April 13: Mary Schleppegrel
Professor of Education
University of Michigan
The Role of a Meta-language in Supporting Academic Language Development
I will report on ongoing professional development work with primary school literacy teachers and with middle- and secondary-school history teachers, where constructs from systemic functional linguistics (SFL) are being used to engage teachers and students in talk about language that supports learning language and content. The SFL meta-language enables teachers and students to explore meaning in the texts students read and gives teachers tools for drawing students’ attention to the linguistic resources they need to develop to write in ways that are valued. Other affordances of the use of this linguistic meta-language will also be discussed; in particular, how it gives teachers new insights into their students’ abilities and how it supports the academic language development of students learning English as a second language at different levels and in different school subjects.
6:00 pm
Cubberley 115
pizza and drinks provided
My research explores the relationship between language and learning with a focus on students for whom English is a second language. I draw on the framework of systemic functional linguistics to link meaning and language structure in ways that illuminate issues in education. My work with the California History Project over the past several years is an example of this work, published in the TESOL Quarterly, Linguistics and Education, and other venues. My book, “The Language of Schooling: A Functional Linguistics Perspective” (Lawrence Erlbaum, 2004), describes features of the language students are expected to work with in school subjects. My chapter, “Grammar, the sentence, and traditions of linguistic analysis,” in the recently published “Handbook of Writing Research,” (edited by C. Bazerman), provides an overview of linguistic approaches to writing development in first and second languages. My current research projects include work on the language of mathematics and a volume on language in school subjects for secondary teachers. My research has also recently appeared in the Journal of Literacy Research, Reading and Writing Quarterly, and the Journal of English for Academic Purposes. I teach courses on linguistic analysis and linguistics in education as well as on second language development. I am the Coordinator and Advisor for a new School of Education Master’s degree in English Language Learning in School Settings. This new MA is designed for teachers at all levels (K-12) and in all subject areas who wish to continue their practical, intellectual, and professional development by focusing on the particular issues faced by English learners in our schools.
