Considering academic language in practice [electronic resource] : an examination of Latino English learners' academic language competencies in Spanish
Keywords: Education.

Across research, policy, and practice, the concept of "academic language" is often cited as a reason for low achievement and a focus for educational interventions to improve English Learners' (ELs) educational outcomes. However, despite the growing attention paid to academic language, the field lacks a coherent, agreed-upon definition of it (Fillmore & Snow, 2002; Valdés, 2004). Without a clear sense of what "academic language" is and how it develops, it is difficult for educators and policymakers to design coherent instruction, set appropriate expectations, and develop assessments to track students' progress. Recognizing the importance of students' primary language competencies in and of themselves and in supporting students' second language development, this study focused on Latino ELs' use of academic language and literacy in Spanish. I sought to better understand the concept of academic language, specifically focusing on the academic practice of learning science by reading and discussing expository texts in Spanish. I addressed these research goals through a design research study. Over seven months, I taught a small reading group of fourth graders who were designated as ELs and spoke Spanish as their primary language. Participating students were enrolled in a bilingual program and were identified by the school as reading below grade-level expectations in both languages. By looking closely at one academic practice, I posit a grounded description of the concept of academic language. In the task of "reading to learn science, " students encountered demands that originated in the texts and how they were written and demands involved in orally discussing texts, both of which I detail in the dissertation. These demands interacted, such that the task of making sense of a segment of text involved multiple textual and discursive demands. The dissertation also examines how students became more competent participants in this academic practice over time by documenting students' increasing use of interactional moves identified as functional for making sense of text. In addition, the dissertation raises considerations for teaching and researching academic language in a bilingual context, including difficulties raised by texts that were not translated in a register-equivalent manner. I also describe how despite students' designation as Beginning to Intermediate ELs, they did make use of academic resources in English to comprehend Spanish texts. To conclude, I encourage educators and researchers to move away from general and vague definitions of academic language and instead focus on better understanding specific academic tasks, given that different tasks involve distinct linguistic and academic demands. This more specific approach to research could provide educators with more grounded and useful information for curriculum planning and assessment. Within such research, it is important to attend to both comprehension and production and to analytically separate students' intellectual work from the forms they use. As demonstrated in this dissertation, students can engage in productive academic work using forms that are often not considered "academic, " and students' production of formal language does not guarantee that they actually understand it. Finally, there is a need for continued research and innovation in bilingual education, particularly approaches that build on students' bilingual contexts, move beyond rigid notions of primary and second languages, and take a cross-linguistic perspective on students' academic, language, and literacy development.