Explicit Vocabulary Intervention for Language and Reading

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Explicit Vocabulary Intervention for Language and
Reading

• Judy K. Montgomery, Ph.D.
• Chapman University
• Orange, CA
• Email montgome_at_chapman.edu

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Purposes

• To recognize the importance of vocabulary in the
  development of language and reading
• To review scientifically based research on
  vocabulary instruction
• To acquire evidence-based practices to support
  students with limited vocabulary

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Vocabulary

• Refers to the words we use to communicate
• Plays a critical part in learning to read
• Helps children make sense of the words they see
  by comparing them to the words they have heard
• Is one of the 5 building blocks of reading
• Can be divided into four types

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Four types of vocabulary

• Listening
• Speaking
• Reading
• Writing

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Teaching Students to Read

• Phonemic awareness
• Phonics
• Fluency
• Vocabulary
• Text comprehension
• National Reading Panel, 2001

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Vocabulary Demands on Students are Daunting

• 450,000 words in English- largest vocabulary of
  languages in use today
• Students must learn 3,000 words per year by 3rd
  grade.
• Only 400 words a year are directly taught by
  teachers.

• Academic demands are high
• However, everyday speech consists of only 5,000-
  7,000 words.
• Conversation cannot make up the difference
  (Frey Fisher, 2007).

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Vocabulary

• Children begin first grade with a 6,000 word
  spoken vocabulary
• Learn 36,000 more words by 12 th grade
• Learn 5 words a day
• Still need 55,000 words for printed school
  English (Chall, 87 Gunning, 04)

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In 1980s vocabulary teaching ...

• Moved from lists of words in McGuffeys Spelling
  book, Dolch Sight Word lists, Teacher Word Book
  of 30,000 Words
• to
• Sifting through narrative and expository reading
  selections to find challenging words.
• Neither were satisfactory (Frey Fisher,
  2007).

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Word Selection

• Labels
• Names for items
• Limited use
• Dont squander time on too many of these

• Concepts
• Bigger ideas
• Focus on these
• Improves comprehension

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The Myth of Age or Grade Level Vocabulary

• Students do not learn vocabulary words based on
  their age or their grade.
• They learn words based on their experiences.
• (Beck, et al, 2002)

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Some students can use ...

• Frys 1,000
• Instant Words
• The first 100 account for 50 of the words they
  will encounter in reading.
• The total 1,000 make up 75 of words encountered
  in reading. (Graves, 2006)

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1,000 Instant Words

• Will be too easy for some students
• They are readers.
• They do not need to be taught these words.

• Absolutely critical that all children know these
  words
• Spoken vocabulary
• Reading vocabulary
• They must be taught these words.
• (Fry, 2004)

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Frys List Language Reading

• Fry, Kress, Fountoukidis, (1993). Reading
  Teachers Book of Lists (3rd Ed). Prentice Hall.
  p. 290
• Google it

• First 100- 1st grade reading words
• Second 100- 2nd grade reading words
• Third 100- 3rd grade reading words

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What does research tell us?

• Most vocabulary is learned indirectly
• Some vocabulary must be taught directly
• Poor vocabulary is a hallmark of language,
  literacy, and cognitive disabilities

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Children learn word meanings indirectly in three
ways

• Daily conversations and oral language experience
  with adults and other children
• Listening to adults read to them
• Reading extensively on their own

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Students with special needs, or at risk, often do
not learn words indirectly because

• They dont engage in conversation as often
• They dont alert to new or interesting words
• They often dont listen carefully when read to
• They usually dont read on their own

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Who has difficulty with vocabulary?

• Students with communication disorders
• Students with cognitive challenges
• Students with hearing loss
• Students in special education classrooms

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Language and Reading

• Children with communication disorders, and
  language learning disabilities also experience
  difficulty learning to read
• About 70 of the children on SLP caseloads also
  have literacy problems

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Language and Reading

• Students with moderate to severe cognitive
  impairments may get limited reading instruction.

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Language and Reading

• Students with hearing loss have significant
  literacy challenges.

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Language and Reading

• All of the students in self contained special
  education classes have serious literacy needs.

