Birmingham Education Partnership Building vocabulary to help close the attainment gap Fiona Oakley

1. Birmingham Education Partnership Building vocabulary to help close the attainment gap Fiona Oakley Literacy Adviser, School Partnerships fiona.oakley@literacytrust.org.uk T: 020 7587 1842 W: www.literacytrust.org.uk Twitter: @Literacy_Trust Facebook: nationalliteracytrust

2. About The National Literacy Trust We aim to equip disadvantaged young people with literacy fit for employment and life • We target schools with high levels of poorer children and below average literacy levels and aim to eliminate the attainment gap • We support the families who need help most, reaching out to communities through partnerships • We lead the national literacy campaign, raising awareness of the critical importance of the cause with compelling research and a commanding policy platform www.literacytrust.org.uk

3. 1977: The Silver Jubilee Elizabeth Beefan Oakley

4. Exposure to a rich vocabulary “You cannot write it if you cannot say it; you cannot say it if you haven’t heard it.” Pie Corbett, 2005 “Vocabulary is a matter of word-building as well as word-using.” David Crystal

5. Word appreciation • Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses. • In democracy your vote counts. In feudalism your count votes. • Atheism: the only non prophet organisation. • ‘The better part of valour is discretion.’ Henry IV Part 1 - Act 5, Scene 4 • ‘Brevity is the soul of wit.’ Hamlet - Act 2, Scene 2

6. Objectives Explore the research around the vocabulary gap Develop knowledge of word morphology Understand the role of academic language in school Try out strategies for direct vocabulary instruction www.literacytrust.org.uk

7. The research evidence • There is a strong reciprocal relationship between word knowledge and reading comprehension. • (National Reading Panel 2000, Biemiller 2003) • Children who read more will come across a greater number of words and get more practice at decoding words and have greater opportunities to enhance their knowledge of morphology and spelling than less avid readers. • (Cain and Oakhill 2011) • Learning new words is a cumulative task that takes place gradually over time. (Nagy and Scott 2000 ) • Teaching definitions by themselves are unlikely to enhance comprehension. (Baumann, Kame'enuu,& Ash, 2003) www.literacytrust.org.uk

8. The reading rope www.literacytrust.org.uk Hollis Scarborough (2001)

9. Vocabulary size • There are numerous estimates about vocabulary size. Some count all words, others count word ‘families’ or ‘root words’ Children in the highest quartile enter school with an average estimated receptive vocabulary of 7100 root words. In contrast, children from the lowest quartile have an average receptive vocabulary size of 3000 root words. (Biemiller 2003) In the American school setting, good estimates of L1 word knowledge by graduating high-school students appears to be about 20,000 families (Nation, Nagy etc) Milton and Treffers – Deller (2013) revisited the link between vocabulary size and academic achievement and concluded that native speakers’ vocabulary size on entering university in the UK is much smaller than usually reported - being an average of 10,000 word families. www.literacytrust.org.uk

10. Closing the vocabulary gap Becker (1977) identified poor vocabulary knowledge as the primary cause of academic failure of disadvantaged students. Children’s declining reading comprehension compared to more able peers from age 8 onwards largely results from a lack of vocabulary knowledge. (Becker 1977) Disadvantaged students show declining reading comprehension as their limited vocabulary comes to constrain what they can understand from texts. (Chall et al 1990) From birth to 48 months, parents in professional families spoke 32 million more words to their children than parents in welfare families. (Hart and Risley 2003) A child who is not at the expected standard in language at the age of five is 11 times less likely to achieve the expected level in maths at age 11. (DfE 2017) www.literacytrust.org.uk

11. Closing the vocabulary gap Children with language difficulties at age 5 are four times more likely to have reading difficulties in adulthood, three times as likely to have mental health problems, and twice as likely to be unemployed. (Law et al 2017) Students with limited vocabularies read less and thus learn fewer new words. ‘Matthew effect’ (Stanovich 1986) ‘Put simply, the word rich get richer, but the word poor get poorer.’ ‘By explicitly teaching a mere 300 to 400 words a year we can foster an annual growth of around 3000 to 4000 words.’ ‘With a bigger, harder curriculum, in any subject, we begin with the words.’ ‘Vocabulary teaching can be incidental, disorganised and limited, when it needs to be organised, cumulative and rich.’ (Quigley 2018) www.literacytrust.org.uk

12. “Vocabularies are crossing circles and loops. We are defined by the lines we choose to cross or to be confined by.” A.S. Byatt

13. Vocabulary in the National Curriculum Pupils’ acquisition and command of vocabulary are key to their learning and progress across the whole curriculum. Teachers should therefore develop vocabulary actively, building systematically on pupils’ current knowledge. They should increase pupils’ store of words in general; In addition, it is vital for pupils’ comprehension that they understand the meanings of words they meet in their reading across all subjects, and older pupils should be taught the meaning of instruction verbs that they may meet in examination questions. It is particularly important to induct pupils into the language which defines each subject in its own right, such as accurate mathematical and scientific language. www.literacytrust.org.uk

