Papers by Kathryn Accurso
SPELT Quarterly, 2019
In this article, we describe how the three authors – a literacy researcher and teacher educator, ... more In this article, we describe how the three authors – a literacy researcher and teacher educator, a pre-service art teacher trained in working with English leaners, and a language and culture scholar – collaborated to design a pedagogy of reflective multiliteracies for English learners in the middle grades. First, we offer a brief description of our approach to understanding the relationship between language and visual meaning making, which is rooted in Halliday's systemic functional linguistics (SFL). Then, we offer two sample curricular units showing how we used this approach in practice. One curricular unit was designed to support students in “reading” visual meanings, while the other supported students in creating visual meanings of their own. We conclude with recommendations for other teachers interested in engaging with visual meaning-making to accomplish the goals of 21st century literacy instruction.
Teaching and researching ELL’ disciplinary literacies: Systemic functional linguistics in action in the context of U.S. school reform, 2019
This chapter supports readers in exploring the meaning of a systemic functional linguistics (SFL)... more This chapter supports readers in exploring the meaning of a systemic functional linguistics (SFL) model of text-context dynamics as it applies to understanding the nature of literacy practices in the embedded institutional contexts in which students and teachers work. It invites this exploration through examples of linguistically and culturally responsive curriculum designed for high school English learners using SFL tools and an analysis of changes in students’ disciplinary literacy practices using action-oriented case study methods.
Handbook of TESOL in K-12 , 2019
This chapter begins by briefly identifying issues related to the role of grammar teaching in K-12... more This chapter begins by briefly identifying issues related to the role of grammar teaching in K-12 ESOL contexts (English for Speakers of Other Languages). Next, it compares three approaches to teaching grammar that have shaped the TESOL field: behavioral, psycholinguistic, and social semiotic approaches. Then, it provides a review of current research regarding the use of a social semiotic approach to grammar instruction in K-12 ESOL contexts. Despite the documented challenges of implementing such pedagogies, we conclude with evidence-based suggestions for educators interested in approaching English teaching from a social semiotic perspective of language, learning, and social change.
SPELT Quarterly Journal, 2017
This article argues that teachers’ awareness of how disciplinary meanings are made is an importan... more This article argues that teachers’ awareness of how disciplinary meanings are made is an important piece of the knowledge needed to be an effective English language teacher today. Noticing language can positively impact teachers’ content and language knowledge, and thus their ability to support primary, intermediate, and secondary students’ content and language learning. To illustrate this argument, I focus on informational science texts. First, I outline a framework for noticing language patterns in disciplinary texts. Then, I present some patterns important for informational reading and writing in the science classroom. Last, I describe some activities that can be used to engage students in noticing and using aspects of science literacy.
MATSOL Currents, 2018
In many schools, linguistic diversity is viewed as a problem, since it is unlikely that teachers ... more In many schools, linguistic diversity is viewed as a problem, since it is unlikely that teachers will be able to speak the home languages of their students. However, in this article we will argue that superdiverse classrooms are spaces of great possibility and will suggest some ways that teachers–whether monolingual or multilingual–can organize their classrooms to teach between languages. In doing so, teachers can create an environment where they are learning with and from their students, and drawing on all the different meaning making resources present in the classroom.
International Journal of Mathematics Teaching and Learning, 2017
This article analyses the experiences of 55 secondary pre-service teachers (PSTs) in a mandated p... more This article analyses the experiences of 55 secondary pre-service teachers (PSTs) in a mandated professional development course that used Halliday's systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and related pedagogical practices to support PSTs' development of disciplinary linguistic knowledge for working with linguistically diverse students in the United States. Of specific interest is how the course influenced the manner in which PSTs responded to a student's attempt at writing a mathematical explanation. We begin with a brief description of Halliday's theory of language and learning with particular reference to the semiotic demands of mathematics. Next, we provide a description of the professional development course and the mixed methods approach to analysing changes in PSTs' pre-and post-course responses to a student writing sample about linear equations. Third, we discuss findings that suggest PSTs' emerging understanding of the linguistic and multimodal demands of mathematical explanations, supported them in providing more cogent and precise written feedback. We conclude by discussing the potential of SFL conceptual and pedagogical tools to support PSTs' professional development in the context of globalization.
Second Language Writing in Elementary Classrooms, 2016
This study analyzes how an elementary school teacher working in an urban school used systemic fun... more This study analyzes how an elementary school teacher working in an urban school used systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and the principles of genre pedagogy to design a writing curriculum to support fourth grade English language learners’ (ELLs) scientific literacy development. Changes in a focal student’s explanation writing over the course of a curricular unit signal the potential of teachers providing students with explicit instruction in how language functions to construct discipline-specific meanings. The implications of this study relate to closing the persistent educational opportunity gap that exists between dominant and non-dominant students, especially students who come from linguistically and culturally diverse communities.
[Accurso, K., Gebhard, M. & Selden, C. (in press). Supporting L2 elementary science writing with SFL in an age of school reform. In L. de Oliveira & T. Silva (Eds.), Second Language Writing in Elementary Classrooms: Instructional Issues, Content-area Writing and Teacher Education (pp. 126–150). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.]
