Assessing Academic Literacy In A Multilingual Society

South African universities face major challenges in meeting the needs of their students in the area of academic language and literacy. The dominant medium of instruction in the universities is English and, to a much lesser extent, Afrikaans, but only a minority of the national population are native speakers of these languages. Nine other languages can be media of instruction in schools, which makes the transition to tertiary education difficult enough in itself for students from these schools. The focus of this book is on procedures for assessing the academic language and literacy levels and needs of students, not in order to exclude students from higher education but rather to identify those who would benefit from further development of their ability in order to undertake their degree studies successfully. The volume also aims to bring the innovative solutions designed by South African educators to a wider international audience.

From expert authors, this book guides educators to conduct assessments that inform daily instruction and identify the assets that emergent bilinguals bring to the classroom. Effective practices are reviewed for screening, assessment, and progress monitoring in the areas of oral language, beginning reading skills, vocabulary and comprehension in the content areas, and writing. The book also addresses how to establish schoolwide systems of support that incorporate family and community engagement. Packed with practical ideas and vignettes, the book focuses on grades K–6, but also will be useful to middle and high school teachers. Appendices include reproducible forms that can be downloaded and printed in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size.

Academic literacy - prepare to learn is different from traditional courses in that it is task-based: it requires of language learners who are developing their academic literacy to do authentic academic tasks and to solve real academic problems.

Shifting the discourse from a focus on academic language to the more dynamic but less researched construct of academic literacies, this volume addresses three key questions: • What constitutes academic literacy? • What does academic literacy development in adolescent multilingual students look like and how can this development be assessed? • What classroom contexts foster the development of academic literacies in multilingual adolescents? The contributing authors provide divergent definitions of academic literacies and use dissimilar theoretical and methodological approaches to study literacy development. Nevertheless, all chapters reflect a shared conceptual framework for examining academic literacies as situated, overlapping, meaning-making practices. This framework foregrounds students’ participation in valued disciplinary literacy practices. Emphasized in the new college and career readiness standards, the notion of disciplinary practices allows the contributing authors to bridge the language/content dichotomy, and take a more holistic as well as nuanced view of the demands that multilingual students face in general education classrooms. The volume also explores the implications of the emphasis on academic literacy practices for classroom instruction, research, and policy.

Diversity - social, cultural, linguistic and ethnic - poses a challenge to all educational systems. This book aims to address these issues by examining current policy and its implications, pedagogical practice and responses to the challenge of diversity that go beyond the language of schooling. This volume will appeal to anyone involved in the educational integration of immigrant children and adolescents.

Empowering multilingual learners, families, and teachers With its emphasis on relationship building as the backdrop for linguistically and culturally sustainable assessment, the bestselling second edition of Assessing Multilingual Learners significantly impacted the field of language education. Applying the groundbreaking assessment "as," "for," and "of" learning model to new contexts, this updated third edition offers educators welcoming and encouraging ways to support multilingual learners to succeed in school and beyond. Through eight thoroughly revised chapters, Dr. Margo Gottlieb ties assessment to teaching and learning to foster agency and empowerment for multilingual learners, families, and teachers. This book envisions assessment as a process integral to and embedded in curriculum and instruction through: Assets-based language Student-centered activities Classroom assessment tools Portraits of practice illustrating authentic assessment practices References and resources for stimulating discussion Deep questioning for thinking through processes, dilemmas, or challenges Assessing Multilingual Learners explores the realities and possibilities of classroom assessment as a road to inspire multilingual learners, their families, and teachers to reach great heights.

In this volume a range of authors from different international contexts argue that the notion of communicative competence in English, hitherto largely referenced to metropolitan native-speaker norms, has to be expanded to take account of diverse contexts of use for a variety of purposes. It also discusses the popular belief that language and literacy should simply be regarded as a technical 'skill' which confers universal benefits and that it should be replaced with a social practice view that recognises situated variations and diversity. This volume, we believe, provides a reference point for extended research and practice in these areas that will be of interest to wide range of people engaged in language and literacy education.

This edited book brings together an international cast of contributors to examine how academic literacy is learned and mastered in different tertiary education settings around the world. Bringing to the fore the value of qualitative enquiry through ethnographic methods, the authors illustrate in-depth descriptions of genre knowledge and academic literacy development in first and second language writing. All of the data presented in the chapters are original, as well as innovative in the field in terms of content and scope, and thought-provoking regarding theoretical, methodological and educational approaches. The contributions are also representative of both novice and advanced academic writing experiences, providing further insights into different stages of academic literacy development throughout the career-span of a researcher. Set against the backdrop of internationalisation trends in Higher Education and the pressure on multilingual academics to publish their research outcomes in English, this volume will be of use to academics and practitioners interested in the fields of Languages for Academic Purposes, Applied Linguistics, Literacy Skills, Genre Analysis and Acquisition and Language Education.