VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION AND READING COMPREHENSION TESS DUSSLING

WHY IS LEARNING VOCABULARY SO IMPORTANT? • Vocabulary learning and instruction play a critical role in the process of reading comprehension. • The goal of reading is meaning making. A child who is learning to read gains no benefit from decoding a word he does not comprehend.

(Path to Reading Excellence in School Sites, 2011)

WHAT IS VOCABULARY? • Vocabulary is knowledge of word and word meanings • However…vocabulary is more complex

VOCABULARY FORMS • Two forms of vocabulary • Oral • Words we recognize and use in listening and speaking

• Print • Words we recognize in reading and writing

WORD KNOWLEDGE • Two forms of word knowledge • Receptive vocabulary • Words we recognize when we hear or see them

• Productive vocabulary • Words we use when we speak or write

Which do you think is typically larger? Why?

ASSESSING RECEPTIVE VOCABULARY • Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) measures the receptive vocabulary of children and adults • Parallel forms make the test an excellent tool for measuring response to instruction or vocabulary growth in general • Provides information about English-language development that is useful when diagnosing reading difficulties and designing instructional interventions • Wide range of difficulty allows the instrument to be used to detect language impairments at all ages • No reading or writing required-useful for measuring language development among nonreaders and people with written-language difficulties

VOCABULARY AND READING COMPREHENSION • Vocabulary knowledge is essential for success in reading • Students cannot understand what they read without understanding what most of the words mean • Vocabulary plays an important role in reading comprehension and in students’ overall academic success

Oral to Written Language Continuum http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj2rBxKRZSc

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO KNOW A WORD? • Word knowledge is incremental

• Readers need many exposures to a word in many contexts before they “know” it

• Word knowledge is multidimensional

• Many words have multiple meanings and serve different functions

• Word knowledge is interrelated

• Knowledge of one word connect to knowledge of other words (Nagy & Scott, 2000)

INCIDENTAL WORD LEARNING Most word learning occurs incidentally through experiences with oral language and wide reading (National Reading Panel, 2000) • • • •

Oral language experiences at home Oral language experiences at school Read-alouds Wide reading

ORAL LANGUAGE EXPERIENCES AT HOME

• Hart and Risley (1995) found that 3 year-olds from high SES families had vocabularies as much as five times larger than children from low SES families • Importance of interactive talk

WORD-KNOWLEDGE GAP (HART & RISLEY, 1995)

• There is an alarming gap between students who come from economically advantaged backgrounds and those who live in poverty • The differences in vocabulary begin before a child enters school and—without intervention—the gap grows wider and wider • “Meaningful Differences”-Dr. Todd Risley http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J4yNRaPx24

WORD-KNOWLEDGE GAP (HART & RISLEY, 1995)

ORAL LANGUAGE EXPERIENCES AT SCHOOL

• Importance of interactive teacher-child talk • The teacher talk students hear poses opportunities to promote vocabulary growth

ORAL LANGUAGE EXPERIENCES AT SCHOOL Planning for Incidental Learning at School • Create a vocabulary-rich environment • Create semantic cluster walls that promote incidental learning and acts as a record of the new words students are learning • Expand students’ wide reading experiences • Carefully select read-aloud experiences to expand students’ vocabulary

READ-ALOUDS • Children's books often contain rich and descriptive language • Focus attention on words However… • To understand a story, children must relate existing knowledge to the words or ideas in the story • Reading alone may not help vocabulary growth for children with limited vocabularies • Talk surrounding the read-aloud allows children to gain experience with book language

WIDE READING • After accounting for general intelligence and decoding ability, the amount of time spent reading contributed significantly and independently to vocabulary knowledge for students in grades 4, 5, and 6 (Cunningham & Stanovich, 1991) • Wide reading offers students opportunities to make connections between familiar and unfamiliar words (word families)

What can we do? Teaching and Learning Vocabulary

Nell Duke-Vocabulary Instruction http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5WP-45PjGA

Summary of the National Reading Panel’s Conclusions about Vocabulary Instruction

1. There is a need for direct instruction of vocabulary items required for a specific test. 2. Repetition and multiple exposure to vocabulary items are important. Students should be given items that will be likely to appear in many contexts. 3. Learning in rich contexts is valuable for vocabulary learning. Vocabulary words should be those that the learner will find useful in many contexts. 4. Vocabulary tasks should be restructured as necessary. 5. Vocabulary learning is effective when it entails active engagement in learning tasks. 6. Computer technology can be used effectively to help teach vocabulary. 7. Vocabulary can be acquired through incidental learning. 8. Dependence on a single vocabulary instruction method will not result in optimal learning. (National Reading Panel, 2000, p. 4-4)

SUMMARY OF NATIONAL READING PANEL FINDINGS Background • The NRP was unable to conduct a formal metaanalysis on vocabulary because many research studies did not meet their criteria • NRP did review research and meta-analyses • Did not include studies that only dealt with special populations such as learning disabled students and English language learners

SUMMARY OF NATIONAL READING PANEL FINDINGS • Many direct and indirect instructional methods were effective • No one correct way to teach vocabulary

SUMMARY OF NATIONAL READING PANEL FINDINGS • Importance of repeated, multiple exposures to new vocabulary words • Greater learning occurred when words were presented in rich and multiple contexts • Students performed better when classroom tasks were restructured • Effectiveness of pre-teaching vocabulary before reading • Supports vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension

