Friday, February 1, 2019

Academic Language

Academic Language in Early Childhood Education consists primarily of vocabulary used to establish and build content understanding. Academic language allows for students to engage in content areas in the most meaningful ways and gain conceptual understanding of various disciplines. As children progress, the will build on the language demands of vocabulary to include language functions, syntax and discourse. Academic vocabulary used across disciplines  is modeled by Bloom's Taxonomy, and can help teachers scaffold lessons to build further conceptual understanding and procedural fluency. I have included a graphic representing Bloom's Taxonomy and associated verbs of learning engagement below, as well as a link to the source at the bottom of this entry.

Image result for bloom's taxonomy

My primary questions regarding academic language are based around building by own use of academic vocabulary and incorporating more use of Bloom's Taxonomy in intentional teaching. To build my understanding and ability, I can use resources such as the ERIC database, which holds extensive information regarding the use, function, and benefit of academic language in Early Childhood classrooms and environments.

https://www.teachthought.com/learning/what-is-blooms-taxonomy-a-definition-for-teachers/

In addition to the link to an article discussing Bloom's Taxonomy, here is a link to the ERIC database as mentioned above, as well as additional resources on academic language and vocabulary.

https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1105406

https://www.researchconnections.org/childcare/resources/32999

https://www.theedadvocate.org/academic-language-connection-school-success/

3 comments:

  1. First, thank you for sharing the picture. It helps to break it down. I agree with academic language in early childhood education is vocabulary and helping the students learn how to read write and carry on a conversation. You did a great job explaining academic language and seem to have a good understanding. Thanks for sharing the links.

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  2. Jessica,

    I think your perspective is so unique because our disciplines are so different since you are an Early Childhood Education major and I am a Middle Grades Mathematics major. However, even though we are from different majors, the significance of academic language development is the same. Bloom's Taxonomy is a great tool to help us as teachers decide what kind of activity or objective we are trying to achieve and what verb or action we can focus on in our lesson for students to be able to perform. Thank you for your research and your post!

    -Taylor

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  3. I love all of the links that you provide with your post and appreciate you sharing resources that you've found. I agree that in early childhood academic language consists of vocabulary and understanding how to use it in oral and written form.

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