Houghton Mifflin ReadingLanguage Arts Symposium

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San Joaquin Valleys Region VII Vocabulary
Conference
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San Joaquin Valleys Region VII Vocabulary
Conference
Vocabulary Key to Improving Reading Achievement
John J. Pikulski Sponsored by
Lou Massicci, Central Valley Representative Hought
on Mifflin Harcourt Publishers
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Average NAEP Reading Scores for the Nation
9 yr.
8 ( 4 99-04 )
13 yr.
2 (-2 99-04)
17 yr.
-2 ( -5 99-04)
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While we have encouraging results for younger
children, our nation's recent education report
card has shown no progress for high school
students in 30 years. So, it's time to focus on
improving high schools. Margaret Spellings,
National Press Club Address, Sept. 21, 2005
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Only words can free a thought From its prison
behind your eyes.
ONeill, Mary. (1956). Words, words, words.
Doubleday.
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Words of Wisdom from U.S. Presidents
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• It's no exaggeration to say the undecideds could
  go one way or another."

G. H.W. Bush

• "Solutions are not the answer."

R. Nixon

• " This is still the greatest country in the world
  if we just will steel our wills

and lose our minds."
B. Clinton

• "People who like this sort of thing will find
  this the sort of thing they like."

A. Lincoln

• "If Lincoln were alive today, he'd roll over in
  his grave."

G. Ford
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Average Rate of Meaning vocabulary Growth in the
Elementary Grades
Rate words per year
2,500 3,000
About 15
Rate words per school day
Rate words every day of the year
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Cited in Snow, C .et al. (1998). Preventing
reading difficulties in young children.
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There is growing consensus that a challenging,
but realistic goal is to teach children, through
direct, explicit instruction, about 400 words a
year (400/180 2.2 per day or 11 per week)
however, should the goal be that children learn
400 words that are explicitly taught?
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4 Major Elements of A comprehensive program of
Vocabulary Development

• Provide a rich, stimulating language/vocabulary
  environment.
• Encourage wide reading.
• Use frequent instructional read aloud events.
• Integrate content and reading instruction.
• Teach, model,and encourage the application of
  independent word learning strategies such as
  use of morphological units (e.g. prefixes,
  suffixes, root words) reference works (e.g.
  dictionary, thesaurus) sentence and passage
  context and their integration.

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A comprehensive program of Vocabulary Development
(continued)

• Provide systematic, explicit instruction in the
  meanings words and clusters of words.
• Create a keen awareness of and a deep interest in
  language and words (Word Consciousness.)

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Instructional Read Aloud Activities
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Conclusions from Juel et al Study(continued)

• While substantial amounts of time were devoted to
  oral language activities, neither reading aloud
  to children, discussion of these readings nor
  mentioning of oral vocabulary seemed to affect
  vocabulary growth.
• As suggested by other researchers, it appears
  that incidental instruction is not substantive
  enough. Growth in oral language was predicted,
  instead, by the amount of time spent on more
  direct vocabulary development.

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Research Based Read Aloud Recommendations

• Carefully select books based on difficulty,
  interest, and instructional value.
• Build Background and Vocabulary before, during,
  and after reading.
• Choose instructional vocabulary carefully.
• Look for Goldilocks Words.
• Do both whole class and small group
  interactive/instructional read alouds.
• Review/reinforce target vocabulary.
• Use at least 50 informational texts.

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Motivate students to Read Widely.
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Principle of Reciprocal Causation
(Matthew Effects)
Cause
Extensive Independent Reading

• Larger vocabulary
• Broader Background Knowledge

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Major Sources of Vocabulary(A. Cunningham
Stanovich, 1998)
Rare Words,1,000
I. Printed Texts Abstracts of Scientific
Articles Newspapers Adult Books Childrens
Books Preschool Books II. Oral Texts Prime-time
Adult Shows Prime-time Childrens shows Expert
Witness Testimony College Graduates, Friends,
Spouses
128.0
68.3
52.7
30.9
16.3
22.7
20.2
28.4
17.3
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Stages of Knowing a Word

• Stage 1 I have never seen or heard it before.
• Stage 2 I know it is a word Ive seen or heard
  it before I dont know its meaning.
• Stage3 I know something about the word, like its
  part of speech, its positive or negative
  connotations, or the general context in which it
  is used, but I cant give its meaning.
• Stage 4 I know the word.

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Teach an IndependentWord Learning Strategy
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Why TEACHING students how to independently derive
word meanings is important

• Studies suggest that students arrive at a
  reasonable understanding of less than 5 of the
  new words they encounter in their reading
• Studies suggest that we can raise their chances
  to about 15 if we actively teach and model how
  to independently derive word meanings

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Deriving Word Meanings Strategy
Carefully look at the word decide how to
pronounce it
Look around the word - Within the sentence
-Reread previous sentences - Read ahead for
more clues
Look in the word - Affixes - Base words
-Root words
Make your best guess at the words meaning
If you think you have figured out the meaning of
the word or if the word doesnt seem important
Keep reading
If you dont know the meaning and if the
word seems important use a dictionary or glossary
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Pronounce
Predict
potboiler
POT-boi-lur
The critics were unanimous that the new work by
Lavazza is a potboiler!
A usually inferior literary or artistic work,
produced quickly for the purpose of making money.
Potboiler comes from the phrase "boil the pot,"
meaning "to provide one's livelihood."
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Teach words, not individually, but
inMorphological and Semantic Clusters, going
beyond the words in the story.
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BODIES OF WATER
Pond
River
Puddle
Lake
Semantic Clusters
Ocean
Pool
Stream
Creek
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TelePrompTer Telegraph Telegram Telepathy Telethon
Telekinesis Telecommute
Telescopic Telescopy
Horoscope Kaleidoscope Microscope Periscope Stetho
scope
Telescope
Astronomer Astronomical
Star Words
Galaxy
Astronomy
Astrology Astronaut Astrodome Astroturf
Galactic Intergalactic
Semantic/Morphological Clusters
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Become excited about word learning and
communicate that Enthusiasm to your
students
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m-w.com
wordsmith.org
Dictionary.com
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To keep your marriage brimming,
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you're wrong,
admit it
Whenever you're right,
shut up.
-Ogden Nash, author(1902-1971)