What Teachers Need to Know About Language

This book shows what teachers need to know about language to work effectively with diverse students. It gives examples of the many aspects of teaching and learning in which language is a key, and it suggests how teacher education programs can help teachers gain the knowledge and skills they need to refine their practice.

Rising enrollments of students for whom English is not a first language mean that every teacher – whether teaching kindergarten or high school algebra – is a language teacher. This book explains what teachers need to know about language in order to be more effective in the classroom, and it shows how teacher education might help them gain that knowledge. It focuses especially on features of academic English and gives examples of the many aspects of teaching and learning to which language is key. This second edition reflects the now greatly expanded knowledge base about academic language and classroom discourse, and highlights the pivotal role that language plays in learning and schooling. The volume will be of interest to teachers, teacher educators, professional development specialists, administrators, and all those interested in helping to ensure student success in the classroom and beyond.

Introduction by Carolyn Temple Adger, Catherine E. Snow, and Donna Christian 

Chapter 1. Lily Wong Fillmore and Catherine E. Snow: What Teachers Need to Know About Language

Chapter 2. Mary Schleppegrell: Analyzing Themes: Knowledge about Language for Exploring Text Structure

Chapter 3. Paola Uccelli and Emily Phillips Galloway: What Educators Need to Know About Academic Language: Insights from Recent Research

Chapter 4. Sarah C. K. Moore, Lindsey A. Massoud, and Joanna Duggan: Language and Instruction: Research-Based Lesson Planning and Delivery for English Learner Students

Chapter 5. Rebecca M. Alper, Lillian R. Masek, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, and Roberta Golinkoff: “Languagizing” the Early Childhood Classroom: Supporting Children’s Language Development

Chapter 6. Sonia Nieto: Working with Families of Diverse Backgrounds: Learning from Teachers Who “Read” Their Students

Chapter 7. Li-Rong Lilly Cheng: What Teachers Need to Know About Language: A Focus on Language Disorders

Chapter 8. Kimberly C. Feldman, Daniel Ginsberg, and Iris Kirsch: What Teachers Know About Language

Chapter 9. Jeffrey Reaser: Language Awareness Programs: Building Students’ and Teachers’ Sociolinguistic Knowledge

Chapter 10. Kristin Denham and Anne Lobeck: Reflections on What Teachers Need to Know About Language (2002)

Chapter 11. Elizabeth R. Howard and Thomas H. Levine: What Teacher Educators Need to Know about Language and Language Learners: The Power of a Faculty Learning Community

Index