Academic Language Mastery Grammar and Syntax in Context

Academic Language Mastery
Volumes in the
Academic Language Mastery Series
Series Editor: Ivannia Soto
Academic Language Mastery: Grammar and Syntax in Context

David E. Freeman, Yvonne S. Freeman, and Ivannia Soto
Academic Language Mastery: Conversational Discourse in Context

Jeff Zwiers and Ivannia Soto
Academic Language Mastery: Vocabulary in Context

Margarita Calderón and Ivannia Soto
Academic Language Mastery: Culture in Context

Noma LeMoine and Ivannia Soto
Academic Language Mastery:
Grammar and
Syntax
in Context
David E. Freeman
Yvonne S. Freeman
Ivannia Soto
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Contents
Acknowledgments vii
About the Authors ix
1. Introduction to the Book Series 1

2. Abbreviated Literature Review/
Research Base for Grammar and Syntax 9
3. Practical Application to the
Classroom for Grammar and Syntax 25
4. Fostering Literacy With Grammar and Syntax 35
5. Assessing Grammar and Syntax 51
6. Conclusions, Challenges, and Connections 61
Epilogue: The Vision 71

References 77
Index 81
Acknowledgments
I would like to acknowledge each of the authors who coauthored

this series with me: Margarita Calderón, David and Yvonne
Freeman, Noma LeMoine, and Jeff Zwiers. I have been inspired by
each of your work for so long, and it was an honor learning and
working with you on this project. I know that this book series is
stronger due to each of your contributions and will therefore affect
the lives of so many English language learners (ELLs) and standard
English learners (SELs). Thank you for taking this journey with me
on behalf of students who need our collective voices!
I would also like to acknowledge my editor, Dan Alpert, who
has believed in me and has supported my work since 2008. Thank
you for tirelessly advocating for equity, including language equity,
for so long! Thank you also for advocating for and believing in the
vision of the Institute for Culturally and Linguistically Responsive
Teaching (ICLRT)!
Also to be thanked is Corwin, for supporting my work over time
as well as early contributions to ICLRT. Corwin has grown over the
time that I published my first book in 2009, but they still remain a
family. I would especially like to thank Michael Soule, Lisa Shaw,
Kristin Anderson, Monique Corrdiori, Amelia Arias, Taryn Waters,
Charline Maher, Kim Greenberg, and Katie Crilley for each of your
parts in making this book series and ICLRT a success!
Last, I would like to acknowledge the California Community
Foundation, whose two-year grant assisted greatly with fully
launching ICLRT at Whittier College. Thank you for believing that
effective professional development over time can and will create
achievement and life changes for ELLs and SELs!
vii
viii Academic Language Mastery: Grammar and Syntax in Context
Publisher’s Acknowledgments
Corwin gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the following
reviewers:
Bridget Erickson
Teacher, Literacy Specialist
Oakwood Elementary School, Wayzata Public Schools
Plymouth, MN
Sara Hamerla
ELL Coach
Barbieri Elementary School
Framingham, MA
Katherine Lobo
ESL Teacher, President of MATSOL
Newton South High School
Newton, MA
Sashi Rayasam
Educator
Durham Public Schools
Durham, NC
Renee Sartore
Director of ELL Programs
Yorkville CUSD 115
Yorkville, IL
Tonya Ward Singer

Author and Consultant
Santa Rosa, CA
About the Authors
Dr. David E. Freeman and Dr. Yvonne S.

Freeman are professors emeriti at the
University of Texas Río Grande Valley.
Both are interested in effective education
for emergent bilinguals. They present regu-
larly at international, national, and state
conferences. They have worked extensively
in schools in the United States. They have
also worked with educators in Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia,
Venezuela, Costa Rica, Argentina, Uruguay, Hong Kong, India,
Indonesia, Lithuania, Mallorca, Taiwan, and Sweden. In 2016 they
worked in Taiwan.
The Freemans have published books, articles, and book chapters
jointly and separately on the topics of second language teaching,
biliteracy, bilingual education, linguistics, and second language
acquisition. Their newest books are ESL Teaching: Principles for
Success (2016) and Essential Linguistics: What Teachers Need to
Know to Teach ESL, Reading, Spelling, and Grammar, 2nd edition
(2014), published by Heinemann. The Freemans also edited two
research publications published by EmeraldBooks: Research on
Preparing Pre-Service Teachers to Work Effectively With Emergent
Bilinguals and Research on Preparing In-Service Teachers to Work
Effectively With Emergent Bilinguals. They also edited Diverse
Learners in the Mainstream Classroom (2008), published by
Heinemann.
Other books written by the Freemans and published by
Heinemann include Between Worlds: Access to Second Language
Acquisition, 3rd edition (2011); Academic Language for English
Language Learners and Struggling Readers (2009); the revised
ix
x Academic Language Mastery: Grammar and Syntax in Context
translation of La enseñanza de la lectura y la escritura en español

y en inglés en clases bilingües y de doble inmersión (2009); the
second edition of Teaching Reading and Writing in Spanish and
English in Bilingual and Dual Language Classrooms (2006); Dual
Language Essentials for Teachers and Administrators (2005);
Closing the Achievement Gap: How to Reach Limited Formal
Schooling and Long-Term English Learners (2002); Teaching
Reading in Multilingual Classrooms (2000); and ESL/EFL Teaching:
Principles for Success (1998).
The Freemans are authors on Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s
programs On Our Way to English and Literacy by Design as well
as Benchmark Education’s Spanish reading program.
Dr. Ivannia Soto is associate professor of

education at Whittier College, where she spe-
cializes in second language acquisition, sys-
temic reform for ELLs, and urban education.
She began her career in the Los Angeles
Unified School District (LAUSD), where she
taught English and English language develop-
ment to a population made of up 99.9 percent
Latinos, who either were or had been ELLs.
Before becoming a professor, Dr. Soto also
served LAUSD as a literacy coach and district office administrator.
She has presented on literacy and language topics at various confer-
ences, including the National Association for Bilingual Education
(NABE), the California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE),
the American Educational Research Association (AERA), and the
National Urban Education Conference. As a consultant, Soto has
worked with Stanford University’s School Redesign Network (SRN)
and WestEd as well as a variety of districts and county offices in
California, providing technical assistance for systemic reform for
ELLs and Title III. Soto is the coauthor of The Literacy Gaps:
Building Bridges for ELLs and SELs as well as author of ELL
Shadowing as a Catalyst for Change and From Spoken to Written
Language with ELLs, all published by Corwin. Together, the books
tell a story of how to systemically close achievement gaps with
ELLs by increasing their oral language production in academic
areas. Soto is executive director of the Institute for Culturally and
About the Authors xi
Linguistically Responsive Teaching (ICLRT) at Whittier College,

whose mission it is to promote relevant research and develop aca-
demic resources for ELLs and SELs via linguistically and culturally
responsive teaching practices.
Series Dedication
I dedicate this book series to the teachers and administrators in
Whittier Union High School District (WUHSD). WUHSD has been
a pivotal learning partner with ICLRT over the past four years. By
embedding ICLRT Design Principles and academic language devel-
opment (ALD) best practices into their teaching and professional
development, they have fully embraced and worked tirelessly in
classrooms to meet the needs of ELLs and SELs. Specifically, I
would like to thank: Superintendent Sandy Thorstenson, Assistant
Superintendent Loring Davies, and ELL Director Lilia Torres-
Cooper (my high school counselor and the person who initially
brought me into WUHSD) as well as ALD Certification teachers
Diana Banzet, Amy Cantrell, Carlos Contreras, Carmen Telles Fox,
Nellie Garcia, Kristin Kowalsky, Kelsey McDonnell, Damian Torres,
and Heather Vernon, who have committed themselves fully to this
work. I would also like to thank Lori Eshilian, principal of Whittier
High School (my high school alma mater), for being willing to do
whatever it takes to meet the needs of all students, including partner-
ing with ICLRT on several projects over the past few years. You were
my first and best physical education teacher and have modeled
effective collaboration since I was in high school!
—Ivannia Soto, Series Editor
Book Dedication
For teachers who often are not sure how to teach grammar effectively
and students who find grammar either boring or irrelevant.
—David E. Freeman and Yvonne S. Freeman

C hapter O ne
Introduction to
the Book Series
A ccording to the Migration Policy Institute (2013), close to

5 million U.S. students, which represent 9 percent of public
school enrollment, are English language learners (ELLs). Three-
quarters of these 5 million students were born in the United States
and are either the children or grandchildren of immigrants. In some
large urban school districts such as Los Angeles, ELLs already
comprise around 30 percent of the student population. These demo-
graphic trends, along with the rigorous content expectations of new
content and language standards (e.g., CCSS, WIDA, ELPA21, etc.),
require that educational systems become skilled at simultaneously
scaffolding academic language and content for this growing group
of students. For ELLs, academic language mastery is the key to
accessing rigorous content. Now is a pivotal time in educational his-
tory to address both academic language and content simultaneously
so that ELLs do not fall further behind in both areas while also
becoming bored by methods that are cognitively banal and lead to
disengagement.
Another group of students who have academic language
needs, but are not formally identified as such, are standard English
learners (SELs). SELs are students who speak languages that do
not correspond to standard American English language structure
and grammar but incorporate English vocabulary. They include
African American students who speak African American language
1
2 Academic Language Mastery: Grammar and Syntax in Context
(AAL), sometimes referred to as African American English, and

Mexican American–non-new-immigrant students who speak Mexican
American Language (MxAL) or what is commonly referred to as
“Chicano English.” ELLs and SELS also need instructional assistance
in the academic language necessary to be successful in school,
college, and beyond. For both groups of students, academic lan-
guage represents the pathway to full access in meeting the rigorous
demands of the new standards.
Purpose of This Academic

Language Development Book Series
The purpose of this series is to assist educators in developing exper-
tise in, and practical strategies for, addressing four key dimensions
of academic language when working with ELLs and SELs. To sys-
temically address the needs of ELLs and SELs, we educators must
share a common understanding of academic language development
(ALD). Wong-Fillmore (2013) defines academic language as “the
language of texts. The forms of speech and written discourse that are
linguistic resources educated people in our society can draw on. This
is language that is capable of supporting complex thought, argumen-
tation, literacy, successful learning; it is the language used in written
and spoken communication in college and beyond” (p. 15). Given
that we are preparing ELLs and SELs for college, career, and
beyond, they should receive ample opportunities to learn and use
academic language, both in spoken and written form (Soto, 2014).
ELLs and SELs also must be provided with scaffolded access to
cognitively and linguistically demanding content, which allows
them to cultivate their complex thinking and argumentation.
All students can benefit from academic language development
modeling, scaffolding, and practice, but ELLs and SELs need it to
survive and thrive in school. ELLs have plenty of language assets in
their primary language that we must leverage to grow their academic
English, yet there is often a very clear language and literacy gap that
must be closed as soon as ELLs enter school. Similarly, SELs come
to school with a language variation that, to be built upon in the class-
room setting, must first be understood. In reviewing the wide range
of literature by experts in this field, most agree that the key elements
of academic English language for ELLs and SELs include these four
Introduction to the Book Series 3
dimensions: academic vocabulary, syntax and grammar, discourse,

and culturally responsive teaching.
We have therefore organized this book series around these four
dimensions of academic English:
zzConversational Discourse—developing students’ conversa-

tional skills as an avenue for fostering academic language and
thinking in a discipline
zzAcademic Vocabulary—teaching high-frequency academic
words and discipline-specific vocabulary across content areas
zzSyntax and Grammar—teaching sophisticated and complex
syntactical and grammatical structures in context
zzResponsive Teaching—incorporating culture while address-
ing and teaching language and honoring students’ home cul-
tures and communities
The focus on these four dimensions in this book series makes

this a unique offering for educators. By building upon the cultural
and linguistic similarities of ELLs and SELs, we embed strategies and
instructional approaches about academic vocabulary, discourse,
and grammar and syntax within culturally responsive teaching
practices to make them all accessible to teachers of diverse stu-
dents. As the American poet and great thinker of modern Hispanic
literature, Sabine Ulibarrí, noted, “Language is culture; it carries
with it traditions, customs, the very life of a people. You cannot
separate one from the other. To love one is to love the other; to hate
one is to hate the other. If one wants to destroy a people, take away
their language and their culture will soon disappear.” Therefore,
the heart of this book series is to integrate language and culture
in a manner that has not been addressed with other books or book
series on ALD.
Academic Language Development Dimensions

Defined and Connections to the Book Series
ALD is a pathway to equity. With new, rigorous state standards and
expectations, ALD is the scaffold that provides access for ELLs
and SELs so that high academic expectations can be maintained
and reached. The following matrix defines each dimension of ALD
and demonstrates the connection of that ALD dimension across the

book series. For full proficiency in ALD, it is integral that each
dimension be addressed across disciplines—the dimensions should
not be taught as either/or skills. Instead, each of the dimensions
should be addressed throughout a course of study or unit. In that
way, it is important to read the book series in its entirety, as an
ongoing professional development growth tool (more on that
later). The matrix also demonstrates the connections made between
ALD dimensions, which will prove helpful as readers complete
continue their study across the ALD book series.
Connections to the
ALD Dimension Definition Book Series
Academic Academic discourse is putting As suggested in the
Discourse words and sentences (the other definition, academic
two dimensions) together to discourse involves the
clearly communicate complex overlap of academic
ideas. The essential vocabulary (words) and
components of academic many of the
discourse include: components also often
associated with
zzMessage organization academic writing across
and text structure genres (organization,
zzVoice and register text structure, purpose,
zzDensity of words, and audience). This
sentences, and ideas book addresses a
zzClarity and coherence specific form of
zzPurpose, functions, and discourse,
audience conversational
discourse, and the
specific conversational
skills that provide
access to academic
discourse.
Academic Words are separate units of Academic vocabulary is

Vocabulary information; it is tempting to associated with the
focus on them as “pieces of density of words used
knowledge” to accumulate to in academic discourse
show learning. Instead, words as well as the use of
should be tools and materials connectives and
for constructing more transitions used in
complete and complex grammar.
messages. In this book series,
we will focus on Tier 2
Connections to the
ALD Dimension Definition Book Series
(high-frequency words that go

across content areas) and Tier
3 (abstract or nuanced words
that exist within a particular
content area or discipline)
academic vocabulary.
Grammar and Academic language is ELLs and SELs need to

Syntax in characterized by technical engage in academic
Context vocabulary, lexical density, discourse in the
and abstraction. Academic classroom and develop
genres have predictable academic vocabulary.
components, cohesive texts, These are essential
and language structures that building blocks for
include nominalizations, learning to read and
passives, and complex write cohesive texts
sentences. using academic genres
and the language
structures characteristic
of academic language.
Culturally and Culturally responsive pedagogy ELLs and SELs are

