Teaching vocabulary as part of an effective literacy programme

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Teaching vocabulary as part of an effective
literacy programme

• Reading Association of Ireland
• Summer Seminar
• Colaiste Mhuire,
• Marino Institute of Education
• May 20th 2009

Gene Mehigan
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• A person who knows more words can speak and think
  more precisely about the world
• scarlet, crimson, azure, indigo
• red, blue

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Types of Vocabulary Knowledge

• Listening Vocabulary
• Reading Vocabulary
• Speaking Vocabulary
• Writing Vocabulary

Gene Mehigan Colaiste Mhuire, MIE
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• Vocabulary is acquired incidentally through
  indirect exposure to words and intentionally
  through explicit instruction in specific words
  and word-learning strategies.

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Reference to vocabulary in the English Language
Curriculum Statement (1999)

• Reading vocabulary
• word-synthesis and word-analysis skills, which
  receive much attention in the early stages of the
  teaching of reading, can, in Middle an Senior
  classes, be developed more fully and used in
  conjunction with vocabulary-building activity
• Curaclam na Bunscoile (1971) (p.106)

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Words! Words! Words!

• 26 letters of the alphabet
• 44 phonemes
• 75,000 words
• It is clear that teachers must teach the sounds
  and letters systematically and explicitly the
  challenge is how to teach 75,000 words.

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Vocabulary factors that matter

• Talk
• Wide reading
• Books
• Word consciousness
• Word study
• Direct instruction (includes teaching individual
  words and word learning strategies)

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Why is vocabulary (teaching) so important?

• Research indicates a strong correlational
  relationship between vocabulary knowledge and
  reading comprehension (Snow et al, 1995
  Beimiller, 1999 Blachowicz et al 2006)
• Comprehension (the ultimate goal of reading)
  improves when you know what the words mean.
• Good vocabulary teaching makes students excited
  about words and leads them to attend more closely
  to them. (Stahl Shiel, 1999)
• Words are the currency of communication. A robust
  vocabulary improves all areas of communication
  listening, speaking, reading and writing.
• Oral vocabulary is a key to learning to make the
  transition from oral to written forms

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Reciprocal hypothesis

• Relationship between vocabulary knowledge and
  reading comprehension both ways

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Vocabulary and early reading

• Goal of early reading instruction is to teach
  children to recognise (decode) words whose
  meanings they already know
• When young children pronounce written words,
  those words need to match with meanings in their
  speech

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Vocabulary learning is developmental

• Early years primary source is oral language
  experience often context related (e.g.
  urban/rural)
• - Tend to define words using synonyms/functions/a
  ttributes rather than taxonomically . Tell
  me something ......
• 1st 2nd class(ish) vocabulary related to
  content
• - start to use print as a source of learning new
  words
• - vocabulary in read-alouds more advanced than
  books read independently
• - reading vocabulary still typically more
  limited than listening vocabulary
• - understand the use of prefixes, suffixes,
  compound words, abbreviations
• Middle/senior classes use print as a major
  source for learning new words
• - content-area vocabulary, more abstract words,
  literal and figurative meanings of words
  (metaphors, idioms), use of dictionaries

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Effective vocabulary programme

• Move from learning words orally to learning words
  from written texts
• Create the experiences to allow students to learn
  new words based on words they are familiar with
• hope hopeful stop unstoppable multiple
  meanings e.g. Sound
• Enable children to learn and use vocabulary
  strategies

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Learning new words what does this mean?

• Not just learning to recognize words (in print)
• Acquiring new meaning
• In-depth word knowledge

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When to teach vocabularyBefore, during, after
reading?

• Difference between vocabulary needed to
  understand the story and enhancing/developing
  vocabulary
• Pre-teaching doesnt take advantage of text
  context
• obstinate ingenious
• During reading explain-quickly-and-go-on
  reading
• After reading -opportunity for robust, directed
  vocabulary teaching on selected words
• (Beck et al, 2008)

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Selecting words for instruction
(Beck, McKeown, Kucan, 2002)
Gene Mehigan Colaiste Mhuire, MIE
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Direct vocabulary instruction

• Tier 2 Words
• Example 1
• Mark avoided playing the ukulele.
• Which one word would you choose to teach?
• Example 2
• isotope, coincidence, absurd, lathe
• Which words are Tier 2 words?
• Mary saw her father, holding a parcel, emerge
  from the elevator.
• As John sat on the bench he thought about the
  injustice of having been sent off for such a
  mild tackle.

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Own a word

• Research shows that we need to encounter a word
  about 12 times or more before we know it well
  enough to help us comprehend what we read
• (McKeown,
  Beck, Omanson and Pople, 1985)
• When students have enough encounters with a word,
  theyll begin to use it in their writing and
  speech

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Levels of knowing words

• Association Level
• I am familiar with the word I remember seeing
  or hearing it before.
• Comprehension Level
• I know the word and understand what it means.
• Generation Level
• I know the word well I can use it in my
  conversations or in my writing.

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Try these!
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• Which words did you know immediately? Which ones
  do you use in speech or writing?
• Which words did you recognize but had to think
  about before defining? Would you feel confident
  enough to use them in conversation or in a paper
  that your colleagues would read?
• Were there any words that you just didnt know?

