Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ The Conduit Hypothesis: How Reading Leads to Academic Language Competence

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

Academic Language Proficiency (ALP) is "the mastery of the vocabulary, grammar, and discourse style of language needed for complex and specialized functions." It is typically taught through study and memorization, a process Stephen Krashen disputes. "This approach cannot be correct," he writes. "Most obvious, the system to be mastered is very complex. Scholars, in fact, cannot even agree on the details of the structure of academic writing. Second, there is no clear evidence that anybody has ever mastered more than small bits of pieces of academic language via study." Krashen's research is animated through this EdSurge article by Kristen Wolf showing how "a language is something to absorb, not to memorize." See also 88 generalizations about sustained silent reading (SSR). Image: Wikipedia.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
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Last Updated: Nov 22, 2024 03:31 a.m.

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