Linguistically incorporates high-status, more likely to acquire
Responsive accurate cultural knowledge ALD when they are
Practices about different ethnic groups viewed from an asset
into all subjects and skills model and when ALD
taught. It validates, facilitates, is taught as associated
liberates, and empowers with concepts that
ethnically diverse students by connect to their cultural
simultaneously cultivating their knowledge. This book
cultural integrity, individual will address linguistic
abilities, and academic success diversity, including
(Gay, 2000). variations of English.
(Definitions adapted from Academic Language Development Network. (n.d.) unless

otherwise noted)
Format for Each Book

At the beginning of each book is an introduction to the purpose of the
book series, including the format of each book and their intersections.
Additionally, connections between current ALD research and the
specific dimension of ALD are included in an abbreviated literature
review. In the middle of each book, the voice of the expert in the
particular ALD dimension is incorporated with practical strategies
and classroom examples. These chapters include how to move from
theory to practice, classroom examples at elementary and secondary
levels, and ways to assess the dimension. At the end of each book, a
summary of major points and how to overcome related challenges are
included along with the rationale for use of the Institute for Culturally
and Linguistically Responsive Teaching (ICLRT) Design Principles
as a bridge between ALD and content. Also included at the end of
each book are additional professional development resources.
Additionally, each book in the series is organized in a similar
manner for ease of use by the reader. Chapter 1 is the introduction to
the series of books and not an introduction for each individual book.
Instead, Chapter 2 introduces each dimension of ALD with the spe-
cific research base for that book. The heart of each book in the series
is in Chapter 3, where practical application to theory and classroom
examples can be found. Chapter 4 addresses how each ALD dimen-
sion fosters literacy development. In Chapter 5, how to assess the
specific ALD dimension is discussed with checklists and rubrics to
assist with formative assessment in this area. Last, Chapter 6 connects
each volume with the others in the series and details how the book
series can best be used in a professional development setting. The
epilogue revisits the vision for the series and provides a description of
the relationship to the underlying principles of the ICLRT.
zzChapter 1—Introduction to the Book Series

zzChapter 2—Abbreviated Literature Review/Research Base
for Grammar and Syntax
zzChapter 3— Practical Application to the Classroom for
Grammar and Syntax
zzChapter 4—Fostering Literacy With Grammar and Syntax
zzChapter 5— Assessing Grammar and Syntax
zzChapter 6—Conclusions, Challenges, and Connections
zzEpilogue: The Vision
How to Use the Book Series

While each book can stand alone, the book series was designed to
be read together with colleagues and over time. As such, it is a
professional development tool for educational communities, which
can also be used for extended learning on ALD. Educators may

choose to begin with any of the four key dimensions of ALD that
interests them the most or with which they need the most a ssistance.
How to Use Reflect and Apply Queries

Embedded throughout this book series you will find queries that will
ask you to reflect and apply new learning to your own practice.
Please note that you may choose to use the queries in a variety of
settings either with a book study buddy during PLC, grade-level,
or department meetings. Each of the queries can be answered in a
separate journal while one is reading the text, or as a group you may
choose to reflect on only a few queries throughout a chapter. Please
feel free to use as many or as few queries as are helpful to you, but
we do encourage you to at least try a couple out for reflection as you
read the book series.
Try it out by responding to the first query here.
REFLECT AND APPLY
What does the following Sabine Ulibarrí quote mean to you? How
does it connect to your students?
“Language is culture; it carries with it traditions, customs, the
very life of a people. You cannot separate one from the other. To
love one is to love the other; to hate one is to hate the other. If
one wants to destroy a people, take away their language and their
culture will soon disappear.”
Book Series Connection

to Grammar and Syntax
As previously discussed, grammar and syntax are essential compo-
nents of ALD. Unfortunately, these components have either been
overly emphasized and some teachers have taught grammar in a
rote manner that is decontextualized and disconnected to student
needs and learning, or they have completely disregarded grammar
due to their lack of experience in teaching grammar and syntax
appropriately. Still other teachers become overwhelmed with the
large gaps in the knowledge of grammar and syntax that ELLs may
bring to school and are unsure of the best approaches to meeting
students’ needs. This book on grammar and syntax addresses these
concerns, first by building background knowledge and confidence
on the part of educators regarding the varying views of grammar
that have been used and then by giving specific recommendations
for how to teach ALD in a contextualized manner that addresses
ELLs’ and SELs’ language gaps. The approach to teaching grammar
and syntax introduced in this book in the series, along with the
ICLRT Design Principles (in the epilogue), provide a theoretical
and practical framework for addressing ALD in a contextualized
manner across disciplines.
C hapter T wo
Abbreviated Literature
Review/Research Base for
Grammar and Syntax
T o understand the role of grammar and syntax in ALD, it is

important to have a clear understanding of the terms grammar
and syntax as well as an understanding of the characteristics of aca-
demic language. Teachers who understand these concepts can better
plan how to teach and assess English language learners.
Four Views of Grammar

In the minds of most people, grammar refers to a set of rules needed
to speak and write the standard or conventional form of a language.
A second view is that grammar is the built-in, subconscious know
ledge of a language that enables people to communicate in that
language. Most linguists, especially those whose work is based on
Chomsky’s (1965) theories, consider grammar to be the study of
syntactic structures. For these linguists the terms grammar and syn-
tax are synonymous. More recently systemic functional linguists
have developed a theory of grammar as a functional resource.
Weaver (1996) lists these definitions of grammar: (1) prescriptions
for correct use, (2) the functional command of sentence structure that
enables us to comprehend and produce language, and (3) a description
9
of syntactic structures. Derewianka (2007) adds a fourth view in her

explanation of language as a functional resource. Each of these views
of grammar has led to different approaches to teaching ELLs and SELs
the grammar and syntax of academic language.
Prescriptions for Correct Use

For most people, the word grammar means studying rules for correct
speaking and writing. At one time schools were conducted in Latin.
Teachers in these grammar schools taught Latin grammar. When the
language of instruction shifted to English, these same teachers
applied their knowledge of Latin grammar to English and began to
teach English grammar. Because students could already understand
and speak English, the focus was on written language. Teachers
believed that their job was to prescribe the rules of the language, and
if students learned grammar, they could apply this knowledge to
both writing and speaking.
REFLECT AND APPLY
What was your own experience with being taught grammar when
you were in school? Did you find grammar interesting or frustrating?
Be prepared to share with your colleagues.
Research on the Effects

of Teaching Traditional Grammar
Despite the widespread practice of teaching formal grammar explic-
itly, research has consistently shown that students have trouble
learning traditional grammar or applying grammar rules when they
write or speak. In the first place, students find it difficult to learn and
retain concepts from traditional grammar. In one series of studies,
Macauley (1947) tested the grammar knowledge of students in
schools in Scotland. At the time of these studies, grammar was
taught in both elementary and secondary schools for an average of
30 minutes a day. At the elementary level, the lessons emphasized
knowing parts of speech and their functions. For example, students
Abbreviated Literature Review/Research Base 11
were taught to identify nouns in a sentence, and they learned that

nouns served as subjects and objects.
Macauley tested students at the end of elementary school. The
test required students to read 50 sentences and decide whether
the underlined word in each sentence was a noun, verb, pronoun,
adjective, or adverb. Even though all the students had studied the
parts of speech every day for several years, the average score for
the 131 students was a mere 27.9 percent right. Macauley had set
50 as a passing score. Students could get about 11 percent right just
by guessing, but only one student scored 50 percent or better on all
five parts of speech.
When Macauley tested secondary students, they did somewhat
better, but the mean for the top classes at the end of their third year
of secondary school had only risen to 62 percent. Macauley’s studies
with students who received intensive training in traditional grammar
showed that students have a great deal of difficulty even learning
basic parts of speech.
Krashen (1998) also reviewed research on the teaching of gram-
mar. His conclusion is blunt: “Research on the relationship between
formal grammar instruction and performance on measures of writing
ability is very consistent: There is no relationship between grammar
study and writing” (p. 8).
One of the strongest statements on the teaching of grammar
comes from a report issued by the National Council of Teachers
of English, an organization with many members vitally interested
in grammar and in the teaching of writing. The authors of the
report state:
In view of the widespread agreement of research studies

based upon many types of students and teachers, the conclu-
sion can be stated in strong and unqualified terms: the teach-
ing of formal grammar has a negligible or, because it usually
displaces some instruction and practice in actual composi-
tion, even a harmful effect on the improvement of writing.
(Braddock & Lloyd-Jones, 1963)
None of these are new studies. There are no current studies that
dispute the early findings. Despite the research consensus, teachers
continue to teach traditional grammar to native standard English
speakers, SELs, and ELLs. Weaver (1996) lists several reasons:
zzTeachers may not be aware of the research.

zzThey may not believe the research.
zzThey believe grammar is interesting and teach it simply for
that reason.
zzThey notice that some students who are good readers and
writers are also good at grammar, so they assume that this
correlation shows cause and effect.
zzThey are required to teach grammar.
zzThey feel pressure from parents or other community members
to teach grammar.
zzThey feel that although grammar may not help the average
student, it still may help some students.
REFLECT AND APPLY
Have you taught grammar to your students? Did you find that
the students learned from your grammar teaching? Do any of the
reasons that teachers still teach traditional grammar apply to you
or to your colleagues?
Traditional Grammar
and English Language Teaching
Teachers do need to know about grammar. This should be part of
their pedagogical language knowledge (Bunch, 2013). However,
teachers should not expect that teaching traditional grammar will
improve their students’ academic language proficiency.
Derewianka (2007) refers to the traditional approach to teaching
grammar as “language as structure.” This approach involves identi-
fying different parts of speech, such as nouns and verbs, and the
rules for combining them into sentences. As Derewianka writes,
“Traditionally grammar in the ELT [English language teaching] field
has been conceived of in terms of identifying the parts of speech and
the rules for combining them intro structures” (2007, p. 844).
Structures refers to subjects, predicates, and other parts of a sen-
tence. Traditional approaches to second language teaching, such as
the Grammar Translation method, used this approach. This method
consists of explicit teaching of rules followed by decontextualized
exercises designed to give students practice with the rule. For example,
students might learn the proper forms for the present perfect tense in
English and then be given an exercise in which they convert past
tense sentences, such as “He studied English,” to present perfect, “He
has studied English.”
Derewianka (2007) comments that a traditional approach to
teaching grammar is still the most widely used model of English
language teaching. However, this applies primarily to teaching
English in countries where English is not the native language.
Traditional approaches to grammar teaching result in students
learning about the language (they can tell you how to form the
present perfect tense), but this approach has not been shown to
help students develop the ability to communicate in the language.
As a result, in English as a second language (as opposed to
English as a foreign language) and bilingual classes, traditional
grammar is not usually taught.
Focus on Form
Although traditional grammar-based approaches to teaching a
second language are outdated and are not supported by research,
within more current second language teaching methods, some
aspects of grammar continue to be taught. That is, there is still what
Long (2001) refers to as a “focus on form.”
Ellis (1998) looked at three ways of presenting form-focused
instruction. One way is to structure the input. “This option asks
learners to process input that has been specially contrived to induce
comprehension of the target structure” (p. 44). Learners are not
required to produce the structure, but they are exposed to large
amounts of the structure and asked to attend to it. For example,
students often say things like “I am boring” when they mean, “I am
bored,” so structured input might focus on the difference between
these two grammatical forms. For example, the teacher might give
students a reading that contains many examples of “boring” and
“bored” and similar pairs that students often confuse.
To take another example, the teacher could ask students what
they would do if they won the lottery. The teacher might give the
example: “If I won the lottery, I would buy my parents a new
house.” Then the teacher could have each student report on what he
or she would do. As they listen to these examples, all the students
would receive input that contained the conditional structure: “If I

___, I would ___.”
A second possibility that Ellis suggests is explicit instruction.
Such instruction can be direct (the teacher teaches the rule, and the
students practice it) or indirect. In indirect explicit instruction,
students look at some sample of language and try to ﬁgure out the
rule. Explicit instruction can be deductive or inductive. Explicit
instruction is designed to raise students’ consciousness of the
grammatical form.
An example of indirect explicit instruction might involve
students looking at a series of phrases that each contains several
adjectives before a noun, such as, “a large heavy brown leather
English suitcase.” Based on their analyses of the phrases, students
could develop a rule for the order of adjectives preceding a noun.
Native English speakers recognize that it does not seem right to
change the order and say, “a brown heavy English leather large
suitcase.” Once students develop a rule, they can test it against new
noun phrases with several adjectives.
A third approach to incorporating grammar into second lan-
guage teaching is what Ellis (1998) calls “production practice.” This
approach involves students in practicing certain grammatical forms.
For example, students might do a worksheet that asks them to put the
words in, on, or at into the appropriate blanks in a sentence. Finally,
teachers can teach grammar by providing negative feedback. When
a student makes an error, the teacher can correct it, usually by mod-
eling the correct form. For instance, if the student says, “I have been
here since two days,” the teacher might respond, “Oh, so you have
been here for two days. What have you been doing?” As Ellis points
out, most language teaching includes a combination of these methods,
so it is difﬁcult to know which one works best.
REFLECT AND APPLY

Which type of grammar instruction have you experienced as a
student? Have you taught grammar to students using one or
a combination of the four approaches to teaching grammar
described in this chapter?
The Functional Command

of Sentence Structure
A second view of grammar is that a grammar is a set of internalized
rules that people acquire. These are the rules that allow humans to com-
municate in a language. Derewianka refers to this view as “language as
mental faculty.” Chomsky (1965) and other linguists argue that humans
have an innate capacity for language. We are born with Universal
Grammar, a set of mental structures that enable us to use language input
to form subconscious rules to understand and produce one or more lan-
guages. The internal grammar includes a syntactic component along
with knowledge of phonology, morphology, semantics, and pragmatics.
Over time, humans develop a full command of the grammar of their
community of speakers, and this allows them to function effectively.
Chomsky (1975) argues that humans have an innate ability to
construct rules that allow them to comprehend and produce utterances
in any language. What they need is exposure to specific languages to
refine general rules to fit those languages. Given that this is a sub
conscious process that functions without the need for teaching of the
rules, this view of language leads to a belief that explicit grammar
teaching is not necessary for language acquisition. Clearly, no one
teaches babies grammar rules, and yet they acquire language.
For second language teaching, the basic question is whether
second language learners can still acquire language the same way
that children acquire their first language. Sociolinguists such as
Grosjean (2010) provide numerous examples of how adolescents
and adults can acquire a second language. Krashen’s (1982) theory
of second language acquisition is based on Chomsky’s theory of
language. He argues that a second language can be acquired in the
same way as a first language by receiving comprehensible input.
Krashen has written extensively about the value of reading as
a source of comprehensible input. He has developed a reading
hypothesis. Krashen (1992) states:
Current theories of literacy development hypothesize that

we develop literacy the same way we acquire language, by
means of comprehensible input. Smith (1988a) and Goodman
(1982) have presented compelling evidence that we “learn
to read by reading,” by making sense of what is on the page.
In addition, there is overwhelming evidence showing that

free reading is the major source of our competence in many
aspects of literacy, including vocabulary, spelling, grammatical
competence, and writing style. (p. 8)
Using Grammar to Monitor Output

Within Krashen’s theory, the benefits of grammar teaching are
limited. However, Krashen explains that knowledge of grammar
can be used to monitor output. Monitoring requires that the person
knows the rule and has time to apply it. During conversations, it is
difficult to monitor output because a person can’t focus on meaning
and grammatical correctness at the same time. If someone is trying
to decide which endings go on verbs, that person can’t also be
thinking about the message he or she is trying to convey.
Yvonne remembers a time when she applied her monitor to her
output. During her oral exams for her doctoral degree, one commit-
tee member asked her a question in Spanish. Yvonne knew that this
was a setting where grammatical correctness would be expected. As
she answered, she consciously thought about the rule in Spanish
that says after expressions like “It is necessary,” the subjunctive
form of the verb must follow. She applied the rule as she was giving
her answer in Spanish.
Immediately after the exam, a colleague from the Spanish
department saw her and asked her how it went. As Yvonne excitedly
told her about the exam and the positive feedback she received, she
spoke in Spanish, but she did not apply her monitor once. She could
well have made a few grammatical errors while speaking Spanish
in this setting, but her focus was on explaining that she had passed
the exam and had done well. Effective use of the monitor requires
that speakers use it in appropriate contexts and do not overuse it or
underuse it.
While applying the grammar rules may not always be practical
when one is speaking, students should apply rules to monitor their
writing. As we write, we usually have time to think about what we
are writing, and we usually try to convey a clear message with as
few errors as possible. When ELLs or SELs are provided short mini
lessons on specific points of grammar they are having trouble with
and then are given opportunities to edit papers working with the
teacher and with peers, they begin to learn conventional English.
REFLECT AND APPLY
Have you ever been in a situation where you knew you needed to
apply your monitor as you were speaking? What was the context?
Were you able to monitor your grammatical correctness?
In our experience, students who are better writers are those
who have done a great deal of reading. Do you think that reading
can help people become better writers, that is, writers who write
well grammatically? Can you think of some examples? Why might
reading help students write well grammatically?
A Description of Syntactic Structures

