Kate Kinsella provides guidance and resources to support Multilingual Learners in becoming focused and responsive communicators during task-based learning
From kindergarten to AP coursework, young scholars are routinely expected to demonstrate their ability to work productively with diverse lesson partners and contribute capably to class discussions. Anchor speaking and listening standards emphasize the need for rich, structured lesson interactions across the school day to build a foundation for college and career readiness.
Effective communication during a task-based lesson interaction entails more than a positive attitude toward classmates and an equal opportunity to voice a perspective. Standards-aligned lesson interactions are rarely low-risk, informal conversations with little or no accountability for a fruitful dialogue. Curriculum-embedded prompts in core subject areas are more likely to demand focused discussion or collaboration, including efforts to express ideas clearly, compare ideas, and build upon others’ contributions using a scholarly register.
Students grappling with core content in a language they are striving to acquire approach interactive assignments with compelling auditory-processing and linguistic needs. They are exhorted daily to “turn and talk” or “think-pair-share” with an implication that the lesson exchange simply involves conveying your thoughts. Rarely, however, are the discrete nonverbal and verbal skills of productive listening for academic interactions introduced, justified, practiced, and monitored in a viable scope and sequence. Moreover, observant educators working in linguistically diverse classrooms recognize that English-speaking classmates are not reliable role models for the comportment and communication skills required for complex literacy and problem-solving tasks assigned to lesson partners.
Recognizing Complex Academic Language Demands in Lesson Interactions Responsible assignment of a lesson interaction in a classroom serving Multilingual Learners begins with a thoughtful analysis of the language demands posed by the specific task. For students in intermediate and secondary grades, having a handle on academic language is pivotal to their acquisition of content knowledge, literacy growth, and overall school success (Francis et al., 2006). Academic language can include concepts, technical terms, and high-utility, cross-disciplinary academic words along with specific language structures or grammar. To confidently exchange ideas or collaborate with a peer, young language scholars additionally require a toolkit of formulaic expressions to demonstrate engaged listening for a range of purposes, from asking clarifying questions to validating a partner’s suggestion (Kinsella, 2016).
Furthermore, research indicates that school-age English Learners more effectively develop their second-language skills when new forms are explicitly taught and practiced in well-orchestrated and meaningful lesson contexts (Goldenberg, 2008). Students in early stages of English language acquisition understandably benefit from essential language tools for academic interaction being introduced and recycled within the safe confines of their dedicated, stand-alone English language development period. That said, addressing the essential language functions and skills emergent bilinguals need to participate in lesson interactions and meet grade-level standards must be a responsibility shared by core content teachers (Echevarria et al., 2008) if these language scholars stand a chance of being prepared for increasingly complex learning, life, and work environments.
Distinctions Between Discussion and Collaboration
As more complex peer-to-peer lesson assignments involve either productive discussion or collaboration, clarification of these two recurring academic tasks is warranted. Speaking and listening standards as well as classroom practitioners tend to use the terms share, talk, conversation, discussion, collaboration, and interaction as if they are synonymous. It is no wonder that striving readers and English learners are often flummoxed about expectations for working with peers. To reduce learner confusion and anxiety, K-12 educators must exercise more lexical precision. For example, if we want partners to informally brainstorm possible reasons why a character reacted in a certain manner, then we shouldn’t direct them to “collaborate.” If we want small groups to work productively on a joint solution to a word problem using key mathematical terms, we should explicitly direct them to “collaborate,” not “turn and talk” or “have a table conversation.”
Academic discussion and collaboration both involve eHorts to remain on task, convey ideas clearly, and listen respectfully. However, while a discussion task requires a thoughtful exchange of ideas and active listening on a focused topic with an assigned partner or group or as a class, true collaboration demands far more, particularly in terms of accountable listening. Genuine collaboration is quite challenging, whether in a classroom, on a committee, or in the workplace. During a lesson, collaboration involves working together with one or more peers to create a mutually agreed-upon and jointly constructed verbal or written response, solution, or project. Everyone must contribute, make efforts to elicit input from reticent contributors, offer productive feedback, and demonstrate willingness to consider a new approach or point of view to reach a consensus. Left to their own unproductive devices on a collaborative assignment, ill-prepared peers are more likely to simply divide and conquer with limited interaction or teamwork.
Identifying Attentive-Listening Language Functions
To promote attentive listening during lesson interactions, it makes sense to first identify the types of tasks that are routinely assigned within a course and the related language functions or purposes for using language. When using an adopted curriculum, publishers tend to incorporate a predictable array of lesson interactions, ranging from informal brainstorming in response to a prompt to more complex tasks requiring text analysis, problem solving, and constructed response.
