Efficacy of Multi-Strategic Vocabulary Instruction of ...€¦ · Web viewThis paper describes one small sample analysis and comparison of methods for teaching vocabulary to kindergarten

Running head: MULTI-STRAteGIC Vocabulary Instruction 1

Efficacy of Multi-Strategic Vocabulary Instruction of Verbs

for English Language Learning

Pamela L. Rubel

Calistoga Joint Unified School District

Author Note

This paper was created as part of a Master’s of Education Research Project

MULTI-STRAteGIC Vocabulary Instruction 2

Abstract

This paper describes one small sample analysis and comparison of methods for teaching

vocabulary to kindergarten English Language Learners (ELLs). The methods being compared

were traditional English Language Development curriculum primarily focused on nouns and a

curriculum enhancement set of strategies focused on verbs.

Students learning English often pass through a stage of acquisition known as “the silent

period”. Students observe and listen, but do not often participate verbally. After a time of full

immersion, students will begin to use verbal language to answer questions, express needs or

wishes and engage in peer conversations (Goldenberg, 2008). The teacher noted that although a

significant part of the year had passed, many ELL’s were not using their verbal skills to

participate in discussions or question and answer sessions. The teacher posed the question:

What would be the effect on participation rates of ELLs in read-aloud activities if the English

Language Development (ELD) vocabulary instruction focused on verbs and included a specific

set of strategies including videos, pictures, acting out, explicit instruction and technology? Three

research questions were addressed. First, is there a specific need for vocabulary instruction for

English Language Learners? Second, what kind of vocabulary instruction strategies for English

language acquisition improve use of English in academic settings? And third, what effect does

specific multi-strategic instruction in verbs have on participation in class discussions during and

after reading aloud. The data revealed no clear effect on participation, but did have a specific

effect on student knowledge of verbs and enthusiasm during subsequent verb vocabulary

activities as observed by the teacher during informal assessments following the study.

Keywords: English Language Learner, English Language Development,


Efficacy of Multi-Strategic Vocabulary Instruction of Verbs

for English Language Learning

Introduction

Background and Need

The topic for the research arose from a perceived need in one kindergarten classroom

comprised of 24 students, 11 boys, 13 girls, of whom 18 were designated English Language

Learners (ELLs) and 80% were designated socio-economic disadvantaged as measured by the

percent of free and reduced lunch participation. The teacher was interested in the variation of

participation in read-aloud activities between ELLs and English Only students (EOs). She had

anecdotally noted that many ELLs did not participate in verbal question and answer periods and

when they did, it seemed that they used simple verbs and a single tense, such as go for “He go to

see the cars”. Teachers use read-aloud discussions as a means to gauge student comprehension

of text, correct misconceptions, increase understanding and as an opportunity to model correct

grammar and vocabulary usage. When young children are first beginning to speak, they often

use two or three word phrases which the adult would repeat back to them correcting any

vocabulary, tense, or syntax errors. In the same manner, a teacher repeats verbal responses by

ELLs, but uses correct grammar as a model for the language learner. Read aloud comprehension

questions used by this teacher often required the students to describe what was happening in the

story and what might happen next.


Statement of the Problem

Little research is available addressing the issue of the particular vocabulary instruction

that is most valuable to students for full participation in classroom discussions, which are

conducted orally in kindergarten.

Students enter kindergarten with varying degrees of English proficiency. Approximately

80 percent of students at the target school are designated English Language Learner (ELL).

Students receive English Language Development (ELD) instruction using curriculum provided

by the District called Avenues. Avenues is divided into 10 themes, 8 of which are focused on

nouns. Only the final two themes focus on verbs. The technology included with this traditional

curriculum is a CD of songs and chants, one or two for each theme and manipulative cut out

pictures of objects for each theme. After analyzing the curriculum, the teacher questioned

whether ELLs were receiving enough vocabulary instruction with verbs to enable them to

participate more frequently in discussions of kindergarten text. With a heavy emphasis on nouns,

the traditional curriculum did not teach enough verbs, vocabulary necessary to answer

comprehension questions such as, “What happened first, next, last?” “What is the character

going to do?”, or “Why is he doing that?” These are key comprehension questions for

understanding text structure, making inferences and predictions.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study was to determine if vocabulary instruction of verbs using a set

of specific strategies would change the participation rate in read-aloud discussions for ELLs.

