The purpose of this post is to share my interpretations of the complexity and breadth of Halliday’s model about learning, learning about and learning through language, sharing examples of conceptually-driven and inquiry-based practices.

Any one of these parts (learning, learning about and learning through) does not exist in isolation, and the connections between learning, learning about and learning through are endless. At the centre of the model lies the importance of learning to be grounded in meaningful, real-world contexts so that students understand, use and apply language in different ways with different audiences. In a PYP school, the six transdisciplinary themes (represented at the heart of the visual) can be unpacked to consider such opportunities for learning.

For me, the model advocates for language learners to be inspired and confident communicators, proficient in a range of skills and strategies and adept in explaining and applying a multitude of concepts. Students learn and apply language in relevant contexts, appreciate the inextricable links between language and culture, and ultimately use language flexibly with various people and for a range of purposes. Let’s investigate learning, learning about and learning through language.

Learning language

Learning language is about having extended periods of time to engage as speakers, listeners, readers, writers, viewers and presenters. Learners have first-hand opportunities to converse with their peers, revel in the magic of a read-aloud, develop characters in a dramatic performance, be in awe and wonder in response to a set of beautiful photographs, read about their favourite animals, write exciting narratives and more. The basic premise is that we learn to speak by speaking, learn to read by reading etc. The behaviours and mindset of readers, writers, viewers, presenters, speakers and listeners are paramount to learning language. We seek to model, engage in and reflect on a genuine passion and curiosity for language, to play and have fun with words, to be inspired by the way others use language and to be immersed in a wealth of literature, media and dialogue. Time and space are needed so that these opportunities aren’t squeezed out of a child’s day to “cover” a set of learning outcomes from a curriculum. Imagine the outcomes if learning language (as described here) was a key feature of all classrooms!

In my Grade 2 classroom this year, students are developing new relationships by connecting with their peers. Part of the morning routine includes individual conversations with me. I am often told about significant events in the children’s lives and asked how I am feeling, what I did at the weekend and, more recently, why I have less hair than other people! In “Personal Reading” time, students choose what to read, where to read and who to read with. There is often a buzz of excitement as a new edition of the children’s newspaper First News arrives or a page is turned in the Guinness World Book of Records to discover a new statistic. In “Personal Writing” time, students choose what to write about. In recent weeks, students have written a range of adventure stories, recounts of exciting playdates and fact files about things that have captured their interest. I might provoke students’ curiosity by showcasing a new text or inviting students to consider writing a different genre to keep language learning alive and vibrant. Home languages are encouraged in the classroom. As well as students of the same home language communicating, more recently, students have taken a more active interest in each other’s languages and have started to teach one another vocabulary and phrases. Read alouds are used most days to model fluency, expression and think-alouds, but also to invite students to escape to a different world – a world created, with intention and mastery, by inspiring authors. Strategically stopping at pivotal moments to create suspense and wonder is a regular feature of the classroom!

Learning about language

Learning about language makes explicit the systems and conventions within a language to learn about. These may be nuggets of knowledge, skills or strategies, from which big ideas and conceptual understandings are drawn and investigated over a period of time. These understandings engage students’ thinking about viewing, presenting, speaking, listening, reading and writing. The “stuff” students learn about language is intentional. Meaning might be co-constructed through shared dialogue, or a genre, for example, might be deconstructed to identify its organization and language features. Learning about language occurs at the word, sentence and text level. Regardless of the level, it is important that students make personal connections between this language and their own lives through the use of literature, conversation, environmental print and building on students’ interests.

At the word level, students might find patterns with verb endings and test their theories, explore the different letters that can make a particular sound or experiment with the prefixes and suffixes that can be added to change base words. At the sentence level, students might read and write metaphors, explore saying the same sentence with different voices or investigate how and why capital letters are used. At the text level, students might critique a cartoon, go through the writing process to craft a persuasive letter, participate in a debate or go on a concept walk in the local area to find examples of procedural texts.

