Meaningful Classroom Talk: Supprting English Learners' Oral Language Development

This article opens with the transcript of a teacher asking a class questions about a reading. The questions the teacher asks do not provide real opportunities for students to use oral language. How can teachers provide English language learners opportunities to use oral language in academic settings? How can teachers leverage classroom interactions to foster language development, content knowledge, and analytical reasoning? The authors answer these questions by providing actionable guidelines supported by research and classroom practices for productive oral language exchanges.