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The language for school reading: Core Academic Language Skills (CALS)

2020
Meneses, A., Uccelli, P., & Ruiz, M. (2020). El lenguaje académico como catalizador de la equidad en la educación escolar. N. Á. Reyes (Ed.), . Contribuciones, multilingües a la investigación en escritura: hacia un intercambio académico igualitario. International Exchanges on the Study of Writing. Fort Collins: The WAC clearinghouse.
MacFarlane, M., Barr, C., & Uccelli, P. (2020). Core Academic Language Skills: validating a construct in linguistically dissimilar settings. The Language Learning Journal , 1-15.
2019
Barr, C., Uccelli, P., & Galloway, E. (2019). Specifying the Academic Language Skills That Support Text Understanding in the Middle Grades: The Design and Validation of the Core Academic Language Skills Construct and Instrument. Language Learning , 69.
2018
Galloway, E., & Uccelli, P. (2018). Examining Developmental Relations Between Core Academic Language Skills and Reading Comprehension for English Learners and Their Peers. Journal of Educational Psychology , 111.
2017
Meneses, A., Uccelli, P., Santelices, V., Ruiz Zúñiga, M., Acevedo, D., & Figueroa, J. (2017). Academic Language as a Predictor of Reading Comprehension in Monolingual Spanish-Speaking Readers: Evidence From Chilean Early Adolescents. Reading Research Quarterly.
2016
Uccelli, P., & Galloway, E. (2016). Academic Language Across Content Areas: Lessons From an Innovative Assessment and From Students' Reflections About Language. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy , 60.
2015
Uccelli, P., & Meneses, A. (2015). Lenguaje académico: construcción y validación de un instrumento para medir habilidades de lenguaje académico en estudiantes de primaria . Invited paper in Special Edited Volume, M. Brisk & P. Proctor, Miríada Hispánica , (10), 177-202.
Uccelli, P., Galloway, E. P., Barr, C. D., Meneses, A., & Dobbs, C. L. (2015). Beyond Vocabulary: Exploring Cross-Disciplinary Academic-Language Proficiency and Its Association With Reading Comprehension. Reading Research Quarterly , 50 (3), 337-356. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Abstract Despite a long-standing awareness of academic language as a pedagogically relevant research area, the construct of academic-language proficiency, understood as a more comprehensive set of skills than just academic vocabulary, has remained vaguely specified. In this study, we explore a more inclusive operationalization of an academic-language proficiency construct, core academic-language skills (CALS). CALS refers to a constellation of high-utility language skills hypothesized to support reading comprehension across school content areas. Using the Core Academic Language Skills Instrument (CALS-I), a theoretically grounded and psychometrically robust innovative tool, we first examined the variability in students' CALS by grade, English-proficiency designation, and socioeconomic status (SES). Then, we examined the contribution of CALS to reading comprehension using academic vocabulary knowledge, word reading fluency, and sociodemographic factors as covariates. A linguistically and socioeconomically diverse cross-sectional sample of 218 students (grades 4–6) participated in four assessments: the CALS-I, a standardized reading comprehension assessment (Gates–MacGinitie Reading Test), an academic vocabulary test (Vocabulary Association Test), and a word reading fluency test (Test of Silent Word Reading Fluency). General linear model analysis of variance revealed that CALS differed significantly by grade, English-proficiency designation, and SES, with students in higher grades, English-proficient students, and those from higher SES backgrounds displaying higher scores, on average. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses identified CALS as an independent predictor of reading comprehension, even after controlling for academic vocabulary knowledge, word reading fluency, and sociodemographic factors. By specifying a set of language skills associated with reading comprehension, this study advances our understanding of school-relevant language skills, making them more visible for researchers and educators.
Galloway, E., Stude, J., & Uccelli, P. (2015). Adolescents’ metalinguistic reflections on the academic register in speech and writing. Linguistics and Education , 31.
2014
Uccelli, P., Barr, C., Dobbs, C., Galloway, E., Meneses, A., & Sanchez, E. (2014). Core academic language skills: An expanded operational construct and a novel instrument to chart school-relevant language proficiency in pre-adolescent and adolescent learners. Applied Psycholinguistics , in press.