Although much of this can be approached conceptually in a quest to deepen students’ understanding about how language works, it is also important to remember that this alone is not inquiry. Inquiry thrives in a culture of wonder, questions, theories and the unknown. To engage students as inquirers, following on from initial engagements and provocations, specific language, questions, prompts and routines are used. Examples include wonder walls, the use of “What if…?”, questions such as “What confuses you?” and “What are you interested in exploring more?” and sentence starters such as “My theory is…” and “I am wondering…”

In my Grade 2 classroom, we have been learning about character. Students have been learning about physical descriptions, personality, actions and dialogue and how these can be used to describe themselves, others and characters in stories. There has been a focus on the reading strategies of making connections and predictions that the students have used to respond to characters and events in read-aloud time and in Book Club, when students work in interest groups dialogue about literature they have read at home. Connecting to characters has also been the focus of Readers’ Workshop allowing us to explore word choice beyond ‘nice’ and ‘good’ and how punctuation and capitalization are used to show dialogue. Chapter books such as Roald Dahl’s “The Twits” have provided a context to model these conventions and a springboard to inspire students to brainstorm and draft their own character descriptions. Inquiry as a mindset permeates the curriculum, so students are comfortable sharing their reactions, what surprised them, what they are wondering, and what their theories are about what will happen next and why. To provoke even more interest, character descriptions and read alouds are chosen with intent to capture students’ imaginations and thinking to broaden their repertoire of language conventions to achieve a purpose.

Learning through language

Learning through language is when language is used as a tool to learn about something beyond the realms of language. Its purpose is learning in a different domain, yet recognizing the inherent role language plays to make this learning optimal. Students are readers, writers, viewers, presenters, speakers and listeners as they inquire into big ideas embedded in culture, history, geography, arts, politics, current affairs, the local area, science and beyond! Their inquiries might involve navigating features of non-fiction to learn about ecosystems, writing a set of questions to interview other students for the school’s news channel, viewing a video on Fair Trade, presenting a slideshow of their learning journey leading up to an exhibition, explaining (orally) strategies used in a maths investigation and listening to a guest athlete talk about fitness.

In my Grade 2 classroom, students are excitedly engaged in experimenting with different materials in the classroom and at the nearby nature trail. They are using language to verbalise their inquiries: “What is this?”, “How does this work?”, “I think that…” and “What if…?” As we unpack the concept of experimentation, our thinking becomes deeper and our language more specific and articulate. One student explained experimenting as “letting your mind wander”! In the morning routine, there is always a message for students to read and reflect on. The message today included: “Who is it that experiments?” This open-ended question led students to discuss ideas and conclude that nearly all people experiment – including teachers “who try ideas out to see what happens”. In the previous unit about relationships, some students developed performances to convey the importance of trust in relationships. In the process, they used language to make decisions as a group, and to act in role. Other students were fascinated by relationships within animal families and accessed various media to learn more, differentiating between relevant and irrelevant information. They then chose the mode of presentation to share what they had learned to both Grade 2 classes. Performances ranged from Green Screen videos, models and oral presentations.

Connections

Any one practice in the classroom could shift to one or more lenses if our purpose and intent changes. A read aloud may be for pure pleasure (more aligned with learning language), or to model the strategy of visual imagery (more aligned with learning about language) or to learn more about different inventions (more aligned with learning through language). Although learning, learning about and learning through language offer unique lenses, it is important to reiterate the connections and interdependence between each part - as long as we are clear about the purpose of why we are using different resources, approaches and routines.

Reflection

This post was born out of one slide for part of a professional development session working with teachers at my school and a graphic I developed (directly above) to explain to parents the interconnectedness between reading and writing. It has been really helpful to pull together my interpretations of Halliday’s model and see that they are aligned to how I believe children best learn. I relish the chance to engage students in thinking. It has confirmed that I need to be much more intentional in embedding inquiry into language learning and not simply have students construct meaning about complex ideas.

Which ideas do you connect to the most strongly? Why?

Which ideas have provoked your own thinking the most?

What are you wondering after reading about learning, learning about and learning through language?

What action(s) might you take as a result of this reading?