Module 1: Adolescent Reading, Writing, and Thinking

1. Module 1: Adolescent Reading, Writing, and Thinking Adolescent Literacy – Professional Development Unit 2, Session 4

2. Language development and academic vocabulary: Helping to make the connection 1.2.4

4. Essential Questions • Module 1 Question • What do we know about how teens learn from text, and how can we use that knowledge to improve our practice? • Unit 2, Session 4 Questions • How do we teach words so that students gain rich knowledge that supports reading comprehension? • How do we teach words so that vocabulary knowledge can be maintained and consolidated from year to year? • What tools exist to help coordinate team, grade-level, and school-wide efforts to support vocabulary knowledge?

5. Warm-Up: How Is Vocabulary Related to Reading? John was not happy, in fact he was downright diribulated. Not only had Sarah taken his follagraph, but she had used it to permulate his best friend! Now he was going to have to get revenge. Once he saved up a for a new follagraph, she would regret it!

6. Proven Approaches to Vocabulary Instruction • Pick generative words • Present words in semantically-rich contexts • Ensure recurrent exposures • Provide opportunities to use words • Teach word-learning strategies • Provide learner-friendly definitions • Expand each word’s semantic mapping • Encourage experimentation; expect mistakes

7. Pick Generative Words • We do not have time to teach all words • High-leverage words occur in all content areas, but are relatively low-frequency academic words • Teens will encounter them but may not really understand them unless they get instruction

8. Present Words in Semantically-Rich Contexts • “There is something ******* on the book.” • “There is a dove ****** on the book.” • “The back of the book showed a picture of a dove carefully ****** within an ornate oval.”

9. Ensure Recurrent Exposures • Create a context that will ensure repeated use of the words by students, teachers, and text. • Words have layers of meaning that students learn through encounters with the words in multiple contexts. • Robust vocabulary instruction does not include isolated instructional episodes focused on a word’s definition.

10. Ensure Recurrent Exposures Instructional Year

11. Provide Opportunities to Use Words • Passive exposure helps students understand words, but they need to use them orally in academic contexts before they can be expected to use them correctly in writing. • Academic discourse and debate is an ideal venue for student use of academic vocabulary.

12. Teach Word-Learning Strategies • Morphological relationships • Making nouns out of verbs (negotiate negotiation; inform, information) • Teach common word roots: scrip = writing • Inscription, subscription, prescription, description • Context clues can give hints about the meaning of a word

13. Provide Learner-Friendly Definitions

14. Expand Each Word’s Semantic Mapping

15. Encourage Experimentation; Expect Mistakes

16. One More Time… • Pick generative words • Present words in semantically-rich contexts • Ensure recurrent exposures • Provide opportunities to use words • Teach word-learning strategies • Provide learner-friendly definitions • Expand each word’s semantic mapping • Encourage experimentation; expect mistakes

17. References Beck, I., Perfetti, C., & McKeown, M. (1982). Effects of long-term vocabulary instruction on lexical access and reading comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 74(4), 506-521. Bolger, D., Balass, M., Landen, E., & Perfetti, C. (2008). Context variation and definitions in learning the meanings of words: An instance-based learning approach. Discourse Processes, 45(2), 122. Carney, J. (1984). Preteaching vocabulary and the comprehension of social studies materials by elementary school children. Social Education, 48(3), 195-196. Lawrence, J., Capotosto, L., White, C., & Snow, C. (under review). Word learning, maintenance, and consolidation: A longitudinal analysis of the Word Generation program. McKeown, M., Beck, I., Omanson, R., & Pople, M. (1985). Some effects of the nature and frequency of vocabulary instruction on the knowledge and use of words. Reading Research Quarterly, 20(5), 522-535. Medo, M., & Randall, R. (1993). The effects of vocabulary instruction on readers' ability to make causal connections. Reading Research and Instruction, 33(2), 199-134. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [NICHD]. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction (No. NIH Publication No. 00-4769). Washington, DC: U.S.: U.S. Government Printing Office. Snow, C., Lawrence, J., & White, C. (2009). Generating knowledge of academic language among urban middle school students. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 2(4), 325-344. Stahl, S., & Fairbanks, M. (1986). The effects of vocabulary instruction: A model-based meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 56(1), 72-110. Wixson, K. K. (1986). Vocabulary instruction and children's comprehension of basal stories. Reading Research Quarterly, 21(3), 317-329.