SUMMARY OF NATIONAL READING PANEL FINDINGS • NRP found 8 studies that were successful in proving a causal relationship between vocabulary instruction and reading comprehension • Beck, Perfetti, and McKeown (1982) found that 4th graders receiving vocabulary instruction performed better on a semantic task than those that did not

VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION • Blachowicz and Fisher (2000) agree that rich, challenging vocabulary can be found in trade books • Caution teachers against the common method of vocabulary instruction found in many basal reading series of teaching words from the anthology series • Rich vocabulary words need to be taught through read alouds

VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION • Blachowicz and Fisher (2000) identified four main principles to guide vocabulary instruction 1. Students should be active in developing their understanding of words and way to learn them 2. Students should personalize word learning 3. Students should be immersed in words 4. Students should build on multiple sources of information to learn words through repeated exposures

1. Students should be active in developing their understanding of words and way to learn them (Blachowicz & Fisher, 2000)

• Active engagement helps students learn the meanings of specific words and learn strategies to become independent word learners • Semantic mapping • Graphically represent the relationship between words

2. Students should personalize word learning (Blachowicz & Fisher, 2000)

• Mnemonic strategies • Strong support for keyword method

• Allowing students to select their own words • Reciprocal teaching

3. Students should be immersed in words (Blachowicz & Fisher, 2000)

• Expose student to rich language environments • “Environments where language and word use are celebrated and noted encourage vocabulary learning” (p. 507).

4. Students should build on multiple sources of information to learn words through repeated exposures (Blachowicz & Fisher, 2000)

• Learning through repeated exposures • Exposing a word in different contexts supports learning “A ‘word rich’ environment supports general vocabulary development, but it may also provide a vehicle by which a student can build knowledge of a particular word through repeated exposures, and from multiple sources of information” (p. 508).

Selecting Words to Teach

• Tier One—Basic Vocabulary • Tier Two—High Frequency/Multiple Meaning Vocabulary • Tier Three—Subject Related Vocabulary

USEFULNESS AND FREQUENCY OF WORDS (Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2002) • Tier One—Basic Vocabulary • Most basic words • Rarely require instruct ruction and typically do not have multiple meanings • Words whose meanings students are likely to know • baby, book, girl, dog • There are about 8,000 word families in English included in Tier 1 • Some Tier One words are simple cognates (family/ familia) • It is important to point out false cognates (rope/ ropa)

USEFULNESS AND FREQUENCY OF WORDS (Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2002) • Tier Two—High Frequency/Multiple Meaning Vocabulary • • • • • • • • • • •

High frequency words that occur across a variety of domains Lend themselves to instruction Strongly influence speaking and reading Important words for direct instruction Important for reading comprehension Contain multiple meanings Characteristic of mature language users Used across a variety of environments Fortunate, maintain, masterpiece There are about 7,000 word families in English in Tier 2 Many Tier Two words are also cognates (fortunate/afortunado)

USEFULNESS AND FREQUENCY OF WORDS (Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2002) • Tier Three—Low Frequency, Context-Specific Vocabulary • • • • • •

Rare words Often unknown to students Occur in specific domains We usually learn these words when a specific need arises Isotope, pallet, amino acid 400,000 words in English fall in Tier 3

USEFULNESS AND FREQUENCY OF WORDS (Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2002) • Beck et al. (2002) suggest that teachers should focus on Tier Two words for instruction • Most students already know Tier One words and Tier Three words should be taught at a point of contact • Tier Two words occur often in text and are words that can be added to language knowledge

CRITERIA FOR IDENTIFYING TIER TWO WORDS (Beck et al., 2002, p. 19)

• Importance and Utility: words that are characteristic of mature language users and appear frequently across a variety of domains • Instructional Potential: Words that can be worked with in a variety of ways so that students can build deep knowledge of them and of their connections to other words and concepts • Conceptual Understanding: Words for which students understand the general concept but provide precision and specificity in describing the concept

GROUP IN TIER ONE, TIER TWO, OR TIER THREE Tier One

Tier Two

Tier Three

• Basic • Concrete • In oral vocabulary

• Abstract • Academic • Occurring frequently in written language in school and in everyday life

• Content specific • Occurring mainly in academic texts or specific events

School House Boy

Consistent Maintain Merchant

Trapezoid Metamorphic Tonsillectomy

SUGGESTED ANSWERS Chair (1) Virtual (2 or 3) Circumference (2 or 3) Tolerate (2) Precious (1 or 2) Longitude (3) Cloud (1) Concurrent (2) Pizza (1) Couch (1) Photosynthesis (3) Reform (2) Ultimate (2) Tranquil (2) Nucleus (3) Eclipse (3) Google (1, 2, or 3) Menu (1, 2, or 3)

METHODS OF INSTRUCTION • Graves (2006) defines four components of effective vocabulary instruction • • • •

Providing rich and varied language experiences Teaching individual words Teaching word-learning strategies Fostering word consciousness (word consciousness involves and awareness of words and an interest in their meanings)

METHODS OF INSTRUCTION • • • • •

“Text Talk” (Beck & McKeown, 2001) Rich vocabulary instruction during a read-aloud increases primary grade students’ vocabularies Uses read-alouds to expose young children to challenging concepts and vocabulary Encourages students to talk about and connect ideas Teachers ask open-ended questions Explicit Tier 2 vocabulary instruction

ISSUES IN VOCABULARY RESEARCH AND INSTRUCTION 1. The number of words that should be taught 2. The particular words that should be taught 3. The vocabulary learning of English language learners and other potentially at-risk students 4. The role of independent reading in vocabulary learning