We can think of language functions as pieces of a puzzle that, together, show a more complete picture or landscape. Several language functions can be used together or build upon each other for a greater purpose, like DARE—discuss, argue, recount, or explain. During a discussion, for example, students may ask and answer questions, summarize others’ ideas, or elaborate on particular topics. Similarly, we rarely recount only by describing, but we may also compare and contrast, elaborate on details, and even ask questions as part of a dialogue, to name a few. As we illustrated in the opening text on nutritional guidelines, DARE often represents multiple perspectives within a single passage.
There are many language functions, and each may be used for one or more key purposes. For example, summarize could be used to recount but could also be used to argue. Another example is describe, which could be used when trying to explain a process, recount a story, argue for the use of a particular technology, or discuss a particular topic in a small group. In attempting to decide on a language focus for instruction, the large number and variability of language functions can be overwhelming. Key uses of academic language, in representing the broadest of functions that are widely represented in learning at school, provide a more accessible approach to planning for infusion of language into instruction. Figure 1.2 is a table with some language functions that are associated with each key use of academic language in DARE.
As with other examples in this book, those in Figure 1.2 are only representative, not all inclusive. It is meant to further our understanding of each key use rather than to prescribe how to enact each one.
Figure 1.2 Example Language Functions Encompassed in DARE
Take the DARE
Select a unit of study or content topic that you will teach in the next few weeks. What are the expectations for language use in (a) readings, (b) activities, (c) assignments, and (d) assessment? Can you identify some of the key uses in DARE? Can you identify other language functions?
In understanding how to use DARE, we must use shift our assessment and instructional practices to encompass a language lens. While we continue to focus on academic content expectations for our instruction, DARE expands our view to include the language that accompanies content. So for example, as we ask students to explain, we are looking for the logic of their explanation and also for the language used to express that logic. To support this point, we offer Figure 1.3, which contains examples of language features associated with each key use of academic language and sample tasks.
It is important to note that key uses of academic language do not neatly occur independently from each other, as when we communicate, we seamlessly move across the various uses. While the tasks presented before typically include the key use to which they are connected in the figure, they may also include other key uses. For example, as one explains the cause of a natural phenomenon, such as an earthquake, one may need to inform the audience about the plates that form part of the crust of the earth, using the key use recount. One may also provide information (recount) about particular scientific theories and, in doing so, include claims and supportive evidence (argue) to be able to discuss causes for earthquakes from a particular scientific paradigm. In other words, key uses of academic language are often intertwined in text and talk.
Figure 1.3 Typical Language Features and Example Tasks Related to Key Uses
Take the DARE
Keep a DARE journal, such as in Resource 1.1. Record in your journal the activities you design for your students, and identify the key use(s) for you and your students. At the end of the week, review your notes, and share the following with your students:
1 What are the key uses of academic language that appear most often?
2 What are the key uses you would like to focus on more?
3 What evidence have you collected that provides you information on how students use language?
4 How might you plan with your colleagues for gathering information on language?
Making language a priority in teaching and learning requires developing the ability to shift back and forth between attending to content and attending to language use. The following tools are intended to help you become more aware of language use in your classrooms.
Academic Language in Key Uses
For many, academic language is synonymous with academic vocabulary. As we suggested in our opening remarks about key uses, our vision of academic language use begins with disciplinary discourse that allows us to think deeply. The power of academic language does not reside in the particular words used but in the ways language portrays knowledge, the identities it confers on those who use it, and its power in connecting current knowledge to more complex ideas, concepts, and understandings. A functional approach to language learning means that the focus is, first and foremost, on the purpose for language use and how the language is shaped by factors in context. Figure 1.4 identifies some of the factors that impact language use in academic contexts.
Be advised: These factors do not work independently but interact with each other and work together to create unique situations and conditions for language use.
1 Topics: The topics are content bound; meaning is drawn from one or more disciplines and their related standards.
2 Purpose: Guided by the academic content standards, the topic, and their associated language, the overall purpose for academic language generally corresponds to DARE, or key uses.
3 Activities: Activities refer to the tasks or actions in which students engage when interacting with new ideas, knowledge, or content.
4 Roles and Stances: Students assume many identities in schools. Sometimes students listen to information from other, more knowledgeable experts, and at times, we ask them to be the more knowledgeable experts. Sometimes, we ask them to cocreate new knowledge with others, and sometimes, we ask them to seek information from other sources.
5 Modalities: By approaching communication through multiple modalities—orally, visually, tactilely, and/or in writing—students have unique opportunities for language use.
6 Audiences: The people involved in the communication influence the way the message is conveyed. The way students use language with peers, for example, is different from the way they use language with teachers. Thus, different audiences require different registers or degrees of formality.
Figure 1.4 Factors That Shape the Context for Communication
Take the DARE
How might you describe the context of communication in your school? Which factors mentioned in Figure 1.4 are taken into account in teaching and learning? Are there any unique factors that must considered for ELLs, long-term language learners, or students with disabilities? Do members of the school community engage in explicit conversations about the culture of