Reading Association of Ireland Summer Seminar

Colaiste Mhuire,Marino Institute of Education

May 20th 2009

Gene Mehigan

A person who knows more words can speak and think more precisely about the world

scarlet, crimson, azure, indigo

red, blue

Listening Vocabulary Reading Vocabulary

Speaking Vocabulary Writing Vocabulary

Gene Mehigan Colaiste Mhuire, MIE

Vocabulary is acquired incidentally through indirect exposure to words and intentionally through explicit instruction in specific words and word-learning strategies.

Infants 1st &2nd 3rd & 4th 5th & 6th

Oral Language

- experience challenging vocabulary and sentencestructure from the teacher

- experiment with more elaborate vocabulary and sentence structure in order to extend and explore meaning

~ experience the teacher’s use of challenging vocabulary and sentence structure

- experience from the teacher a growing elaborationand sophistication in the use of vocabulary andsentence structure

Reading - build up a sight vocabulary of common words

- continue to build a sight vocabulary of common words from books read and from personal experience

Writing - to use dictionaries and thesauruses to extend and developvocabulary and spelling

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)

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.

Talk Wide reading Books Word consciousness Word study Direct instruction (includes teaching individual

words and word learning strategies)

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

Relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension – both ways

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

Early years – primary source is oral language experience – often context related (e.g. urban/rural)- Tend to define words using synonyms/functions/attributes 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

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

Not just learning to recognize words (in print)

Acquiring new meaning

In-depth word knowledge

Difference between vocabulary needed to understand the story and enhancing/developing vocabulary

Pre-teaching doesn’t 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)

Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3

Description Basic words that most children know before entering school

Words that appear frequently in texts and for which students already have some conceptual understanding

Uncommon words that are typically associated with a specific domain

Examples clock, baby, happy sinister, fortunate, curious

isotope, peninsula, cumulus

(Beck, McKeown, Kucan, 2002) Gene Mehigan

Colaiste Mhuire, MIE

Tier 2 Words

Example 1“Mark avoided playing the ukulele.”

Which one word would you choose to teach?

Example 2

isotope, coincidence, absurd, latheWhich 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.

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, they’ll begin to use it in their writing and speech

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.”

Word

I know the word well; I can use it in my conversations or in my writing.

I know the word and understand what it means

I am familiar with the word; I remember seeing or hearing it before.

I don’t know the word

lap

fictile

score

hippopotamus

truculent

craven

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 didn’t know?

(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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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

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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Story Sentence Meaning Our SentenceThen it reached up, broke some leafy branches with a snap, and draped them over the mass of torn thick flesh.

To place casually and loosely; to hang or arrange in folds

We draped the flag from the top window of our school one week before the big hurling match.

Now he saw another elephant emerge from the place where it had stood hidden in the trees.

To come into view; to come up to the surface

Shane can swim under water for one minute before he needs to emerge to breath

Definitional & Contextual Information

Vocabulary Words

Definitions Contexts

Reword Definitions / Child Friendly

Create sentences or stories using new vocabulary

Synonyms Examples

Antonyms Non-examples

Discuss Multiple Meanings

Gene Mehigan Colaiste Mhuire, MIE

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 …”

Gene Mehigan Colaiste Mhuire, MIE

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

Gene Mehigan Colaiste Mhuire, MIE

Clear & Understandable Definitions

Paperback: 1088 pages Publisher: Harpercollins Canada; 2nd edition

(January 2002) ISBN: 0007120346

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”

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

Gene Mehigan Colaiste Mhuire, MIE

Jam, lap, Strict interpretation vs Strict parentSoundScoreDown – computer, sun, swallow, tie

securely,stocks, elevator, record,

feathers, mood, bet, finished, historical, homeless

Word in Book

Means in Book Other Meaning (O), Synonym (S), Antonym (A)

Other Words or Interesting Information

scoreResult in the game

O: twenty

O: mark

Music

Settle a score

jamSticky stuff for putting on your bread

O: traffic

O: play music

stepPart of a stairs

O: stages

O: raising a foot and setting it down again

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Multiple-Meaning Words

viola oboe bassoon trianglebrass violin clarinet pianodouble bass cymbals woodwind trumpetfrench horn percussion

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

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COOL COOL WordsWordsWrite new, interesting, or unusual words

____________________________________________________________Name _______Date ________Book ____________________

37Baumann, Ware, Edwards. (2003) IRA Elva Knight Research Grant.

Word WallWord Wall

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.

Learn & Draw a Word

Word: inaudible Means: can’t be heard

Synonym: silent Antonym: noisy

Sentence & PictureThe whistle wasinaudible to me,but my dog Butch

could hear it well.

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.

man gate pig house

trousers hat wellies waistcoat

roof field sky ground

hedge grass trotters ears

post leaf arm leg

fingers hill eyes hair

wall stance nose view

waist cheek shoulder soil

hinge heel pocket foliage

conversation surprise understand blue

corner tiles mouth horizon

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

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. Kame’enui (Eds.), Vocabulary instruction: Research to practice (pp. 201-217). New York: Guilford Press