Discussion and collaboration share some foundational language functions. Exchanging ideas with a partner and working with a partner on a joint response can both reasonably involve comparing and building upon ideas, agreeing and disagreeing, restating or asking a question to ensure understanding, and affirming a contribution. Many students enter the classroom with some conversational language assets to achieve these communicative purposes but not the more formal phrasing that translates to successful academic and workplace interaction. Table 1 outlines examples of language functions for partner interactions and class discussions, moving from more basic tasks like restating and comparing ideas to more complex tasks such as building upon ideas, rephrasing, and requesting elaboration.
Prioritizing and Sequencing Attentive-Listening Language Functions
Drawing upon years of experience supporting effective dedicated English Language Development (ELD) and schoolwide integrated ELD, I advocate for a complexity progression when introducing active-listening language functions and relevant expressions for classroom interaction. In other words, we can lighten students’ cognitive and linguistic load by focusing on a manageable core set of language functions and consistently recycle expectations and key expressions until students develop automaticity.
Across grade levels and subject areas, for example, all language learners can be expected to listen carefully as their partner shares information to determine if their thinking is alike. Similarly, during class discussion, students’ listening can be punctuated by an expectation to compare ideas if called upon and not simply repeat something that has already been contributed with no accountability. Whether at school, in a club meeting, or at work, participants in a discussion do not appreciate having the same question posed or the same suggestion offered without acknowledgement that it was previously stated.
Early in the school term, we can introduce and practice one or two basic formulaic expressions for comparing in a partner or class discussion, such as “My idea is like yours / (Name)’s” and “My idea is the same as yours / (Name)’s.” As students demonstrate a comfortable handle on these entry-level expressions, we can introduce more advanced phrasing with subject-matter-specific terms like “My (thinking, solution, strategy) or (interpretation, citation, connection) is similar to yours / (Name)’s.” Table 2 includes examples of commonly used expressions to point out comparable thinking.
A tandem entry-level attentive-listening function worth addressing across subject areas is expressing agreement or disagreement in a polite manner. Table 3 provides a sequence of accessible expressions students can apply when working collaboratively on solving a math problem or sharing a perspective on a protagonist’s motive. Our youngest language scholars in primary grades and our recent arrivals in upper grades are fully capable of listening attentively and using these phrases when we introduce them, display them, recycle them, and consistently convey clear expectations.
Emphasizing Language to Clarify Understanding
Across the school day, Multilingual Learners are assaulted with new lesson concepts, vocabulary, texts, problems, and activities. Many are too intimidated to express confusion to their teachers, classroom aides, and classmates. When some venture to express confusion, they may not have the skills to do so in a manner that is perceived as polite and respectful. To successfully navigate the school day, our language charges deserve a repertoire of useful expressions to appropriately convey confusion and misunderstanding. Teaching students language to restate their partner’s or group member’s idea as a means of clarifying understanding is an accessible starting point (see Table 4). Students also benefit from a productive set of statements and questions to politely communicate that they don’t quite understand a peer or teacher’s contribution, such as those detailed in Table 5. These portable expressions serve Multilingual Learners well in varied social, academic, and workplace contexts and therefore deserve to be prominently displayed in our classrooms.
Writing Language Objectives Focused on Attentive Listening
In lessons supporting Multilingual Learners, conscientious educators align their unit of study and lesson sequence with content-area standards while also considering the type of language students will need to accomplish the goals of specific lessons. Language objectives involve all four language domains: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. In one lesson, the key language objective may address essential vocabulary for students to comprehend and discuss central concepts within a text. In another, the language objective may focus upon a language-learning strategy such as determining vocabulary meaning from context clues. Each lesson should feature a language objective aimed to reinforce instruction of grade-level content, but Multilingual Learners have complex and varied language needs beyond a single, daily highlighted language objective.
To support developing bilinguals in essential lesson interactions, we must incorporate “frequent flyer” language objectives that complement the focal content-aligned objective. These recurring language objectives should be closely aligned with ELD Standards for collaborative and interpretive language use. In terms of attentive listening objectives, a targeted toolkit addressing a specific language function may be recycled over a time frame by maintaining the core statement and adding the newly taught language form. During the first weeks or months of the school year, the same set of language objectives can be addressed, either revisiting a recently introduced language form or highlighting a new form.
Notice the language objectives outlined below, each including a sequence of formulaic expressions that can be introduced and revisited, one at a time, until students have internalized the language form and are well poised to learn a new form. The ultimate goal is to have students memorize and confidently apply these expressions as need arises in diverse contexts within and beyond the classroom.
Students will be able to:
- Restate a lesson partner’s idea to check understanding: So, you said _. So, you think that _. So, your (idea, answer, response) is _.
- Confirm that a partner has correctly understood a response: Yes, that’s right; Yes, that’s correct.
- Compare ideas during a class discussion using a complete sentence and precise adjectives: My idea is … like (Name)’s; the same as (Name)’s; similar to (Name)’s.