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Gravess Vocabulary Instructional Framework

• (from The Vocabulary Book, Graves, 2006)
• Providing Rich Varied Language Experiences
  Independent reading, reading aloud, exposure to
  oral language (speaking, listening, discussion),
  writing.
• Teaching Individual Words Instruction in select
  words found in texts read independently or read
  aloud, and words to be used in writing.
• Teaching Word-Learning Strategies Teaching
  structural analysis (roots, affixes, Latin/Greek
  cognates), contextual analysis, and the use of
  tools (dictionary thesaurus).
• Promoting Word Consciousness. Word and language
  play, figurative language, and developing
  metacognitive knowledge with regard to words.

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Contextual Approach

• May not be sufficient as a means of teaching new
  meanings
• Although John was very rich, his brother was
  destitute.
• unconcerned, generous, charitable, not jealous

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Definitional Approach beware!

• Careful of dictionary only approach
• e.g. erode to eat out
• My family erodes a lot.
• extinguish to put out
• Every night my mother extinguishes the cat.
• Two principles
• - characterise the word and how it is typically
  used
• - explain the meaning in everyday language

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Definitional Contextual Information
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Expanding word knowledge
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Vocabulary instruction

• Reluctant
• 1. feeling or showing aversion, hesitation, or
  unwillingness
• 2. this word describes when we do not want to do
  something or we are not sure about doing
  something
• Lisa was reluctant to eat the liver and onions
  that her grandmother had cooked for her.
• Which one would you be reluctant to hold a
  kitten or a rattlesnake?
• What would you be reluctant to do? I would be
  reluctant to

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Using Dictionaries Strategically

• Dictionary entries work best when you already
  know something about the word, not when
  introducing new words.
• Once you already know something about a word, use
  a dictionary to
• Determine if the word you are using is the right
  choice in a context.
• See if the word has other forms (adj. or adv.).
• Identify additional meanings of a word.
• Trace history of word/word origins

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Clear Understandable Definitions
Defines words in easy to understand language and
gives a sample sentence for each word. e.g.
furious Definition if someone is furious, they
are extremely angry Sentence He was furious
at the way his wife had been treated
Paperback 1088 pages Publisher Harpercollins
Canada 2nd edition (January 2002) ISBN
0007120346
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Clarifying and Enriching the Meanings of Words

• Semantic Mapping
• Semantic Feature Analysis
• Teaching concepts through comparisons
• Word Map
• Encouraging Deep Processing
• Read and React

Gene Mehigan Colaiste Mhuire, MIE
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Multiple meaning words- polysemy

• Jam, lap,
• Strict interpretation vs Strict parent
• Sound
• Score
• Down computer, sun, swallow, tie securely,
• stocks, elevator, record, feathers, mood,
  bet, finished, historical, homeless

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Multiple-Meaning Words
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viola oboe bassoon triangle brass violin clari
net piano double bass cymbals woodwind trumpet fr
ench horn percussion
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• Record new or interesting words on vocabulary
  log sheets or book marks
• Add words to a class Word Wall from independent
  readings
• Use the Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy
  (Haggard, 1982)
• Illustrate a word

COOL Words Write new, interesting, or unusual
words ____________ ____________ ____________ _____
_______ ____________ Name _______ Date
________ Book ________ ____________
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Word Wall
Baumann, Ware, Edwards. (2003) IRA Elva Knight
Research Grant.
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clou
wheather
ee ch sp
ieieceiie
no ways it ways
sigh
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Strategy adapted from Nickelsen, L. (1999).
Quick activities to build a voluminous
vocabulary. New York Scholastic, page 19.
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Fly Swatter

• Purpose To maintain learned vocabulary.
• Directions
• Put vocabulary words randomly on a chart,
  whiteboard, overhead transparency.
• Form two teams and give each team a different
  coloured fly swatter.
• As you read the child friendly definition, the
  first two children in line will find and swat the
  correct word.
• Continue until all children have had at least one
  turn.

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Vocabulary Instruction

• Good vocabulary teaching makes students excited
  about words and leads them to attend more closely
  to them.
• (Stahl Shiel, 1999)
• Usually discussed within the context of its
  relationship with reading comprehension
• Correlation between vocabulary and general
  reading ability is significant throughout the
  primary school years
• Vocabulary is a causal determinant of differences
  in reading ability and comprehension specifically

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• Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., Kucan, L. (2002).
  Bringing words to life Robust vocabulary
  instruction. New York Guilford Press.
• Biemiller, A. (1999). Language and reading
  success. Cambridge, MA Brookline Books.
• Graves, M.F. (2006). The Vocabulary Book
  Learning Instruction. New York Teachers Co-
  published by Teachers College Press,
  International Reading Association, and National
  Council of
• Teachers of English.
•  
• Scott J. A. Nagy W.E. (2004). Developing word
  consciousness. In J.F. Baumann E.J. Kameenui
  (Eds.), Vocabulary instruction Research to
  practice (pp. 201-217). New York Guilford Press