A third view is that grammar is a description of syntactic structures.
Although linguists study all the different aspects of language, the
major area of study in recent years in the United States has been
syntax, the structure of clauses. Syntax is one component of the
grammar of a language. In their study of syntax, linguists have
attempted to make explicit the implicit rules that humans have
acquired that allow them to comprehend and produce language.
Chomsky (1965) argued that there must be a small set of rules that
can generate an infinite number of sentences. If there were a large
set of rules, people could not acquire them.
Surface and Deep Structure

To create a small set of rules, Chomsky hypothesized that
language has a surface structure and a deep structure. The surface
structure is what we say or write—the sounds we make and the
marks on a page. The deep structure is the underlying structure that
is in basic form. Deep structures can be transformed to create dif-
ferent surface structures. Structural linguists attempted to describe
language by using the surface structure outputs of speech and writ-
ing. However, these descriptions were very complex. Chomsky, in
contrast, used deep structures as a basis for his descriptions. For
example, Chomsky assumed that positive statements were basic, so
they were considered the deep structure form, and questions and
negative statements were surface structure variations.
This approach enabled Chomsky to identify basic syntactic

structures for English. For example, a simple sentence (a clause)
consists of a noun phrase, an auxiliary verb, and a verb phrase, and
each type of phrase can be further described. A verb phrase contains
a verb and can include one or more noun phrases, an adverb phrase,
and a prepositional phrase. In early studies, using a theory of trans-
formational, generative grammar, Chomsky attempted to describe
how deep structures were transformed into surface structures. For
instance, the statement, “He can play the tuba” can be converted
into the question: “Can he play the tuba?” by moving the auxiliary
to the left of the subject. In later work, Chomsky focused more on
describing what limits movement of deep structure sentence elements
rather than on describing each movement.
Chomsky’s work provided important insights into syntactic
structures. As he developed his theory of transformational grammar,
articles and books on using transformational grammar to teach
English were produced. However, attempts to teach ELLs or SELs
conventional English by using insights from transformational gram-
mar were not successful, and Chomsky’s later work was not used as
a basis for teaching language.
Language as Functional Resource

Derewianka (2007) discusses a fourth view of grammar that she
refers to as language as functional resource. This approach is
based on linguistic studies by Halliday (1989) and his colleagues.
Derewianka points out an important difference between Chomsky
and Halliday. As she comments, Halliday explains language “not
in terms of a genetic blueprint located in the individual brain, but
as the result of countless social interactions over the millennia”
(p. 849). Halliday sees language use as a series of choices based
on the context of situation, which is made up of three compo-
nents: the field (what we are talking about), the tenor (who we are
talking to), and the mode (the means of communication, such as
speech or writing). We constantly make choices in each of these
areas to carry out social functions, such as explaining or describ-
ing. Each context of situation occurs in a context of culture as
different cultural groups have different ways of carrying out the
functions of language.
REFLECT AND APPLY
Think about how you talk in two different settings. For example,
you might consider the conversation at the family dinner table and
the conversation around the table at a formal banquet with other
professionals. That is, think about the vocabulary you use and the
formality of the language you use. How is the language you use
different in the two settings? Why?
The Curriculum Cycle

In Australia, Halliday’s approach to linguistics has been translated
into a method of second language teaching called the curriculum
cycle or the Teaching and Learning Cycle. The cycle involves build-
ing up the field (providing students with basic concepts for a subject
or building background), modeling and deconstruction (e.g., showing
students a model science report and analyzing the report so that stu-
dents understand each part), joint construction (e.g., students and
teacher work together to write a science report), and independent
construction (students work independently to write their own science
reports). The focus of this approach is to teach students the different
academic genres, such as reports, analyses, and explanations.
Characteristics of Academic Language

The challenge of teaching language to ELLs and SELs is greater
now than it was in the past. Whereas earlier approaches to teaching
ELLs and SELs, such as the Natural Approach (Krashen & Terrell,
1983) and ALM (Larsen-Freeman, 1986), focus on developing con-
versational language, more recent methods have shifted to an
emphasis on academic language, even at beginning stages. In the
course of their schooling, students are expected to read, write, and
discuss texts written in the academic genres used in literature, sci-
ence, social studies, and math. A text is any oral or written use of
language. Academic texts are the oral and written texts used in
schools (Freeman & Freeman, 2009).
Fang (2004) points out that academic texts are characterized
by technical vocabulary, lexical density, and abstraction. These
characteristics create an authoritative tone. The following passage

from a high school physics and chemistry textbook is a good example
of an academic text with these characteristics:
Although fossil fuels are a useful source of energy for gen-

erating electricity and providing the power for transpor
tation, their use has some undesirable side effects. When
petroleum products and coal are burned, smoke is given off
that contains small particles called particulates. These par-
ticulates cause breathing problems for some people. Burning
fossil fuels also releases carbon dioxide. Figure 9 shows
how the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere has
increased from 1960 to 1999. (McLaughlin, Thompson, &
Zike, 2002, p. 296)
Technical Vocabulary and Lexical Density

This passage contains technical vocabulary, such as particulates
and concentration. It also is lexically dense. Academic texts have
greater density than conversational texts. Linguists measure lexical
density by determining the number of lexical words in each clause.
Lexical words are content words—nouns, verbs, adjectives, and
some adverbs. This passage has 6.4 content words in each clause,
whereas conversational language has about 2.5 content words per
clause. Greater lexical density makes academic texts more cogni-
tively demanding because more ideas are packed into each sentence.
Nominalization
Lexical density is often the result of long noun phrases. In this
passage, the noun phrase “the carbon dioxide concentration in the
atmosphere” has seven words. Frequently, long noun phrases result
from nominalizations. Nominalization is the process of turning
verbs or adjectives into nouns. In this passage, phrases such as
“generating electricity and providing the power for transportation”
and “Burning fossil fuels” contain nominalizations. Rather than
saying, “Fossil fuels generate electricity and provide the power for
transportation,” the authors use the nominalized forms “generating”
and “providing.” Nominalizations are very common in academic
texts. Consider the following two lists of words:
Verb or Adjective Noun
introduce introduction
honest honesty
refuse refusal
complex complexity
create creation
treat treatment
toxic toxicity
Now consider these sentences:
The scientist introduced his speech The introduction of the scientist’s

with a specific example. This made speech with a specific example
the audience more attentive. gained the audience’s attention.
The main character in the novel was The main character’s honesty was his
an honest man. This was his outstanding trait.
outstanding trait.
Washington’s soldiers refused to give Washington’s soldiers’ refusal to give

up hope, even under difficult conditions. up hope, even under difficult
As a result they won the battle. conditions, led to their victory.
The calculus problem was very The complexity of the calculus

complex. Even the best students problem that the teacher had assigned
became frustrated. frustrated even the best students.
The scientist mixed these two The creation of this compound was the
chemicals to create a compound. result of mixing these two chemicals.
The soldiers treated the prisoners The soldier’s humane treatment of

humanely. This was noted in the report. the prisoners was noted in the report.
The gas was toxic. The workers The toxicity of the gas left the
began gasping. workers gasping.
Nominalization in these examples results in greater lexical den-

sity. When verbs and adjectives are turned into nouns, the nouns can
become part of a complex noun phrase, as is shown in the second set
of sentences in the table. For example, changing the verb introduce
into the noun introduction results in a noun phrase with 10 words, as
shown in the first example. The other examples are similar. These
long noun phrases that are typical of academic writing are difficult
for SELs and ELLs to understand or produce.
Teaching Nominalization
Secondary students can learn to incorporate nominalization into
their writing with focused instruction. The first step would be for the
teacher to give students a list of verbs and adjectives and ask them
to convert these words into nouns. To help students do this, a teacher
could give students a list of suffixes that are used to change verbs
and adjectives into nouns, such as –tion (destroy, destruction), –ness
(happy, happiness), –al (dismiss, dismissal).
When students understand nominalization, they can rewrite
sentences that have nominalizations as simple sentences with adjec-
tives and verbs. Later, students could begin to write their own sen-
tences with nominalizations. Lessons on nominalization would be
for advanced level ELLs and SELs.
Abstraction
Academic texts are also more abstract than conversational texts.
Nominalizations make texts more abstract. Normally, speakers or
writers communicate ideas in a concrete way. The syntax reflects the
way we experience events. For example, when we say, “The soldiers
treated the prisoners humanely,” the order of the words follows the
common subject-verb-object pattern. English speakers expect sen-
tences to follow this pattern of actor, action, and thing acted on. That
is, someone does something to someone or something. However,
when the verb is turned into a noun, the result is a long noun phrase,
“The soldiers’ humane treatment of the prisoners” that expresses an
abstract idea rather than describing an action.
In the passage about fossil fuels, nominalizations also make the
text more abstract. If we write, “When people burn fossil fuels, the
process releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.” the result is a
concrete sentence. Someone does something with a certain result.
However, by using the nominalized form “Burning fossil fuels,” the
authors make this an abstract concept with no people involved.
The use of passives also makes academic texts abstract. The
passage on fossil fuels contains several passives, such as “When
petroleum products and coal are burned, smoke is given off that con-
tains small particles called particulates.” This is much more abstract
than a sentence like, “When people burn petroleum products and coal,
the process creates smoke that contains small particles called particu-
lates.” In active sentences the grammatical subject is the person or
thing that does the action, but in a passive sentence, the grammatical
subject is acted upon rather than being the one acting. If we say
“People burn coal and petroleum products,” the grammatical subject,
“people,” is the actor, but in the passive construction, “Petroleum
products and coal are burned,” the grammatical subject, “petroleum
products and coal” it having something done to it. They are not acting
but being acted on, and the result is a more abstract construction.
Features of Academic
Texts in Different Disciplines
In addition to these general characteristics of academic language, the
academic texts in each discipline have specific features that make it
difficult for ELLs and SELs to comprehend or produce them. Math
textbooks are difficult to read because they contain mathematical sym-
bols and expressions, diagrams and other figures, and natural language.
In addition, many common words, such as point, have meanings spe-
cific to math. Math also has complex expressions, such as least com-
mon multiple and negative exponent. Further, ELLs and SELs often fail
to notice the difference between expressions like divided into and
divided by, but the difference is important for understanding the opera-
tion to be completed. Science also contains diagrams and other figures
as well as technical vocabulary. In history texts, students are required
to read primary documents that contain archaic language.
Language arts contains academic language as well. The syntax
of stories is often quite different from conversational syntax. For
instance, consider the sentence, “Once upon a time, in a far distant
land, there lived a man who had three beautiful daughters.”
Conversational English would be quite different, “A man with three
beautiful daughters lived in a distant land.” Even stories for young
students have sentences like, “Up jumped the gingerbread man, and
down the road he ran.” Here, up and down are moved to positions in
front of the verbs, whereas in conversational language they would
follow the verbs.
More advanced literature often contains long, complex sentences.

For example, in The Wings of the Dove Henry James (1902) wrote the
following sentence, “The fact bloomed for him, in the firelight and
lamplight that glowed their welcome through the London fog, as the
flower of her difference; just as her difference itself—part of which
was her striking him as older in a degree for which no mere couple
of months could account—was the fruit of their intimate relation”
(p. 340). Although his sentences are extremely long and complex,
literature contains many examples of sentences like these, and students
need to learn to read literature with this complex syntax. In addition,
the technical vocabulary used to analyze literature, such as hyperbole,
setting, and plot do not appear in literature, so students cannot acquire
this vocabulary by simply reading literary texts.
As these examples show, whereas academic texts in general
may be characterized as containing technical vocabulary and being
lexically dense and abstract, each academic discipline has its own
features that make understanding oral presentations and reading
and writing texts difficult for SELs and ELLs. When teachers teach
both academic language and academic content, ELLs and SELs
have more chances to succeed. Often teachers do teach the technical
vocabulary of their disciplines, but it is also necessary to teach
academic grammar and syntax.
REFLECT AND APPLY
Look over a textbook that is being used in your school with your
students. Choose a passage from the textbook, and analyze it as we
have done for lexical density, technical vocabulary, and abstraction.
What did you discover? What kinds of difficulties might your students
have with the text?
Conclusion
As views of grammar and syntax have changed, the way teachers
teach grammar and syntax have also changed. There was a shift from
a heavy emphasis on traditional grammar teaching for ELLs and SELs
to little or no teaching of grammar or syntax. Currently, there is a
move back to having teachers write language objectives and to teach
grammar with an emphasis on the grammar of academic language.
C hapter T hree
Practical Application
to the Classroom for
Grammar and Syntax
Teaching Grammar in Context

Teachers who teach grammar in the context of students’ writing
and speech (Weaver, 1996) build on the tradition of the early studies
in rhetoric. When instruction applies directly to student writing, it
helps them produce more effective pieces. Students need many
opportunities for meaningful writing, and when they have produced
a good piece of writing, they are motivated to edit it to ensure that
the grammar and syntax are conventional. Students can also be shown
how to enhance the rhetorical effects of their writing through careful
organization and choice of examples.
Using Sentence Frames

An example from an elementary class shows how a teacher
helped her students write complex sentences. The fourth-grade ELLs
and SELs were writing simple sentences or compound sentences
connected by “and.” The teacher wanted them to begin to write
complex sentences. One strategy she used was sentence frames. The
class had just finished reading Mañana Iguana (Long, 2004), a story
25
based on the familiar little red hen folktale. The teacher chose this
version because her students lived in a rural area in the Southwest
where iguanas were common. The teacher divided her students into
groups. Each group was given a vocabulary word like disappointed,
frustrated, or exhausted. They were also given a sentence frame,
“Iguana was _________ because _________________. The groups
completed their sentences using their vocabulary word and then
supplying a reason. One group wrote, “Iguana was frustrated
because she had to do all the work.” Another group wrote, “Iguana
was depressed because nobody would help her.” When they finished,
the groups put their sentences on sentence strips and inserted them
into a semantic web chart that all the students could see.
Sentence frames are a good way to scaffold students’ develop-
ment of more complex syntactic structures. A third-grade teacher
was teaching a unit on Africa. Students chose a country to research
and then developed a travel brochure to attract people to the country.
The teacher gave students sentence frames for each of the para-
graphs in the brochure. “You should travel to ______ because
__________________. Students completed this sentence by listing
three reasons someone should visit their country. To help structure
the remaining paragraphs, the teacher gave students sentence starters
such as “First of all __________”, “Another reason _________”,
and “Finally __________.” This scaffolded instruction enabled
her students to write well-structured travel brochures.
Sentence Combining
In secondary classes, teachers can introduce advanced grammar
and syntactic structures for their more proficient ELLs and SELs. For
example, one secondary teacher decided to teach her advanced ELLs
and SELs to use participle phrases used as adjectives through a sen-
tence combining activity. First, the teacher explained that participles
are present and past tense verb forms like “ringing” and “rung,” and
they can be used in different ways in a sentence. One way is to
modify a noun, as in “the swollen river” and “Walking slowly, the
man looked at the river.” She gave several other examples and then
had students work in small groups to find participles in novels they
were reading. When the students were able to identify participles
used as adjectives, the teacher gave them a series of sentences to
combine, such as the following:
Practical Application to the Classroom for Grammar and Syntax 27
The boy ran across the yard.

