Instructional Challenges and Effective Methods: Teaching Vocabulary and Academic Language

Seminar 4March 3, 2008

Jeannette Mancilla-MartinezGutman 303

Seminar 1:Educating L2 Learners

in the U.S.

Seminar 2:Pedagogical Models

Seminar 3:Reading Words &

Comprehending Text

Seminar 4:Vocabulary &

Academic Language

Seminar 5:Spelling, Grammar, &

Writing

Seminar 6:Disability vs. Exposure

Simple View of Reading (SVR)Decoding Linguistic Comp. = Reading Comp.

+ + Secure

+ - Impaired (“hyperlexic”)

- + Impaired (“dyslexic”)

- - Impaired (“garden-variety

poor readers”)(Gough & Tunmer, 1986)

Vocabulary DevelopmentRelation to reading

Early reading (lexical restructuring)Later reading (reading comprehension)

Large social class differencesRelated to density of word exposureRelated to quality of word exposureRelated transactionally to literacy experience

The Importance of Vocabulary for Very Young Children

Vocabulary skills during preschool later reading skillsOn average, vocabulary delays for children from low-income and language minority homes by age 3 ( but lots of variation in vocabulary among children in these populations)Cannot assume vocabulary skills in one language reflect those in the other so it is important to monitor development in both languages over time (e.g., Pearson, 2002)For bilingual children, parent reports alone and reports on only one of child’s languages (Oller & Eilers, 2002) may be insufficientTeachers may observe children using words not used at home, especially in English

Total Conceptual Vocabulary (TCV)Sum of Spanish and English vocabulary checklist scores minus equivalent vocabulary items

Provides single credit for words known in both Spanish and English (e.g., mesa and table counted as one concept) and additional credit for words known in Spanish or EnglishImportant for evaluating “conceptual knowledge”

Sample Student ScoresSpanish CDI total 300/680 wordsEnglish CDI total 200/680 wordsEquivalent Items 100/537 mapped wordsTCV score 400/824 concepts

RQ3: How do scores on measures of young Spanish speakers’ vocabulary in English and in Spanish (i.e., English CDI score, Spanish IDHC score, and derivation of a conceptual vocabulary score) compare to established monolingual vocabulary norms?

Mancilla-Martinez, Pan, & Vagh (under review)

Analysis Currently UnderwayVideotaped interactions between parents and children

These spontaneous language measures will help minimize the limitation of using only standardized vocabulary measures to assess the concurrent validity of the CDI/IDHC, and particularly of the integrated conceptual vocabulary score

Continuing our collaboration:Head Start University Partnership-English Language Learners Grant (2007-2010)

GoalsTest whether shorter vocabulary checklists provide information that is just as valid as the longer checklists. Pilot Spanish version of CDI-III for older preschoolersDetermine the age range for which each checklist is appropriate for ELL EHS/HS childrenRefine parent and teacher brief questionnaires about children’s exposure to and use of their two languages at home and school Together, this information on vocabulary and language use at home and school could become part of the child’s record and help inform decisions about special services for some children (HS Performance Standards 1304.20(b)(1))

Small Group WorkReview of vocabulary curricular materials

Complexity of Word KnowledgeIncrementalityPolysemyMultidimensionalityInterrelatednessHeterogeneity

IncrementalityDale’s (1975) four stages:

Never saw it beforeHeard it but don’t know what it meansRecognize it in context; has something to do with…Know it well

Paribakht and Wesche (1997) added:I can use this word in a sentence

Multiple interactions with words needed to learn it incidentally (4 encounters improves comprehension; 40 needed to attain a ceiling of knowledge)

PolysemyMultiple meanings

Can be completely unrelated vs. can be so close that it’s a matter of subtle shades of meaning

Meanings change over timeFigurative language

MultidimensionalityWord knowledge represents a continuumConsider the types of relationships:

Morphological relationships (prefixation, suffixation)Semantic relationships (antonyms, synonyms) and categories (verb, noun, adjective)

Graves (1986) word learning tasks:New conceptsNew labels for known conceptsMoving words to productive vocabularies

InterrelatednessWords are not isolated units of knowledgeImportance of linking what is learned with what is knownExposure to text can contribute to one’s understanding of words in the text (building background knowledge), and even words not in the text

HeterogeneityKnowledge of a word depends on what kind of word it is (e.g., if vs. hypotenuse)The same word can require different types of learning depending on the learner and on what he/she knows about a word

The Scope of the Word Learning Problem

Only about 5-10% of class time devoted to vocabulary instruction

Minimal attention to word meanings, and often non-essential wordsLabels vs. concepts

For native English speakers = 5-16 for receptive knowledge (Nation, 1990)

New Vocabulary Challenges for Adolescents

They usually know the easy words alreadyBasic object terms Brief/monomorphemic formsReally frequent wordsMinimally polysemous words

Much word exposure comes through readingThey need content-area technical termsThey need all-purpose academic words

Category labelsWords for thinkingAbstract, low imageability terms

And if their L1 is not English…

They must learn English at the same time they are studying core content through English

They must perform “double the work” of native speakers to keep up, and at the same time be accountable for adequate yearly progress (AYP)

About 60% do not graduate from high schoolAnd about 85% do not if limited English proficient

The Challenge for TeachersMust balance comprehensible input and rich challenging vocabulary (i.e., academic language)!

