This article investigates the use of a functional approach to discourse analysis -knowledge structure analysis, which focuses on meaning, form, and function simultaneously -to evaluate both writing development and content learning. The study examined written texts in science, produced by 35 ESL students in Canada in grades 8 to 10 with limited to intermediate English language proficiency, in which they constructed scientific classifications. By examining and comparing two pieces of writing produced by the same students on the same topic at different learning stages, the study reveals the progress they made in integrating language and content at the discourse level. It also raises new questions about the integration of language and content teaching in all subject areas.
This paper takes the view of 'language socialization' (Schieffelin & Ochs, 1986) to examine, through a case study of a secondary ESL science class, the instructional process that aims at facilitating the integration of specific science content learning and the construction of a particular kind of written discourse typically found in school science. The main question addressed in the paper is: How do classroom instructional activities for the development of academic writing socialize students into the world of school science in a content-based language program? The discussion focuses on the whole learning process through analyzing the data collected at different learning stages. The analysis on students' socialization into the science Discourse reveals how integration of content and language may be explicitly highlighted by teachers for students. Initial conflicts between the students' and target ways of thinking and writing are presented with a description of how conflicts are constantly negotiated through interactions with, through, and about written texts. By focusing on the process instead of one piece of product, the study has managed to go further to examine the role played by classroom instruction in integrating the students' academic content learning and written discourse construction.Keywords: English for academic purpose, integration of language and content, ESL in secondary school Is John your student? He can't follow in my class. His lab report is so poorly written. He needs your help. (A secondary school science teacher talking to an ESL teacher about an ESL student) I am the ESL teacher. I can teach you how to write in English, but not a lab report. (A secondary school ESL teacher talking to an ESL student who has trouble doing his lab report assigned by his science teacher) Those teaching at the secondary level are probably familiar with the above scenarios. Though the two teachers have different opinions about their own job description, one thing in common in their belief system is that language is one generic thing that stands alone in isolation from concrete meaningful social practices. Thus it is simply natural that language teachers take care of students' language development and subject area teachers take care of subject area content learning. When students have troubles using their English to handle academic tasks, they are the students of English or ESL teachers; when teaching students the English language, language teachers do not have to concern themselves about how students would use English to engage in specific academic tasks.In this paper, I will take a different perspective about language, a sociocultural one, to report on a case study which reveals that language and subject area content learning are not separate. Through the analysis of the instructional process that engages students in a particular kind of academic writing, I intend to show that instructional activities, when carefully contrived, may make the integration of language and content explicit and systematic for students.
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