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This course is part of a series of short courses from the Understanding Language Initiative at Stanford University that facilitates the analysis and improvement of the communicative features of activities in English language development (ELD) lessons. 


About This Course

Communicativeness means that rather than focusing on memorizing grammar rules and word meanings to give the appearance of language learning and use, activities actually require and foster communication--they motivate and support students in using language to get interesting and meaningful things done. 

Each course in the series highlights strategies to incorporate communication into a different skill, such as listening, speaking, reading, writing, and conversation. The first course focuses on designing activities that develop students’ conversation skills across disciplines. We hope this series will benefit educators looking for engaging ways to enhance both content and language learning for students, especially English Language Learners. 

**Eligible for 1 CEU or 1 unit of PD when completed with atleast 2 more courses in this series (ELL311, ELL312, ELL313, ELL314, ELL315).

 
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WAYS TO TAKE THIS COURSE

Simply Audit this Course

Can't commit to all of the lectures, assignments, and tests? Audit this course and have complete access to all of the course material, tests, people, portfolios, and the online discussion forum. You decide what and how much you want to do.

Try for a Certificate

Looking to test your mettle? Participate in all of the course's activities (we use the honor code around here) and if your work meets the 85% requirements, you'll receive a personalized certificate to showcase your achievement. You can also apply for course credit (if desired).


Course Staff

Jeff Zwiers


Senior Researcher in the Stanford Graduate School of Education

Jeff Zwiers is a senior researcher at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and director of professional development for the Understanding Language Initiative, a research and professional learning project focused on improving the education of academic English learners. He has consulted for national and international teacher development projects and has published articles and books on literacy, cognition, discourse, and academic language. His current research focuses on improving professional learning models and developing classroom instruction that fosters high-quality oral language and constructive conversations across disciplines.

Understanding Language Initiative


Understanding Language's vision is to increase college, career, and community readiness for all students—especially English language learners (ELLs)—by transforming the quality of their educational experiences. When language and content instruction are successfully intertwined, they work synergistically and powerfully to improve student learning. Accordingly, the organization's mission is to support educators and policymakers in transforming systems to advance equity for ELLs by illuminating the symbiotic ways students learn language and academic content. Housed at Stanford University and led by the nation's leading English language learning and content area experts, Understanding Language is uniquely positioned with the practitioner and research expertise, knowledge, relationships and partnerships to help educators successfully teach language and content together.
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Course Code: ELL311
Course Release: Sep 15, 2020
Estimated Effort: 5 hrs

Suggested Prerequisites:
None.

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