Determining Language Functions and Structures
Classroom Examples
Here are some examples from 6th grade mainstream teachers of how to determine the language functions and structures that need to be addressed in a lesson.
Example 1
Subject: Social Studies
Content Objective: To understand the period of the 1920s and the women’s rights movement.
The language objective is determined by deciding on the function that language will have in the lesson, and by thinking about what language structures an ELL will need in order to participate in the lesson. Because students will be comparing what women could and couldn’t do—and what they did and didn’t do—in the 1920s, they will need the language function of comparing. The language structure is contractions. The language objective will be to learn contractions in order to make comparisons.
Example 2
Subject: Science
Content Objective: To understand the sequential pattern of an experiment and how one step affects another.
In this lesson, explaining the steps of a science experiment is the needed language function. Because if-then statements are a type of language structure we use to explain sequence in English, the language objective is to use if-then statements to explain the steps of the experiment. If necessary, you can model sentences for students (e.g., “If the temperature of the solution changes, then viscosity . . .”).
Example 3
Subject: Math
Content Objective: To comprehend the differences between two or more polygons.
The needed language function is classifying. Because students will need to understand comparative structures such as “greater than” and “less than,” the language objective becomes using “greater than,” “less than,” “similar,” and “equal to” in classifying polygons.
Example 4
Subject: Language Arts
Content Objective: To learn how to express persuasive opinions.
The language function is persuading because the lesson involves forming opinions in order to be able to persuade. The language structure will be using the sentence starters “I think” and “In my opinion.” The language objective becomes using these sentence starters to express opinions.
