Building Meaning Vocabulary: Lessons from Language Acquisition

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Building Meaning Vocabulary Lessons from
Language Acquisition

• Georgia Reading First Conference
• June 19-20, 2007
• David Coker
• University of Delaware
• dcoker_at_udel.edu

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Who am I?

• father teacher
• runner Delaware transplant
• researcher
• frustrated fisherman
• Georgia native

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Partner Talk

• Turn to someone next to you (preferably someone
  you dont know) and
• Say hello and introduce yourself. This is your
  partner for todays session.
• Find out what he or she would like to know about
  vocabulary and language learning in 2nd and 3rd
  grades.
• After you discuss, write down your own
  question(s).

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Whats so important about oral language skills?
In 2nd 3rd grades, were worried about
reading and writing.
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Language Skills Reading

• Word Recognition
• Phonology
• (esp. phonological awareness)

• Reading Comprehension
• Vocabulary
• Morphology
• Syntax

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Our Guiding Question

• How can we enhance students oral language in
  2nd 3rd grades?

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Where were headed

• What can language acquisition teach us about how
  kids learn words?
• How can we teach vocabulary in the classroom by
  taking advantage of language-learning strategies?
• An extension How can we use language-learning
  strategies to help students with language
  differences in the classroom?

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I. Language Learning

• How do they do it?

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Language is a Social Tool

• Kids want to talk to interact
• Engage adults (ball!).
• Express needs (more cookie).
• Language in a social frame Joint reference

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How Parents Help

• Motherese
• (Child-Directed Speech)
• Slower
• Higher pitch
• Exaggerated intonation
• More repetition
• Shorter sentences

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Strategies for Talking with Children

• Adults use a variety of specific strategies to
  support language learning

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Expansions

• The adult echoes the childs talk and expands
  it, modeling how to speak.
• Example
• child Juice!
• mother You want more juice?
• child More juice.

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Extensions

• Adult comments on (and extends) childs talk in
  ways related to its meaning.
• Example
• child Juice!
• mother Oh youre thirsty.

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Turnabouts

• Adult picks up a thread from the childs
  utterance and then asks a question related to it.
  Adult scaffolds the conversation.
• Example
• child Tells story of skinning knee
• adult How did that happen?
• or
• Why did you fall?
• or
• I wonder if you need a band-aid?

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Common Turnabouts

• Wh-question How, where, why...?
• Tag Question Its raining, isnt it?
• Requests for Clarification What did he say?
• I Wonder Statement I wonder whats for
  lunch?

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Partner Talk

• How do you think these strategies help children
  learn language?

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II. Vocabulary Learning in the Classroom

• Can we take advantage of language-learning
  strategies to improve classroom vocabulary
  instruction?

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Context for Vocabulary

• Adults use the physical context to teach words to
  children.
• Classroom context is limited, but books provide
  limitless context for new words.

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ALA Award Books
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How Could We Use the Strategies during
Read-Alouds?

• What is a central goal of language-learning
  strategies (expansions, extensions, turnabouts)?

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Turnabouts during Read-Alouds

• Teachers can draw on the story to pose
  turnabout-like questions to the class.
• Example from Where the Wild Things Are
• Why do you think Max wanted to leave home and
  live with the wild things?

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Turnabout Expansion

• Teacher poses a turnabout (e.g. open question).
• Student responds with an incomplete answer.
• Teacher can expand or extend the response in an
  effort to elicit more relevant talk.

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Turnabout Expansion

• Students Mad.
• Teacher Right, Max was mad expansion.
• Teacher Why was Max mad? turnabout.
• Student Sent to his room.

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Encouraging Student Talk During Read-Alouds

• Allows for students to engage with the vocabulary
  and the story.
• Shown to boost vocabulary and reading
  comprehension.

(Brabham Lynch-Brown, 2002 Dickinson Smith,
1994)
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An Example Text Talk

• Uses open-ended questions (like turnabouts) to
  stimulate student discussion during reading.
• Follow-up questions (like extensions and
  expansions) used to extend and elaborate.

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Additional Instructional Methods(Also very
important)

• Direct explanation of new words during reading.

• Multiple opportunities to interact with new words
  (in addition to reading)

(Beck, McKeown Kucan, 2002)
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How Much Exposure?

• A recent study found that students in K and 1st
  benefited from more than 2 readings of a book.
• However, 2nd graders learned the same percentage
  of words with 2 and 4 readings

(Biemiller Boote, 2006)
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What to do when reading aloud to support
vocabulary acquisition

• Use interesting books with good words.
• Provide direct explanation of word meanings.
• Pose open-ended questions (turnabouts) and
  expansions and extensions to encourage student
  talk.
• Provide students lots of opportunities to revisit
  target words (through rereading and extension
  activities).

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An Example
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Michael! Theres a bear outside! said Karl.
A what? called Michael

• A bear. Hes really big. And hes in the
  backyard.
• Whats he doing? Michael asked.
• Hes sitting. He has an umbrella, said Karl.

• An umbrella?

