Read the chapter from Uhl Chamot, A. and J. M.

O’Malley (1994) The CALLA Handbook:

Implementing the Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach. Reading, MA: Addison
Wesley and summarize the most important aspects.

Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach

CALLA’s basic premises

● Content should be the primary focus of instructions
● Academic language skills can be developed as the need for them emerges from the
content
Therefore → content, rather than language, drives the curriculum.
CALLA’s focus
● Academic tasks within a communicative context.

Content

Four reasons to incorporate content into the ESL class:

1. Provides students with an opportunity to develop knowledge in various subject areas,
which provides a foundation for learning grade-level information in different areas of
the curriculum.
2. Students are able to practice different language functions and skills.
3. Students exhibit greater motivation when they are learning content rather than just
language.
4. Provides a context for teaching students learning strategies that can be applied in the
grade-level classrooms.

Content selection

● Selection is the key, and depth -rather than breadth- is the objective.
● CALLA ESL teacher carefully selects the high priority topics and skills from the
curriculum for native English speakers and integrates them into lessons that develop
both academic language proficiency and learning strategies.
● The selection process requires an understanding of the curriculum for different
content areas at grade levels prior to and after the current grade-level placements of
particular ESL students.
● Content teachers
○ meeting with them to discuss aspects of the local curriculum students should
know upon entering the grade-level classroom.
○ ESL teachers can benefit from their advice on how they select content.
● State and local curriculum frameworks are another source of assistance. They
provide a description of the scope and sequence of a particular subject.
● Grade level textbooks
○ provide information about the scope of content topics and a sequence in
which to present them
○ studying several grade levels in key
 ○ suggestions for hand-on experiences can help ESL teachers plan activities for
students to practice procedures designed to develop their understanding of
the content presented.
● Curriculum analysis can help the CALLA teacher select and organize content.
● Teachers should consider students’ personal interests and motivation.
○ they can be allowed to select some content topics for in-depth study.

Teaching Content

● There are multiple ways in which content can be taught in grade-level classrooms,
depends on
○ the individual style of the teacher
○ nature of the discipline
● Content should be taught as experiences rather than merely as facts.
○ Opportunities for students to understand new information and practice new
skills within meaningful contexts → cooperative learning and hands-on group
activities.
● New information needs to be explicitly linked to students’ prior knowledge.
○ prior knowledge can be activated through brainstorming, graphic organizers,
and cooperative activities.
● In teaching the major vocabulary for each content area
○ teachers need to use appropriate technical vocabulary, providing
paraphrases, definitions, and examples.
● Teachers should address the different learning styles by making sure to use visual,
auditory, and kinesthetic means of presenting new content.
● Provide students with an overview of the content topic to be studied.
● Model higher-order thinking skills.
○ showing students how to ask and answer higher-level questions about the
content being studied
○ speculating, synthesizing, and making judgments.
● Constantly monitoring students’ comprehension of the content.
● Teach students to monitor their own comprehension
○ Knowledge-reconstructing technique → K-W-L (what they know, what they
want to find out, and what they have learned).
● Teach students to use graphic organizers to understand and remember content
information.
● Use a variety of recourses in your classroom
○ grade-level textbooks, library books, articles, pictures, software, and realia.
● Teach learning strategies to help students learn both content and academic
language.