Closing the Vocabulary Gap in Preschool
How to assess English Language Learners vocabulary in Preschool and help close the gap between them and their
native English speaking peers
Amber Sullivan TE 870 Project III
Fall 2013
* This presentation is intended to propose shared book reading and family involvement as two powerful methods to help close the vocabulary gap of preschool age English Language Learners.
* This growing population of students under the age of 5 who are English Language Learners presents a number of challenges for teachers, schools and for those families who aren’t native English speakers.
* According to the Urban Institute (2010) one in five children (under the age of 18) is a child of immigrant parents. This makes it the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population.
* The U.S. Census Bureau reported that the Hispanic/Latino population grew by 13% from July 200 to 2004: of those 4.2 million were preschool-‐age (U.S. Census Bureau 2005).
* In 2007, 34.7% of Head Start students were Spanish-‐speaking ELL’s. (Urban Institute 2010)
Large and Fast-‐Growing ELL
* How does our school compare to these national numbers? * In our current school setting the following is true: * 67% of our students are Hispanic * 57% are English Language Learners
Our School Statistics
* As teachers in early childhood education, it is important that we know how oral language develops in native speakers and second language learners. * We need to assess their vocabulary through oral language checklists in various observational settings and continue to monitor children’s progress as they learn the English language. * Oral Language includes: * Speaking, listening and vocabulary
What Can We Do?
* Vocabulary: * Look at the following: plays with words, makes connections with
new words, uses new words appropriately during play and other situations
* Speaking: (Expressive Vocabulary) * Look at the following: responds when spoken to, takes turn
speaking, joins in singing songs, speaks clearly, length of sentences/phrases, initiates conversations, asks questions, tells about another time or place, and appropriate grammar (word order, pronouns, etc.)
* Listening: (Receptive Vocabulary) * Look at the following: listens to stories, rhymes, etc. with
interest, and follow single and multi-‐step directions (age appropriateness)
Assessments
Austin'Sullivan,870,Course,Project Vocabulary,Assessment,Form
Child'a,NameClass:DateExpressive)Vocabulary Large,Group Small,Group Individual,Setting Additional,Comments
Responds,when,spoken,to
Takes,turn,speakingjoins,in,songsSpeaks,clearlyLength,of,sentencesInitiates,conversationsAsks,questionsTells,about,another,timeUses,appropriate,grammar:,ed,,ing,endingsReceptive)VocabularyListens,to,songs,and,stories,with,interestFollow,one,step,directionsFollows,multipe'step,directionsVocabulary)AcquisitionPlays,with,wordsMakes,connections,between,new,words,and,known,onesUses,words,appropraitely,in,play,other,situations
(Adapted,from,Roskos,,Tabors,&,Lenhart,2009)
Assessment Rubric based on Preschool Oral Language Objectives
* Oral language assessments in the preschool classroom should have the following three components: (Roskos, Tabor & Tenhart, 2009) 1. Screening measures: * Informal and Formal Observations * Choose a small number of children to focus on each day, roughly 3, over a two
week period. * Compare the formal and informal results
2. Monitoring Tools: * Because vocabulary is one component of oral language it may be necessary to
observe speaking and listening components along with vocabulary items. * Don’t just assess and then put it in a folder, continue to observe and tailor your
instruction to your students needs. 3. Performance Evaluations: * Commercial tests such as Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test * Assessments include evaluations, determine whether the curriculum being
provided is meeting the oral language needs of the students.
Assessments
* Based on the statistic presented, it is important to be familiar with the stages of language development for these students. * At the preschool level, I like to think that all students as
English Language Learners(ELL), especially those classrooms that have the youngest students, those who will be 3 before December 31. (Yet during this presentation ELL will be used only for those students who come from families having a home language other than English). * If they are all learning English, does the development differ
between native speakers and and those learning a second language? Yes!