Participation in discussions allows the teacher to measure comprehension, correct

misconceptions and model correct grammar use. This study quantifies participation rates of

ELLs in discussions during and after read-aloud, both prior to and after application of the new


set of strategies. Additionally, the study attempts to discover if traditional ELD vocabulary

instruction were changed by applying a specific set of strategies focused on verbs, would there

be an effect on participation rates in read-aloud discussions for ELLs?

Review of the Literature

There are abundant studies and analyses that regard vocabulary instruction as essential

for ELLs to achieve at a high level in school. According to Chung (2012) (citing August, Carlo,

Dressler, & Snow, 2005) there is a significant achievement gap between English Language

Learners (ELLs) and English Only students (EOs). Further, school achievement is tied

specifically to proficiency in English and vocabulary is the most crucial element in learning

English (Chung, 2012). The achievement gap, therefore, could be characterized as a vocabulary

gap.

Data for the ELL population as of 2007 also connects socioeconomic factors to school

performance.

Goldenberg (2008) (from Capps, Fix, Murray, Passel, and Herwantoro, 2005)

The majority of ELLs – 80% - are Spanish speakers and Spanish Speakers come

from lower economic and educational backgrounds than other immigrant groups.

“24% of immigrants from Mexico and Central America are below poverty level

and fewer than 40% have the equivalent of a high school diploma. Consequently,

most ELLs are at risk for poor school outcomes not only because of language, but

also because of socioeconomic factors.”

Wang (2009) asserts that meaning vocabulary is a critical aspect of school readiness and

that low socioeconomic status students (SES) often begin school with a significantly lower

vocabulary than high SES students.


Since approximately 80% of students at the target school were classified

Socioeconomically Disadvantaged (SED) as determined by the percent of free and reduced lunch

participation and approximately 80 per cent of the school population were English Language

Learners, it is reasonable to assert that students in the target school would be at risk for lagging

achievement connected to low vocabulary knowledge that would persist through the grades.

Even after achieving a level of bilingualism, ELLs would still perform lower than EOs in oral

language and continue to lag behind (Paez, 2007), pp.85-102.

Current successful strategies to teach vocabulary are discussed in general and specific

terms. Chung (2012) citing Graves (2007); Stahl & Nagy (2006) proposes that the most

comprehensive, and effective research-based vocabulary program would consist of : “4

important components including word learning strategies, word consciousness cultivation (and

the 2 most important to this study) rich language and word experiences and direct word teaching.

Chung (2012) explains that direct word teaching is best when taught in context as Carey (1978),

cited by Chung (2012), found that young children learn by associating new vocabulary to

meanings linked to concrete tasks. Chung states further that teacher read-alouds accompanied

with explanations and discussion of vocabulary…and teacher modeling of new and high level

vocabulary usage also enhances vocabulary growth (citing Blachowicz et al., 2006; Graves,

2007).

In an example of direct word teaching, Dockerell (2010) reported significant gains in

receptive as well as expressive language were recorded when vocabulary instruction focused on

specific structures for talking. The structures included play-acting targeted key vocabulary

items, discussions around pictures in books and describing pictures of common activities.

Several studies and meta-analyses looked at vocabulary instruction enhanced with


elements of media. ELLs experience large deficits of vocabulary, so “it is critical to develop

creative methods to expose ELLs to words in ways that develop and reinforce word meaning and

examples of methods that do this include the use of technology” (August et al., 2005). One

study used thematic videos that teachers showed and also highlighted important vocabulary

while it played. On post-tests of target words and general vocabulary knowledge taught through

read aloud texts, ELLs receiving multimedia-enhanced instruction gained significantly over

ELLs receiving non-multimedia-enhanced instruction (Silverman & Hines, 2009). In discussing

the results Silverman and Hines suggest that the addition of video and sound to the verbal

definitions and pictures in the read-aloud provided multiple access points to support vocabulary

development.

Moody (2010) notes that the use of high quality interactive e-storybooks may support

emergent literacy development through the use of scaffolding, thus supporting vocabulary

development, engagement, and comprehension of the story. Korat (2010) concluded that

children exhibited good progress in word meaning when exposed to an e-book that they read

independently only a few times.

Finally, in a meta-analysis of effective uses of technology such as video, audio and

multi-media in second language instruction, positive results were reported and “The application

of technologies can be effective in almost all areas of language education.” (Zhao, 2003)

The most successful vocabulary instruction included elements that blended direct

instruction, meaning through concrete tasks and the application of technology.


Research Methods

Project Introduction

The teacher used only her class for the study. The class was composed of 24 students, 11

boys and 13 girls. 18 students were designated ELLs and 6 students were designated EOs.

