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Lifting the Level of Content Area Vocabulary
In this action research study, my experience of working with English Language Learners and research on the instruction of content area vocabulary informed my work with two students who struggle to accurately use content area vocabulary.
Informal and formal student assessments, careful observations, analysis of student work and my experience of working with these students for two years have guided my instruction for this project.
Action Based Research Capstone Project
2
Introductions & Research
1
I decided to focus my research on two students
from Huntington Elementary School, an elementary school
located in an upper-‐middle class suburban area. The school
prides itself on its high academic standards and small class
sizes. The English as a Second Language (ESL) program at
Huntington utilizes a push-‐in/pull-‐out system. This system
means that students who qualify for ESL receive both out of
classroom (pull-‐out) and in classroom (push-‐in) support to
assist with their language skills.
Marie is a third grade student from Norway. She is
currently at an advanced English language level within the
ESL program. Her strengths are decoding, reading
comprehension, and predictions. Her needs are inferencing,
discovering a main idea, writing, and vocabulary.
Kevin is a third grade student from Japan. He is also
currently at an advanced English language level within the
ESL program. His strengths are reading comprehension,
spelling, and writing. His needs are vocabulary, inferencing,
and predicting.
2
I based my cycles off of various research that I
collected from books, articles, and journals on content area
vocabulary and ELLs. I primarily based each lesson on Isabel
Beck’s Three Tier Modeling from her book, Bringing Words to
Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction (2002). From her
vocabulary method, it outlines to specify “tier two”
vocabulary words – the words that are frequently used
throughout academic language and are meaningful words. I
was also able to find a great list of appropriate vocabulary
assessments from Stahl & Bravos’ article, Classroom
Vocabulary Assessment for Content Areas (2011), in order to
create informal assessments to monitor my students
understanding throughout each cycle.
Through these and many more resources I had
located, I was able to learn from each and create
individualized lessons that were ultimately my own. I felt that
I was able to create engaging and effective lessons focused
on vocabulary instruction.
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3
Cycles
For the first cycle of my capstone project, I chose to focus on introducing
the vocabulary methods I would be using throughout this project &
administering a pre-‐test. I chose the words to include for my first cycle by
identifying “Tier Two” words, based off of the Three Tier Vocabulary
system After the pre-‐test, I had my students begin to put words that they
were comfortable explaining and could appropriately use in sentences,
into a graphic organizer in their Vocabulary Notebook.
Research
Teaching Reflec\on
Cycle 1
Cycle 2 For the second cycle of my capstone project, I added
more vocabulary words within an online presentation program,
called Prezi, to my group of students. Through this program, I asked
questions and gave the students scenarios they must choose from
in order to understand the vocabulary word in different meaningful
contexts. For this cycle, I had chosen to analyze the words
“Astronomer” and “Solar”. Each word in the presentation will
include a definition, an example, a picture, a possible sentence, and
a scenario using that word so that the students may see it in all
contexts. I have also collected various readings on space objects,
which include the words “Astronomer” and “Solar” in order to tie in
different vocabulary words into their current work.
Cycle 3 For the third cycle of my capstone project, I continued using
the vocabulary notebooks and graphic organizers to teach
about the different space bodies in the universe that
astronomers study. The words I taught for this lesson were,
“Asteroid”, “Comet”, “Meteor”, “Meteoroid”, & “Meteorite”. I
chose to focus on teaching the vocabulary words for these
different space objects because my students thought that they
were all the same thing. By analyzing the differences and
charting it on various graphic organizers, I hope to teach my
students the differences in these objects and how they can use
the newly acquired vocabulary when learning about astronomy
in their classroom
Cycle 4 For the fourth cycle of my capstone project, I focused on
teaching my students how they can incorporate the vocabulary
we have learned so far into a 5 paragraph essay. I began by
providing my students with a picture prompt and listed the
vocabulary words I had taught in the previous lessons
Cycle 5 For this cycle, I asked my students to independently write a
paragraph based off of a photo prompt and include astronomy
vocabulary that we have gone over. I read over the directions
with them, introduced them to the checklist that was on their
paper and on the chart, and asked if they had any unexplained
questions. I did this as an informal post-‐assessment and as
preparation for their upcoming state testing and NYSESLAT
exam.
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4
+ Outcome
Through this action based research project, I wanted my
students to gain a better understanding of the academic language
they learn in their main classroom. Since my students are English
Language Learners, I thought that placing an extra focus on specific
key content area vocabulary words would help them later when
using the words in context. In order to instill a better understanding
of the meaning and application of these words, I designed many
lessons based on using certain vocabulary words in different
contexts. By identifying correct sentences, images, and definitions, I
hoped to have put the word in enough scenarios that my students
would be able to quickly and easily identify the meaning and use it
appropriately in writing.
In each lesson, I found that my students were getting more
and more used to using specific academic language about
astronomy. They seemed comfortable with the application of these
words and using them within the context we were working in. They
enjoyed the many interactive lessons I prepared for them to use the
words and seemed interested in the engaging readings, videos, and
photographs I had chosen.
I found that the outcome of this project to be successful,
although I wish I were able to have found more research over a
longer period of time. My students were able to accurately define
and distinguish between the vocabulary words, as well write and
verbally explain in context appropriately with enough examples to
distinguish they understood the meaning of the word.
I would like to continue this research for the remainder
of the school year since unfortunately the NYS testing got in the
way of my pull-‐out days with my students. I think it would be
interesting to monitor their success with certain words after
spending a significant amount of time analyzing them. I think long-‐
term this would be and effective way to teach vocabulary in the
ESL classroom during a pull-‐out session in order to reinforce the
general classroom’s lessons for science and social studies.
Astronomy for kids -‐ KidsAstronomy.com. (n.d.). Astronomy for kids -‐
KidsAstronomy.com. Retrieved April 11, 2013, from
http://www.kidsastronomy.com/
Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., & Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing words to life:
robust vocabulary instruction. New York: Guilford Press.
Shrum, J. L., & Glisan, E. W. (2004). Teacher's handbook: contextualized
language instruction (3rd ed.). Boston: Heinle.
Stahl, K. A., & Bravo, M. A. (2011). Classroom vocabulary assessment for
content areas. Reading rockets. Retrieved April 11, 2013, from
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/415
References
Dana Di Giansante [email protected]