Second Language Development
Age Language Milestones
3 months Makes cooing sounds
11 months Babbling sounds, multi-‐syllable Ie: Mama, dada, baba
16 months Uses some words besides mama and dada
23 months Forms two word sentences
34 months Uses prepositions, can carry on a conversation
47 months Can be understood by most unfamiliar people
Language Development (Native English Speakers)
Adapted from Vukelich, Christie, & Enz (2002)
* “Vocabulary is used to describe the store of words children know. It is organized into two types: 1. expressive vocabulary, which are those words children can use to express themselves, and 2. receptive vocabulary, which are those words they can understand when heard in context.” (Roskos, Tabors, & Lenhart, 2009, pg. 13)
* A child’s vocabulary grows gradually over time with many encounters with a new word.
* Students vocabularies grow at an astonishing rate. * Native English speaking preschoolers have receptive
vocabularies of roughly 5,000 words.(Roskos, Tabors, & Lenhart, 2009, pg. 13) Compare that to those of the ELL’s in your class. Some of them may have only 20-‐100 words.
Vocabulary Development
* Four stages 1. Use Native Language 2. Nonverbal Stage 3. Telegraphic and Formulaic 4. Productive Language
Vocabulary Development of a second language
(Roskos, Tabors, & Lenhart, 2009)
* Speak Native Language * Child will use home language…when everyone around the child is speaking a different language there are two options: * 1. speak your native language * 2. stop speaking entirely
Stage 1
* Nonverbal Stage * This can last for varying lengths of time depending on the
child. * During this stage the child will use nonverbal cues to get help
or desired needs * This is the stage where children begin to actively “crack the
code” of the second language. Which may include the child repeating the new language that the teachers and peers use quietly. * An example of this may look like: the teacher telling the
student to put his book back. Child may then repeat “put book” or “put book back”
Stage 2
* This stage will only occurs when the child is comfortable to go public with the new language. (Roskos, Tabors, & Lenhart, 2009) * Telegraphic i.e.: “put cup” for I want to put the cup on the
table. * The child is supplying these words, not repeating them like in
stage 2. * Involves formulas: Chunks of routine phrases that are
repetitions of what the child hears. Keep in mind that they will use these chunks but often have no idea of their meaning.
Stage 3
* Productive Language * Starts with formula patterns such as “I wanna…” * Children will gradually begin to learn syntactic (learning
how words link together) rules and apply such grammar rules when speaking the new language. * Shortened sentences and omission of articles or
prepositions is common.
Stage 4
Ages Native English Speakers Second Language Learners
23 months
• Forms two word sentences
• Non-‐verbal in second language
• may be still in babbling stage of native language
34 months
• Uses prepositions, can carry on a conversation
• Typically between 2,500 and 5,000 words
Playing with new language seen by repeating short phrases without meaning, • may have a range of 15-‐50
English words
47 months
• Can be understood by most unfamiliar people.
• Usually uses 4-‐6 word sentences
• Limited English expressive vocabulary
• Growing receptive vocabulary
• Understood by teachers and parents
Adapted from (Roskos, Tabors, & Lenhart, 2009), Vukelich, Christie & Enz, 2002)
Language Development Comparison
* According to Graves, August and Mancilla-‐Martinez (2013) a source of difference between first-‐ and second-‐language vocabulary development stems from learners’ degree of proficiency in the second language (pg. 10). * This creates a bigger challenge for preschool age children
because they are still developing their skills in their Native language even though we are asking them to develop language and emergent literacy skills in English.
English Language Learners Vocabulary
* I suggest shared book reading and family involvement as two powerful ways to help close the vocabulary gap of preschool age English Language Learners. * Shared book reading refers to adults reading aloud to
children, stopping at various time throughout the text to talk about the vocabulary and dictate the purposes for reading. * Shared book reading offers meaningful contexts in which
to discuss new words (Graves, August, Mancilla-‐Martinez, 2013).
Strategies
* Shared book reading is a distinct instructional tool for teaching vocabulary to children who enter school with small vocabularies. This applies to native speakers as well as ELL. * Shared book reading helps children develop oral language
comprehension and print knowledge. * Usually shared book readings are with the same story
offering repeated exposure to the same text over the course of a week or length of a given unit. * It’s a good idea to have a copy of the shared book in the
student’s home language as well as English.