He tripped on a hose.
The hose was stretched across the lawn.
The boy hurt his shoulder.
The teacher told the students to combine each set of sentences

into one or two complex sentences using participle phrases. The
students worked in pairs to combine the sentences, and then they
shared their sentences with their classmates. One pair combined
the set of sentences about the boy this way: “Running across the
yard, the boy tripped on a hose stretched across the lawn, hurting
his shoulder.” Through practice with combining sentences such as
these and sharing them with classmates, the students learned how
to vary their writing by incorporating participles. Later, the teacher
taught students to avoid using dangling participles. She explained
that an initial participle phrase must be followed by a subject. She
wrote, “Running across the yard, a hose caused the boy to trip.”
Then she explained that “running across the yard” is a dangling
participle because the subject, “the boy,” has to follow the intro-
ductory phrase here. The hose is not running. The teacher gave
other examples and had her students look for and correct dangling
participles in their writing.
Mini Lessons—Cleft Sentences

A second way for ELLs and SELs to vary their sentences is by
using a structure that is referred to as a cleft sentence. Like the
sentences with participle phrases, cleft sentences can be used by
students at the advanced levels, and even if they don’t use them
often in their own writing, they need to understand them in the
texts they read, so teaching students about cleft sentences is useful.
In a lesson on using cleft sentences, the teacher explained that
they usually start with “What” or “It” and then the subject is moved
to the right of the verb. He showed the students that instead of
writing, “I hoped that the results of the experiment would confirm
my hypothesis,” he could transform the sentence and write, “What
I hoped was that the results of the experiment would confirm my
hypothesis.” He gave several other examples and then gave the
students a series of sentences to transform by starting each sentence

with “What.”
Next, the teacher gave examples of cleft sentences beginning
with “It.’ He gave the example: “Claudius murdered the king.” he
showed that this sentence could be rewritten as, “It was Claudius
who murdered the king.” Again, the teacher had students work
together to transform a series of sentences by starting with “It.”
Next, the teacher showed his students that both of these kinds of
cleft sentences appear in negative form. He gave them examples,
such as, “I hoped the experiment would confirm my hypothesis.
What I did not hope for was that the experiment would disprove the
hypothesis” or “Claudius murdered the king. It was not Hamlet who
murdered the king.”
After providing several examples, the teacher gave his students
several positive sentences and asked them to write the negative
using a cleft following the model, “He knew the names of the states.
What he didn’t know was the names of the capitals of each state.”
And “He knew the names of the states. It was the names of the
capitals that he didn’t know.” The lessons on participles and cleft
sentences provide students with advanced grammatical structures
that occur in academic writing. Students with higher levels of
English proficiency can learn to read and write these structures.
Using Passives Effectively

Teachers generally encourage students to write using active voice.
Active voice is appropriate for writing narratives and reports. However,
sin some cases, passive sentences are more effective. Passive voice is
often used in science and history when the focus is on what was done
rather than on who did it. For example, in writing a procedural recount,
the student does not have to write, “First we collected seeds. Then we
classified the seeds. We sorted them into five categories.” The use of
active voice here puts the focus on the people doing the experiment.
However, the focus should be on the steps the students followed.
By using passives, students can shift the focus. For example, they
could write, “First seeds were collected. Then they were classified.
They were sorted into five categories.” Of course, the writer could
also combine these three sentences into one passive sentence.
Once students understand the purpose of passive voice, a teacher

can carry out different lessons to help students learn to write in
passive voice. One tenth-grade teacher began with a mini lesson.
She wrote a simple sentence on the board: “The dog chased the cat.”
Then she asked students who was doing the action in this sentence,
and the students all chose the dog. Next, she asked who was being
acted on, and students responded, “The cat.” The teacher explained
that the actor in this sentence is the subject and the one being acted
on is the object. She labeled “the dog” as the subject and “the cat”
as the object.
As a next step, the teacher asked, “How could we change the
sentence to make the cat the subject but still keep the same meaning?”
Students talked together and then suggested the sentence, “The
cat was chased by the dog.” The teacher explained that this struc-
ture was a passive sentence. She worked with the students to
show the steps involved in transforming an active sentence into a
passive sentence. Then she gave students a passage from their
history textbook and asked them to identify passive sentences in
the passage. The students practiced identifying passive sentences
in different texts.
When students could easily identify most passive sentences
in a passage, the teacher had students rewrite the sentences into
active voice. The class discussed whether active or passive sen-
tences were more effective. As a final step, the teacher gave the
students passages and had them change the active sentences into
passive sentences. Throughout the series of lessons, the class
discussed when to use passives and when active sentences were
more effective.
Lessons that focus on specific grammatical structures that
students read and write can help them develop the grammar of
academic language. Sentence, paragraph, or whole text frames can
help ELLs and SELs structure their writing. More advanced stu-
dents can benefit from lessons on sentence combining and mini
lessons on grammatical structures such as participle phrases, cleft
sentences, and effective use of passives. Lessons on specific gram-
matical structures followed by practice and independent use help
build the academic language proficiency ELLs and SELs need to
succeed in school.
REFLECT AND APPLY
We provided some examples of how teachers used sentence,

paragraph, and whole text frames to help students make their
writing more academic. We also showed how teachers could
teach sentence combining and use a series of mini lessons to
teach more advanced structures, such as participle phrases, cleft
sentences, and passives. Consider a structure that you would like
your students to be able to use in their writing, and teach it to
your students using a frame structure or mini lessons. Be pre-
pared to share the lesson and the results.
Lessons Based on Structural Functional Linguistics

The work of Halliday (1994) and other structural functional
linguists has led to the development of curriculum based on the view
of grammar as a functional resource. This approach involves teach-
ing academic genres. Genres are types of texts, such as explanations,
descriptions, and procedures. Teachers following this approach
teach students the structure of the different academic genres and the
language used in the genres.
A Lesson on Magnets
Gibbons (2009, 2014) gives many examples of how teachers can
develop curriculum based on the view of language as functional
resource. She shows how successful teachers scaffold instruction to
help second language learners develop the genres they need to com-
municate successfully in classroom settings.
For example, she describes how a teacher scaffolds language in
a lesson on magnets. Fourth-grade students work in small groups to
discover how magnets attract or repel certain objects. Then the
teacher demonstrates how magnets work and uses and defines the
terms attract and repel. Then she scaffolds students’ language as
they make oral reports of their findings from the small group activity
and helps them use terms like attract and repel. Finally, students
write about the experiments in their science notebooks.
The teacher might extend the lesson by showing students a
model report on a science topic, deconstructing the report working
with the students, and then constructing a new report on another sci-
ence topic following the model. Once students learn to write science
reports, they could use the notes from their science notebooks to
write a report on magnets following the report genre.
This sequence of having students do a science activity in small
groups, giving a short demonstration lesson to introduce key
concepts, scaffolding students’ oral reports, and then having stu-
dents write builds their academic language and their academic
content knowledge. Gibbons’s approach is based on the idea of
language as a functional resource that develops in contexts of use.
That is, as students use language for real purposes, such as report-
ing on their group work and writing the results of their experiments,
they build the language they need to communicate effectively in
academic contexts.
Text Level Deconstruct and Reconstruct

An important component of the Teaching and Learning Cycle
based on a view of language as a functional resource is the decon-
struction and reconstruction of a model text. One high school
biology teacher wanted his students to write the steps they took to
dissect a frog. They had carried out the procedure, and now they
were ready to write a procedural recount. A recount is a retelling
of an experience.
The teacher began by bringing in an example of a procedural
recount a student from another class had written to tell about an
experiment he had conducted. The teacher projected the report and
read through it with his class. Then he discussed with the students
how the recount was organized. It had a title, an introduction that
briefly gave an overview of the procedure, and then a series of
paragraphs to describe the steps. At the end was a short summary
conclusion.
When the students were familiar with the components of the
genre, the teacher had them look at how the paragraphs were
connected. The students recognized that the writer had used time
sequence words, such as first, then, and finally. They also noticed
that the writer used past tense verbs.
After the class had worked to deconstruct this model text, the
teacher worked with them to construct a recount using the informa-
tion from their frog dissection activity. He reminded the students of
the parts of a procedural recount and the importance of connecting

sentences with time sequence words and using past tense verbs.
Later, students wrote their own recounts of procedures with a focus
on using signal words and past tense verb forms.
Read and Retell

Read and Retell (Brown & Cambourne, 1987) is a strategy that
is consistent with Gibbons’s approach. The authors have developed
an effective way for students to improve in reading and writing dif-
ferent genres. This is a procedure they call “Read and Retell.”
Students read extensively in one genre, such as social studies
reports. Each day, the teacher selects a short example of the genre
the students have been reading. He writes the title on the board. Then
he tells the students to write one or two sentences about what a
report with such a title might include. After they have written their
predictions, he asks them to write down some words or phrases they
might find in this report if their prediction from the title is right.
Next, students form groups of three or four. They take turns
reading their predictions to the group. Then, each student makes a
comment on the written predictions of one other member of the
group. Everyone else listens. At this point, the teacher passes out the
excerpt, usually no more than a page, and everyone reads the text.
The teacher may read it aloud first and then have the students read it
over to themselves. Or the teacher may simply ask the students to
read silently, depending on their level of English proficiency. After
this, students are asked to do a written retelling. They turn over the
paper with the excerpt, and write their retelling on the back without
looking at the excerpt. They work quickly and don’t worry about
neatness or spelling. When students have had time to write their
retellings, they find a partner and compare their retelling with their
partner’s retelling.
They ask each other questions, such as, “What did I include or
omit that is different from what you included or omitted? Why did
you omit a certain part? Are there any parts that I got mixed up?
Does it change the meaning of the excerpt in a significant way? Did
you paraphrase effectively? If you could take part of my retelling
and put it in yours, what would you borrow?”
Brown and Cambourne (1987) report that repeated use of the
Read and Retell strategy improves students’ reading and writing.
They found that many of the words, phrases, and structures students
used in their written retellings appeared later in the students’ other
written work. This process of focused reading and writing helps
students gain greater understanding of the different academic genres.
REFLECT AND APPLY
Look over the lessons on teaching academic grammar and syntax

described in this chapter. With your students, try one of these, and
be prepared to report back the results.
C hapter F our
Fostering Literacy
With Grammar and Syntax
Reading and Writing Academic Texts

Both ELL and SEL students need to read and write academic texts.
Teachers can help students develop academic literacy by teaching
the grammar and syntax of academic language. All too often, the focus
of instruction is on vocabulary, but as we discussed in Chapter 2,
academic texts pose challenges beyond the word level. In this chapter
we discuss how teachers can support ELLs and SELs by teaching the
grammar and syntax of academic texts.
Teaching Grammar
and Syntax at Different Levels
To help ELLs and SELs develop academic language proficiency,
teachers can teach grammar and syntax by focusing on different
levels starting with the text level and then moving to the paragraph
and sentence levels.
Text-Level Grammar and Syntax

The first thing students need to communicate effectively in aca
demic settings is to understand the different genres of each subject
35
area. An academic genre is a type of text that is commonly used in

an academic discipline. In language arts, some typical genres are
plays, poetry, and narratives. In social studies typical genres would
be historical recounts and accounts. In science students read and
write procedures and explanations. Word problems in math are a
genre as well. Each genre is structured in a particular way, and
effective communication requires students to follow the expected
patterns of the genre. Research by systemic functional linguists
(Schleppegrell 2004) has helped educators understand genres and
how to teach them.
Various academic genres are structured differently. For example,
one genre students need to read and write is a historical recount.
This genre recounts a historical event. Historical recounts typically
include a section giving background by summarizing previous events
leading up to the event that will be described. This is followed by a
description of the events as they occurred. Historical recounts end
with a section in which the writer or speaker explains the significance
of the events.
Other genres have different components. For example, reports
have a title followed by a general statement that identifies the
topic and explains its relationship to other topics. A report on pine
trees would identify them as a certain type of tree. The general
statement usually includes the subtopics of the report. Then there
is information on each of the subtopics. Finally, there may be a
summarizing comment.
Structures and Features of Genres

Genres have both predictable structures and predictable gram
matical features. For example, a procedure would include impe
rative verb forms, and a procedural recount would use past tense
verbs. A personal recount would have first-person pronouns, and
a historical recount would use third person. Recounts would use
time sequence conjunctions, while accounts and explanations
would use cause-and-effect connectors. For ELLs and SELs, the
challenge is to understand the general components of each genre
and then use the grammatical forms common to the genre. When
teachers of the different academic subjects model and carefully
teach the different genres their students are expected to read and
Fostering Literacy With Grammar and Syntax 37
write, they provide the scaffolded instruction students need to

develop the academic language.
Teaching Academic Genres

In her book Engaging Students in Academic Literacies: Genre-
Based Pedagogy for K–5 Classrooms, Brisk (2015) provides a
detailed account of how she worked with preservice and in-service
teachers in two urban schools with many ELLs and SELs over a
period of 5 years using the curriculum cycle. During this time, she
helped them develop a genre-based pedagogy that involved students
in reading and writing different academic genres.
Through intensive summer sessions, monthly professional dev
elopment, and weekly in-classroom support, Brisk, her colleagues,
and graduate students worked with teachers at these two schools to
transform their writing instruction. After the first year, teachers met
together and planned their writing curriculum. The teachers used a
curriculum cycle that was expanded to meet the needs of English
learners. For example, the teachers provided a graphic organizer to
aid students in understanding the structure of each genre. For English
learners at lower levels of proficiency, their finished work could be a
graphic that they created rather than a full piece of writing.
Brisk describes in detail how teachers taught different genre
units and how they were adapted to different grade levels. For
example, in the procedures unit in Grade 1, teachers and students
jointly constructed a text for a procedure students had seen demon
strated. The students used prepared sentence strips to present the
procedure and then added images to the steps. In Grade 5 students
wrote the procedures needed to set up simple science experiments
but did not use sentence strips or images.
For each genre, Brisk (2015) lists “suggestions for unit prepara
tion and teaching of purpose, stages of the genre (text structure), and
aspects of language that would be most helpful to develop in order
for children to write in that particular genre” (p. x). The genres
include procedures, recounts, reports, explanations, arguments, and
fictional narratives. Brisk’s book explains how the curriculum cycle,
also referred to as the Teaching and Learning Cycle, can be used in
classrooms to teach all students, including emergent bilinguals, to
write the academic genres.
REFLECT AND APPLY
Choose a subject area, and a type of genre within that subject area.
For example, you might choose to have students write a historical
account of an important event in history. Have students look at some
newspaper accounts of recent events. Once students understand the
information an account needs, work with students to analyze an
example of a historical account. Then work together with students to
write an account. Finally, have students work independently to write
a historical account. You could also follow this procedure with a
different genre. With the added scaffolding you provided, were stu-
dents able to write clear historical accounts? Be prepared to share
your lesson and the results.
Paragraph-Level Grammar and Syntax

