What strategies can help ESOL students with academic language?

Teaching explicit vocabulary and discourse structures is a vital strategy for helping ESOL students navigate academic language successfully. Academic language typically involves complex vocabulary, specific terminology, and unique structures that are essential for grasping subject matter across different disciplines. By focusing on explicit vocabulary, educators provide students with the key terms they need to understand and discuss content effectively.

Additionally, discussing discourse structures helps students understand how to organize their thoughts and arguments in a way that meets academic standards. This involves teaching them how to form logical connections, use appropriate transitions, and employ various sentence structures. These skills are not only important for comprehension but also for students to express their thoughts and ideas clearly in writing and speaking within an academic context.

In contrast, strategies focused solely on conversational skills or social language tend to neglect the specific demands of academic discourse. While social language is important, it does not equip students with the academic vocabulary and structures they need for school success. Similarly, relying only on visual aids may limit students from engaging with the language in a way that builds their vocabulary and discourse skills essential for academic achievement.