Shared Book Reading
* During the shared book reading the teacher will gradually release the responsibility of telling and reading the story to the students. Referred to as the Gradual Release Model (Roskos, Tabors, Lenhart, 2009). * It is important that during the readings the teacher is
providing instruction on vocabulary, print concepts and comprehension skills. For the purpose of this presentation I will focus on teaching vocabulary. * Here is an example of a shared read-‐aloud though
Teaching Strategies Curriculum (our curriculum) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ2rL0eByfc
* The teacher modeled several explicit instructions by using “Think Alouds” to model behaviors of what good readers do. * Vocabulary: words had pictures in the story to match, gave
child-‐friendly definitions * Predictions * Included story elements: title, author, problem/solution * Fluency * Modeled making connections between the text and the
audience
* The next slide will show a technique referred to as say-‐tell-‐do-‐play as adapted from Roskos, Tabors & Lenhart, 2009. * In order to help our ELL, besides following the module, I
am suggesting that this type of information also be introduced to parents as a way to foster the home-‐school connection. * A given shared reading book should be available in libraries
or for loan from the school so parents can read them to students while in the home in their native language, thus fostering the family involvement component in closing the vocabulary gap.
Example of Say-‐Tell-‐Do-‐Play for The Ear Book (Perkins, 1968)
The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again.
Pre-‐reading Instructions: * Introduce each of the 5 words with a picture * Say the word, have the students repeat it * Use a child friendly definition * Use gestures or actions (DO) * Have the students tell it to another friend
During Reading: * When you get to these five words in the story point to the words and any
accompanying pictures in the book.
After Reading: * (Play) Another idea is to play recordings of the five vocabulary words, using the
picture cards from the pre-‐reading activities.
Protocol Explained
* It’s important that parents realize that while learning English in their school setting, children should still be continuing to speak their native language at home.
* Having a strong foundation of vocabulary and speaking skills in their native language will only strengthen their future reading and writing skills in English.
* Provide a literacy package to be sent home the week you will be studying the unit.
* In the literacy package include the following: * Copy of the book in native language * Picture cards and child friendly definitions in the child’s home language * Activity or coloring pages that correspond to the books learning objectives * If parents are unable to read the story, think about recording an audio or provide
and the definitions of the English targeted words in their native language.
Home School Connection
* The richness of the language environment in children's homes is linked to children's language and literacy skills (Seefeldt, 2004).
* We need to encourage the importance of providing language experiences at home through reading, conversations, etc.
* Differences in children who have parents that engage in conversations and those who do not. * What do these difference look like? * Talking more, interactions with their peers
* How do we as teachers notice it? * Our conversations with them, responses to questions
Importance of Home-‐School Connections
* Help inform parents of this important factor in their children’s current and future literacy learning. * For our preschoolers this also means that parents need to
continue to speak in their native language in the home so these skills can continue to develop. * “Pre-‐existing knowledge for English Language Learners is
encoded in their home language, we need to teach in a way that fosters transfer of concepts and skills from the students home-‐language to English” (Cummins, Bismilla & Chow, 2009, pg. 1).
* We can strengthen the home-‐school connection: * Encourage the parents to come and read in their native
language. * Help with activities during school and engage in
conversations with the ELL students in their native language and in English (connecting new knowledge). * Having parents complete surveys regarding more
resources they would like to learn about. * Providing literacy bags or even just vocabulary picture
cards in Native languages and English that correspond to out weekly read-‐aloud text.
* Shared book reading and family involvement are two powerful ways to help close the vocabulary gap of preschool age English Language Learners. * Assessment factors such as formal and informal
observations, monthly monitoring and program evaluation are all crucial in determining if our students are in fact improving their oral language in all of the vocabulary areas. * Since preschool age children are still developing their
native language it is important to encourage them to continue to use their native language.
Concluding thoughts…
* It’s crucial that parents and teachers communicate with children through shared book readings and real conversations throughout the day, EVERYDAY! * We want our ELL to keep their native language. We want
them to continue to grow their native speaking abilities concurrently while learning to speak English in the classroom. * Helping our youngsters achieve oral language progress
similar to their native speaking peers will help them continue to close the vocabulary gap as their English improves.
Concluding thoughts…