14. Have you heard the word?

15. Components of word knowledge 1. Orthography (spelling) 2. Morphology (word-family relations) 3. Parts of speech ( suffixes) 4. Pronunciation ( syllables and stress) 5. Meanings (range, variant meanings, homophones) 6. Collocations (what words very commonly go with a word) 7. Meaning associations (topical links, synonyms, antonyms) 8. Specific uses (technical, common) 9. Register (power, politeness, disciplinary domain, formality, slang, dialect form)

16. Morphemes A morpheme is a unit of meaning A phoneme is a unit of sound A grapheme is a unit of writing (representing one sound) sh -ing www.literacytrust.org.uk

17. Morphology A morpheme is defined as the smallest unit of meaning in a word. In a word such as independently, the morphemes are said to be: in -depend- ent - ly depend is the root (or base) word and the other morphemes are, in this case, affixes. A prefix comes before the root and suffix comes after it. Free morphemes – morphemes that can stand alone as meaningful words Bound morphemes – morphemes that can only be attached to another part of a word (cannot stand alone), affixes are bound morphemes www.literacytrust.org.uk

18. Morphemes http://tabethadawkins.weebly.com/morphology-and-etymology.html#

19. Word building Prefixes un re pre in dis mis mal ex Suffixes ness ment tion ance, ence ing ate ed able, ible Base or Root words appear manage form struct port embody agree rupt www.literacytrust.org.uk

20. Semantics - Collocation Words that go together Salt and ….. A round of ….. He broke my ….. From dawn till ….. A….cup of tea Teacher….! Often depends on cultural knowledge www.literacytrust.org.uk

21. Specific usage How many meanings can you find for the root word ‘bank’? How might you use it in a sentence? www.literacytrust.org.uk

22. Use concept maps to explore new words What is it? A result, effect or an action; something important or relevant Example The current teacher recruitment crisis is a consequence of ever increasing teacher workload. Can you find any morphemes and what do they mean? con / sequ /ence consequence What is its etymology? From the Latin ‘con’ meaning with and ‘sequi’ meaning to follow Stahl & KapinusPower, 2001)

23. Latin and Greek word roots Teach these as often as you can Best as a whole school initiative ROOT word of the week mit/miss How many words can you think of? emit, permit, remit, commit, submit, admit transmission, emission, mission, missive, permissive, missile, missionary, admission, intermission https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=516380353 www.literacytrust.org.uk

24. Numeric Prefixes www.literacytrust.org.uk

25. How is academic vocabulary different? Greek and Latin in English The Oxford Dictionary includes 10,500 words of Greek origin, which constitute 21.6% of the dictionary. Approximately 80% of vocabulary of maths, science and technical English derives from Latin or Greek (often via French) Being able to analyse these words is essential for developing understanding in many subjects – most notably Science and Maths struct – build – construct, destruction, instruct, obstruction sym/syn –with – synthesize, symmetry, symbiosis sub - under – subtract, submarine

26. 3 tier vocabulary model Low frequency words, often subject specialist or technical vocabulary e.g. condensation, metamorphosis, evaporation Medium frequency words for academic language - e.g. coincidence, industrious, function. High Frequency vocabulary in everyday use, e.g. desk, weather, book www.literacytrust.org.uk

27. Word lists The General Service List (GSL) plus the Academic Word List cover nearly 90% of words in academic texts. As well as these general academic words, students also need to know the specific words related to their subjects - which is usually around 5% of the words in an academic text (Nation, 2001) and some of the less frequent words used in English - again about 5%. New General Service List (Browne 2013) http://www.newgeneralservicelist.org/ contains nearly 3000 of the most frequent words in English texts. Academic Word list ( Coxhead) contains 570 word families http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/alzsh3/acvocab/ www.literacytrust.org.uk

28. Science GCSE text book extract Table salt is produced from sea water, or is extracted from the ground using ‘solution mining’. In this process, water is pumped into layers of salt underground. The resulting salt solution is then heated, which evaporates the solvent and makes the solution more and more salty. Eventually it reaches a point where there is as much salt in the water as can possiblydissolve. This is a saturated solutionand it contains the maximum amount of solute that can dissolve in that amount of solvent at that temperature. www.literacytrust.org.uk

29. Explicit teaching of vocabulary Table salt is produced from sea water, or is extracted from the ground using ‘solution mining’. In this process, water is pumped into layers of salt underground. The resulting salt solution is then heated, which evaporates the solvent and makes the solution more and more salty. Eventually it reaches a point where there is as much salt in the water as can possibly dissolve. This is a saturated solutionand it contains the maximum amount of solute that can dissolve in that amount of solvent at that temperature. ( 88 words)

