Developing academic literacy in IB programmes

Continuum
Developing academic literacy in IB programmes

Published August 2014

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Developing academic literacy in IB programmes

IB mission statement
The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who
help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.
To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop
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Contents

Introduction

Developing academic literacy in IB programmes

Appendix
Bibliography

Cognitive academic language proficiency

Introduction

Developing academic literacy in IB programmes

What is an IB education? (IB 2013) explains the ideals that underpin the IB programmes. It identifies the
development of multilingualism for all students as an essential characteristic of an IB education (IB 2013: 6).
In the publication Language and learning in IB programmes (IB 2011: 2127) the concept of multilingualism is
described and explained in some detail. Six language domains in which students may become proficient are
identified in this explanation. One of the domains is that of cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP),
a term coined by Jim Cummins in 1979 to refer to the language necessary for cognition in the academic
discourses, for example, biology or history.
IB students must become fluent in the academic languages or discourses of several disciplines. IB teachers
have a responsibility to develop their students CALP abilities in the discourses or disciplines that they are
teaching; it is in this sense that all teachers are language teachers (IB 2011: 25)

A framework for the development of a cognitive

academic language proficiency
A framework has been designed to assist teachers in planning for and reflecting on the teaching and
learning of academic literacy or CALP (see figure 2, a framework for planning CALP development). It is
intended for use with single lessons or schemes of work and units of inquiry over a period of time. It can be
used for:

planning activities that maximize learning of academic literacy

differentiating activities for diverse learners

checking that all literacy skills are practised sufficiently

collaborating with literacy specialists and other teachers.

The framework has two axes; horizontally it shows the stages of the pedagogical process for developing
CALP, and vertically it shows the CALP skills.

Pedagogy for developing CALP

The document Language and learning in IB programmes (IB 2011: 28) describes a pedagogy based on the
work of Jim Cummins (who was interviewed by Carol Inugai-Dixon in 2007) for developing CALP across the
curriculum. It identifies four essential dimensions as follows and as illustrated in figure 1, the language and
learning cycle of good practice.

Affirming identity

Activating and building background knowledge

Scaffolding learning

Extending language

Cognitive academic language proficiency

Developing academic literacy in IB programmes

Background
knowledge

Scaffolding
Affirm
identity

Extending
language

Figure 1
The language and learning cycle of good practice (based on the work of Jim Cummins)

Affirming identity
The culture of any IB learning community, reflecting the qualities described in the learner profile, should be
one in which the identity of every member is affirmed. Students skills and knowledge in all their languages
should be explicitly valued and recognized as resources for exploring new ways of thinking and knowing.
For successful learning within this affirming culture, the other three pedagogical dimensions (activating and
building up background knowledge, scaffolding and extending language) should be embedded.

Activating and building up background knowledge

New learning and understanding are constructed on previous experiences and conceptual understandings
in a developmental continuum. Background knowledge includes previous experiences and conceptual
understandings in any language. It is therefore important to:

activate students previous background knowledge, which may be in a non-target language

activate current CALP in the target language

build up any background CALP to a stage that allows for the planned new learning to take place.

Scaffolding
Scaffolding is a temporary strategy that enables learners to build on what they know and extend their
learning so they can accomplish tasks that would otherwise be impossible or much more difficult. The
concept is linked to the idea that each student has a zone of proximal development where teacher support
can enable learning (Vygotsky 1978). There are three important stages in constructing new learning where
scaffolding strategies are effective, as follows.
New comprehensible input
Any new input must be comprehensible if it is to be assimilated and become new learning (Krashen 2002).
Contextualizing new input, using analogies and providing concrete and experiential examples for a variety
of learning styles are some ways of scaffolding for comprehensible input.

Cognitive academic language proficiency

Developing academic literacy in IB programmes

Processing of new input

New input, even if comprehensible, can remain superficial and passive and may easily be forgotten unless
there are opportunities to practise and process the understandings. A variety of multimodal inquiries and
activities should be planned as opportunities for the processing and assimilation of the new learning.
New comprehensible output
Comprehensible output is an essential factor in demonstrating new learning. Students need practice in
activating and expressing new learning so they gain confidence and fluency in its application (Swain 1985).

Extending cognitive academic language proficiency

Independently demonstrating and applying new CALP in novel and varied situations is a sign of successful
learning and may be part of formative or summative assessment. This new learning will become part of
students background knowledge upon which more new and extended learning can be built in the next
cycle.

Cognitive academic language proficiency skills

CALP skills include literacy skills and thinking skills.
Literacy skills include abilities to:

listen for meaning and speak meaningfully, both also part of interactive dialogues

apply complex reading skills to actively decode academic texts

write complex texts for a variety of academic purposes and audiences.

Textual features, and thus the decoding and encoding skills required for understanding them, vary
depending on the disciplinary discourse. All of the literacy skills are linked to corresponding complex
thinking skills from which they become increasingly inseparable, such as analysing and evaluating concepts
and ideas. Critical literacy is particularly significant in assessing the validity of perspectives that have
contributed to the social construction of knowledge that is encoded in language (IB 2011: 26).

The framework for planning CALP development

In some ways, breaking down skills and pedagogical dimensions into single discrete strands, as has been
done in the framework, betrays the complexity of their relationships and intricate interconnections. It
should be stressed, therefore, that that the resulting boxes are artificial and should not be viewed as
having uncrossable borders so as to avoid any risk of reductive thinking.
The expectation is not that every single box on the framework will be attended to in detail in each case. A
lesson is likely to focus mainly on one or two literacy skills and may address a specific aspect of pedagogy.
However, over a period of time in a series of lessons or a unit of inquiry, it would be sound practice to ensure
that all the skills and pedagogical dimensions have been adequately addressed.
The framework can be adapted to suit individual needs and preferences. It is being used in this way
to develop an academic literacy focus component in teacher support materials for IB subject area and
curriculum guides.

Cognitive academic language proficiency

Developing academic literacy in IB programmes

Cognitive

PEDAGOGY

Academic
Language
Proficiency

S
K
I
L
L
S

Background
knowledge
(BK)

Activating
and building
up BK

Scaffolding for:

New
comprehensible
input

Processing of
new input

Extended
CALP

New
comprehensible
output

Demonstrating
and applying

Listening

Speaking

Interacting

Reading

Writing

Thinking

Figure 2
A framework for planning CALP development
4

Cognitive academic language proficiency

Appendix

Bibliography

Cummins, J. 1979. Cognitive academic language proficiency, linguistic interdependence, the optimum age
question and some other matters. Working papers on bilingualism. Number 19. Pp 1219.
IB. 2013. What is an IB education? Cardiff, UK. International Baccalaureate Organization.
IB. 2011. Language and learning in IB programmes. Cardiff, UK. International Baccalaureate Organization.
Inugai Dixon, C. 2007. Unpublished interview with Jim Cummins on conditions for learning.
Krashen, S. Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning. 1 May 2002. http://www.skrashen.
com/SL_Acquisition_and_Learning
Swain, M. 1985. Communicative competence: Some roles of comprehensible input and comprehensible
output in its development. In Gass, S. and Madden, C (Eds). Input in Second Language Acquisition. Pp. 23556.
New York, New York, USA. Newbury House.
Vygotsky, L. 1978. Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge,
Massachusetts, USA. Harvard University Press.

Cognitive academic language proficiency