Amplifying the Curriculum: Designing Quality Learning Opportunities for English Learners

This book presents an ambitious model for how educators can design high-quality, challenging, and supportive learning opportunities for English Learners and other students identified to be in need of language and literacy support. Starting with the premise that conceptual, analytic, and language practices develop simultaneously as students engage in disciplinary learning, the authors argue for instruction that amplifies―rather than simplifies―expectations, concepts, texts, and learning tasks. The authors offer clear guidance for designing lessons and units and provide examples that demonstrate the approach in various subject areas, including math, science, English, and social studies. This practical resource will guide teachers through the coherent design of tasks, lessons, and units of study that invite English Learners (and all students) to engage in productive, meaningful, and intellectually engaging activity.

Book Features:

• A unique model for teaching English Learners and ALL students that highlights the centrality of interactions in the development of student academic autonomy.
• Discipline-specific examples to guide teachers in creating learning tasks, lessons, and units of study.
• A discussion of how teachers might begin designing such learning opportunities, along with suggestions for how school leaders and teacher preparation can support them.
• Grounded in sociocultural and ecological theories of language, language learning, and the development of disciplinary practices.

Aída Walqui is director of the Teacher Professional Development Program at WestEd and the Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL) initiative. George C. Bunch is professor of education at University of California, Santa Cruz and winner of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) 2017 Second Language Research Special Interest Group Midcareer Award.