This working bibliography is a collection of references for published articles and book chapters ... more This working bibliography is a collection of references for published articles and book chapters from key U.S. scholars that analyze the use of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) in K-12 schools. Some scholarship represented here uses SFL as a central aspect of the conceptual framework or methods (qualitative, quantitative, use of corpus tools); other work focuses on the use of SFL in analyzing discourse (classroom spoken or written discourse; policy documents); remaining work examines the use of SFL in curriculum design, teacher education, and education policy.
[Gebhard, M. & Accurso, K. (2014). SFL in the context of schooling in the United States: A working bibliography. North American Systemic Functional Linguistic Association. Retrieved from http://nasfla.weebly.com/bibliographies.html]
Encyclopedia of Diversity and Social Justice, 2015
This brief encyclopedia entry provides the general public, as well as PK-12 and higher education ... more This brief encyclopedia entry provides the general public, as well as PK-12 and higher education students, teachers, scholars, and community-based activists, interested in and/or dedicated to issues of diversity and social justice with a succinct discussion of linguistic dominance.
[Accurso, K. (2015). Language dominance. In S. Thompson (Ed.), Encyclopedia of diversity and social justice (pp. 656–657). New York: Rowman & Littlefield.]
Conference Presentations by Kathryn Accurso
Learning physics requires reading, talking, and writing about problems, experiments, and physics ... more Learning physics requires reading, talking, and writing about problems, experiments, and physics concepts (Lemke, 1990). English learners (ELs) are equally capable of engaging with challenging physics content, but often lack explicit support in learning to read and create multi-modal representations, including graphs, mathematical statements, and spoken and written disciplinary English (e.g., Gibbons, 2015). Therefore, the purpose of this poster is to demonstrate the role genre pedagogy can play in creating a physics classroom that supports all students, including ELs, in developing these kinds of disciplinary literacies. First, the poster introduces genre pedagogy as an approach for helping teachers and students develop an awareness of how meanings are made in subject-specific classrooms. Second, it maps out a possible genre study sequence that parallels the existing state STEM frameworks for physics content. This part of the poster shows how each unit of the traditional physics sequence can be matched with a common disciplinary genre (e.g., oral explanations, written problem solutions, experimental reports, etc.) so that students are consistently receiving explicit language instruction that supports content learning and goes well beyond isolated vocabulary lists, instead focusing on how scientific meanings are made for different purposes, to different audiences, using different modalities. Finally, the poster illustrates how teachers can both physics content and genre knowledge using the example of writing problem solutions. By bringing language into focus, this poster addresses some of the lasting educational inequities among English learners in STEM subjects. This poster will be of interest to middle and secondary teachers of lab-based sciences and English language teachers who wish to support their students’ access to lab-based sciences.
The mode continuum (Gibbons, 2003) is a popular heuristic for understanding students’ oral/writte... more The mode continuum (Gibbons, 2003) is a popular heuristic for understanding students’ oral/written language development, but it does not account for other ways of making meaning, especially among students with intellectual disabilities. This poster proposes an inclusive multimodal reimagination of the mode continuum for assessing and tracking all students’ literacy development.
Over seven million K-12 students in the United States study Spanish as a world language. At the s... more Over seven million K-12 students in the United States study Spanish as a world language. At the secondary level, students who continue beyond beginner-level classes hope to develop an ability to read, write, and speak Spanish in a variety of everyday and academic settings (Ramage, 1990). Yet many high school Spanish courses are dominated by teaching approaches that focus on vocabulary memorization rather than literacy development, resulting in weak reading comprehension and immature writing (Colombi, 1997, 2002). This poster presents a sample secondary Spanish curricular unit that attempts to bridge this gap using SFL text analysis and genre-based pedagogy (Derewianka, 1990) to support students’ Spanish literacy skills, specifically their ability to read news articles and write summaries. The unit was designed based on findings from an SFL analysis of news articles from the Spanish language newspaper El Mundo, a model summary written by a secondary Spanish teacher, and two sample summary texts written by secondary Spanish language learners, which pointed to specific opportunities for explicit language instruction, including: identifying main ideas and details in news articles, identifying genre stages of a written summary, constructing a gist, and using reporting processes. In explicitly developing these skills, students are doing work important across grade levels and disciplines; summary writing is not unique to world language education. Summarizing is a literacy skill students can use in various contexts (e.g., social settings, higher education, professional contexts). By developing specific genre knowledge and language awareness, world language learners have the opportunity and the means to become more active and conscious learners and to think more critically and analytically. In this way, this unit meets next generation Spanish world language standards, supports Common Core literacy goals, and can be useful to students with both everyday and academic Spanish literacy learning goals.
