday, 1975).

http://youtu.be/_JmA2ClUvUY

What is language?How do we learn or acquire it?

❏ Language expresses meaning through sounds made in the vocal tract (barring impairment or obstacles to the use of sound);

❏ Children learn language in the speech community where they are raised with little or no direct instruction by the adults;

❏ Discourse patterns are learned by children at home & in their community (e.g., how to ask Qs, make requests, tell stories, etc.) (Barry, 2008)

Research tells us that all languages share linguistic

universals, such as:

1. Language is dynamic (not static);

2. Languages – and dialects - have regular structures and a predictable set of rules or a grammar);

3. Language is used primarily for communication;

4. Language speakers have a language competence that may not always be reflected in their spoken language. (Barry, chapter 1, 2008)

Take time to think about these - We will return to them!

Do you AGREE or DISAGREE?

Syllabus Overview

LCRT 5810 Class sessions

LCRT 5810 is a hybrid course consisting of 9 class sessions:• Five face-to-face sessions meet in Lawrence

Street Center, Room 745 on the following dates: Aug. 23; Sept. 20; Oct. 18; Nov. 1 & 15th (9am to 3:30pm) (No class on Sept. 13!)

• Four online sessions that meet: Following the first four face-to-face class sessions; See Course Calendar for specific dates.

Professor

Sherry Taylor. Ph.D. Associate Professor Literacy, Language & Culturally Responsive Teaching Program

CONTACT INFORMATIONEmail: Sherry.taylor@ucdenver.edu

Tel: 303-315-4998

Office hours/meetings: By appointment on Mondays and Wednesdays or when is convenient for you.

+ LCRT 5810

• The purpose of this class is for teachers to examine language development and acquisition in relation to literacy development.

• After you examine your own language, the majority of our work and learning will revolve around a case study where you will collect oral language, reading, and writing samples and analyze these data using linguistic systems.

LCRT 5810 addresses K-12 language & literacy

development

WHY?

Course focus/accreditationReading Teacher (PLACE test is K-12):

For teachers working with students and supporting their needs in reading, writing, and language.

Regardless of what grade level you currently teach: You need to have an overall knowledge of literacy development, instruction, curriculum & assessment for K-12.

Required Texts

Linguistic Perspectives on Language and Education (LP)Written by a professor of linguisticsWill help us get deeper into understanding language systems

Ways With Words: Language, Life, and Work in Communities and Classrooms (WWW)Written in narrative styleExamines language development of two different communities at home and at school

Additional readings in PDFs available on CANVAS.

APA Writing Style

• It is strongly recommended that you also purchase the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.) OR Robert Perrin’s Pocket guide to APA style. (4th ed. 2011, ISBN-100495912638). You will need to follow APA style for academic writing in the Lesson Report & Analysis assignment.

• LCRT 5810: In-class Workshop on APA by CU Denver Writing Center (in September)

Syllabus and Course Calendar

• Take the next few minutes to peruse the syllabus & course calendar on your own.

• Note any questions that you may have.

• We will review the assignments and course calendar together.

+ Holy Cow! That’s A LOT of Reading! OR

How do I read for this class?

• I recognize that this class has a lot of reading (and writing).

• I encourage you to use the reading style that best fits you as a learner.

• Be sure to use text coding, skimming, and scanning as you read the texts required for the class.