Academic Language Teaching

Academic language is the language needed by students to understand words in context and to use language that can convey ideas clearly without causing any confusion in the listener’s or reader’s mind. The word ‘pictorial representation’ may not mean the same for an Arts student, a Mathematics student, a Science student or a Commerce student. Each Discipline has its own specific jargon or vocabulary. It becomes mandatory for the teacher to make the meaning of the words clear even if it appears to be familiar to students. In can happen that a teacher assumed that the student knew the meaning of the word ‘volume’ but the student was confused.  Understanding the meaning of the word as used in that particular subject is very much needed. The word ‘interest’ in Mathematics has nothing to do with the word ‘interest’ in Social Science.

Similarly, the kind of lab reports or assignments to be submitted by students under various disciplines would be different even though, the umbrella term for these tasks may seem familiar. The concept of Academic Language Teaching aims at equipping learners of different content areas to be equipped to understand the vocabulary of their specific topics and not be confused in presenting their ideas or in understanding concepts. Its focus is to help students move from social language to academic language.

What is Academic language after all?

Several definitions clarify what Academic language is all about:

• The language used by teachers to teach. 

• The language of the classroom. It is more refined than the usual conversational style. 

• It refers to knowledge of subject specific vocabulary and modes of expression needed in that content area. 

• It is used in textbooks, essays, assignments, class presentations, and assessments. 

• It is also the language of the workplace — for example, the language used to write a business letter

Academic language is used for a variety of purposes across disciplines:

• Students may write a lab report in science class. 
• Students may orally explain their reasoning in math class. 
• Students may listen to and compare two famous speeches in history class. 
• Students may compare a scene from a novel and a movie in an English language arts class.