Boosting Core Vocabulary

1. Boosting Core Vocabulary With Differentiated Instruction Jacqueline Johnson, MS/CCC-SLP Speech-Language Pathologist SW/WC Service Cooperative June 2011 Sioux Falls Symposium

2. What is Vocabulary? • Oral: Listening & Speaking • Print: Reading & Writing • Receptive: Words we recognize when we hear them • Productive: Words we use when we speak & write Lehr, et al (2004)

3. How Many Words Should Students Learn? • 1st Grader: 2,500 to 26,000 • College: 19,000 to 200,000 • Students add 2,000 to 3,500 words annually to their reading vocabularies • School texts in grade 3-9 contain approximately 88,500 word families Beck & McKeown, 1991; Anderson & Nagy, 1992

4. Incidental Learning • Most word learning occurs through experiences with oral language & wide reading • Word Poverty: gap in word knowledge between advantaged & disadvantaged children • 3 year olds in higher SES had vocabularies 5x larger than lower SES children Moats, 2001; Hart & Risley, 1995

5. Why not teach all unknown words in a text? • Not enough time • Too many words! • Students may be able to understand a text without knowing the meaning of every word • Students need opportunities to use word-learning strategies to independently learn the meaning of unknown words Armbruster, Lehr & Osborn, 2001

6. Why is Vocabulary Important? • Persistent Findings: Strong relationship between students’ vocabulary knowledge and overall academic success • Matthew Effects (Stanovich, 1986) • Struggling readers have bad experiences set in motion by cycle of frustration & failure Hart &Risley, 2003; Snow, et al, 2000

7. Why Differentiate My Teaching in the Classroom? • Limited vocabulary is the hallmark of language and learning disorders • Students with learning disabilities, communication disabilities & typical students benefit from extended conversations & a rich vocabulary environment • 45% of children can label objects following only 2 exposures; children with phonological delays were highly unlikely to do so Montgomery, 2007; Carey, 1978; Hoover & Storkel, 2005

8. What is Word Knowledge? • Taking “Ownership” • Incremental –multiple exposures in differing contexts • Multidimensional – multiple meanings and differing functions • Interrelated – knowledge connects to other words Nagy & Scott, 2000

9. What Vocabulary Instruction is Effective? • No ONE instructional method is effective for optimal vocabulary learning • Yearly modification • Repetition • Multiple Exposure • High Frequency Words National Reading Panel, 2000; Beck & McKeown, 1991

10. Evidence Based Practices • Collaboration among professionals • Engaging students with a wide range of books • Enjoying word games and word play • Teach word-learning strategies • Be explicit • Be redundant Montgomery, 2007

11. Effects of Storybook Reading • Incidental exposure allows children to learn meanings of unknown words • More words are learned from a book being read multiple times • Children must be talked with and read with • Small group learning • Robust oral discussion stimulates vocabulary growth Neuman & Dickinson, 2001; Montgomery, 2007

12. Which Words Should be Taught? • Comprehension Words • Ex. Rebel • Useful Words • Ex. Homesick • Academic Words • Ex. In contrast to • Generative Words • Ex. Reunited Blachowicz et al, 2005

13. Vocabulary Selection: Another View • Importance: Function & Content • Usefulness & Frequency: Three Tiers • Tier One: likely-to-be-known words • Tier Two: known by mature readers • Tier Three: rare words • Beck et al (2002) recommend concentrating on Tier 2 words • Tier One are known & Tier Three should be taught at point of contact

14. Strategy: STAR Model • Teaching new words directly • Select • Teach • Activate/Analyze/Apply • Revisit Blachowicz, 2005

15. Strategy: Vocabulary Knowledge Rating • K = I know it. • H = I have a hunch. • S = I’ve seen it before. • N = I’ve never seen it before. • This word knowledge “check in” allows teachers to figure out what to target in instruction, or who to pair in an activity Beck et al, 2002; Buehl, 2007

16. Strategy: Connect Two • Linking 5 words from the left column to 5 words in a right column • Similarities & Differences • Writing a sentence with the pair • Reading passages to see if that is how the author paired the words Buehl, 2007

17. Strategy: Vocabulary Self-Selection • Word Awareness is the emphasis • Student logs words into Word Banks/Vocabulary Journals • Individualized and interesting to the student • Student includes context of the word (where it was obtained, what it means in that given context) Buehl, 2007

18. Strategy: Incidental Learning • Daily Routines – exposing children to new (and often intriguing) words throughout the school day • Oral language often lacks the varied word use found in written language • Teacher Read-Alouds – value is in teacher-student talk Hayes & Ahrens, 1988; Dickinson & Tabors, 2001; Dickinson & Smith, 1994

19. Strategy: Text Talk • Designed to increase comprehension & vocabulary by incorporating word learning in context of reading new books • Talking about a word, providing examples for students to respond Beck & McKeown, 2001

20. Strategy: Wide Reading • Once independently reading: amount of time spent reading is best predictor of vocabulary size • Reading needs to be for various purposes & at various levels of difficulty • Teachers need to set aside time to talk with each student about what they read, which will improve effectiveness of independent reading time National Reading Panel, 2000; Anderson, 1996; Herman, et al, 1987

