English Language Development

Language Development

Language development continues to be a priority in grades
nine and ten. Vocabulary instruction that began in the earliest
grades continues with students taking a leading role in identifying
words they encounter that they want to know more about and use
in more sophisticated ways. Vocabulary is drawn from students’
readings of text; understandings are built through discussion and
other purposeful vocabulary activities; and vocabulary knowledge
is reinforced and deepened through writing. Beyond vocabulary,
students in grades nine and ten develop sophisticated grammatical
and discourse level understandings. In other words, as they
encounter increasingly complex language in their coursework and
are expected to produce, in speaking and writing, increasingly
more nuanced ways of using language, they develop awareness about language and how they can
shape it to achieve different purposes for different audiences. This aspect of language development—
developing language awareness—has implications for teachers’ knowledge about language. Across
the disciplines, teachers need to develop deep understandings about language and how to make
these understandings transparent to their students. In turn, students learn to reflect on their use of
language in speaking and writing and consider the ways in which they convey their ideas through
increasingly complex grammatical structures, discourse patterns, and vocabulary.

In the following snapshot students explore their linguistic autobiographies. The snapshot is placed
in this section of the chapter because of its relationship to language development; however, the
snapshot represents this theme and many others.

Snapshot 7.1. Investigating Language, Culture, and Society:

Linguistic Autobiographies

Integrated ELA and ELD in Grade Nine

Located in an urban neighborhood, Nelson Mandela Academy is home to a diverse student

population, including bilingual students (e.g., Spanish-English, Hmong-English), students

who speak one or more varieties of English (e.g., Chicana/Chicano English, African American

English, Cambodian American English), English learners (ELs), and former ELs. In recognition

of the cultural and linguistic resources their students bring to school and acknowledging the

tensions students sometimes experience regarding language use, teachers of ninth-grade

English classes include a project called Linguistic Autobiographies. For this project, students

reflect on their own histories of using language in different contexts: at home, with friends,

at school, at stores or in other public places where they interact with strangers. The students

engage in a variety of collaborative academic literacy tasks, including:

• Viewing and discussing documentary films related to language and culture (e.g., the
  film Precious Knowledge, which portrays the highly successful but controversial Mexican
  American Studies Program at Tucson High School)


• Reading and discussing short essays and memoirs by bilingual and bidialectal authors to
  learn about their multilingual experiences (these texts also serve as models for writing
  their own personal narratives)


• Analyzing and discussing poetry (e.g., In Lak’ech: You Are My Other Me by Luis Valdez)
  and contemporary music lyrics (e.g., hip hop and rap) to identify how people’s language
  choices reflect cultural values and identity

726 | Chapter 7 Grades 9 and 10