Developing Teacher Capacity for Serving ELLs' Writing Instructional Needs: A Case for Systemic Functional Linguistics

Abstract Although explicit grammar instruction has been a source of considerable debate in second-language teaching, increasingly educational linguists assert instruction in academic language is critical, given the current assessment reform in K–12 contexts. Of particular concern is that contemporary English-Language-Learner (ELL) instruction focuses on making the content comprehensible to ELLs in a manner that may lead to inadequate exposure to academic language, which is considered paramount to ELLs' educational success. Therefore, it is necessary to develop methods for increasing teachers' capacity to address this issue instructionally. Informed by Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), this study presents the effectiveness and instructional impact of a professional-development program designed to increase teachers' understanding of the characteristics of academic language. Differences in teacher evaluations of student work prior to and after SFL training suggest that teachers were better able to analy...