21. Strategy: Teaching Unknown Words • Synonyms: Before reading, teacher written sentences containing target words & quick definitions using synonyms • Synonyms: Point-of-Contact Teaching • Multiple Meanings – Semantic Maps • Graphic organizers around a word that represents an important concept Graves et al, 2004; Johnson & Person, 1984

22. Semantic maps Related words are clustered around the target word using criteria selected by the teacher or students. Criteria may include similarities/differences, shared linguistic components or connotation or denotation

23. Strategy: New & Complex Concepts • Identify critical attributes • Compare & Contrast • Essential features • Examples • An essential feature of a globe is that is is spherical, not flat. • An example of a globe is a globe of the earth. • A map is not an example because it is flat Frayer, Frederick & Klausmeier, 1969

24. Four square concept map Examples and Essential Features are listed. Eeds & Cockrum, 1985

25. Independent Word Learning • Instruction on word-learning fosters generalization and independence • Procedures taught explicitly to aid them in determining the meanings of unknown words • How to use dictionaries • How to use context clues • Morphological analysis National Reading Panel, 2000

26. Strategy: Vocabulary Visits • Virtual field trips • Vivid visuals and books are used to develop concepts & vocabulary • Thematic Text Sets – have a repeated conceptually related vocabulary • Locate/Create an engaging visual chart size • Utilizes the senses: seen, heard, smelled, tasted & felt Blachowicz & Obrochta, 2005

27. Strategy: Dictionary Use • Looking up words & writing definitions seldom produces in-depth word knowledge • Selecting a most likely definitions for the word given the original sentence Scott & Nagy, 1997; Armbruster et al, 2001

28. Strategy: Context Clues • Include definitions, examples, restatements, charts, pictures, & type features • Use of information “unlocks” the meaning of unfamiliar words in text Baumann, et al, 2003

29. Using Context Clues: An Example of 3rd Grade Classroom Instruction (Armbruster et al., 2001) Student (reading the text): When the cat pounced on the dog, the dog jumped up, yelping, and knocked over a lamp, which crashed to the floor. The animals ran past Tonia, tripping her. She fell to the floor and began sobbing. Tonia’s brother Felix yelled at the animals to stop. As the noise and confusion mounted, Mother hollered upstairs, “What’s all that commotion?” Teacher: The context of the paragraph helps us determine what commotion means. There’s yelping and crashing, sobbing and yelling. And then the last sentence says, “as the noise and confusion mounted.” The author’s use of the words noise and confusion gives us a very strong clue as to what commotion means. In fact, the author is really giving us a definition there, because commotion means something that’s noisy and confusing – a disturbance. Mother was right; there was definitely a commotion!

30. Strategy: Morphology • Morphology=Using Word-Part Clues • 60% of new words encountered have easily identifiable morphological structure • Morpheme: brave, -ly, -s • Roots • Prefixes & Suffixes • Effective Word-Part Instruction: meanings + strategy Carlisle, 2004; Nagy et al, 1989

31. Strategy: Prefixes • Teaching one prefix at a time • Students construct original words • 1. Explain the prefix • 2. Have student construct word family list • 3. Have student develop original words and definitions • 4. Have student create own new word and illustrate them (develop an “Our Own Words” dictionary Irwin & Baker, 1989

32. Strategy: Developing Word Consciousness • Word Consciousness: awareness of & interest in words, meanings & power • Some words “feel good” to say and “sound good” to hear • Increases curiosity • Increases interest in other languages • Word Play/Figurative language • Identify words new to English (i.e., blog) Blachowicz & Fisher, 2004; Anderson & Nagy, 1992

33. Strategy: Compound Words • Structural Analysis: have students generate as many compound words as they can • Categorize: • Meaning is a combination of 2 parts • (sidewalk, birthday) • Meanings is related to the meaning of the 2 morphemes • (cowboy, shipyard) Blachowicz et al, 2005

34. What About Instruction by Computers? • Little research exists to provide direction for computer-related instruction • Greatest potential lies in capabilities not found in print materials: • Game-like formats • Hyperlinks • Online dictionaries/reference materials • Animations National Reading Panel, 2000; Wood, 2001

35. (cont) Technology Instruction • Electronic Texts + mediation • Video Anchoring • Prior knowledge video • Highlight new vocabulary words • Instructional sentence comprehension • Cloze tasks • Engagement of student increases motivation & comprehension Xin & Reith, 2001

36. Instruction for English Language Learners • 10,000 to 15,000 Spanish-English cognates • Building awareness strategy: using oral Spanish vocabulary • ELL students need and benefit from rich instruction in sophisticated words • Thematic Instruction: develop conceptual networks Nash, 1997; Nagy et al., 1993; Collins, 2005

37. Practical Principles • Explicitly teach words & concepts • Teach both common & rare words • Encourage categorical understanding • Foster knowledge depth to reinforce retrieval • Use a variety of word-learning strategies • Provide multiple exposures to new words • Motivate students by engaging them in word selection • Be conscious of what level of knowing is important for each student Ruth & Troia, 2005

38. How do I adapt my teaching to meet student needs? • Use a Multiple Intelligences Survey • Consider which is/are difficult: • Learning by listening • Expressing her/herself verbally • Reading written material • Writing legibly • Expressing her/himself in writing • Spelling • http://www.readingrockets.org/article/370 Bulloch, 2004