vocabulary development for ELs whose native language is Latin based. Cognates are words in two or
more different languages that are the same or similar in sound and/or spelling and that have similar
or identical meanings. See chapter 2 in this ELA/ELD Framework for more information on cognates in
multiple languages and leveraging students’ cognate
knowledge for learning English and developing
biliteracy.
Grammatical Understandings and Syntax
Supporting students to develop academic
English involves more than attending to vocabulary
development. Middle school students also need to gain
deeper grammatical understandings, including syntax,
or the way that words are combined into phrases and
sentences and the way that sentences are structured
and ordered. Although formal expectations for syntax
appear in high school standards, students as early
as grade six (and indeed, as early as the elementary
grades) can use their grammatical knowledge to vary
sentence patterns in their writing and speaking to
adjust for meaning, reader or listener interest, and style (L.6.3a). They also work to express ideas
precisely and concisely and eliminate wordiness and redundancy (L.7.3a).
The effective application of grammatical understandings, including sentence patterns, can help
students increase the information density of sentences, which is a characteristic of academic English.
Students grow in their understanding of grammatical patterns as a result of extensive exposure to
and guided analysis of complex texts that contain particular grammatical patterns (e.g., long noun
phrases, complex sentences, embedded clauses), as well as multiple opportunities to apply these
understandings in their own writing. Students gain exposure through wide reading of many types
of texts that contain varied and rich grammatical structures. Speeches and debates also afford
opportunities to hear and produce well-crafted oral sentences and longer stretches of discourse.
Students learn about grammatical structures when teachers draw their attention to how they are used
to convey meanings, which can range from informal comments to deeper analysis of text, paragraph,
sentence, clause, and phrase structures. In turn, students can emulate the writing of mentor texts
they have read and analyzed and experiment with ways to incorporate these model approaches into
their own writing.
In addition, metalanguage (language for discussing
language) supports analytical discussions about how
language works to make meaning, and students benefit
by using it when they analyze and write texts. Using
metalanguage enables students to be explicit about and
discuss what is happening in language (Schleppegrell 2013;
Fang, Schleppegrell, and Moore 2013). Furthermore, the
language students examine and discuss serves as models
for their own writing. For example, many students are
already familiar with using metalinguistic terms such as verb,
sentence, and paragraph. Using metalanguage that focuses
on meaning can help students better understand how or why writers make choices about language
and how they can make more informed language choices when they write or speak. Teachers help
students identify and discuss the different types of verbs they encounter in texts (e.g., doing, saying,
sensing, being) and how different text types tend to use particular types of verbs. Teachers also
facilitate conversations with students in which they unpack lexically dense sentences to examine how
Students grow in their
understanding of grammatical
patterns as a result of extensive
exposure to and guided analysis of
complex texts that contain particular
grammatical patterns (e.g., long
noun phrases, complex sentences,
embedded clauses), as well as
multiple opportunities to apply
these understandings in their own
writing.... metalanguage (language
for discussing language)
supports analytical discussions
about how language works to
make meaning, and students
benefit by using it when they
analyze and write texts.
Grades 6 to 8 Chapter 6 | 521