Students will demonstrate their understanding of the (1) distinct structure and features of oral English, and (2) the innovative semiotic and linguistic repertoire of an emergent bilingual student by utilizing information obtained throughout the tutoring experience, coupled with a language sample from a tutoring session with their student.
Language samples will include approximately 10 minutes of discussion around a topic and will serve as a supplemental tool to refer back to when crafting your final paper.
The purpose of the analysis is to place your student at the center of the paper, lifting up the complexity, nuances, and contradictions involved in second language acquisition.
The analysis should focus on the innovative practices utilized by your student (semiotic and linguistic) as a multilingual.
All analyses should be descriptive vs. prescriptive and approach the concept of language and meaning making from a holistic multilingual perspective.
You are not prescribing or “correcting,” you are approaching language from a descriptive, holistic lens.
Claims made in the linguistic analyses must be supported by references drawn from course readings as well as external texts.
Final projects will consist of 4 discrete sections:
Introduction
A brief overview of your work with your student.
Describe your student’s academic and linguistic background and include any interesting features of your time spent together. (Maximum: 3/4 page)
2. Linguistic Analysis
An analysis of your student’s linguistic development as represented in the language sample:Phonological development
Morphological development
Syntactic development
Semantic development
Pragmatic competence (e.g., discourse routines, social conventions)
Free choice: anything else that strikes you as important. Analysis of additional features not listed but studied this semester are welcome in this section.
3. Recommended Classroom Practices
Describe 2-3 recommended instructional strategies for working with your bilingual EL student.
Strategies should target improving content area development and comprehension based on your work together.
SOLOM Results and Discussion
Analyze the how and why of your participant’s SOLOM results.
How (well) does the SOLOM measure a learner’s use of: syntax, semantics, morphology, phonology, language use/usage?
Which features of the bilingual EL student’s oral language prompted the rater to place him/her at each level in each domain?
Does the overall rating reflect the bilingual EL student’s abilities in the larger academic context?
How well do ratings in the individual language ability areas reflect the overall assessment?
What questions did the SOLOM answer for you as a teacher? Were any areas left unaddressed?