Language in the Common Core

In elementary education, we continue to work towards making the demands of language use (oral or written) explicit to students, especially linguistically and culturally diverse pupils. States\u27 adoption of the English Language Arts (ELA) Common Core State Standards (CCSS) will not support us in improving practices unless teachers\u27 linguistic knowledge is developed. Teachers are the catalyst for change in teaching and learning not standards. Developing teachers\u27 understanding of language can be supported using systemic functional linguistics (SFL). This theory provides the necessary lens for examining how language functions in texts to make meaning. This approach to language should be applied in teaching students the content of the ELA CCSS. Research shows that school-university partnerships using SFL can develop teachers\u27 linguistic knowledge, which transfers to their instruction with students in the classroom