Building a Robust Vocabulary

1. Building a Robust Vocabulary

2. The Big Five The NIFL has identified these critical areas for teaching children to read: Phonemic Awareness Phonics Instruction Fluency Instruction Vocabulary Instruction Text Comprehension Instruction

3. Why do we need to teach vocabulary? Vocabulary knowledge accounts for over 80% of the variance in reading comprehension scores at grade level. In the 4th grade, 70% of the problem in reading comprehension is vocabulary.

4. In a study by Hart and Risley, it was found that the vocabulary gap starts at age three. In low interaction homes, children acquire 2 words per day versus children in average interactive homes who gain 5 words per day versus children in high interaction homes who gain 9 words per day. High-knowledge third graders had vocabularies about equal to lowest-performing 12th graders.

5. By the end of second grade kids have an average of 5500 root words. The lowest group has an average of 3500 root words. The highest group has an average of 7500 root words. First grade children from higher SES groups knew about twice as many words as lower SES children.

6. Big gaps in word knowledge makes catching up difficult even though once in school children appear to acquire new vocabulary at similar rates. To catch up, vocabulary disadvantaged children will have to acquire vocabulary at above average rates.

7. When you consider that there are over 40,000 more common word families that exist in printed school English, it is indeed a formidable task.

8. The Nature of Vocabulary Acquisition Evidence indicates that vocabulary is acquired in largely the same order by most children. Children acquire about 2000-3000 root words per year. Studies estimate that of 100 unfamiliar words met in reading, between 5 and 15 of them will be learned.

9. So how do they learn new words? Words are learned in context. Most words encountered in oral language in the school years are words kids already know. Context in oral language has many more features to support the learning of new words such as intonation, stress and body language.

10. The source of later vocabulary learning shifts to written contexts. But it is not so easy to learn from written contexts. In order for any word learning to occur, two conditions, need to be met: First, students must read widely enough to encounter a substantial amount of unfamiliar words.

11. Second, students must have the skills to infer word meaning information from context. Another problem is that many natural contexts are not all that informative for deriving word meaning.

12. Children with weaker vocabularies are less likely to learn words from listening to stories than children with larger vocabularies. At-risk kids and low achievers may only be learning one or two words a day or not at all! Because of all these reasons, teachers need to provide more direct instruction for children with smaller vocabularies.

13.  But which words do I teach? Beck and McKeown (1985) developed a perspective on the kinds of words that need instructional attention. The mature literate individual�s vocabulary can compromise three tiers:

14. The first tier consists of the most basic words. Words in this tier rarely require direct instruction. Words in the third tier are made up of words whose frequency is quite low and often limited to specific domains.

15. The second tier contains words that are of high frequency for mature language users and are found across a variety of domains. Instruction directed at tier two words can be most productive and provide a powerful impact on verbal functioning.

16. Beck and McKeown assert that learning 200-400 words per year, would make a significant contribution.

17. Identifying Tier Two Words Importance and utility: Words that are more characteristic of mature language users and appear across a variety of domains.

18. Instructional potential: Words that can be worked with in a variety of ways so that students can build rich representations of them and their connections to other words and concepts.

19. Conceptual understanding: Words for which students understand the general concept but provide precision and specificity in describing the concept.

20. What we want to build Generalization � ability to define Application � recognition of situations appropriate to a word Breadth � knowledge of multiple meanings Precision � application of the term correctly in all situations Availability � the actual usage of the word in thinking and discourse

21. Where should we begin? Teach categorization and classification. Dictionaries are not good teaching tools if we do not know a word. They are wonderful after we know something about a word. Context is critical to both understanding and using new words in reading, writing, speaking and listening. Teach how to define words and develop student-friendly explanations.

22. Student friendly explanations In developing student friendly explanations, two principles should be followed: 1. Characterize the word and how it is typically used. 2. Explain the meaning in everyday language. Ask the student to help you explain the word.

23. Developing Vocabulary in the Earliest Years Sequenced activities for teaching words: 1. Contextualize the word in the story. 2. Have the student repeat the word so they create a phonological representation of the word. 3. Explain the meaning of the word using a student friendly definition.

24. 4. Provide examples other than the one used in the story. 5. Have the students interact with or provide their own examples. 6. Have the students say the word again to reinforce its phonological representation.

25. Activities For Interaction with Words Using questions , reasons, and examples: �If you are walking around a dark room, you need to be cautious. Why?� �Which of these things might be extraordinary? A comfortable shirt or a shirt that washed itself?�

26. Making choices: �When would I be clutching? When I am: holding tightly to a purse, holding a fistful of money, petting the kitty�s soft fur.� Same format: �If a dog was acting menacing, would you pet it or move away?� �Is imagining more like dreaming or sneezing? Why?�

27. Relating words in sentences or given choices: �Which would you prefer to budge? A sleeping lamb or a ferocious lion?� �If you get your clothes ready for school the night before, are you sensible or raucous?�

28. One context for all words: �What would an immense plate of spaghetti look like?� �Why would you feel miserable after eating that spaghetti?� �What would it look like to eat spaghetti in a leisurely way?�

29. Students create examples: �If there was an emergency at the park, what might have happened?� �If you had a friend who watched TV all the time, how would you coax him into exercising?�

30. Maintaining New Words Applying learned words to new stories. Using new words in writing situations. Classify and categorize new words. Reinforcing verbal use of the words.

31. Developing Vocabulary in theOlder Grades 1. Frequent encounters with the words If 10 words per week were addressed, each word might have focused attention 8 to 10 times. 2. Richness of instruction This is extension of word use beyond the classroom by keeping word logs and providing opportunities to use the words, exploring facets of word meaning, and considering relationships among words. .

32. 3. Chose words based on themes. For example, they used the theme, �how we use our eyes.� The target words included: gaze, squint, spectator, focus, scrutinize, glimpse, inspector and binoculars. Themes were used to help students by giving them ready made connections

33. Instructional Sequence forNatural Contexts Read and paraphrase the text Establish the meaning of the context Provide an initial identification and rationale for the word�s meaning Consider further possibilities for the words meaning Summarize the information

34. Enriching the Verbal Environment Pay attention to words. Start a campaign to climb the ladder to word wizardry � from word watcher to word worker word wildcat to word winner word master to Word Wizard. Earn points, look for your name on the Word Wizard chart. Have for special events for Word Wizards!

35. New Word Jar � toss a token in the jar each time you hear someone using a newly learned word. Fill it up and have a celebration! Establish Teacher�s Word of the Week �There are three words you can�t use in my room� stuff, thing, whatever.� Use and encourage the use of mature language.

36. Use tier two words as a natural part of classroom conversation. Encourage use of word resources. Play Vocabulary Jeopardy Have fun with analogies

37. Testing Formats One-on-one - defining or using Matching Multiple choice Analogies Sentence completion using word bank Written definitions THEN�� Graph the data, graph the data, graph the data�..

38. References Beck, I., McKeown, M., Kucan, L., (2002). Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction. Hart, B., Risley, T. (1995). Meaningful Differences. Baltimore: Brookes. Co. Biemiller, A. Teaching Vocabulary: Early, Direct and Sequential. The American Evaluator, 25 (1), 24-28. The Partnership for Reading, (2003) Put Reading First: The research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read. NIFL. www.nifl.gov.