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Teaching the Language of Thinking
Laura Varlas
Language is the vehicle for almost all teaching and learning, but sometimes the language teachers use in classroom does not fully represent the task or is not accessible to those who hear it. For example, the direction, “Let's look at these two pictures,” might really mean the teacher wants students to compare two pictures. In other cases, students may lack the background vocabulary to know what the term compare means.
In a 1987 Educational Leadership article, authors Arthur L. Costa and Robert Marzano offer several strategies for supporting a language of cognition in the classroom.
Read the article: Teaching the Language of Thinking (PDF)
Though not explicitly targeted to English language learners (ELLs), the benefits of these strategies for ELLs are obvious. Teaching students precise vocabulary and then using it in the classroom, posing critical questions instead of issuing orders, probing for specificity when encountering vague terms in texts or classroom discussions, metacognition or thinking-aloud problem solving, and reading for linguistic cues or the logic of language all support ELLs in acquiring academic content.
In addition to helping students get a better handle on learning objectives, language that supports cognition also creates cultural norms of appropriate classroom behavior. Although all students need this information, it might be especially useful to students new to the school or new to U.S. schools in general.
Defining and demonstrating cognitive processes gives all students a powerful tool for learning. Costa and Marzano advise teachers to support student thinking by using explicit cognitive terminology and showing students how to perform particular skills. Hearing these terms daily will help students develop the cognitive processes these labels signify, internalize the words, and use them as part of their own vocabularies.
How do you teach the language of thinking in your classroom? Are your methods different for ELL students? Share your thoughts on Inservice, the ASCD blog.
In "My Back Pages," we look at important issues through the historical lens of the Educational Leadership archives. ASCD members can access EL issues from 1943 to the present by signing in at the right.
Laura Varlas is a staff writer at ASCD.