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Core Academic Language Skills (CALS): An expanded operational construct and a novel instrument to chart school-relevant language proficiency in per-adolescent and adolescent learners.

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2014

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Cambridge University Press
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Uccelli, Paola, Christopher D. Barr, Christina L. Dobbs, Emily Phillips Galloway, Alejandra Meneses, and Emilio Sanchez. (2014, to be published). Core Academic Language Skills (CALS): An expanded operational construct and a novel instrument to chart school-relevant language proficiency in per-adolescent and adolescent learners. Applied Psycholinguistics xx, no. x:xx-xx.

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Beyond academic vocabulary, the constellation of skills that comprise academic language proficiency has remained imprecisely defined. This study proposes an expanded operationalization of this construct referred to as ‘Core Academic Language Skills’ (CALS). CALS refers to the knowledge and deployment of a repertoire of language forms and functions that co-occur with school learning tasks across disciplines. Using an innovative instrument, we explored CALS in a cross-sectional sample of 235 students in grades 4-8. Results revealed between- and within-grade variability in CALS. Psychometric analyses yielded strong reliability and supported the presence of a single CALS factor, which was found to be predictive of reading comprehension. Findings suggest that the CALS construct and instrument appear promising for exploring students' school-relevant language skills.

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http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:11380186

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Core Academic Language Skills (CALS): An… : DASH Story 2021-11-18
In South Africa we are working to raise English standards in student teachers, so that they have the CALS to carry the other subjects they teach in English, and also, are better able to teach English themselves. Most of our teachers do not speak English as a mother tongue, but need to teach in it as a medium of instruction. We are developing tests based on CALS items, to assess student teachers' English at first and final year of the B.Ed degree
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Core Academic Language Skills (CALS): An… : DASH Story 2017-06-10
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