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• By the time the boys got outside, their sister,
  Addy, was already talking with him.
• Im sorry for arriving unannounced, said the
  bear. The wind carried my umbrella all the way
  from my backyard to your backyard. I thought I
  would retrieve it before it became a nuisance.
  He spoke with a slight panda accent.

unannounced means he came without telling them
first.
A nuisance is something that bothers you.
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Now some turnabout questions

• Why do you think the pandas umbrella would be
  a nuisance?
• OR
• How do you think Karl, Michael and Addy felt
  about finding a panda in the backyard?

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Partner TalkYou Try It

• With your partner, do a mini-read aloud. Each of
  you take several pages from Zen Shorts and,
• Provide an explanation of at least 2 words.
• Create turnabout-like questions.

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• Michael introduced himself. Then Addy
  introduced Karl because Karl was shy around bears
  he didnt know.
• And this is how Addy, Michael, and Karl met
  Stillwater.

• The next day, Addy went to have tea with
  Stillwater.

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• Hello? Addy said as she stepped inside.
• Come in! Come in! a faraway voice called.
• Then she heard the voice say, Oh yesCome out!
  Come out!
• Stillwater was in the backyard.

• He was in a tent.
• This is a birthday present from my Uncle Ry,
  Stillwater said.
• He always gives presents on his birthday, to
  celebrate the day he was born. I like it so much
  that Im not staying in my house right now.
• Stillwater invited Addy to sit with him.

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• You brought me some cake! said Stillwater.
  That was very nice of you. Is it your birthday?
  he asked.
• No, said Addy.
• Its not mine either, said Stillwater. But
  let me give you a gift for my uncles birthday. I
  will tell you a story.

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Uncle Ry and the Moon

• My Uncle Ry lived alone in a small house up in
  the hills. He didnt own many things. He lived a
  simple life.
• One evening, he discovered he had a visitor. A
  robber had broken into the house and was
  rummaging through my uncles few belongings.
• The robber didnt notice Uncle Ry, and when my
  uncle said, Hello, the robber was so startled
  he almost fell down.

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• My uncle smiled at the robber and shook his
  hand.
• Welcome! Welcome! How nice of you to visit!
• The robber opened his mouth to speak, but he
  couldnt think of anything to say.
• Because Ry never lets anyone leave
  empty-handed, he looked around the tiny hut for a
  gift for the robber. But there was nothing to
  give. The robber began to back toward the door.
  He wanted to leave.
• At last, Uncle Ry knew what to do.
• He took off his only robe, which was old and
  tattered. Here, he said. Please take this.

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• The robber thought my uncle was crazy. He took
  the robe, dashed out the door, and escaped into
  the night.

• My uncle sat and looked at the moon, its
  silvery light spilling over the mountains, making
  all things quietly beautiful.
• Poor man, lamented my uncle. All I had to
  give him was my tattered robe. If only I could
  have given him this wonderful moon.

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III. ExtensionStudents with Language Differences

• Language-learning strategies can also be used to
  help students whose languages or dialects dont
  match the one used in school.

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Language Differences?

• 2nd Language Students

• Students who dont speak school dialect (Edited
  American English)

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Why Would These Strategies Work?

• Many students are used to being corrected.
  Correcting student talk usually discourages
  students from speaking and can be
  counterproductive.
• We know children learn about the features of
  language (or dialect) by participating in it
  (doing it).

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Expansions

• Teachers model how English is used in the
  classroom

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Extensions

• Teachers create new contexts for conversation.
• Extensions offer a scaffold for students.

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Turnabouts

• Encourages student talk, providing practice.

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When Should We Use Them?

• All the time!
• -During any lesson
• -Informal exchanges

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Take Home Points

• Language-learning strategies can enhance our
  vocabulary teaching.
• Turnabouts, expansions, and extensions support
  vocabulary learning during read-alouds.
• These strategies can also be used to benefit
  students with language differences.

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Last Question

• Did we address you and your partners initial
  questions?
• If not, have a discussion with your partner, with
  me during the conference, or send me an email
  later (dcoker_at_udel.edu).

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References

• Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G. (2001). Text talk
  Capturing the benefits of read-aloud experiences
  for young children. Reading Teacher, 55(1),
  10-20.
• Beck, I.L., McKeown, M.G., Kucan, L. (2002).
  Bringing words to life Robust vocabulary
  instruction. New York Guilford Press.
• Biemiller, A. Boote, C. (2006). An effective
  method for building meaning vocabulary in primary
  grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98,
  44-62.
• Brabham, E. G., Lynch-Brown, C. (2002). Effects
  of teachers' reading aloud styles on vocabulary
  acquisition and comprehension of students in the
  early elementary grades. Journal of Educational
  Psychology, 94, 465-473.
• Dickinson, D. K., Smith, M. W. (1994).
  Long-term effects of preschool teachers' book
  readings on low-income children's vocabulary and
  story comprehension. Reading Research Quarterly,
  29(2), 104-122
• Muth, J.J. (2005). Zen Shorts. New York
  Scholastic Press.