Things You Need to Know
Welcome to Applied Linguistics. This course is one of five courses needed to satisfy requirements for the state’s Category 1 ESOL endorsement. Over the next eight weeks you will be guided through a comprehensive linguistic study of American English and the factors that affect the instruction of English as a Second Language.
This course is supported by research-based professional articles, multimedia resources, and by the WIDA Framework that supports and correlates with Florida State Standards.
The State of Florida became a member of the WIDA Consortium in 2015. Several states are members, committed to the high quality education of linguistically diverse students. The WIDA Consortium draws on multiple theories and approaches in an effort to describe language use in academic contexts; this is the language that language learners must acquire and negotiate to participate successfully in school.
The standards framework consists of five components. Some of these components are expressions of a particular philosophy, while others are explicit representations of knowledge. The five components are:
• Can Do Philosophy
• Guiding Principles of Language Development
• Age-appropriate Academic Language in Sociocultural Contexts
• Performance Definitions
• Strands of Model Performance Indicators.
The Can Do Philosophy and the Guiding Principles of Language Development can be found on the WIDA website (www.wida.us). The other three components are set out in the 2012 Amplification of the English Language Development Standards, Kindergarten-Grade 12, which is also available on the WIDA website.
The 2012 Amplification of the English Language Development (ELD) Standards reflects WIDA’s most current thinking on the language of school and how to promote language learning in ways that are helpful to teachers and students. The ELD Standards continue to be represented in a series of scaffolded steps within a linguistic progression across five levels of language proficiency (these steps are known as the standards matrices). The model performance indicators (MPIs) provide exemplars of language processing and use as students gain proficiency and can be readily utilized and adapted by educators to support instruction and curriculum development.
For more information about the WIDA Standards Framework, visit www.wida.us or http://esol.browardschools.com/ and select the WIDA link.
Before getting into the content for this week, there are a few items that need to be addressed. First prepare your computer to view the various types of media that this course may contain. Click here to test that your computer has the necessary plug-ins to view video and flash interactives. This course may contain links to video and/or articles that are pertinent to the course content but are located on commercial websites. Broward Virtual University does not endorse in whole or in part any product or service offered or promoted by any of these commercial websites.
Periodically throughout the course you will encounter the Projector icon at the right. The icon indicates that there is a video relating to the content. Clicking on the icon will launch the video. Be sure that you don't miss these video opportunities. Also included in the course are 
Self Check activities indicated by the icon at the left. These interactive activities provide a way for you to "check" your understanding of the content. Clicking on the icon will launch the activity.
No matter if this is your first online course or you are an experienced online learner, your online experience will benefit from reviewing the Start Here section of the course. Once you have started the course, if you need to review any of the information, you can access the Start Here menu by clicking Home. Click on the Help button to obtain assistance if you experience any technical difficulties.
Please review the information found in the Instructional Strategies That Work section. This Instructional Strategies That Work resource section contains a plethora of important information for addressing the needs of students with different learning styles, particularly students with disabilities, students with special learning needs (including gifted and talented students) and students with limited English proficiency. It is imperative that we identify early and appropriate interventions to help students learn and that improve student behavior in the classroom. Take some time to read the best practices strategies that will enhance your teaching as you differentiate instruction.
Some of the information you will learn throughout the course can be shared with parents as they assist their children in the learning process. The icon at the left indicates such information. We need to keep in mind that parents are our students’ first teachers.
Each week you will have content to read and assigned tasks to complete. An assignment matrix is provided for each week to inform participants of expectations throughout this course. The final project will be introduced at the end of week four so that you will have plenty of time to submit it by the end of the course. ALL course requirements must be completed independently by the participant and not plagiarized from any other source or person.
The Standards covered in this course include:
- Standard 1: Language as a System
Teachers will demonstrate understanding of language as a system, including phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics; support ELLs’ acquisition of English in order to learn and to read, write, and communicate orally in English. - Standard 2: Language Acquisition and Development
Teachers will understand and apply theories and research on second language acquisition and development to support ELLs’ learning. - Standard 3: Second Language Literacy Development
Teachers will demonstrate an understanding of the components of literacy, and will understand and apply theories of second language literacy development to support ELLs’ learning.
The individual items for each week can be found under the Weekly Objectives.
Before you begin reading this week’s content, please take the Pre-test. The Pre-test can be accessed in the Assignments section. If you have any questions or concerns regarding course requirements, please contact your facilitator immediately.