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These students need direct instruction in
vocabulary

• Direct instruction/intervention includes
• Specific word instruction
• Word learning strategies
• Intensive work
• Repetitions
• Active engagement

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Number of Exposures Needed to Learn a New Word

• Level of Intelligence IQ Required Exposures
• Signif. above average 120-129 20
• Above average 110-119 30
• Average 90-109 35
• Slow learner 80-89 40
• Mild cognitive impairment 70-79 45
• Moderate cog impairment 60-69 55
• (Gates, 1931 McCormick, 1999)

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What is scientifically-based research in
vocabulary interventions for students with
special education needs?

• 1. Literature, theory, position statements,
  policy
• 2. High quality, repeatable research with effect
  size reported
• 3. Promising practice, professional wisdom,
  action research in classrooms

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Vocabulary research shows

• It is more effective to support all four types of
  vocabulary for struggling students (NRP, 2001).
• Directly teaching word parts- affixes, base
  words, roots - greatly enhance vocabulary because
  60 of English words have Latin or Greek origins
  (Armbruster Osborn, 2001).
• Challenging students to create original sentences
  with target words increases personal interest and
  word learning (Beck, et al, 2002).

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Vocabulary research also shows

• Word learning depends on the other sounds and
  words the child already knows. How a new word
  relates to these existing words (neighborhood
  density) positively influences the speed of
  learning (Hoover Storkel, 2005).
• The use of opposition (antonyms) in defining
  terms helps to establish extremes of a words
  meaning. Synonym production is improved by
  antonym production, although the reverse has not
  been shown to be true (Powell, 1986).

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A few more...

• Vocabulary knowledge, story comprehension, and
  story sequencing are the language skills with the
  strongest relationship to improved reading
  outcomes (Snow, Tabors, Nicholson Kurland,
  1994).
• Twenty common prefixes account for 97 of the
  prefixed words in printed school English (White,
  Sowell Yanagihara, 1989).
• Words are used to think. The more words we know,
  the finer our understanding of the world (Stahl,
  1999).

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Direct Instruction in Vocabulary

• The Bridge of Vocabulary Evidence-Based
  Activities for Academic Success
• (Montgomery, J. K. Pearson/AGS, 2006)
• (General special educators provide direct
  instruction in vocabulary, collaboratively)

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The Bridge of Vocabulary

• Pre-school- high school
• 101 activities
• One per page, plus another 200 student worksheets
  on CD for follow-up or independent work
• General special education
• Evidence-based statements
• Vocabulary Standards from all 50 states

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Vocabulary Strategy

• Evidence-based statement
• Grade level standards link
• Upper elementary
• Students have small cards with 5 most common
  prefixes
• SLP reads word, definition, asks for opposite

• Proper- Proper means that everything is correct
  and just the way it should be. What is the
  opposite of proper?
• Student holds up card. Says word. Improper
• What does improper mean?
• It is not proper- not the right way.

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Uses EB Strategies

• Active engagement
• Repetitions of small number of words
• Oral to written language
• Give definition in student friendly terms
• Ask for antonym
• Repeat

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Students can increase their vocabulary if they
have

• wide ranging experiences
• sufficient number of exposures
• active engagement
• consistent direct instruction
• useful word learning strategies

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Vocabulary Interventions

• Reading Aloud
• Cinquains
• Colorful Letter Scramble
• English Idioms
• Hink Pinks (Terse Verse)
• Becks Word Tiers

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These interventions will

• Include all four vocabulary types
• Combine print and speech supports
• Need to be modified for all grades and ages
• Require many repetitions to be successful

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Authors add delightful words!!

• Meddled
• Winked
• Familiar
• Bleating
• Whiff
• Rumbled
• Old-fashioned

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Cinquain

• A cinquain is a five line, non rhyming shape
  poem with a structure that develops vocabulary.
• Children can compose them orally or write them,
  or do both.

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Cinquain

• Line 1 - one noun
• Line 2 - 2 adjectives
• Line 3- 3 verbs
• Line 4- a 4 word feeling or observation
• Line 5- a synonym for line one

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Make a Cinquain Template

• 1 one word title _____________________
• 2 words describing ________ __________
• 3 words with action ____ ______ ______
• 4 words of feeling ____ _____ ______ _____
• 5 Repeat title in 1 word __________

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Colorful Letter Scramble  The first word in
each expression below is a color. The second
word, when unscrambled, completes a common term
associated with the color. Discuss the meaning of
each expression.For example, WHITE ESLA
WHITE SALE.

