Vocabulary and Speaking

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Vocabulary and Speaking Listening in Non-Fiction

• Cornerstone
• Southern Regional Meeting
• March, 2006
• Craig Woollard

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Building Students Vocabulary

• Mere exposure to an instructional context leaves
  introduction of word meaning incomplete. There is
  no guarantee that students will come to a clear
  or correct conclusion about a words meaning.
  Making word-meaning information public ensures
  that all students will begin with a clear,
  explicit concept of the word. And making public
  how word meaning was derived from the context
  allows students to build a stronger connection
  between the word and its meaning.
• Bringing Words to Life, Beck, McKeown, Kucan

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Developing Students Vocabulary and Speaking
Listening

• Language is an integral part of most learning and
  oral language is key to successful learning and
  teaching.
• Students creativity, understanding and
  imagination are fostered by discussion and
  interaction.
• Speaking and listening is used to solve problems,
  speculate, share ideas, make decisions and
  reflect on what is important.
• Most social relationships depend on talk and in
  the classroom childrens confidence and attitudes
  to learning are greatly affected by friendships
  and interactions that support them.

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What kinds of Talk?

• Speaking
• Listening
• Group discussion and interaction
• Drama

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The Importance of Talk

• Speaking and listening, reading and writing are
  interdependent.
• Most children try out ideas in talk long before
  they are able to put them down in writing.

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What Does Good Teaching of Speaking Listening
Entail ?

• Explicit modeling of appropriate speaking and
  listening
• Encouraging sensitive interaction and extended
  talk, allowing students to have thinking time
• Ensuring goals are set with clear criteria for
  success
• Planning opportunities for students to
  investigate, apply and reflect on language in
  use
• Providing opportunities for students to try out
  different relationships and to practice talk in
  different contexts.

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What is Being Talked About?

• The emphasis on subject content or topic means
  developing necessary knowledge, including
  specific vocabulary and expressions.
• In the unit of work on tsunamis, content
  vocabulary included words such as tectonic
  plates, surged, gush, pressure, crust, Seismic,
  epicenter, magma (Tier 3 Words, Beck et al).

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Who is Talking?

• Students need to carry out and fulfill different
  roles in effective paired and group work, e.g.
• Clarifying the contributions of others
• Taking the lead
• Ensuring everyone has a turn
• How to introduce a new idea or change the topic
• How to make relevant written notes based on the
  outcome of the discussion
• How to adapt their language to different
  situations, including lesser to greater formality.

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Gender and Talk

• Studies reveal differences in boys talk and
  girls talk.
• Girls tend to be more collaborative, supporting
  each other and developing ideas.
• Boys tend to like to propose ideas, to use
  language dramatically and to move on fast rather
  than develop details.
• Such differences can be addressed and students
  repertoires extended by planning different
  groups, partners, classroom seating and
  activities.

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How to Promote Good Talk

• Choose questions and topics that are likely to
  challenge children cognitively.
• Expect extended answers.
• Give time for students to formulate ideas and
  views.
• Provide models of patterns of language and the
  subject vocabulary to be used.
• Vary responses to what students say debate with
  them and ask questions to extend the dialogue.
• Ask students to explain their thinking and
  resolve misunderstandings.

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Introducing Vocabulary

• Anticipating problems
• Tier 1,2 and 3 words
• Ensuring students retain newly learned vocabulary
• Embedding newly learned vocabulary
• Students teaching peers new vocabulary
  reciprocal teaching

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Vocabulary in the Unit of Work

• Content language Tier 3 Words
• Visuals and movement to support learning
• Graphic organizers and drawing
• Manipulatives

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Reflection Time to Improve Vocabulary Assess
Students Talk

• Use the insights gained through students
  learning during the Invitational Group to make
  focused teaching points during reflections.
• Make explicit teaching points, revising what has
  been learned and asking students to demonstrate
  the gains they have made in the lesson.

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Speaking and Listening in the Unit of Work

• Paired Talk
• Oral rehearsal ahead of Writing
• Drama and Role Play

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Planning to Teach Vocabulary

• Text is key.
• Anticipate the vocabulary that is likely to
  impede meaning.
• Determine which words to pre-teach and which
  students should be able to glean from the
  context.
• Revisit newly-acquired vocabulary often.
• Display and add to anchor charts.

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From Word to Sentence to Text

• Excite your students with new words warm-up
  games to get students thinking literacy
• Expose Contextualize Embed Revisit

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The Teachers Role