bloom taxonomy

THE ACADEMIC LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS APPROACH

Academic Language Instructional Activities

Language Demand Function: SynthesizingLearners engage in the process of synthesizing information, expressing, describing, or explaining relationships among two or more ideas to develop deeper understanding. This function is crucial for critical thinking and articulating complex concepts effectively.

Instructional Activities:

• Collaborative Tasks Such As:

  • Combine Ideas to Form a Whole Group: Students work in teams to bring together diverse ideas into a coherent group project, encouraging teamwork and communication skills.

  • Create a Poster: Involves visual representation of synthesizing ideas that allows for creative engagement and summarization of learned concepts.

  • Develop a Compare/Contrast Matrix: This helps students analyze similarities and differences between concepts, thereby deepening their critical thinking.

  • Use Mnemonics: Aids memory retention and retrieval of complex information by creating associations that are easier to recall.

  • Write Summaries: Summarization of content reinforces understanding and helps learners articulate their knowledge concisely.

  • Propose Multiple Solutions to Problems: Encourages creative problem-solving skills and the ability to view situations from multiple perspectives.

  • Write a Paper from an Outline: Structuring thoughts through outlines helps learners organize their ideas logically before writing.

  • Defend a Viewpoint: This activity fosters skills in argumentation, persuasion, and critical engagement with differing viewpoints.

Key Vocabulary:

• Combine

• Contain

• Entail

• Merge

• Form

• Put together

• Consist of

• Combination

Phrases & Discourse Markers:

• Partitives:

  • Examples include phrases like "a part of," "a segment of," "almost all," and "hardly any," which assist in clarifying the extent or proportion of ideas discussed.

• Formulaic Expressions: These structured expressions aid in academic discourse:

  • "From my perspective, ______ means ______."

  • "The main point(s) is/are ____________."

  • "The point that ______ makes is related to ______ in that ______."

  • "The concept of ______ can be expressed as ______."

  • "I think that ______ and ______’s viewpoints are related in that __________________."

Managing Language Demands and Cognition

Bloom’s Taxonomy (Bloom, 1956; Bloom & Krathwohl, 1977):

This framework is instrumental in managing cognitive demands in curriculum design when employing an academic language functions approach. It provides clarity in structuring learning experiences that cater to various learning levels.

Six Levels of Cognitive Demand:

1. Knowledge: Recall of facts and basic concepts.

2. Comprehension: Understanding information and concepts.

3. Application: Using information in new situations.

4. Analysis: Breaking information into parts to explore understandings and relationships.

5. Synthesis: Compiling information in different ways by combining elements in a new pattern.

6. Evaluation: Making judgments based on criteria and standards.

Lower-Order Thinking Skills:

• Includes Knowledge, Comprehension, and Application, focusing on foundational understanding.

Higher-Order Thinking Skills:

• Includes Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation, fostering critical thinking and deeper understanding.

Descriptors of Cognitive Demand:

These descriptors can aid in writing performance objectives for learners, aiming to balance both cognitive and language demands effectively.

Challenges and Support in Learning

Avoiding Anxiety in Learning:

High levels of cognitive and language demands over extended periods can lead to learner anxiety, which negatively affects the learning experience. A supportive learning environment can mitigate these effects.

Scaffolding Model (Hammond and Gibbons, 2001):

A strategic approach that addresses challenges with both cognition and motivation. Factors to consider include:

• The amount of challenge presented by the academic task,

• The amount of support provided by the educator.

Ideal Learning Situation:

An optimal scenario involves high challenge coupled with adequate support, ensuring effective learning and development.

Levels of Cognitive Demand in Bloom’s Taxonomy

Lower-order Thinking Skills:

• Level 1: Knowledge: Actions include arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize, name, order, recognize, relate, recall, repeat, reproduce, state.

• Level 2: Comprehension: Activities such as classify, describe, discuss, explain, express, identify, indicate, locate, recognize, report, restate, review, select, translate.

• Level 3: Application: Actions include apply, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, practice, schedule, sketch, solve, use.

Higher-order Thinking Skills:

• Level 4: Analysis: Involves analyze, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test.

• Level 5: Synthesis: Activities such as arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up.

• Level 6: Evaluation: Involves appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose, compare, defend, estimate, evaluate, judge, predict, rate, select, support, value.

Task for Professional Development

1. Conduct an Online Search for Academic Language.

2. Review at Least Three Websites.

3. Identify and Select Two Ideas that would be useful in designing materials focused on academic language functions.

4. Share Insights with a Colleague.

Conclusion

This note serves as an introduction to the academic language functions approach to curriculum design, emphasizing the importance of connecting language demands with cognitive demands in academic contexts. Bloom’s Taxonomy and scaffolding frameworks are invaluable tools for managing teaching demands effectively.

Discussion Questions

• How would you define academic language? How is it different from social language?

• Explain the difference between Cummins’s two types of language proficiency in your own words.

Including Bloom's Taxonomy in a Paper

1. Introduction of Bloom's Taxonomy: Start by briefly explaining what Bloom's Taxonomy is and its importance in educational settings, particularly in curriculum design and instructional strategies.

   • Mention its levels: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation.

2. Integration into Curriculum Design: Discuss how Bloom’s Taxonomy can guide the development of learning objectives that align with different cognitive levels.

   • Provide examples of objectives for each level (e.g., Knowledge: "Define key terms"; Evaluation: "Judge the effectiveness of different methods").

3. Framework for Assessment: Explain how the taxonomy can be used to create assessments that measure various levels of student understanding.

   • Outline types of questions or tasks for each level.

4. Support Scaffolding: Highlight how using Bloom's Taxonomy can aid in scaffolding learning experiences, ensuring that tasks are appropriately challenging for students.

5. Conclusion: Reflect on the overall value of incorporating Bloom’s Taxonomy as a structured approach to enhance teaching and learning outcomes in your paper.