• 1. BLUE DOBOL
• 2. ORANGE WOBL
• 3. BLACK TREAMK
• 4. GRAY TAMTER
• 5. PURPLE THREA
• 6. WHITE GASPE
• 7. RED TARCEP
• 8. YELLOW REFEV
• 9. GREEN BMUTH
• 10.BROWN DBAER

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English Idioms

• Adds imagery impact to oral and written
  language
• Provides meaning and thrust (Collis, 1987).
• Cannot discern meaning from words
• Difficult for students with CD and ELs

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Thrust Meaning

• Bend over backwards
• In stitches
• Scratch someones back
• Horse of a different color

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• Hink Pinks!!
• A hink pink is a pair of one syllable words that
  rhyme. Example an overweight feline fat
  cat
• Below are clues for some hink pinks. Read the
  clues and try to figure out how to say it in two
  rhyming words.
• What is ...
• 1. a nice number ?
• 2. a colorful mattress?
• 3. a tidy road ?
• 4. a politician who has died ?
• 5. a nice law ?
• 6. a huge truck ?
• 7. a meat burglar ?

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More Hink Pinks

• 8. a fast mop ?
• 9. a spicy place ?
• 10. a fat sandwich ?
• 11. a rodent's cap ?
• 12. a tiny sphere ?
• 13. a cooked reptile ?
• 14. a naked rabbit ?
• 15 a hard to find trap?
• 16 a mysterious mustache?
• 17 a plastic pond?

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A few more...

• 18. A naughty boy?
• 19. A drenched dog?
• 20. A spell bag?
• 21. An angry boy?
• 22. A bad attitude?
• 23. A dark period?
• 24. A sweet potato preserve?

• These were all written by students.
• You can find them on the internet
• Make up your own.
• Do the rhyme first, then the definition
• Give students one of the words
• Have students make them up

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A Step Further with Hink Pinks

• Hinkie Pinkies- two syllable words
• A cave slogan
• Grotto motto
• Hinkity Pinkities- three syllable words
• The White House
• Presidents residence

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Why Vocabulary Problems Actually Increase As
Students Grow Older

• They also have word finding problems
• They often use low information words
• This has a negative impact on their discourse
  skills
• They rarely expand the meanings of the words they
  do know
• They read less than their peers

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• Given the critical role that reading plays in
  vocabulary development, poor readers deficits in
  word knowledge may be compounded with time,
  leaving them with a smaller data base from which
  to select words for speaking and writing.
  
• (Nippold, 92, p. 5)

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Isabel Becks Word Tiers

• What does it mean to know a word?

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Vocabulary Four Steps to knowing

• Never heard the word before
• Heard it, but dont know what it means
• In context, I know it has something to do
  with_____
• Know it and use it
• (Beck, McKeown Kucan, 2002 Carey, 1978)

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How shall we select the words for intervention
????
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Three Word Tiers (oral or written vocabulary)

• Tier 1- basic words (happy, clean, fast)
• Tier 2- high frequency words for
• mature language users
• (cluster, sympathy, estimate)
• Tier 3- low frequency, specific words
• (lathe, chasm, warp)
• (Beck, McKeowen Kucan, 2002)

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How to Select Vocabulary Words to Teach- the Big
Q!

• About 7,000 words in Tier 2
• Teach 400 per year
• Research shows this will have impact
• Which 400 words?
• Instruction vs. intervention
• (Beck, et al, 2002)

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Intervene Using Tier 2 Words

• Choose fiction or non-fiction being read in class
• Read one page
• Highlight all the Tier 2 words
• Select 3 of the most useful ones

• Student definitions from context
• Provide student friendly definitions
• Practice repeatedly
• Use in oral communication
• Reinforce in reading and writing.
• (Beck et al, 2002)

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Selecting words for students reading 1-2 years
below peers

• SLP reads a page of current book.
• Selects Tier 2 words
• Decides on 3 useful words
• Proceeds to instruct/intervene

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Lets say you chose these words

• Mask
• Vague
• Clarification
• Augment
• Brand
• Crystal

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Now, select only 3 of these words for intervention

• Mask
• Clarification
• Brand

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Lets Practice Writing Student Friendly
Definitions(Mask Clarification Brand)

• Mask
• Clarification
• Brand-

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Selecting Vocabulary in a Clinically Relevant Way

• Lets practice selecting Tier 2 words.
• Here is a good book to read aloud.