Often, ELLs and SELs have difficulty in writing paragraphs that
follow the conventions of academic writing. Writing that is judged
to be good academic writing contains different features that give it
cohesion. Schleppegrell (2004) points out that writers connect ideas
by using pronouns, conjunctions, and nominalization, among other
strategies. Consider the following paragraph:
The soldiers and priests of New Spain were already acquainted

with raising cattle in Spain. Many were skilled horsemen.
Even so, they needed help in rounding up the livestock on their
sprawling lands.
We have underlined the subject of each sentence in the para

graph. The subject of the first sentence is “The soldiers and priests
of New Spain.” The next sentence starts with the pronoun, “Many,”
which refers to the soldiers and priests. The subject of the third
sentence is “they,” another pronoun that refers to the soldiers and
priests. The subject of each sentence is linked to the subjects of the
other sentences, and the result is a cohesive paragraph.
Writers also use conjunctions, such as however, nevertheless,
and as a result, to connect sentences and give texts cohesion. Often
ELLs and SELs know only a limited number of these conjunctions.
They may use a word like because every time they try to show cause
and effect. Students need to develop a greater repertoire of conjunc

tions and begin to use more academic words and phrases, such as
consequently or for that reason.
A third device writers use to connect sentences is nominalization.
Earlier, we explained that nominalization is a process of turning
verbs or adjectives into nouns. For example, the verb procrastinate can
become the noun procrastination by the addition of the suffix –ion.
The adjective sincere becomes the noun sincerity with the addition
of –ity. Sentences in academic writing are often connected by the
process of nominalization. The paragraph about the soldiers and
priests of New Spain relies primarily on pronouns for cohesion. If
the next sentence read, “This need was filled by Native Americans”
the nominal form need would link with the verb need in the previous
sentence and provide more cohesion.
Teachers can teach these cohesive devices to help students
improve their paragraphs. Elementary teachers, for example, could
teach students to check that each pronoun they use refers to a noun
that occurred earlier. Students might draw an arrow from each
pronoun to its antecedent. Teachers could also ask students to check
to be sure that the pronoun and the antecedent agree in number and
gender. Secondary students could practice using more advanced
forms, such as nominals, to connect sentences. In addition, they
could practice adding signal words and phrases, such as in the same
way or nevertheless to connect sentences in their paragraphs and to
connect one paragraph to the next.
REFLECT AND APPLY
Find a passage from a textbook your students are reading that

has clear connections among the sentences. Ask students to
work together to circle pronouns, conjunctions, and nominal-
izations that give the paragraph cohesion. Report back on
how the lesson went.
Three Types of Paragraph Cohesion

Brown (2009) describes three ways that writers create cohesive
paragraphs. He begins by explaining that sentences can be divided
into two parts: the topic and the comment. The topic is the beginning
of the sentence or clause, and the comment is what follows. The
comment “is the place where the writer develops the message of
the sentence or clause, where the writer ‘comments on’ the Topic”
(p. 72). These two sections correspond to the subject and predicate
of the sentence. For example, in the first sentence from the example
in the previous paragraph, “The soldiers and priests of New Spain
were already acquainted with raising cattle in Spain,” the topic is
‘The soldiers and priests of New Spain” and the comment is the
remainder of the sentence. Writers can link sentences in a paragraph
by connecting the topic of one sentence with either the topic or the
comment of the preceding sentence. Brown refers to the ways of
connecting sentences in a paragraph as constant, derived, or chained.
Writers may use just one of these patterns or, more commonly,
combine all three.
Constant Topic
The paragraph about the soldiers and priests provides a good
example of the first pattern: a constant topic. The topics are
“The soldiers and priests of New Spain,” “Many,” “they.” The topic
of each sentence is the soldiers and priests. The writing is varied
through the use of the pronouns, many and they, but the topic is
constant. By keeping a constant topic, a writer creates cohesion.
Many students produce paragraphs in which the sentences do not
seem to connect to one another. A good first step might be to teach
them this constant topic pattern and have them practice using the
pattern in their writing.
Derived Topic
A second pattern that Brown (2009) identifies is a derived
topic. This pattern is similar to the constant topic. However,
instead of all the topics being the same, the topic of the first sen
tence is more general, and the topics of the following sentences
are derived from or examples of the first topic. For example, if the
topic of the first sentence is plants, a derived topic might be a type
of plant, such as a dandelion. The following paragraph illustrates
this pattern:
Different immigrant groups settled the West. Eastern city

dwellers came for the promise of new land. Unemployed
workers came to find work in the new territories. Adventurers
came to seek gold.
As this example shows, paragraphs that follow the derived pat

tern are often used when writers give examples of a general topic.
Here, the first sentence introduces the general topic, immigrant
groups, and the following sentences each describe one type of
group. The result is a cohesive paragraph.
Chained Topic
The third pattern Brown discusses is chaining. Chaining
occurs when the comment of one sentence becomes the topic of
the next sentence. The following paragraph contains sentences
that are chained:
The discovery of gold in California led to an influx of for

tune seekers. Many of these men and women landed in San
Francisco. The city grew very rapidly with this influx of
new residents. Not all of the people who came were honest.
The comment in the first sentence ends with “fortune seekers.”

The next sentence begins with “Many of these men and women,”
a reference to the fortune seekers. The second sentence ends with
‘San Francisco,” and the following sentence begins with ‘the city.”
This paragraph is cohesive because the topic of each sentence con
nects with the comment of the previous sentence. Chaining is the
most common way that writers of academic texts create cohesion,
but most academic texts use all three patterns.
Teaching Paragraph Cohesion

Brown suggests several activities to help students learn how to
use the three patterns to give their paragraphs greater cohesion. First,
the teacher explains what the topic of a clause is and has students
practice finding the topics of a series of sentences. Then the teacher
explains that the rest of a clause is called the comment. Students
divide clauses into the topic and comment.
Once students can identify the topic and comment of clauses, the
teacher introduces the three patterns for paragraph cohesion one at a
time. Students are given paragraphs for each type of cohesion and
asked to find the connections between sentences. They can also
identify places where there are no links between sentences as well.
Once they have identified these places, they can write or rewrite a
sentence to create a link. After students are able to write paragraphs
with a constant topic, the teacher can continue by teaching them how
to connect sentences with derived and chained topics.
To write in the academic genres, ELLs and SELs need to write
cohesive paragraphs. Teachers can help students write cohesive
paragraphs by explaining the three ways to connect sentences and
then having students practice writing and rewriting paragraphs to
make them more cohesive.
REFLECT AND APPLY
Choose a subject area (science, language arts, or social studies)

and a topic (photosynthesis, theme of a novel, or indigenous groups
in the Midwest). Then write three paragraphs on the topic you
chose using different types of paragraph cohesion. One paragraph
should have a constant topic, the next a derived topic, and the last
a chained topic. Share the paragraphs with your colleagues. What
did you notice about writing these three paragraphs? Do you think
it would be helpful to use this approach to teaching paragraph
cohesion with your students?
Sentence-Level Grammar and Syntax

Complex sentences are typical of academic language, and ELLs and
SELs are expected to be able to read and write texts that contain
complex sentences. Here is a short passage typical of what is written
in history texts:
Washington’s troops struggled to defeat the British because

they lacked supplies and organization. Since many of the
men who volunteered were farmers and tradesmen with no
military training and no long-term commitment to fighting

in a war that they didn’t fully understand, Washington had
difficulty planning his campaign.
These two sentences contain six clauses. Readers need to figure

out how the ideas in these clauses are related to one another and
which are the main ideas. This is a formidable challenge for ELLs
and SELs. Teachers can help students with reading and writing texts
with multiple clauses by showing them the different ways clauses
are combined in English. While traditional approaches to teaching
grammar are not effective for improving students’ reading or writing,
a close examination of the language in students’ textbooks or in their
own writing using a systemic functional approach can give students
insights into how sentences are structured.
Types of Clauses
In traditional grammar, clauses are categorized as independent or
dependent. Independent clauses can stand alone as complete sen
tences, but dependent clauses must be connected to an independent
clause. In the first sentence of the history passage, for example, the
first clause, “Washington’s troops struggled to defeat the British,” is
independent because it could stand as a complete sentence by itself.
The second clause, “because they lacked supplies and organization,”
is dependent since it is not a complete sentence. The second sentence
begins with a dependent clause that is followed by an independent
clause. Students must recognize that the main ideas are in indepen
dent clauses, and the dependent clauses provide additional informa
tion about the independent clause. In these sentences, the dependent
clauses provide reasons for the facts in the independent clauses.
Functional linguists distinguish between two types of dependent
clauses. Some dependent clauses are connected to the independent
clause by a conjunction such as because. In the passage about the
troops, the second clause is of this type. Some dependent clauses are
embedded within another clause. In the second sentence, the clauses,
“who volunteered” and “that they didn’t fully understand” are
embedded inside the dependent clause.
A common function of an embedded clause is to provide more
information about a noun that precedes it. In the previous example,
the embedded clauses tell the reader more about the men in the army
and the war. Embedding clauses results in long noun phrases:
“men who volunteered” and “a war that they didn’t fully understand.”
Such complex nominal phrases are typical of academic writing, and
teachers should discuss how embedded clauses function in academic
writing so that ELLs and SELs can better understand what they read
and also begin to write sentences with embedded clauses.
Sentence-Level Deconstruct and Reconstruct

One way that teachers can help students understand the complex
writing of academic texts is through a process Fang (2008) refers to as
Deconstruct Reconstruct. For example, the teacher might begin with a
short passage like the one about Washington’s army. The teacher
should choose a passage that is important for students to understand
because the goal is always to teach both language and content.
Washington’s troops struggled to defeat the British because

they lacked supplies and organization. Since many of the
men who volunteered were farmers and tradesmen with no
military training and no long-term commitment to fighting
in a war that they didn’t fully understand, Washington had
difficulty planning his campaign.
The teacher works with the students to rewrite the passage into
a series of simple sentences. In this paragraph one of the clauses has
a compound object of the preposition, and it contains two important
ideas, so the teacher rewrites the two noun phrases as separate simple
sentences. This produces the following:
Washington’s troops struggled to defeat the British

They lacked supplies and organization.
Many of the men were farmers and tradesmen with no military
training.
They had no long-term commitment to fighting in a war
The men volunteered
They didn’t fully understand the war
Washington had difficulty planning his campaign.
Next, the teacher passes the list of sentences out to the stu
dents. Then the students, working in groups, decide how to com
bine the simple sentences into complex sentences without looking
at the original passage. When they finish, the groups write or
project their results on the board and explain the process they
went through as they decided how to combine the sentences. The
class then creates a composite paragraph using ideas from all the
groups. What is important here is for students to talk about how
and why they combined sentences as they did. Students can also
compare their reconstructed paragraphs with the original. In some
cases, students may decide they like their version better than what
the published author wrote.
Combining Sentences
To scaffold this activity, the teacher can give students practice
in combining sentences beginning with non-embedded clauses.
The teacher should use examples related to the content the class is
studying. The teacher might begin with two simple sentences logi
cally related by cause and effect, such as “Washington’s troops
struggled to defeat the British. They lacked supplies and organiza
tion,” and discuss different ways they could be combined. Students
might write, “Washington’s troops struggled to defeat the British
since they lacked supplies and organization.” They could discuss
the difference between this sentence and one that begins with the
clause about supplies and organization: “They lacked supplies and
organization; therefore, Washington’s troops struggled to defeat the
British.” This process helps the students understand that the order
of clauses can be changed. The class can also discuss the idea that
the clause that comes first is the one the writer wants the reader to
focus on. One order puts the focus on Washington’s troops’ struggle,
and the other emphasizes the lack of organization and supplies.
After students have practiced with other pairs of sentences showing
cause and effect, the teacher can introduce sentences related in
other ways, such as sequence.
When students understand how to combine sentences using
non-embedded clauses, the teacher can introduce embedded clauses.
The teacher might give students two sentences such as “Washington’s
troops struggled to defeat the British” and “They were disorganized
and lacked supplies.” First, students can discuss how these two sen
tences can be combined to show cause and effect. Then, the teacher
can show them that the sentences can also be combined by putting
one clause inside the other to produce “Washington’s troops, who
lacked organization and supplies, struggled to defeat the British.”
Then, students can practice this new way of combining clauses with
other sentence pairs.
After showing students the two basic ways of combining clauses,
teachers can have students analyze passages in their textbooks to see
how the writers combined ideas into complex sentences. Students can
also begin to use these kinds of sentences in their own writing.
Carefully scaffolded instruction on the structure of complex sen
tences can help ELLs and struggling readers and writers understand
and produce academic texts.
REFLECT AND APPLY
Choose an important passage from a textbook the students are

reading, a passage that has information you want your students
to remember. Do the Deconstruct Reconstruct activity using the
passage. Be prepared to share your lesson and the results with
your colleagues.
Signal Words
As students learn to combine simple sentences in different ways to
produce more complex writing, they need to develop a repertoire of
words and phrases to connect clauses. Many ELLs and SELs over
use a few common connectors because their vocabulary is limited.
One way to help students move past this early stage is to build their
vocabulary by introducing other, more precise, words to show the
rela
tionships between ideas. These transition words are often
referred to as signal words because they signal to the reader how two
ideas are related. Signal words may connect ideas within a sentence
or across sentences. Fisher, Rothenberg, and Frey (2007) explain
how a team of ninth-grade teachers worked to help their students
develop signal words to link ideas.
The teachers examined student writing and found that their
ELLs and SELs often left transitions out. The teachers found a
word list that grouped signal words by function. The functions
included addition, example, comparison, contrast, cause and effect,

concession, and conclusion. For each function, they listed several
words. For example, for addition, the list included also, and,
besides, furthermore, in addition, indeed, in fact, moreover, so, and
too (Fisher et al., 2007, p. 52).
The teachers posted a list with one or two signal words for
each function in their rooms as a word wall. They took time on a
regular basis to review the words with their students. As they
read aloud to their students, they made a point of emphasizing
words in the texts that were on the list. Students also added new
words for each function. According to Fisher and his colleagues,
“Over time, students started to notice the terms in their reading
and began incorporating them into their writing” (p. 51). The
process the teachers used enabled the struggling SELs and ELLs
in their ninth-grade classes to enrich their academic vocabulary
by adding signal words and phrases that showed logical connections
between ideas.
REFLECT AND APPLY
Signal words have different functions. Post the following functions

with some signal word examples in your classroom. Add more
signal words for each function during your teaching as they come
up in readings and discussion. Be prepared to share the function
words that come up in your class.
Addition: also, furthermore

Example: for example, such as
Cause and effect: because, therefore
Sequence: first, next, last
Comparison; similarly, in a like manner
Contrast: but, on the other hand
Concession: nevertheless, however
Conclusion: finally, in sum
Additional Activities
to Develop Academic Syntax
Fang (2008) describes another strategy to help ELLs and SELs read
and write complex academic sentences. This strategy involves trans
lating or paraphrasing an informational text written in academic
language into everyday spoken English. For this strategy, students
work in small groups to develop a radio show series they will record
on tape. The teacher gives each group a short informational text. The
groups rewrite the text into a 3- to 5-minute segment for a radio talk
show. Once students write the text, they practice reading it on audio
tape. They listen to the recording and compare it with the original
informational text. They can also discuss the kinds of changes they
made to convert the written text into speech. This is a good activity
for ELLs and SELs because it helps them understand the differences
between spoken and written language.
Using Predictable Books

Younger ELLs and SELs as well as older ELLs and SELs at begin
ning levels of English literacy proficiency can develop their knowledge
of syntax by reading and writing predictable books. Many books for
beginning readers follow a predictable pattern. For example, Mom
(Randell, Giles, & Smith, 1996) follows a consistent pattern. On page
one, the text reads, “Mom is cooking” (p. 2). Each of the following
pages shows a picture of Mom doing a different activity, and the text
on each page follows the same pattern. Pages include “Mom is painting”
(p. 4), “Mom is swimming” (p. 8), and “Mom is reading” (p. 14). This
book is predictable because only the verb changes and the syntactic
pattern is constant. By reading books such as these, ELLs and SELs
receive repeated exposure to the pattern. They can follow up by writing
their own books about family members using this pattern.
Books for more advanced students can be used to introduce more
complex syntactic patterns. For example, in the book I Love You
More (Duksta, 2007), the mother compares her love for her child
using comparatives in complex structures, including “I love you
higher than the highest bird ever flew” (p. 3). Each page contains
another comparison using the same syntactic structure. ELLs and
SELs hearing or reading this book will acquire this syntactic structure
over time, and then they can write their own books using this pattern.
REFLECT AND APPLY
Look for some predictable limited-text books that would be appro-

priate for your ELL or SEL students. Bring the books to share with
your colleagues. If you teach older students, be sure the content
and pictures are age appropriate.
Using Cloze Passages

