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ToolsforVocabularyInstruction
Researchalsodemonstratesthatvocabularydeficitsareasignificantdetrimenttoreading,andthatlearners’variedlevelsofvocabularyknowledgesignificantlywidenstheliteracyachievementgap.AccordingtoBiemiller,whileaveragestudentsacquireanaverageof2.4rootwordsaday,studentsatthebottomquartileacquireonlyanaverageof1.6rootwordsperday.Withoutfocusedintervention,thisproblemcompoundsovertime,asdemonstratedbelow:
Grade AverageStudent(at2.4rootwordsperday)
Bottom25%(at1.6rootwordsperday)
EndofPre‐K 3,440 2,440EndofK 4,300 3,016EndofGrade1 5,160 3,592EndofGrade2 6,020 4,168
Source:Diamond,Gutlohn,Honig,TeachingReadingSourcebook,2008,p.413
Aneffectivestrategytoincreaseliteracyachievement,andnarrowtheknowledgegap,istofocusvocabularyinstructiononrootwordacquisition.Vocabularyresearchersbasicallyagreeonthenumberofwordsthatcanbedirectlytaughtinaschoolyear.2wordsperdaycanbetaughtdirectlyor10perweek.
PerSchoolWeek PerSchoolYear/180days Researcherabout10 360rootwords Biemiller2005aabout8to10 about400wordfamilies Becketal.2002about8to10 300to400wordfamilies Stahletal1986
Source:Diamond,Gutlohn,Honig,TeachingReadingSourcebook,2008,p.412
Thefirststepinteachingvocabularyisdecidingwhichwordswillbetaughtdirectly.Newwordsarelearnedmoreeffectivelyinarichcontext.Selectingwordsthatstudentswillencounterinavarietyoftextsallowsmultipleexposuresandahigherprobabilityofacquisition.Therefore,selectingwordsthatstudentswillcomeacrossinbooksinsideandoutsideofschoolandthatwillbeusefulinreading(notjusthighfrequencywords)makesthetaskoflearningthewordsmoreworthwhileandpurposefulforstudents(McKeown,Beck,Omanson,&Pople,1985).
Beck,etal.,(2002)describesapracticalmethodofselectingtermsforexplicitinstruction.Thismethodincludescategorizingwordsintothreeareas:• Basicwords(tierone)knownbymoststudentsataparticulargradelevel(e.g.,ball,person,bike)• High‐utilitywords(tiertwo)thatstudentsencounterfrequentlyinmanycontextsandacrosscontent
areas(e.g,compare,examine,coincidence)• Content‐specificwords(tierthree)pertainingtoasubjectareathatoftenlackgeneralizationtoother
subjectareas(e.g.,photosynthesisorquadrilateral)
Basicwordsrarelyrequireinstructionformoststudents.However,ELLstudentsmayneedadditionalinstructionintieronewords.Beckrecommendsprovidingexplicitinstructiononthehigh‐utilitywords(tiertwo)inreadingclasses.Teachersselecttiertwowordsbasedontheimportanceandutility,theinstructionalpotential,andstudent’sconceptualunderstanding(Beck,2002).Theword“collaboration”isanexamplebecausestudentshaveaconceptualunderstandingofwhatitmeansto“worktogether,”eventhoughtheymaynotknowcollaboration.Content‐specificwordsarebestlearnedinthesubjectareawheretheyareencountered.Choosecontent‐specificwordsthatarethemostimportantforunderstandingtheconceptsthatstudentsareexpectedtolearn.Preteachingtheseimportantwordsbeforereadingthetextwillhelpstudentstocomprehendathigherlevels(Louisiana’sAdolescentLiteracyPlan,2010).
Graves,Juel,&Graves(1998)developedcriteriafornarrowingthelistofwordsanddecidingwhichwordstoteach:
• Identifythewordsstudentsdonotknow• Identifythemoreimportantwords• Identifythewordsstudentsmaynotbeabletofigureoutontheirown• IdentifywordsstudentswillencounterfrequentlyThesecondstepinteachingvocabularyisprovidingexplicitinstructionforthewordsyouhavechosen.AccordingtotheNationalReadingPanel(2002),explicitinstructionofvocabularyishighlyeffective.AllofthestudiesoftheNRPfoundthatbothcomprehensionandvocabularyimprovedasaresultofexplicitanddirectinstruction(NICHD,2000).WilliamE.Nagy(TeachingVocabularytoImproveReadingComprehension,1988,InternationalReadingAssociation)tellsusthat“effectivevocabularyinstructionhelpsthelearnertousetheinstructedwordsmeaningfully.Onemotivationforthispropertyissimplythatstudentslearnmorewhentheyareactivelyinvolved.Anotheriswhathasbeencalled“depthofprocessing.”Simplystated,themoredeeplysomeinformationisprocessed,themorelikelyitistoberemembered.Inotherwords,vocabularyinstructionthatmakesstudentsthinkaboutthemeaningofawordanddemandsthattheydosomemeaningfulprocessingofthewordwillbemoreeffectivethaninstructionthatdoesnot.”TwoframeworksorroutinesthatencompassexplicitinstructionanddeepprocessingareMarzano’ssix‐stepprocessandtheInstructionalRoutineforTeachingCritical,UnknownVocabularyWordsfromtheWesternRegionalReadingFirstTechnicalAssistanceCenter.
Marzano’s(2004)six‐stepprocessisaframeworkforprovidingdirectandexplicitinstructiontofurtherdevelopwordmeanings.Activeengagementisinfusedthroughouttheframework.• Provideadescription,explanation,orexampleofthenewterm.(Includeanon‐linguistic
representationofthetermforELLstudents).• Askstudentstorestatethedescription,explanation,orexampleintheirownwords.(Allowstudents
whoseprimaryexistingknowledgebaseisstillintheirnativelanguagetowriteinit).• Askstudentstoconstructapicture,symbol,orgraphicrepresentingtheword.• Engagestudentsperiodicallyinactivitiesthathelpthemaddtotheirknowledgeofthetermsintheir
notebooks.• Periodicallyaskstudentstodiscussthetermswithoneanother.(Allowinnativelanguagewhen
appropriate).• Involvestudentsperiodicallyingamesthatallowthemtoplaywithterms.
WesternRegionalReadingFirstTechnicalAssistanceCenterVocabularyRoutine