- Agree with a partner using appropriate phrasing: I agree with you; That makes sense; You’re absolutely right.
- Ask a clarifying question during a small-group discussion: I have a question about _; Can you explain what you mean by _?; I don’t quite understand. Can you explain that again?
- Affirm a peer’s contribution after a class/group discussion by adding it to lesson notes: I added _; I preferred _; I appreciated _.
Prominently Displaying Class Discussion Expectations
As a researcher and instructional coach supporting ELD, one of my most salient findings is that educators serving Multilingual Learners often give hasty and confusing verbal directions for peer interactions and class discussions. A barrage of extemporaneous verbal expectations delivered without any visual support taxes students’ short-term memory and leaves them paralyzed with confusion about how to proceed. To support students in comprehending expectations for whole class discussions, including attentive listening objectives, I strongly advise creating a set of directions that can be projected as a slide or poster. I recommend that teacher partners stipulate both speaking and listening tasks and carefully review expectations before launching the discussion.
A key speaking responsibility is to “project your public speaking voice” to enable classmates to successfully hear your contribution. Many students clearly project their voice in the hallway, cafeteria, and gymnasium, yet when called upon to share an observation or solution during a class discussion, they are barely audible. In some cases, this is because no one has ever coached them to raise their volume, or they are apprehensive about making a mistake in front of peers. Conduct a “public speaking voice warm-up” using a model response and politely request a repeated contribution if a student speaks too softly, using encouraging language like “Once again, please, three times louder so your classmates in the front can hear you.” Emphasize the importance of speaking audibly in college, the workplace, clubs, and community gatherings to ensure others hear and value your input. As so many secondary English Learners aspire to participate in a CTE program to improve their workplace readiness and options, we must doggedly emphasize clear and audible communication.
Expectations for attentive listening during class discussions can initially be simple and straightforward, specifying a function like comparing and building upon ideas, including one or two expressions, like the poster visual in Table 6. Collaborating with grade-level or content-area colleagues on a repertoire of class discussion expectations can help ensure reticent participants understand their speaking and listening responsibilities across the school day and have language tools at their discretion to more capably contribute.
Assigning a Post-Discussion Note-Taking and Sharing Task
It is challenging for Multilingual Learners at early stages of English proficiency to be assigned note-taking tasks during discussions. Rubin (1995) points out that listening during lesson interactions poses daunting processing demands on second language learners because they “must store information in short-term memory at the same time they are working to understand the information.” We want their focus to be on processing and reflecting on their peers’ contributions, but we also need to increase their ability to listen and take some notes as doing so is a strong expectation in secondary coursework.
I advocate for specifying a manageable active-listening and note-taking task at the launch of the class discussion. For example, students can be required to listen for a particularly convincing reason, relevant example, interesting point of view, or effective strategy. Display and review student contributions that you have recorded, particularly with younger learners or newcomers in secondary coursework. Direct students to record an idea they viewed as a standout or of great relevance. Project question and answer frames for assigned lesson partners to engage in a brief wrap-up discussion, pointing out the response they added, preferred, or appreciated. The active-listening language for notetaking and sharing ideas detailed in Table 7 provides crucial practice with asking and answering questions while also concluding the discussion on a positive note.
Concluding Thoughts
Across the school day, multilingual learners in all settings should be flexing their language muscles and listening attentively during essential lesson interactions while feeling supported and recognized. Addressing attentive listening expectations for discussion and collaboration is an overlooked component of their preparation for scholastic and professional success. If we work collectively as colleagues across grade levels and subject areas to assume responsibility, our language scholars will have everything to gain.
References
Kinsella, K. (2016). Attentive Listening: An overlooked component of academic interaction. Language Magazine, 11(7), 28–35.
Mendelsohn, D. J. & Rubin, J. (Eds.). (1995). A Guide to the Teaching of Second Language Listening. Dominie Press.
Echevarria, J., Vogt, M., & Short, D. (2008). Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners: The SIOP Model. Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.
Francis, D., Rivera, M., Lesaux, N., Kieffer, M., & Rivera, H. (2006). Practical Guidelines for the Education of English Language Learners: Research-Based Recommendations for Instruction and Academic Interventions. RMC Research Corporation, Center on Instruction.
Goldenberg, C. (2008). “Teaching English Language Learners: What the research does and does not say.” American Educator, 32(2), 13–44.
Kate Kinsella, EdD ([email protected]), has served as the pedagogy guide on three recent US Department of Education funded research initiatives focused upon advancing achievement of K–12 Multilingual Learners. The author of researched-informed curricula supporting English language development and academic literacy, including English 3D and READ 180, she provides professional development and consultancy throughout the US to equip colleagues with understandings and skills to educate MLs with respect and efficacy.
