Language Demand Analyser

Analyse the language demands of a classroom task to identify barriers for EAL and multilingual learners. Use when adapting tasks, planning support, or assessing linguistic accessibility.

What it does

Identifies the language demands of a classroom task across four dimensions — vocabulary (Tier 1/2/3), grammar (sentence complexity, tense, voice, modality), discourse (text structure, cohesion, paragraph organisation), and genre (purpose, audience, register) — and recommends specific scaffolds for each dimension. The analysis makes visible the language that is ASSUMED by the task but rarely explicitly taught, revealing the hidden linguistic barriers that prevent EAL students from demonstrating their subject knowledge. AI is specifically valuable here because most teachers are experts in their subject content but not in the language features their tasks demand — they know what a good science conclusion looks like but may not be able to articulate the specific grammatical structures, discourse patterns, and vocabulary tiers it requires.

The evidence behind it

Cummins (1981, 2000) distinguished between Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) — the conversational fluency that EAL students typically develop within 1–2 years — and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) — the academic language required for curriculum learning, which takes 5–7 years to develop. This distinction is critical because students who appear fluent in conversation may still lack the academic language needed to access curriculum tasks. Gibbons (2002, 2015) operationalised this distinction into classroom practice, showing that language demands must be identified and scaffolded explicitly — "immersion" alone is insufficient for academic language development. Schleppegrell (2004) demonstrated that school language is not simply "harder" than everyday language — it is structurally different, using nominalisation, passive voice, complex noun phrases, and abstract vocabulary in ways that everyday conversation does not. Zwiers (2014) provided a practical framework for identifying and teaching academic language across disciplines, emphasising that language demands vary by subject. Bailey & Heritage (2008) showed that language demands are present in all tasks, not just literacy tasks — a mathematics problem has language demands (reading the problem, understanding mathematical vocabulary, explaining reasoning) that are invisible to teachers but present barriers for EAL students.

Sources

• Cummins (1981, 2000) — BICS/CALP framework: Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills vs. Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency
• Gibbons (2002, 2015) — Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning: teaching English language learners in the mainstream classroom
• Schleppegrell (2004) — The Language of Schooling: a functional linguistics perspective
• Zwiers (2014) — Building Academic Language: meeting Common Core standards across disciplines
• Bailey & Heritage (2008) — Formative Assessment for Literacy: building reading and academic language skills across the curriculum

How to use it in your lesson

For the best results with EvidenceLesson, give it:

• task_description — The specific classroom task students must complete
• student_level — Age/year group
• subject_area — The curriculum subject
• language_proficiency (optional) — EAL proficiency level of target students — e.g. New to English, Early Acquisition, Developing, Consolidating, Competent
• student_profiles (optional) — From context engine: first languages, time in English-medium schooling, specific language needs
• task_materials (optional) — Description of texts, worksheets, or resources used in the task
• prior_language_instruction (optional) — Language features already explicitly taught to these students

Known limitations

1. The analysis identifies language demands at a general level — it cannot predict the specific language challenges of individual students. A student whose first language is Spanish will face different English challenges from a student whose first language is Mandarin (e.g., article use, tense marking, word order). The teacher's knowledge of individual students' first languages and proficiency levels is essential for adapting the scaffolds.

1. Language demands interact with cognitive demands, and the analysis treats them separately for clarity. In practice, a student struggling with both the science concepts AND the language to express them faces a compounded challenge. The scaffolds help with language, but if the student doesn't understand the science, language scaffolds alone are insufficient. Ensure conceptual understanding is secure before focusing on language production.

1. The analysis assumes the teacher will use the scaffolds temporarily. Scaffolds should be progressively removed as students develop proficiency. If sentence frames are provided permanently, students may become dependent on them rather than developing independent academic language. The goal is to build capacity, not create permanent supports.

Pairs well with