Another strategy for teaching syntax is to use Cloze passages.
Typically Cloze passages are created by deleting words following a
pattern such as every fifth word. However, Cloze passages can also
be developed by deleting targeted words or phrases. For example, a
teacher could delete the auxiliary verbs in a passage, and students
would need to supply the correct verb forms. Or a teacher could
delete comparatives in a passage for students to fill in. Selective
Cloze activities can be written to give students practice with different
syntactic structures.
For example, the following paragraph could be given to students:
María is studying history. She has read about the Westward

migration. She will write a report on this historical period.
The report will be about 15 pages long. María hopes she can
complete this assignment successfully.
The auxiliary verbs, which we have put in bold here, could be

deleted to create a Cloze passage. Students could work in pairs to fill
in the blanks. During this process, they should discuss their choices
with one another. Then each pair can provide a word as the whole
class reconstructs the passage.
REFLECT AND APPLY
Consider some grammatical structure that your students find dif-

ficult. Find or write a passage that uses that structure. Convert the
passage using Cloze so that students can complete the Cloze and
use the structure. Bring the passage and the results to share.
Conclusion
ELLs and SELs who struggle with reading and writing academic
texts need to develop academic language proficiency at the text,
paragraph, and sentence levels. In academic writing, genres have
certain expected components or sections, and students need to
understand both the structure and language typical of each genre.
ELLs and SELs often have trouble writing cohesive paragraphs.
Paragraphs are made cohesive by using pronouns, conjunctions, and
nominalizations. Brown (2009) outlines three patterns that connect
sentences within a paragraph. Teachers can help students write more
cohesive paragraphs by explicitly teaching them how to connect
their sentences.
Teachers can also work with students to help them develop an
academic style of writing at the sentence level. Sentences in aca
demic writing are generally complex and consist of several clauses.
Students need to understand the complex structure of academic sen
tences to write and read academic texts. Teachers can help students
develop academic syntax by having them deconstruct and recon
struct key passages, read and write predictable books, and complete
Cloze passages.
C hapter F ive
Assessing Grammar
and Syntax
E LLs and SELs generally score low on state and national

summative tests. This has become even more evident when
reviewing the results of tests designed to assess the Common Core
standards. It is not surprising that ELLs and SELs score low on these
tests as research has consistently shown that it takes from 5 to 7 or
more years for these students to develop academic language profi-
ciency at a level equivalent to native speakers of standard English.
Summative test results may discourage both students and teachers.
In addition, these tests do not provide information teachers can use
to guide their teaching.
Using Formative Assessment

In contrast, formative assessments can help teachers with curriculum
decisions. These tests are designed to help teachers determine students’
current abilities to plan the next steps in instruction. MacDonald and
her colleagues (2015) state that formative assessment “occurs in the
midst of instruction and compares students’ ongoing progress to pos-
sible trajectories of learning. It can help identify the most productive
next steps in instruction” (p. xi). Formative assessment is one compo-
nent of an overall assessment system that also includes interim and
summative assessments. Teachers can help ELLs and SELs improve
their grammar and syntax by using formative assessments to guide
day-to-day instruction. With well-planned instruction, over time ELLs
51
and SELs will develop the knowledge and skills they need to show
progress on interim and summative assessments.
REFLECT AND APPLY
What have been your experiences with summative assessments?

Do you or your students find the summative assessments useful?
Why? Or why not?
A Four-Step Process
for Using Formative Assessment
MacDonald and her coauthors (2015) describe a four-step process
teachers of ELLs and SELs can use to integrate formative assess-
ment into teaching. The first step is to design and teach lessons that
have a consistent focus on developing both academic content
knowledge and academic language. To accomplish this, teachers
write content objectives and then write language objectives based
on the content. These language objectives provide language learn-
ing targets for the students. The second step is to sample students’
language. This requires that teachers plan lessons during which
students will produce language in oral or written form that can be
collected. In the third step teachers analyze student language sam-
ples. They use different tools to conduct their analyses and use this
information to plan further instruction. The final step is to provide
formative feedback. As MacDonald and her colleagues comment,
formative feedback is designed to
give students clear, progress-oriented, and actionable informa-

tion about their language use—both what they’re doing well and
what they can do to become more effective users of English—
and to adjust instruction to meet students’ needs. (p. xix)
The four steps form a cycle. The teacher plans instruction, gath-
ers language samples, analyzes the samples, and provides formative
feedback. The feedback is designed to affirm students’ achievements
and then outline clear next steps that students can attain.
MacDonald and her colleagues (2015) suggest that teachers
analyze four elements and planning feedback: (1) genre components,
Assessing Grammar and Syntax 53
(2) text structure, (3) grammatical forms, and (4) vocabulary usage.
In analyzing a writing sample or an oral report, a teacher should con-
sider each of these components. However, when providing feedback
a teacher would normally choose only one or two of them for a student
to work on.
REFLECT AND APPLY
Do you use formative assessment in your classroom? How is your

approach the same as or different from what MacDonald and her
colleagues (2015) suggest?
Language Objectives
Teachers of ELLs and SELs write language objectives to teach
different aspects of academic language. Language objectives should
be based on content objectives. For example, when teaching about
the water cycle, a teacher might have students write an explanation
of the cycle using signal words showing sequence to connect each
stage in the cycle. The teacher’s language objective could be that
students would write an explanation with all the expected components.
Or the teacher could choose to make the language objective that
students should use correct verb forms for an explanation. A third
possibility would be that students would use signal words showing
sequence to connect the stages of the cycle.
The teacher can assess the language objective he or she chooses by
looking at the students’ writing. Depending on the language objective,
the teacher could focus on whether or not the students included the
expected components of an explanation, the students’ use of the appro-
priate verb tense for an explanation, or the students’ use of signal
words. The key is to align the assessment with the language objective
and provide feedback to help students improve their academic writing
of explanations.
Genre Components
As we discussed earlier, genres are specific types of texts, such as
procedures, reports, recounts, and analyses. These genres vary by
academic subject area. A literature report is different from a history

or science report. Genres are made up of several components. These
components are the sections conventionally included in the genre by
writers in each discipline. Knowing the components of a genre helps
students in reading and writing academic texts.
For example, personal recounts that students write in language
arts classes retell a series of events based on personal experience. The
components of a personal recount include an orientation telling who
was involved and when and where the events occurred. This section is
followed by the description of a series of events organized chrono-
logically. Personal recounts often end with an evaluative comment. In
contrast, procedural recounts that students write in science classes
have the goal of telling what was done to carry out an investigation.
A student writing a procedural recount in science like the one we dis-
cussed in Chapter 3 would begin by explaining the aim or goal of the
investigation. This would be followed by a section describing the
events or steps taken in order of occurrence. A procedural recount
would conclude with a report of the results or findings from the inves-
tigation (Gibbons, 2009). In analyzing student work, a teacher would
look to see that all the components expected of the genre are included.
REFLECT AND APPLY
Pick out a genre that you would like your students to be able to
write. Identify the components of a written piece in that genre. Post
the components and provide examples of this type of genre to your
students. Develop a rubric that reflects the components, and explain
that this rubric will be used to evaluate their genre writing. Have
them write using the genre. Ask students to read each other’s writing
and evaluate it with the rubric. Discuss the results with the students,
and allow them to revise their writing. Use the rubric for a final evalu-
ation of the writing. What were the results? Be prepared to share.
Text Structure
Teachers can also analyze the structure of student texts. Text
structure refers to the connections between the different parts of
the text. This involves checking to see whether the student used
pronouns with clear referents and that all the sentences in each
paragraph are connected to the main topic. In addition, the para-

graphs should be linked by appropriate conjunctions. For example,
in both a personal recount and a procedural recount, the paragraphs
would be connected by words indicating a sequence of events,
such as like first, next, and finally.
Grammatical Structure and Vocabulary

The last two elements for analysis are grammatical structure and
vocabulary. Grammatical structure can refer to things like the use of
complex sentences or subject-verb agreement. Vocabulary includes
technical words related to the discipline as well as general academic
terms such as synthesis and explanation.
Personal and procedural recounts would use past tense verbs,
so teachers could look to see whether or not ELLs and SELs used
correct forms, especially of irregular verbs. Each genre typically
uses specific grammatical and syntactic forms. For example,
while a procedural recount uses past tense verbs, a procedure uses
imperative verbs. Teachers can provide formative feedback on the
grammatical and syntactic structures associated with each genre
as they teach it.
REFLECT AND APPLY
Using a sample passage, go over with your students how it uses

connecting words, technical words, and appropriate grammar such
as the correct verb tense. Have students work in pairs or groups
with different passages to identify these features. Discuss with the
class. Report the results.
Language Learning Targets

To provide formative feedback that can help students improve,
teachers should develop language learning targets based on the
analysis of the language sample. It is important that students have
a clear understanding of what they have done well and what the
next steps are in making improvements. Students with similar
language learning targets can be grouped together for focused
instruction. ELLs and SELs can also work in pairs to provide

feedback to each other.
Assessment for Kia

MacDonald and her colleagues (2015) give examples of how the
four steps work with students at different proficiency levels. For
example, Kia, a beginning-level ELL, wrote a report on the develop-
ment of the U.S. Constitution in her sheltered social studies class.
The teacher analyzed her report. She found several strengths: Kia
understood some of the main ideas from her reading and included
them in her report, she used three new vocabulary words, and she
attempted new sentence structures.
The teacher noted that Kia did not use the expected genre com-
ponents for a report, and she did not connect the sentences to one
another. She tried to link clauses in a sentence using a sentence
frame. She also tried to use prepositional phrases in two sentences
but was not successful. The teacher met with Kia to establish lan-
guage learning targets. They discussed Kia’s report, and then with
her teacher’s help, Kia wrote down that she would write one sen-
tence for each main idea in her assigned readings and add details
using prepositional phrases. In addition, she would circle parts of her
reading she didn’t understand and then ask a classmate or the teacher
to explain those parts. The formative feedback Kia received helped
her develop language learning targets that the teacher would check
for on her next paper. This specific feedback helps students like Kia
develop the grammar and syntactic structures they need to read and
write academic texts.
Assessment Tools
Teachers who use formative feedback to help English learners
become more proficient in their use of academic language can use
different tools to assess language for formative purposes. These
tools can be used by students in evaluating their own work, by peers
evaluating the work of others, or by teachers. Three useful tools are
checklists, rating scales, and rubrics. Checklists contain items that
students or teachers can respond to with a simple “yes” or “no.” For
example, using a checklist, Kia could check whether or not she
included one sentence for each main idea from the reading, whether
she links clauses using a sentence frame, and whether she uses
propositional phrases.
Checklist for Kia

A simple checklist like this would be a useful tool to assess Kia’s
writing.
Kia Yes No
Uses one sentence for each idea ü
Links clauses using a sentence frame ü
Uses prepositional phrases ü
In a conference with the student, a teacher can quickly go over

a checklist like this to provide the student with feedback and plan
next steps.
Rating Scale
Another tool, a rating scale, moves beyond “yes” and “no” to
indicate how well something was done. For example, Kia could
judge whether what she read in her social studies book was “very
clear,” “somewhat clear,” or “not clear.” A rating scale can also
indicate student performance on a continuum from “most of the
time” to “not at all.” Here we show a simple rating scale for Kia.
Kia Most of the Time Some of the Time Not at All
What I read is clear

to me.
I write complete
sentences.
I include
prepositional phrases.
It is easy to construct rating scales like this, and they provide

students with more detailed information than simple checklists.
Rubrics
Rubrics, the final tool, are more detailed and outline the criteria
students should meet in various areas. For Kia a rubric could list that a
good paper has one sentence for each main idea from the reading, that
the ideas are linked using a sentence frame, and that some sentences
include a prepositional phrase that adds details. Developing checklists,
rating scales, and rubrics helps teachers make expectations clear and
allows students to know exactly what they need to do to succeed.
When teachers develop rubrics for assignments and share the
rubrics with students before they complete the assignment, the rubric
provides a guide for the students as they work. The teacher can then
use the rubric to provide formative feedback. Students can also work
in pairs or small groups and assess each other’s assignments using
the rubric. In addition, writing the rubric helps the teacher to think
through the assignment carefully and decide exactly what he or she
expects the final student product to include. Here we include a rubric
Kia’s teacher could use to assess reports like the ones that Kia and her
classmates wrote. This rubric is for students who are at intermediate
or advanced levels:
1 2 3
Genre Lacks a title, no Includes a title and Includes a title, a

components statement of the a general statement general statement
components, on the topic, names naming the
information on one or two components,
only one or two components, gives information on
subtopics, and no information on one each subtopic, and
conclusion or two subtopics, conclusion
and conclusion
Text Lacks general Some components Components

structure statement that named in general named in general
names statement, one or statement with
components, has two subtopics each developed as
no clear subtopics, clearly developed, a subtopic and
and paragraphs and some use of sections connected
not connected by signal words to by signal words,
signal words connect subtopics showing addition
1 2 3
Grammar Verb tense not Most verbs in Verbs written in

consistent, present tense, most present tense,
sentences not sentences complete
complete, no use complete, one or sentences, some
of prepositional two sentences with sentences with
phrases prepositional prepositional
phrases phrases
Vocabulary Uses one or two Uses some Uses appropriate

technical words technical technical vocabulary
and no general vocabulary and taken from the
academic some general reading and some
vocabulary academic general academic
vocabulary vocabulary
Conclusion
Teachers can use formative assessments to help ELLs and SELs
increase their academic language proficiency. These assessments are
designed to help teachers identify students’ strengths and weaknesses
and to determine next steps in instruction. The cycle for formative
assessment begins with developing content and language objectives
and then designing and teaching lessons. Next it moves to sampling
student performance, analyzing the sample, and providing feedback.
Teachers can use checklists, rating scales, and rubrics as tools for
analysis of student work. They can also use these to have students
evaluate the work of their peers. Throughout this process, teachers
can involve students to ensure that they understand how they can
continually improve their academic literacy.
REFLECT AND APPLY
We described different formative assessment tools including

checklists, rating scales, and rubrics. Try developing each of these
tools for different reading and writing assignments you give to
your students. Be sure to include in the tool genre components,
text structure, and grammatical structure and vocabulary. Use the
tools to evaluate your students. Which tools were most helpful?
Did the tools help you see how you could modify your instruction?
C hapter S ix
Conclusions, Challenges,
and Connections
T his book has focused on the grammar and syntax of academic

language. Chapter 2 discussed four views of grammar. Grammar
has been seen as a prescription for correct use, a functional com-
mand of sentence structure, a description of syntactic structures, and
a functional resource for making meaning. Each view of grammar
has led to different approaches to teaching grammar and syntax to
ELLs and SELs. Chapter 2 also discussed the characteristics of aca-
demic language. Chapters 3 and 4 provided examples from elemen-
tary and secondary classes of how grammar and syntax can be taught
in context to elementary and secondary students at the text, para-
graph, and sentence levels. Chapter 5 outlined a four-step approach
to formative assessment for grammar and syntax. Each chapter also
included sections that asked readers to reflect on and apply the
concepts that were discussed.
Challenges for the User