High school science students are routinely asked to read and produce lengthy, technical explanati... more High school science students are routinely asked to read and produce lengthy, technical explanations in the course of classroom learning and high-stakes content testing. Teachers who are primarily concerned with providing science content may be unaware of the complexity of these language-based tasks, particularly for English language learners. This poster presents opportunities for incorporating explicit language instruction into the secondary science classroom based on findings from a functional grammatical analysis of two high school chemistry texts: an excerpt from a standard textbook and a collection of writing samples from an 11th grade ELL student with basic English proficiency. It also demonstrates how teachers can use an understanding of the linguistic features of academic texts to help students develop their reading and writing skills while meeting science content goals.
Many K-12 teachers struggle to meet the needs of diverse learners as school reforms promote new d... more Many K-12 teachers struggle to meet the needs of diverse learners as school reforms promote new disciplinary literacy requirements. In response, language education scholars have argued that teachers must develop disciplinary linguistic knowledge (DLK), or an understanding of language in their content area and an ability to design curriculum and instruction that is responsive to their professional contexts and students’ disciplinary literacy needs. This literature review explores recent uses of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) as a basis for teachers’ development of DLK and the implications of SFL-based professional development for teachers’ classroom practice. Findings indicate the potential of SFL for this purpose and have implications for the design of future professional development and research in the area of language education.
High school science students are routinely asked to read and produce lengthy, technical explanati... more High school science students are routinely asked to read and produce lengthy, technical explanations in classroom contexts and on high-stakes content tests. However, teachers may be unaware of the complexity of these language-based tasks, particularly for English language learners (ELLs). Through documentary discourse analysis of scientific explanations from a standard chemistry textbook and ELL student writing, this study identifies opportunities for explicit language instruction in the secondary science classroom and shows that an understanding of the linguistic features of disciplinary texts can be used to promote students’ academic English literacy development while meeting content goals. This collaboration between a university researcher and local educator has implications for teachers, teacher educators, and the use of systemic functional linguistics in schools.
Cite as: Accurso, K., & Levasseur, J. (2014, April). Writing the scientific explanation: Opportunities for L2 literacy development using systemic functional linguistics. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Philadelphia, PA.
This ethnographic study of an urban secondary science class uses critical discourse analysis and ... more This ethnographic study of an urban secondary science class uses critical discourse analysis and systemic functional linguistics to explore ELL students’ socialization to scientific registers, providing insight into how students labeled ‘language learners’ come to understand and position themselves relative to the discipline and within the broader U.S. educational context.
This paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL) as part of a panel titled “Language Socialization and Academic Register.” The discussant on this panel was language socialization scholar Dr. Patricia Duff (patricia.duff@ubc.ca).
Cite as: Accurso, K. (2014, March). ELL socialization to secondary science discourses. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL), Portland, OR.
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Papers by Kathryn Accurso
[Accurso, K., Gebhard, M. & Selden, C. (in press). Supporting L2 elementary science writing with SFL in an age of school reform. In L. de Oliveira & T. Silva (Eds.), Second Language Writing in Elementary Classrooms: Instructional Issues, Content-area Writing and Teacher Education (pp. 126–150). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.]
[Gebhard, M. & Accurso, K. (2014). SFL in the context of schooling in the United States: A working bibliography. North American Systemic Functional Linguistic Association. Retrieved from http://nasfla.weebly.com/bibliographies.html]
[Accurso, K. (2015). Language dominance. In S. Thompson (Ed.), Encyclopedia of diversity and social justice (pp. 656–657). New York: Rowman & Littlefield.]
Conference Presentations by Kathryn Accurso
Cite as: Accurso, K., & Levasseur, J. (2014, April). Writing the scientific explanation: Opportunities for L2 literacy development using systemic functional linguistics. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Philadelphia, PA.
This paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL) as part of a panel titled “Language Socialization and Academic Register.” The discussant on this panel was language socialization scholar Dr. Patricia Duff (patricia.duff@ubc.ca).
Cite as: Accurso, K. (2014, March). ELL socialization to secondary science discourses. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL), Portland, OR.
[Accurso, K., Gebhard, M. & Selden, C. (in press). Supporting L2 elementary science writing with SFL in an age of school reform. In L. de Oliveira & T. Silva (Eds.), Second Language Writing in Elementary Classrooms: Instructional Issues, Content-area Writing and Teacher Education (pp. 126–150). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.]
[Gebhard, M. & Accurso, K. (2014). SFL in the context of schooling in the United States: A working bibliography. North American Systemic Functional Linguistic Association. Retrieved from http://nasfla.weebly.com/bibliographies.html]
[Accurso, K. (2015). Language dominance. In S. Thompson (Ed.), Encyclopedia of diversity and social justice (pp. 656–657). New York: Rowman & Littlefield.]
Cite as: Accurso, K., & Levasseur, J. (2014, April). Writing the scientific explanation: Opportunities for L2 literacy development using systemic functional linguistics. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Philadelphia, PA.
This paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL) as part of a panel titled “Language Socialization and Academic Register.” The discussant on this panel was language socialization scholar Dr. Patricia Duff (patricia.duff@ubc.ca).
Cite as: Accurso, K. (2014, March). ELL socialization to secondary science discourses. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL), Portland, OR.