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• I went to the kitchen drawer and took out a
  lump of beeswax, a candle, a small funnel with a
  wooden handle, and some packets of yellow, red,
  and black dye.

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Focus on Selected Words

• 1. Teach the words explicitly for 5 sessions.
• 2. Use student-friendly definitions
• 3. Search for the words in other places
• 4. Over-use in both oral and written language
  activities
• 5. Say them and read them.
• 6. Review words one month later

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IEP Goals

• By March 2006, Jason will learn 45 Tier Two words
  (3 per week for 15 weeks) with 85 accuracy, as
  measured by his ability to say or write a
  student-friendly definition for each.
• Christy will read, write and correctly use 45 new
  Tier Two words in an essay on a topic of her
  choice in class.

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Vocabulary Intervention

• Use research based strategies
• Select words in clinically relevant way
• Provide explicit instruction
• Tie to life experiences of students
• Increase number of repetitions
• Engage students and have fun
• (Beck, et al, 2002 Nelson Van Meter,2005)

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Reference

• Beck, I., McKeowen, M., Kucan, L. (2002).
  Bringing Words to Life. NY Guilford Press

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Finale What does it mean to know a word?
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Knowing a Word

• Students do not either know or not know words.
  Instead, they know words to varying degrees.
  There are 3 levels
• Unknown
• Acquainted
• Established (Put Reading First, 2001, p. 43)

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Move students from one level of knowing to the
next

• Unknown word
• Acquainted with this word
• Established a meaning for this word
• (Put Reading First, 2001, p. 43)

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Four Kinds of Word Learning

• Learn a new meaning for a known word
• Learn meaning for a new word with a known concept
• Learn meaning of new word and new concept
• Enriching meaning of a known word

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Examples

• Learn a new meaning for a known word
• Cake is also a verb.
• I dont want the mud to cake on my shoes.

• Learn the meaning for a new word with a known
  concept
• Sphere
• I know the concept of balls and globes, but not
  the word sphere.

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Two more examples

• Learn meaning of a new word and a new concept
• Photosynthesis
• How plants convert carbon dioxide and water into
  carbohydrates

• Enrich meaning of a known word
• Confederation
• A loose connection of self governing bodies,
  countries, agencies.

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Take home message

• You can provide explicit, systematic, intensive
  language and reading vocabulary intervention

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Vocabulary is increased

• Indirectly by encouraging conversation, oral
  language practice, reading to students, and
  having them read often
• Directly by teaching words explicitly, word
  learning strategies, and becoming word conscious.

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References

• Beck, I. McKeown Kucan, L., (2002). Bringing
  words to life. NY Guilford.
• Frey, N. Fisher, D. (2007). Reading for
  information in elementary school. Upper Saddle
  River New Jersey Pearson.
• Fry, E. (2004). The vocabulary teachers book of
  lists. San Francisco Jossey-Bass.
• Ganske, K. (2000). Word journeys. NY Guilford
  Press.
• Graves, M. F. (2006) The vocabulary book. NY
  Teachers College Columbia.
• McCormick, S. (1999). Instructing students who
  have literacy problems. Upper Saddle River, NJ
  Merrill.
• Montgomery, J.K. (2004). Funnel Toward Phonics.
  Greenville, SC Super Duper Publications
• Montgomery, J.K. Kahn, N. (2005). Whats Your
  Story? Eau Claire, WI Thinking Publications.
• Montgomery, J.K. Moreau, M. R. (2004). East
  Meets West Using Childrens Books as Clinical
  Intervention for Language and Reading
  Disabilities. Vol. 1 and 2. Springfield, MA
  Mindwing Concepts
• National Reading Panel, (2000). Put Reading
  First. Washington DC National Institute for
  Literacy. www.nifl.org
• Nippold, M. (1992). The nature of normal and
  disordered word finding in children and
  adolescents. Topics in Language Disorders, 13
  (1), 1-14.