AYA/ELA: Exercise 4- Language Study
Directions Introduction In this exercise, you will use your knowledge of English language arts to build a profile of a student as a second-language learner and to plan ways to facilitate this student’s language development. You will be asked to respond to two prompts. Criteria for Scoring To satisfy the highest level of the scoring rubric, your response must provide clear, consistent, and convincing evidence of the following: - an in-depth analysis of discourse; and - a thorough description of teaching strategies used to facilitate the acquisition of English by second-language learners. Carefully read the following scenario, prompt, and student responses. Your ninth-grade class has just completed reading the novel Tom Sawyer. The essay assignment requires the students to explain how they are like Tom Sawyer and to support their ideas with a personal experience. Both the transcript of the oral discourse and the written response are from the same ninth-grade student for whom English is a second language. Please refer to the transcript of the oral discourse and the student’s written responses when answering the questions. Do not assess the student’s reading comprehension. Transcript of Oral Discourse I am like Tom Sawyer because (3-sec. pause) I get some others to do work for me. Sometime (2-sec. pause) I get them in trouble. One time (3-sec. pause) I got my cousin in trouble for me. I am supposed to go to the store for my mother. She tell me to go right away because she need the eggs. (4-sec. pause) I am playing in the treehouse and no want to go then. So I tell my cousin if he go to the store (4-sec. pause) I let him play in the treehouse with me every day. (3-sec. pause) My cousin... he... go very fast to the store. I tell him he must come back fast. When he running to the house with the bag, he fall and break all the eggs. I laugh and laugh at him. (4-sec. pause) My mother yell at both of us and I must go back to the store. Student’s Written Response (unedited first draft) I am like Tom Sawyer because I some times get some body to do my work and sometime I get them in trouble. One time my mother want me to go get eggs right away she needs them. I am playing in my tree house and do no want to get them. I see my cousin and ask him to get the eggs. I tell him I will let him play in the tree house every day if he get the eggs real fast. He run very fast and get the eggs. He is running back with the bag and he fall and all of the eggs break. I laugh and laugh but my cousin no think it is very funny. My mother not laugh. She make me go to store and I get in trouble for not being nice to my cousin. That is how I am like Tom Sawyer.
Prompts After reading the scenario, prompt, and student responses, respond to the following prompts: 1. What is one significant feature of the student’s oral discourse? What is one significant feature of the student’s written discourse? What do these features tell you about the student’s second-language development? 2. What are two instructional strategies that you would use to address the significant features of this student’s second-language development? Provide a rationale for each strategy.
Created by
Patrick Ledesma
, 2007
Prompts from
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
Website