30. Coffee/Tea breakPlease be back in 15 minutes www.literacytrust.org.uk

31. Effective vocabulary learning Most vocabulary researchers argue that vocabulary learning is a combination of: learning words from context through extensive reading; providing direct instruction of vocabulary words; developing word-learning strategies; building word-recognition fluency; developing word appreciation (and motivation) on students’ parts. (Graves 2000, Nation 2001, Stahl & Nagy 2006) www.literacytrust.org.uk

32. Building a love of words ‘Words should wander and meander. They should fly like owls and flicker like bats and slip like cats. They should murmur and scream and dance and sing.’ My Name is Mina by David Almond www.nationalliteracytrust.org.uk @Literacy_Trust

33. Teaching approaches Indirect instruction Using wider reading to grow vocabulary ‘naturally’ Paying attention to context to work out meaning using background knowledge or prior knowledge Direct instruction Pre- teaching vocabulary Demonstrating morphology and word building knowledge Checking understanding through use in context www.literacytrust.org.uk

34. Indirect instruction ‘Lucy looked and saw that Aslan had just breathed on the feet of the stone giant. “It's all right!” shouted Aslan ______. “Once the feet are put right, all the rest of him will follow.”’ • Present students with vocabulary that might be suitable for a given context. Encourage them to order the language for precision and effect, exploring the power of language choices. • How might this have been said? What difference would it make to the meaning? www.nationalliteracytrust.org.uk

35. Close reading: shades of meaning Where would you place the words on this continuum? Least appropriate Most appropriate www.literacytrust.org.uk

36. Zone of relevance www.literacytrust.org.uk

37. A basic teaching sequence Beck, McKeown and Kucan ( 2013) suggest a basic format suitable for young vocabulary learners but just as adaptable for older pupils. 1. Read the text2. Contextualize the target word within the text3. Have the pupils say the word out loud4. Provide a student friendly explanation of the word5. Present examples of the word used in contexts different from the immediate context6. Engage the pupils with a range of activities that get them to interact with the word7. Pupils repeat the word out loud www.literacytrust.org.uk

38. Using Four Square Vocabulary • Pupils take paper and fold into 4 squares • Top left: dictate the word to be taught • Describe the word • Top right: pupils discuss & give examples of that concept • Bottom right: pupils think of non examples • Bottom left: pupils give a definition

39. Using Four Square Vocabulary • Pupils take paper and fold into 4 squares • Top left: dictate the word to be taught • Describe the word and model in context. • Top right: pupils discuss & write a definition of the concept • Bottom right: pupils draw a diagram • Bottom left: use in a sentence in context A Maths dictionary for kids www.literacytrust.org.uk

40. What does it mean to ‘know’ a word? I am really familiar with it. I know what it means, can define and explain. I can use it in writing in different contexts Never heard of it I am familiar with it and I can use it without thinking in my speech in more than one context Some idea of what it means, get the gist when I hear it, but don’t really use it I pretty much know what it means and might try it out in my speech in one context Heard it but don’t really know what it means www.literacytrust.org.uk

41. Support for personal reflection on vocabulary knowledge

42. Building word cards Help pupils build their own personal word card collections. Then they can use the cards to sort, compare, stimulate sentences and group new words. EXTRICATE He tried to extricate his friends from the fight. WORD To free someone or something from a difficulty Definitional information Contextual information She chose to extricate herself from official duties. Personal clue www.literacytrust.org.uk

43. Word Webs Signature Signatory Consign Consignment Consigned Resign Resignation Resigning Resigned Sign Design Designer Designing Designed Designation Designate Redesign Signal Signalling Assign Assignment Assignation Reassign www.literacytrust.org.uk

44. Word associations Involve pupils in a variety of engaging activities as soon as possible to help pupils process and embed meanings. Activities should be short, lively and engaging. Take the words provisions, Musulman, foundations > Which word goes with religion?> Which word goes with house?> Which word goes with meal? Pupils must choose and then give an explanation to the association. Note these are not synonyms but associations. www.literacytrust.org.uk

45. Other examples of activities 1) List – group – label Discuss and note words connected to a particular topic. Invite pupils to group the words. There are no right or wrong answers but they must be able to justify the groupings so that they can create appropriate labels for each group of words. 2) Have You Ever? Take your target words and ask pupils to … “Describe a time when you might urge someone … commend someone ... banter with someone3) Would You Rather ...? Form questions around target words: Would you rather interactwith sharks or polar bears? Why? Would you rather anticipateyour birthday or a holiday?Would you rather try and confine butterflies or cats? www.literacytrust.org.uk

46. Planning and discussion time Whole school training What general vocabulary knowledge does everyone need? What teaching strategies can be used generically? Subject area/year group planning and teaching Think ahead to some topic(s) you are going to teach. What morphology and root words are important? What strategies from this session will you use? www.literacytrust.org.uk

47. “Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury and remedying it.” Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows J.K. Rowling