Accompanying these language features are a variety of oral

language activities that have been tailored to each feature and that
cater for those students who have English as an additional language
(EAL students) by offering supportive mechanisms such as relevant
and appropriate lessons, the scaffolding of language by modelling
and the provision of engaging visual stimulus (Cortazzi & Jin, 2007).

Being aware of the different forms of descriptive language and how

to appropriately implement them into an information narrative is an
essential component of creating an engaging and interesting
portrayal of narrative features such as events and characters (Wing
Jan, 2009; Gregory & Burkman, 2012). The instructional activity
Think-Puzzle-Explore, along with general brainstorming tasks, has
been selected to explore the lessons developing descriptive
language and adverbial phrases/clauses lessons because discussion
is fostered between students and the teacher. This discussion is an
important component of fostering an environment of thought which
in turn assists students in generating ideas and to consider the
perspectives of their peers, leading them to gain a greater
understanding of the nature of descriptive language and how to
identify it in a text (Education Department of Western Australia,
1997). In addition to this, the communication between the students
and the teacher during discussion is important in enabling students
to become proficient in using specific language (Education
Department of Western Australia, 1997).

The promotion of student discussion continues when the Language

Experience Approach is planned to follow on from the thinking
routines, this activity allowing students to become actively involved
in the development of descriptive language by being provided the
opportunity to orally express what they want to be written (Nessel &
Dixon, 2008). In addition to this, by taking a personal approach to
learning and using relevant topics to write, a meaningful context is
established. Various researchers have established that this is a
prominent precondition in learning language (Nessel & Dixon, 2008),
hence its inclusion in the lesson to develop descriptive language.
When assisting students to select words that enhance a text and to
provide additional detail, development of a students language will
take place (Harmon, 2006). This insight has had a great bearing on
the decision to implement the Language Experience Approach in
order to scaffold development of descriptive language, with benefits
lying in the teacher using student language to compose a text
rather than purely instructing them about the usefulness of
descriptive words (Education Department of Western Australia,
1997). Essentially, as Hall states in Kirkland and Patterson (2005),
when students are given opportunities to be the primary producers
of the language then the development of oral language will flourish.

While being independent in terms of structure from the Language

Experience Approach, Chalk Talk also heavily promotes students

becoming actively involved in the development of their use of

descriptive language by allowing students to make informed
decisions based on information attained during the modelled and
guided sections of the Language Experience Approach in the mini
lesson (Blank, 2012). Here is evidence of the implementation of the
Gradual Release of Responsibility Model, with movement from
modelled and guided practice to students moving to independently
complete the task (Chiculan & Cheng, 2010). In addition to this, the
activity encourages meaningful and directed conversation between
peers when considering ideas and suggestions (Ritchart, Church &
Morrison, 2011), this essentially creating a language-rich
environment and hence being an important component in
developing oral language skills (Kirkland and Patterson, 2005). The
activity offers rich opportunities for group collaboration, this being
invaluable for EAL learners (Cortazzi & Jin, 2007) in which peers
share ideas and developing their reasoning skills.

In terms of catering for EAL, whilst also providing engaging content

to other class members, an interactive approach to developing oral
language fosters a supportive and relevant environment for
students to become familiar with adverbial phrases and clauses.
(Education Department of Western Australia, 1997; Cortazzi and Jin,
2007). Because of these supportive and engaging elements
Interactive Viewing has been used to introduce what may be a
foreign language feature for many students and as a result has been

extended into the focus group of students to provide consistent and

continual support.

In similar fashion to the Language Experience Approach and

Interactive Viewing, a discovery approach to teaching oral
language via Adverb Acting promotes student engagement through
language features being developed by active student participation
in learning (Choudhurt, 2013). Adverb Acting allows students to
interact with each other and consider the power of context by
discussing and experimenting with adverbial phrases through a
performance activity (Foster, 2009). An emphasis is placed on using
a familiar context and the previous experiences students have had
with conversing to develop awareness of adverbial phrases, these
aspects being important in catering for those students who may
have a lower language acquisition and for mixed ability classrooms
(Riley, Burrell & McCallum, 2004; Cortazzi & Jin, 2007).