The teacher video recorded four read aloud sessions on three separate days. One session

was recorded prior to applying the new strategies, the other three were recorded while the new

instructional strategies were in place. Student participation was quantified by tallying the

number of times they sought participation and the number of times they actually participated.

See Table 1. The video was transcribed for each question and answer period with student

responses rated against the vocabulary and sentence fluency bands of a retelling rubric developed

by the Napa Valley Unified School District (See Apendix). See Table 2

The new set of strategies employed included the following:

verb rap video obtained from YouTube

Interactive e-books accessed on iPads

Pictures showing actions

Action Charades

Teacher identifying and highlighting verbs in all language experienced

during the day including read-aloud, conversations, recess and other

lessons. This strategy was used concurrently with all other strategies and

sometimes within the context of the other 4 strategies.

Responses were transcribed from the video and evaluated by the teacher. The quality of

the responses were divided into named levels Beginning, Early Intermediate, Intermediate and

Proficient. These headings resemble CELDT designations. Each heading has a description for


the quality of response in four separate bands: Retelling, Story Elements, Vocabulary, and

Sentence Fluency. Responses were only for Vocabulary and Sentence Fluency.

Methodology

The first strategy used was the verb rap video. Students were observed to be engaged and

responding by copying movements in the video. A second playing of the video during the same

session produced even more participation by students. Engagement was virtually 100% with all

students observed to be watching the video for the duration. At the end of the second playing,

one student was heard to call out “again”.

The second strategy used was pictures of playground activities which children described

by using a verb. Another set of pictures of objects were placed in an outdoor scene, but instead

of naming the objects, students used verbs in phrases or sentences to describe what they were

doing, e.g. mowing the grass, sleeping, eating watermelon. This strategy was used in the context

of read-alouds also where description of the pictures emphasized the use of verbs.

The next strategy used was the iPad e-book, Tortoise and Hare. Students were asked to

read (and re-read) the e-book with a partner and to make a written list of all the verbs they could

find. Some students confused adverbs like slowly, with verbs, so the teacher was able to correct

this misconception and re-direct the student to the action versus the descriptor of the action.

Students were highly engaged in the activity and submitted a written list of 5 to 10 verbs each.

The final activity was action charades. The teacher had prepared cards of simple action

pictures obtained from the language arts resource book. Students were selected randomly to be

the “actor” and were allowed to opt out if they chose. Although students were a little

embarrassed to show the actions, the audience was highly engaged and were eager to guess many

times before landing on the correct answer.


The teacher continued to highlight verbs in language used in the classroom including

read-aloud, conversations, and instructions. The class also participated in other movement

activities such as moving like an animal and a song called Sammy where a little boy uses many

ways of moving before completing a chore. The verb rap video was the only other strategy

repeated during the research period. Following one such playing of the video, students went

directly out to recess and many were calling out to the teacher to watch them show a verb, e.g.

“I’m swinging,” “Look I’m spinning,” “I can climb,” etc.

Following a period of approximately 3 weeks, the teacher again video recorded a read-

aloud session and repeated the data collection.

Data Analysis

Data analysis revealed that ELLs actually participated slightly more often than EOs

during read-aloud activities before the targeted vocabulary instruction. ELLs comprised 75

percent of the classroom population, but had a participation rate of 81 percent compared to the

EOs population which comprised 25 percent, but had a participation rate of only 19%. After

applying the new strategies, participation rates more closely reflected the demographic of the

classroom with ELLs participation at 74 percent and EOs participation at 26 percent. There was

no increase in ELLs participation rates during the study.

There was a noteworthy change in the quality of responses that were measured against

the retelling rubric developed by the Napa Valley Unified School District. In a comparison of the

first session to each of the subsequent read-aloud sessions ELLs responses changed in a dramatic

way. Students in the ELL group moved from 58 percent of their responses in the Beginning

category to only 19 percent of responses in that category. While the responses evaluated as

Beginning decreased, responses evaluated at the higher levels of Early Intermediate,


Intermediate and Proficient increased. The percent of responses in the Early Intermediate

category rose from 21 percent to 31 percent of total responses. In the Intermediate category

responses rose from 12.5 percent to 23 percent of total responses. In the Proficient category,

responses rose from 4 percent to 23 percent of total responses. The total responses in the

Beginning category dropped 39 percentage points while the other three categories all rose

indicating a significant improvement in the quality of responses.

