Languaging For Understanding
Language or rather languaging is the key to successful internalisation of
concepts which is a prerequisite of deep learning. The two continua of our
model (the conceptualizing continuum and the communicating continuum) are like
rotor blades of a propeller, a plane will only fly if both of them are
perfectly aligned. Languaging is the force that sets the blades in motion,
accelerates them and keeps the propeller spinning.
What is languaging and why is it important?
Languaging is a means to mediate our thinking. Languaging is the process
through which we express our thinking and thus make it visible to others
ans well as ourselves. It is through the process of languaging that learners
make meaning, shape knowledge and experience, thereby reaching increasingly
sound understandings and developing the ability to express them appropriately.
This continuous process of refining understanding and expression of
understanding makes it possible for students to abstract their concept
construction from the more anecdotal instance that triggers it. This, in turn,
will allow for transfer of the knowledge, strategies and procedures developed
through this process of refining to other contexts. It also surely and
successfully moves the students beyond the simple parroting of knowledge that
constitutes a danger in any subject learning. In other words, we have to dig
deep before we can begin to develop transferable knowledge and skills.
How do we help learners develop languaging?
Teachers are familiar with the importance of higher order thinking when
they design learning tasks. Cognitive discourse functions are the building
blocks of higher order thinking. We language through cognitive discourse
functions (CDFs). It is through these CDFs that learners build and structure
knowledge, which allows them to make sense of new content, for example by:
- describing and labeling the parts of a cell
- explaining and defining a complex process such as photosynthesis
- comparing different types of volcanoes
-
assessing and evaluating the opportunities/threats of hydraulic fracturing
(fracking)
A pluriliteracies approach to learning stresses the need to help learners
become literate in their subjects. That means that we have to make sure that
learners are enabled to actively use CDFs at increasingly complex
levels.
Clearly, asking our learners to “define x” or to “explain y” is not
enough for them to fully understand a concept. In addition to that, we have to
make visible how to language and, more importantly, how to language
increasingly well. So teachers need to know more about the nature of CDFs and
how to make them accessible to all their learners.
Summing up:
Teachers and learners need to become aware of the various aspects of
teaching CDFs. For example, in the case of explanation, they need to ask
themselves questions such as
1. What different types of explanations
exist (i.e. sequential, simple causal or multi-causal)?
2. What do these explanations consist of
(i.e. cause and effect structures)?
3. What makes a good explanation?
What distinguishes a basic explanation from a more sophisticated one?
(i.e. sequential explanation vs
multi-causal explanation).
4. How can I help my students improve
their explanations? What language materials, tasks or exercises will they need
to succeed?
Show me how:
Anja Woike’s Geography materials demonstrate how cognitive discourse
functions, in her case different types of explanations at different levels of
complexity, can systematically and explicitly be incorporated into materials
and tasks for different age groups. Learners are systematically supported in
gaining an in-depth understanding of the relevant content and how to
communicate their increasingly sophisticated knowledge successfully at
increasingly complex levels of language.