The challenge for teachers is to decide when and how to teach
grammar and syntax. It is important that educators across content
areas address the specific components of ALD that may be their
responsibility. Each teacher should look at all levels of academic
language within the genres that ELLs and SELs read, write, and
discuss to identify the language structures that students need.
61
A good approach for teachers in each content area is to focus

on the specific genres their students need to read and write. For
example, a science teacher might teach the structure and language
of procedures and procedural recounts, and a history teacher
might teach historical recounts and reports. The key is to teach
both academic content and the language needed to read and write
about that content.
For some readers, the challenge may be a personal one: learning
more about grammar and syntax. While we do not recommend that
teachers teach grammar traditionally, we do recommend that teach-
ers understand grammar so that they can help their students work
with grammar in meaningful contexts. Some readers may not have
had effective grammar instruction in grade school, so they may be
learning along with their own students. For these readers, it might be
helpful to review the sources cited in this book. A good place to start
would be Freeman and Freeman’s (2014) book, Essential Linguistics.
As with anything, the more practice and exposure to grammar and
syntax we have, the better we can become at teaching those elements
of ALD.
Tuning Protocol: Powerful Professional

Learning to Enhance ELL and SEL Achievement
To understand and implement the work of this series, we advocate
sustained, job-embedded professional learning that is grounded in
the work of teacher teams. Reading this book can be a starting place
for such learning, and the Tuning Protocol is a tool for self-reflection
when analyzing student work samples for ALD.
Specifically, the Tuning Protocol is a powerful design for pro-
fessional learning that is based on collaborative analysis of student
work. Due to the fact that it takes focused professional development
over time to change major instructional practices, we recommend
that a recursive professional development sequence, like the Tuning
Protocol, be used along with the book series. The Tuning Protocol,
developed by the Coalition of Essential Schools (Blythe, Allen, &
Powell, 1999), can be effective as a way to more deeply explore
ALD strategies and approaches recommended throughout the book
series. For example, a department or grade level may choose to ana-
lyze student work samples from ELLs and/or SELs that address
paragraph structures from Grammar and Syntax in Context or to
Conclusions, Challenges, and Connections 63
analyze the conversational skill of clarifying ideas from Conversational

Discourse. A full-cycle collaborative conversation of the Tuning
Protocol for grammar and syntax is provided here.
THE TUNING PROTOCOL
(1) Presenter describes context of the work to be analyzed (e.g.,

student level, curriculum, or time allotted).
Presenter determines focus question, which will be the lens by
which the work will be analyzed.
(2) Group silently reviews work and asks clarifying questions only
(e.g., How long did it take?).
(3) Group takes notes on warm and cool feedback regarding the
focus question only.
(4) Group shares warm and cool feedback.
(5) Presenter reflects on next steps for instruction.
(Adapted from Soto, 2012)
Tuning Protocol for Grammar and Syntax

In Chapter 3, you read about using sentence frames to teach complex
syntax. One of the strategies highlighted was described as follows:
A third-grade teacher was teaching a unit on Africa. Students

chose a country to research and then developed a travel bro-
chure to attract people to the country. The teacher gave stu-
dents a sentence frame for the introductory paragraph in the
brochure. “You should travel to ______ because ___________.”
Students completed this sentence by listing three reasons
someone should visit their country. To help structure the
remaining paragraphs, the teacher gave students sentence
starters such as “First of all____”, “Another reason ____”,
and “Finally ____.” This scaffolded instruction enabled her
students to write well-structured travel brochures that included
the components of the persuasive essay genre.
Once the teacher used the sentence frames and sentence starters
to help her ELLs and SELs develop persuasive essays, the students
engaged in a series of lessons designed to help them develop the
vocabulary and language structures needed to complete their bro-
chures. After the students had completed their brochures, the teacher
brought a brochure completed by one of her ELLs to her department
meeting for reflection. The brochure was then analyzed using the
Tuning Protocol, as follows:
(1) Teacher describes the context of the work to the

group—“I used the brochure to have students become
experts on a country in Africa and assist with attracting
people to the country. I used the brochure format to teach
students how to write a persuasive essay. I provided my
ELLs with a sentence frame for the introduction and sen-
tence starters for each paragraph in the brochure. In this
way, students could focus on the content (Africa) and were
supported with linguistic structures that they will also need
when they write other assignments.”
(a) Presenter determines focus question for analysis of
student sample—The teacher decides that as her col-
leagues analyze the brochure, she would like them to
focus on how her students could further elaborate on
their descriptions of the country. The focus question
then becomes: “How can I assist my ELLs with elabo-
rating on their description of their countries?”
(2) Group reviews work and asks clarifying questions—One
colleague asked the clarifying question: “How did you first
introduce the complex sentence frames?” The teacher
responds, “First, I modeled how to use the frames with a
country that we read about together as a class by speaking
out and then writing down my sentences under a document
reader. I showed students how to take information from the
reading, and include it in the frame, by highlighting and
summarizing the text.”
(b) Group individually takes notes, highlighting warm
and cool feedback—For warm feedback, participants
will analyze the student work sample for everything
Conclusions, Challenges, and Connections 65
that was done well, from punctuation to use of modal

auxiliaries for persuasion. For cool (not cold) feedback,
participants will analyze the student work sample
according to the focus question only. Recall that the
teacher presenter selected the focus question, so that
she was in control of the type of cool feedback that she
wished to receive. In this example, the teacher asked
for the following cool feedback, “How can I assist my
ELLs with elaborating on their descriptions of the
countries?”
(c) Group shares warm and cool feedback—One at a
time, participants in the group share warm feedback
first. It is helpful to use objective frames when provid-
ing feedback, such as “I noticed (for observations)”
and “I wonder (for questions)”. It is also important to
begin with warm feedback as we all want to be viewed
from an asset model first. A sample warm feedback
statement might be: “I noticed that the student included
three reasons to visit Kenya.” (Please note that if the
Tuning Protocol is being used with a large group, the
group facilitator will want to select a few warm and
cool feedback statements.) Once the warm feedback
has been shared, cool feedback statements can be pro-
vided. Recall that cool feedback is based on the focus
question only. In this case, the teacher wanted cool
feedback regarding the following question: “How can I
assist my ELLs with elaborating on their reasons for
visiting the country?” A sample cool feedback state-
ment might be: “The student appeared to understand
how to complete the frame by listing three reasons to
visit the country, but explanation of each reason in the
following paragraphs was quite brief and did not
include information from research on the country. I
wonder if providing more time and help in reading
information about the country would assist this ELL
with elaboration.”
(3) Presenter reflects on feedback provided—After all of the
warm and cool feedback has been provided, the teacher
presenter reflects on his or her next steps from the group
discussion of the student work sample on supporting ideas.

A sample reflective statement might be: “My next step with
having my students, especially this ELL, elaborate on her
reasons, is to provide scaffolded instruction in how to read
articles to gather more information.”
We recognize that for many teachers, the ideas in this book and the
book series will require time and practice. Both sustained profes-
sional development over time (which can include the Tuning
Protocol) and instructional coaching can be helpful tools. It is also
important for educators to remember to go slow to go fast, that is,
to realize that the strategies and instructional approaches outlined
will take time to approximate. In this manner, just as we honor the
assets of our students let’s honor the assets of our teachers as excel-
lent learners, who can take on new challenges with appropriate and
sustained professional development over time.
ALD Book Series Summary

and Intersections Across Book Series
As suggested in Chapter 1, the purpose of this four-book series is
to assist educators in developing expertise in, and practical strate-
gies for, addressing the key dimensions of academic language
when working with ELLs and SELs. In order to systemically
address the needs of ELLs and SELs, we educators must share a
common understanding of academic language development and
the interconnectedness of its four dimensions.
The following chart provides a summary of the ALD dimension
as well as intersections across the book series. To truly create sys-
temic change for ELLs and SELs in the area of ALD, there must be
a deep understanding of each of the dimensions of ALD under study
as well as sustained professional development and instructional
efforts to address each dimension, which will be addressed through-
out the book series. The book series summary can assist the reader
with where to begin when reading the series, and the intersections
across the book series can assist with making connections as one
completes each book.
This chart allows us to better understand how ALD can and will
support ELLs and SELs to make connections within new, rigorous
ALD Dimension Book Series Summary Intersections Across Book Series
Conversational Zwiers (2016) defines conversational discourse as the use of language zzConversational discourse necessarily connects
Discourse for extended, back-and-forth, and purposeful communication among to the development of academic vocabulary and
people. A key feature of conversational discourse is that it is used to to its written counterpart, academic writing
create and clarify knowledge, not just transmit it. The essential skills of across genres.
conversational discourse include the following: zzIt connects to grammar and syntax in context
through the need to make and express meaning
zzConversing with a purpose at the text, paragraph, and sentence levels.
zzClarifyingideas zzIt connects to culturally and linguistically
zzSupporting ideas and finding evidence responsive practices by engaging students in
zzEvaluating evidence and reasoning cooperative practices and respectful listening to
zzNegotiating ideas other points of view and backgrounds.
Successful conversational discourse for ELLs and SELs requires a

safe classroom culture and appropriate scaffolds for conversation.
Academic Calderón (2016) defines academic vocabulary as a combination zzAcademic vocabulary, according to Calderón, is
Vocabulary of words, phrases, sentences, and strategies to participate in class the centerpiece of conversational discourse.
discussions, to show evidence of understanding and express zzItconnects to grammar and syntax in context
complex concepts in texts, and to express oneself in academic naturally in that vocabulary is also taught within
writing. context. The two dimensions mutually provide
meaning for one another.
(Continued)
67
68
(Continued)
(Academic To enhance academic vocabulary for ELLs and SELs, teachers select zzItconnects to culturally and linguistically
Vocabulary) words to specifically teach before, during, and after instruction. They responsive practices in making understandable
select words and phrases that they believe ELLs and SELs need the distinctions between some common misuses
of words (“berry” instead of “very”) and the
zzto know to comprehend the text, standard English word association.
zzto discuss those concepts, and
zzto use in their writing later on.
Grammar and As stated in this volume, academic texts pose a particular zzELLs and SELs need to be engaged in academic
Syntax in challenge to ELLs and SELs because they contain technical discourse to develop their oral academic
Context vocabulary and grammatical structures that are lexically dense and language. This provides the base for reading
abstract. These include long nominal groups, passives, and and writing academic texts.
complex sentences. zzELLs and SELs also need to develop academic
vocabulary, both content specific vocabulary
zzELLs and SELs need carefully scaffolded instruction to and general academic vocabulary that they can
write the academic genres, make the writing cohesive, and use as they read and write the academic genres.
use appropriate grammatical structures. zzTeachers should use culturally and linguistically
responsive practices that enable students to
draw on their full linguistic repertoires.
Culturally and LeMoine cites Gay (2000) in defining culturally and linguistically zzCulturally and linguistically responsive
Linguistically responsive practices as “ways of knowing, understanding, and practices connect to the development of
Responsive representing various ethnic groups in teaching academic subjects, academic vocabulary by providing recognition
Practices processes, and skills.” for prior knowledge and acknowledging culture
as part of linguistic development.
Its primary features benefitting ELLs and SELs include the following:
zzIt connects to conversational discourse by
zzPromoting cooperation, collaboration, reciprocity, and prioritizing cooperative conversation procedures

mutual responsibility for learning and minimizing confrontational discourse.
zzIt connects to grammar and syntax in context by
zzIncorporating high-status, accurate cultural knowledge
about different groups of students building on second language acquisition
zzCultivating the cultural integrity, individual abilities, and
strategies and methods (such as SDAIE
academic success of diverse student groups. [Specially Designed Academic Instruction in
English]).
Simply stated, it is meaningful learning embedded in language and culture.
69
standards and expectations. Meaningful and intentional planning

around each ALD dimension will allow access for ELLs and SELs
into content that might otherwise be inaccessible to them. In the
epilogue, you will learn how to use this series in professional devel-
opment settings and how the book series connects to culturally and
linguistically responsive practices.
Epilogue: The Vision
T he vision for this book series began with the formation of the
Institute for Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Teaching
(ICLRT) at Whittier College, the creation of the ICLRT Design
Principles, which guide the institute, and the development of an
ALD book series, which can assist educators with more deeply
meeting the needs of their ELLs and SELs. ICLRT was formed in
2014, and the institute’s mission is to “promote relevant research and
develop academic resources for ELLs and Standard English Learners
(SELs) via linguistically and culturally responsive teaching practices”
(ICLRT, n.d.). As such, ICLRT’s purpose is to “provide research-
based and practitioner-oriented professional development services,
tools, and resources for K–12 systems and teacher education programs
serving ELLs and SELs.” Whittier College is a nationally designated
Hispanic-Serving Institution, and ICLRT staff have been providing
professional development on ELLs and SELs for more than 15 years,
both across California and nationally.
The four books in this ALD series build upon the foundation of
the ICLRT Design Principles:
(1) Connecting and addressing the needs of both ELLs and

SELs, both linguistically and culturally
(2) Assisting educators with identifying ways to use this book
series (and additional ICLRT books) in professional devel-
opment settings
(3) Addressing the underdeveloped domains of speaking and
listening as areas that can be integrated across disciplines
and components of ALD
(4) Integrating culturally responsive teaching as a vehicle for
honoring both home and primary languages as well as cultural
norms for learning
71
ICLRT Design Principles

Here is a complete list of the ICLRT Design Principles. In parentheses
are the books in this series that will address each principle.
(1) ICLRT believes that the commonalities between ELL

and SEL students are more extensive (and more vital
to their learning) than the differences between the two
groups.
zzELL and SEL students are at the same end of the learning
gap—they often score at the lowest levels on achievement
tests. They also rank highly among high school dropouts
(Culture in Context).
zzThe academic progress of ELL and SEL students may be
hindered by barriers, such as poor identification practices
and negative teacher attitudes toward their languages and
cultures (Culture in Context).
zzELL and SEL students both need specific instructional
attention to the development of academic language
(Grammar and Syntax in Context, Conversational Dis-
course in Context, and Vocabulary in Context).
(2) ICLRT believes that ongoing, targeted professional
development is the key to redirecting teacher attitudes
toward ELL and SEL student groups.
zzTeacher knowledge about the histories and cultures
of ELL and SEL students can be addressed through
professional development and professional learning
communities (Culture in Context).
zzTeachers will become aware of the origins of nonstandard
language usage (Culture in Context).
zzTeachers can become aware of and comfortable with
using diverse texts and productive group work to enhance
students’ sense of belonging (Conversational Discourse
in Context).
zzThe ICLRT Academic Language Certification process
will provide local demonstration models of appropri-
ate practices and attitudes (Conversational Discourse in
Context).
(3) ICLRT believes that ELL and SEL students need to have
ongoing, progressive opportunities for listening and
speaking throughout their school experiences.
zzThe typical ELD sequence of curriculum and courses
do not substantially address ELL and SEL student needs
for language development (Conversational Discourse in
Context and Vocabulary in Context).
zzThe ICLRT student shadowing protocol and student
shadowing app can provide both quantitative and quali-
tative information about student speaking and listening
(Conversational Discourse in Context).
zzThe ICLRT lesson plan design incorporates appropri-
ate speaking and listening development integrated with
reading, writing, and/or content area learning (Conversa-
tional Discourse in Context).
zzStrategies for active listening and academic oral language
are embedded in ICLRT’s ALD professional develop-
ment series (Conversational Discourse in Context).
(4) ICLRT believes that its blending of culturally responsive
pedagogy (CRP) with ALD will provide teachers of
ELL and SEL students with powerful learning tools
and strategies.
zzThe six characteristics of CRP (Gay, 2000) heighten the
already strong effects of solid ALD instruction (Grammar
and Syntax in Context).
zzThe storytelling aspects of CRP fit well with the oral
language traditions of ELLs and can be used as a foun-
dational tool for both groups to affirm their rich histories
(Culture in Context).
zzBoth groups need specific instruction in the four essential
components of ALD, including SDAIE strategies (Gram-
mar and Syntax in Context, Conversational Discourse in
Context, and Vocabulary in Context).
zzThe inclusion of CRP and ALD within the ICLRT lesson
planning tool makes their use seamless instead of disparate
for each group (Culture in Context).
Sources: Gay (2000), LeMoine (1999), and Soto-Hinman & Hetzel (2009)
Additional ICLRT Professional