Academic LanguageDifferent from ‘everyday’ conversational languageSpecialized registers, specialized knowledgeExplicit instruction needed, helping students become meta-cognitive about the difference between speech and print

Three Tiers (Beck et al., 2002)

Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3Basic More Content SpecificWords Sophisticated Words

baby negotiate litigation (law)

happy tolerate troposphere (science)

bad maintain isotope (math)

So what about cognates?Many require sophisticated knowledge

Venomous, venenosoGrotesque, grotescoLament, lamentar

False cognatesLibrary, libreriaExit, exitoMolest, molestar

Mancilla-Martinez & Spencer (2007)

Teachers expected difficulty in reading comprehension and vocabulary, but relative strength in listening comprehension Surprised to learn listening comprehension was a relative weakness and wanted to know why

GRADE Listening Comprehension Subtest

Task: Students listen to a sentence(s) that are read aloud to the class. Students select 1 of 4 pictures that best matches what was read by the examiner (17 items)Measure of: Student’s ability to understand orally presented, connected speech without printed cues

Not intended as a measure of: short-term memory, background knowledge, advanced vocabulary

GRADE Item Type ClassificationVocabulary

Understanding of basic word, uncommon vocabulary word, or a word with multiple meanings by context of the sentence(s)

GrammarUnderstanding of the structural aspects of language (e.g., word order, clauses, verb tense, subordination)

Inference Understanding of the unspoken message based on information given or the context of the situation provided (drawing conclusions)

Idiom Understanding of common idiomatic expressions that have a meaning different from the literal interpretation

Nonliteral Understanding of the nonliteral rather than literal meaning of the spoken message (“reading between the lines”)

Item Characteristics (17 items)

Grade Level Very Easy Items (>.90 correct)

Low Total Test Correlations

(<.30)

4th 7 7

5th 7 9

6th 7 10

7th 3 8

8th 5 9

Item Type and Average % Correct by GradeVocabular

yGrammar Idiom/

NonliteralInference

Grade 4 489%

880%

2 65%

3 81%

Grade 5 3 64%

8 87%

3 74%

3 87%

Grade 6 6 74%

5 86%

488%

2 84%

Grade 7 4 61%

4 57%

6 60%

3 75%

Grade 8 4 59%

4 71%

6 70%

3 83%

What’s Hard About Listening Comp?Inferential questions are relatively unproblematicGrammar items are problematic for older studentsVocabulary and idioms/nonliteral items are common trouble areas

But …what do their errors tell us?

Do the distractors provide additional insight about students’ performance on the test?

Types of Distractors (researcher-coded)Grade Level

Vocabulary

Grammar

Idiom/Nonliter

al

Inference

Global Comp

4 17% 37% 10% 18% 20%

5 22% 33% 16% 6% 24%

6 41% 22% 18% 4% 16%

7 35% 24% 20% 6% 16%

8 35% 24% 20% 6% 16%

Selected DistractorsGrade Level

Vocabulary

Grammar

Idiom/Nonliter

al

Inference

Global Comp

4 17%4%

37%41%

10%15%

18%29%

20%12%

5 22%37%

33%24%

16%25%

6%7%

24%7%

6 41%55%

22%23%

18%13%

4%0%

16%9%

7 35%27%

24%23%

20%31%

6%9%

16%11%

8 35%31%

24%27%

20%22%

6%11%

16%9%

Distractor Analysis ConclusionPatterns (e.g., distractor not selected at all, distractor selected more often than the correct response) suggest that listening comprehension is breaking down similarly for these students Vocabulary and idiom/nonliteral distractors are disproportionately troublesome

Idioms tend to be interpreted literally, suggesting vocabulary constraints

Beyond HearingListening comprehension involves multiple dimensions

What do we mean by listening comprehension? This task requires students to process oral input and match it to the most precise representation

Vocabulary and idioms/nonliteral items are challenging across grades

interventions geared toward increasing vocabulary, implicitly (engaging in rich oral language interactions) and explicitly (teaching words and about words), seem necessary

Psychometric properties of a test normed on a national sample do not necessarily apply to a particular sub-population

5th Grade Word Generation ClassroomMs. Ross’ 5th grade class of 24 students 100% former English Language Learners Ms. Ross teaches all five days = 100

minutes/week of instructional time devoted to Word Generation

Multiple Choice Test Comparison

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Pretest Posttest

Intervention GroupComparison Group

Top 3 Words Students Learned

0102030405060708090

hypothesis project monitor

pretestposttest

And what have we learned about vocabulary development?

The principles established in research with pre-school aged and younger school-aged children workBut there is much more to learn about teaching ‘academic words’As always, implementation is a bigger challenge than developing curriculaVocabulary instruction carries broader academic language skills with it

Monday/Tuesday: informal assessment, theories of word meaning, reading of passage, talk about topic, scanning of text/annotation

Tuesday/Wednesday: informal assessment, group work relating words to world

Friday: essay writing

Wednesday/Thursday: debate