Findings and Implications

The findings of this study were inconclusive on the question of the efficacy of this

specific multi-strategic vocabulary instruction on participation in read-aloud discussions by

ELLs. There was no apparent direct link to suggest the strategies impacted participation by

ELLs. The teacher did note that a student who rarely spoke above a whisper, almost never

participated in any discussions and appeared uncomfortable when asked to respond verbally to

any query, raised his hand twice to participate in the first read-aloud discussion following the

verb video lesson.

An unexpected finding of the study was in the quality of responses transcribed from the

read-aloud sessions which suggested a link in improvement with the set of strategies

implemented during the study. The teacher also reported a positive response to subsequent verb

exercises surmising that these attitudes were a result of the confidence students had in their own

knowledge of verbs. These findings suggests areas for further research.

Caution should be exercised in drawing broad conclusions from this paper as the student

sample was very small, there was no control group and the duration of the study was brief.


References

August, D. a. (2006). "Developing Literacy in Second-Language Learners: Report of the

National Literacy Panel on Language Minority Children and Youth".

August, D. M. (2005). "The Critical Role of Vocabulary Development for English Language

Learners.". Learing Disabilities Research & Practice 20, no. 1, pp. 50-57.

Chen, M. R. (2003). "Understanding Technology-enhanced Storybooks and Their Roles in

Teaching and Learning: An Investigation of Electronic Storybooks in Education.".

Journal of Literacy and Technology 3, no. 1, pp. 1-13.

Chung, S. F. (2012). "Research-Based Vocabulary Instruction for English Language Learners.".

Reading 12, no. 2.

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Inner City Preschool Provision.". British Journal of Educational Psychology 80, no. 4,

pp. 497-515.

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TESOL Quarterly 28, no. 2, pp. 293-322.

Goldenberg, C. (2008). "Teaching English Language Learners.". American Educator.

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pp. 24-31.

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Last Name, F. M. (Year). Book Title. City Name: Publisher Name.

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Skills in Young Children.". Journal of Literacy and Technology 11, no. 4, pp. 22-52.


Paez, M. M. (2007). "Dual Language and Literacy Development of Spanish-speaking Preschool

Children.". Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology 28, no. 2, 85-102.

Shanahan, T. a. (2010). "The National Early Literacy Panel A Summary of the Process and

Report.". Educational Researcher 39, no. 4, pp. 279-285.

Silverman, R. a. (2009). "The effects of Multimedia-enhanced Instruction on the Vocabulary of

English-language Learners and non-English-language Learners in Pre-kindergarten

through Second Grade.". Journal of Educational Psychology 101, no. 2, p. 305.

Wang, X. C. (2009). Exploring a Model for Meaning Vocabulary Instruction in Early Childhood

Classrooms: A Formative Experiment.". Annual Meeting of the National Reading

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Review and Meta-analysis.". CALICO Journal 21, no. 1, pp. 7-27.


Tables

Table 1

Participation Data April to June 2013

Yellow highlight indicates data for ELLs

Blue highlight indicates data for EOs


Table 2

Quality of Responses

Yellow highlight indicates data for ELLs

Blue highlight indicates data for EOs

APPENDIX


CELD BEGINNING—1 EARLY INTERMEDIATE—2

INTERMEDIATE—3 PROFICIENT—4 RE

TELL

ING

Tells a story with isolated words or no English words. May use drawings, words or phrases.

Tells a story with incompleteSentences using appropriate gestures, expressions or illustrative objects.

Tells a story using at least 1 complete sentence and paraphrasing.

Tells a story using fluent sentences & details. Narrates and paraphrases keystory elements.

STO

RY E

LEM

ENTS

Uses drawings, words or phrases to identify setting and characters

Identifies orally the setting and characters using simple sentences.

Identifies orally the basic elements of plot, characters and setting.

Identifies and describes in detail the elements of plot, characters and setting.

VOCA

BULA

RY

Demonstrates comprehension of simple vocabulary with an appropriate action & uses simple vocabulary.

May use limited story related vocabulary, but misuse of words makes comprehension difficult.

Uses more complex vocabulary to describe events with general and specific language.

Uses more complex vocabulary to describe events smoothly and with attention to sensorydetails.

SEN

TEN

CE F

LUEN

CY

Communicates with appropriate actions, single words or short phrases.

Communicates using phrases and short sentences.

Uses standard word order, but may have some inconsistent grammatical forms. (e.g., subject/verb agreement)

Uses complete sentences and correct word order.

Napa Valley Unified School District

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Efficacy of Multi-Strategic Vocabulary Instruction of ...€¦ · Web viewThis paper describes one small sample analysis and comparison of methods for teaching vocabulary to kindergarten