Development Resources
This ALD book series is one of the research-based resources
developed by ICLRT to assist K–12 systems in serving ELLs and
SELs. Other ICLRT resources include the following Corwin texts:
The Literacy Gaps: Building Bridges for ELLs and SELs (Soto-
Hinman & Hetzel, 2009); ELL Shadowing as a Catalyst for Change
(Soto, 2012); and Moving From Spoken to Written Language With
ELLs (Soto, 2014). Together, the three books, and their respective
professional development modules (available via ICLRT and
Corwin), tell a story of how to systemically close achievement gaps
with ELLs and SELs by increasing their academic oral language
production in academic areas. Specifically, each ICLRT book in the
series addresses ALD in the following ways.
zzThe Literacy Gaps: Building Bridges for ELLs and SELs

(Soto-Hinman & Hetzel, 2009)—This book is a primer for
meeting the literacy needs of ELLs and SELs. Additionally,
the linguistic and achievement needs of ELLs and SELs
are linked and specific ALD strategies are outlined to com-
prehensively and coherently meet the needs of both groups
of students.
zzELL Shadowing as a Catalyst for Change (Soto, 2012)—
This book is a way to create urgency around meeting the
academic oral language needs of ELLs. Educators shadow an
ELL student, guided by the ELL shadowing protocol, which
allows them to monitor and collect academic oral language
and active listening data. The ethnographic project allows
educators to experience a day in the life of an ELL.
zzMoving From Spoken to Written Language With ELLs (Soto,
2014)—This book assists educators in leveraging spoken
language into written language. Specific strategies, such as
Think-Pair-Share, the Frayer model, and Reciprocal Teaching,
are used to scaffold the writing process, and the Curriculum
Cycle (Gibbons, 2002) is recommended as a framework for
teaching writing.
Please note that professional development modules for each of the

texts listed are also available through ICLRT. For more information,
please go to www.whittier.edu/ICLRT.
The ALD book series can be used either after or alongside of

The Literacy Gaps: Building Bridges for ELLs and SELs (Soto-
Hinman & Hetzel, 2009); ELL Shadowing as a Catalyst for Change
(Soto, 2012); and Moving From Spoken to Written Language With
ELLs (Soto, 2014) as each book introduces and addresses the impor-
tance of ALD for ELLs and SELs. The ALD book series also takes
each ALD component deeper by presenting specific research and
strategies that will benefit ELLs and SELs in the classroom.
References
Academic Language Development Network. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://

aldnetwork.org/
Blythe, T., Allen, D., & Powell, B. S. (1999). Looking together at student
work. New York: College Teachers Press.
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Brisk, M. (2015). Engaging students in academic literacies: Genre-based
pedagogy for K–5 classrooms. New York: Routledge.
Brown, D. (2009). In other words: Grammar lessons for code-switching,
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Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
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Chomsky, N. (1975). Reflections on language. New York: Pantheon.
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Duksta, L. (2007). I love you more. Naperville, IL: Jabberwocky.
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Freeman, D., & Freeman, Y. (2009). Academic language for English language
learners and struggling readers: How to help students succeed across
content areas. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
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James, H. (1902). The wings of the dove. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
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LeMoine, N., & L. A. Unified School District. (1999). English for your suc-
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for ELLs and SELs. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
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Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Index
Abstraction, 22–23 Boals, T., 51, 52–53, 56

Academic genres Braddock, R., 11
components, 53–55 Brisk, M., 37
structures and features of, 36–37 Brown, D., 39–40, 41, 50
teaching, 37 Brown, H., 32–33
types of texts in different, 35–36
Academic language Cambourne, B., 32–33
benefits of, 2–3 Castro, M., 51, 52–53, 56
characteristics of, 19–23 Chained topic and paragraph
development dimensions and cohesion, 41
connections, 3–5 Chicano English, 2
Academic Language Development Chomsky, N., 9, 15, 17–18
(ALD) Clauses, 43–44
book series connection to grammar Cleft sentences, 27–28
and syntax, 8 Cloze passages, 49
book series introduction, 1–8 Cohesion, paragraph, 39–42
book series summary and Combining, sentence, 26–27,
intersections across book series, 45–46
66–70 Common Core State Standards, 51
dimensions, 3–5 Components, genre, 53–55
vision for book series, 71–75 Conjunctions, 38–39
Academic texts, 19–20 Constant topic and paragraph
abstraction, 22–23 cohesion, 40
features in different disciplines, 23–24 Context
nominalizations in, 20–22 mini lessons-cleft sentences, 27–28
reading and writing, 35 read and retell and, 32–33
technical vocabulary and lexical science lesson on magnets and,
density of, 20 30–31
Active voice, 28 sentence combining and, 26–27
African American language (AAL), sentence frames and, 25–26
1–2 structural functional linguistics and, 30
ALM approach, 19 text level deconstruct and
Assessment, formative, 51–52 reconstruct, 31–32
four-step process for using, 52–53 using passives effectively and,
tools, 56–59 28–29
81
Conversational language, 23 Frey, N., 46–47

Cook, G., 51, 52–53, 56 Functional command of sentence
Cool and warm feedback, 64–65 structure, 15–16
Culturally responsive pedagogy
(CRP), 73 Genres, academic
Curriculum cycle, 19, 37 components, 53–55
structures and features of, 36–37
Deconstruct and reconstruct teaching, 37
sentence-level, 44–46 types of texts in different, 35–36
text-level, 31–32 Gibbons, P., 30–31
Density, lexical, 20 Grammar, 8
Dependent clauses, 43 challenges in teaching, 61–62
Derewianka, B., 10, 12–13, 18 clauses, 43–44
Derived topic and paragraph cohesion, defined, 9–10
40–41 as description of syntactic structures,
17–18
Elementary schools, teaching pronouns English language teaching and
in, 39 traditional, 12–14
Ellis, R., 13, 14 focus on form in teaching, 13–14
ELL Shadowing as a Catalyst for four views of, 9–10
Change, 74, 75 as functional command of sentence
Embedded clauses, 43–44 structure, 15–16
Engaging Students in Academic language as functional resource
Literacies: Genre-Based and, 18
Pedagogy for K-5 Classrooms, 37 paragraph-level, 38–39
English language learners (ELLs) prescriptions for correct use, 10
benefits of academic English research on effects of teaching
for, 2–3 traditional, 10–12
demographic trends, 1 sentence-level, 42–43
Essential Linguistics, 62 structure and vocabulary, 55
taught at different levels, 35
Fang, Z., 19–20, 44, 48 taught in context, 25–33
Feedback text-level syntax and, 35–36
cool and warm, 64–65 Tuning Protocol for, 63–66
formative, 52, 55 used to monitor output, 16
Fisher, D., 46–47 Grosjean, F., 15
Formative assessment, 51–52
four-step process for using, 52–53 Halliday, M., 18, 19, 30
tools, 56–59 Hetzel, J., 74, 75
Formative feedback, 52, 55
Four-step process for using formative I Love You More, 48
assessment, 52–53 Institute for Culturally and
Frames, sentence, 25–26 Linguistically Responsive
Freeman, D., 62 Teaching (ICLRT), 6, 8, 71–75
Freeman, Y., 62
Free reading, 16 James, Henry, 24
Index 83
Krashen, S., 11, 15–16 Production practice, 14

Professional learning, 62–63
Language Professional learning communities
as functional resource, 18 (PLCs), 7
learning targets, 55–56 Pronouns, 38
objectives, 53
Language arts texts, 36 Rating scales, assessment, 57–58
Learning Reading
professional, 62–63 learning to read by, 15–16
targets, language, 55–56 read and retell strategy, 32–33
Lexical density, 20 and writing academic texts, 35
Literacy Gaps: Building Bridges for Reconstruct and deconstruct. See
ELLs and SELs, The, 74, 75 Deconstruct and reconstruct
Lloyd-Jones, R., 11 Rothenberg, C., 46–47
Long, M., 13 Rubrics, assessment, 58–59
Lundberg, T., 51, 52–53, 56
Schleppegrell, M. J., 38
Macauley, W. J., 10–11 Science, 30–31
MacDonald, R., 51, 52–53, 56 reading and writing procedures and
Magnets, 30–31 explanations in, 36, 54
Mañana Iguana, 25–26 Secondary schools, teaching
Math, word problems in, 36 nominalization in, 39
McLaughlin, C., 20 Second language teach and curriculum
Mexican American Language (MxAL), 2 cycle, 19
Michigan Policy Institute, 1 Sentence(s)
Mini lessons-cleft sentences, 27–28 cleft, 27–28
Mom, 48 combining, 26–27, 45–46
Monitoring output using grammar, 16 frames, 25–26
Moving From Spoken to Written -level deconstruct and reconstruct,
Language With ELLs, 74, 75 44–46
-level grammar and syntax, 42–43
National Council of Teachers of passive, 28–29
English, 11 structure, functional command of,
Natural Approach, 19 15–16
Nominalization, 20–22, 38, 39 Signal words, 46–47
teaching, 22 Social studies, 36
combining sentences in, 45–46
Objectives, language, 53 sentence-level deconstruct and
Output monitored using grammar, 16 reconstruct in, 44
sentence-level grammar and syntax
Paragraph(s) in, 42–43
cohesion, 39–42 Soto, Ivannia, 63, 66, 75
-level grammar and syntax, 38–39 Soto-Hinman, I., 74, 75
Passives, 28–29 Standard English learners (SELs)
Predictable books, 48 benefits of academic English for, 2–3
Procedural recounts, 36, 54 defined, 1–2
Structural functional linguistics, 30 Tools, assessment, 56–59

Surface and deep structure, 17–18 Topics
Syntactic structures, 17–18 chained, 41
Syntax, 8 constant, 40
challenges in teaching, 61–62 derived, 40–41
Cloze passages and, 49 Traditional grammar
defined, 9 English language teaching and,
description of syntactic structures, 12–14
17–18 focus on form in teaching, 13–14
paragraph-level, 38–39 research on effects of teaching,
predictable books and, 48 10–12
sentence-level, 42–43 Transition words, 46–47
taught at different levels, 35 Tuning Protocol, 62–63
text-level grammar and, 35–36 for grammar and syntax, 63–66
Tuning Protocol for, 63–66
See also Grammar Ulibarrí, Sabine, 3
Universal Grammar, 15
Teaching and Learning Cycle. See
Curriculum cycle Vocabulary
Technical vocabulary, 20 grammatical structure and, 55
Text level technical, 20
deconstruct and reconstruct, 31–32 transition words, 46–47
grammar and syntax, 35–36 Voice, active, 28
Texts, academic, 19–20
abstraction, 22–23 Warm and cool feedback, 64–65
features in different disciplines, Weaver, C., 9, 11–12
23–24 White, P., 51, 52–53, 56
nominalizations in, 20–22 Wings of the Dove, The, 24
technical vocabulary and lexical Wong-Fillmore, L., 2
density of, 20 Words, signal, 46–47
Text structure, student, 54–55
Thompson, M., 20 Zike, D., 20
IS YOUR ACADEMIC LANGUAGE
MASTERY LIBRARY COMPLETE?
Academic Language Mastery: Conversational Discourse
in Context
Jeff Zwiers and Ivannia Soto
Here, Jeff Zwiers reveals the power of academic conversation in helping
students develop language, clarify concepts, comprehend complex texts,
and fortify thinking and relational skills. With this book as your road map,
you’ll learn how to
• Foster the skills and language students must develop for productive
interactions
• Implement strategies for scaffolding conversations between students
• Formatively assess students’ oral language development
Academic Language Mastery: Vocabulary in Context

Margarita Calderón and Ivannia Soto
Vocabulary instruction is not an end in itself. Instead, academic words
are best taught as tools for completing and constructing more complex
messages. Look to renowned author Margarita Calderón for expert
guidelines on how to
• Teach high-frequency academic words and discipline-specific
vocabulary across content areas
• Utilize strategies for teaching academic vocabulary, moving students
from Tier 1 to Tiers 2 and 3 words and selecting appropriate words
to teach
• Assess vocabulary development as you go
Academic Language Mastery: Culture in Context

Noma LeMoine and Ivannia Soto
Never underestimate the critical role culture and language play in our
students’ education. In this volume, Noma LeMoine offers new insight on
how culturally and linguistically responsive pedagogy validates, facilitates,
liberates, and empowers our diverse students. Learn how to
• Implement instructional strategies designed to meet the linguistic
and cultural needs of ELLs and SELs
• Use language variation as an asset in the classroom
• Recognize and honor prior knowledge, home languages, and cultures
For more information, visit www.corwin.com!

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Academic Language Mastery

Academic Language Mastery: Grammar and Syntax in Context

Academic Language Mastery: Conversational Discourse in Context

Academic Language Mastery: Vocabulary in Context

Academic Language Mastery: Culture in Context

SAGE Publications Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Program Director: Dan Alpert

1. Introduction to the Book Series 1

Epilogue: The Vision 71

I would like to acknowledge each of the authors who coauthored

Tonya Ward Singer

Dr. David E. Freeman and Dr. Yvonne S.

translation of La enseñanza de la lectura y la escritura en español

Dr. Ivannia Soto is associate professor of

Linguistically Responsive Teaching (ICLRT) at Whittier College,

—David E. Freeman and Yvonne S. Freeman

A ccording to the Migration Policy Institute (2013), close to

(AAL), sometimes referred to as African American English, and

Purpose of This Academic

dimensions: academic vocabulary, syntax and grammar, discourse,

zzConversational Discourse—developing students’ conversa-

The focus on these four dimensions in this book series makes

Academic Language Development Dimensions

and demonstrates the connection of that ALD dimension across the

Academic Words are separate units of Academic vocabulary is

(high-frequency words that go

Grammar and Academic language is ELLs and SELs need to

Culturally and Culturally responsive pedagogy ELLs and SELs are

(Definitions adapted from Academic Language Development Network. (n.d.) unless

Format for Each Book

zzChapter 1—Introduction to the Book Series

How to Use the Book Series

can also be used for extended learning on ALD. Educators may

How to Use Reflect and Apply Queries

REFLECT AND APPLY

Book Series Connection

T o understand the role of grammar and syntax in ALD, it is

Four Views of Grammar

of syntactic structures. Derewianka (2007) adds a fourth view in her

Prescriptions for Correct Use

REFLECT AND APPLY

Research on the Effects

were taught to identify nouns in a sentence, and they learned that

In view of the widespread agreement of research studies

zzTeachers may not be aware of the research.

REFLECT AND APPLY

would receive input that contained the conditional structure: “If I

REFLECT AND APPLY

The Functional Command

Current theories of literacy development hypothesize that

In addition, there is overwhelming evidence showing that

Using Grammar to Monitor Output

REFLECT AND APPLY

A Description of Syntactic Structures

Surface and Deep Structure

This approach enabled Chomsky to identify basic syntactic

Language as Functional Resource

REFLECT AND APPLY

We have underlined the subject of each sentence in the para

and effect. Students need to develop a greater repertoire of conjunc

As this example shows, paragraphs that follow the derived pat

The discovery of gold in California led to an influx of for