Transcript Teaching individual words - College of Education & Human

What Would It Really Take To Improve the
Vocabularies of Students' Who Enter School
with Very Small Vocabularies? A Framework
and Six Specific Suggestions
mommy
Michael F. Graves
University of Minnesota, Emeritus
[email protected]
MCRR
kitty
February, 2011
timid
Major Purpose of the Presentation
To describe a five-part program that stands a good chance of
improving the vocabularies of students who enter school with
very small vocabularies sufficiently that they can succeed in
school and in their lives after school.
To follow this description with six concrete suggestions for
such a program, suggestions that would improve the
vocabularies of all children.
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INTRODUCTION
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The Vocabulary Learning Task Is Huge
 The average third grader knows something like 15,000
words.
 The average sixth grade student knows something like
25,000 words.
 The average high school graduate knows something like
50,000 words.
 This means that average students learn 3,000-4,000 words
a year.
 This translates to 10 words a day, 7 days a week, 52
weeks a year—with no time off for weekends, summers, or
good behavior.
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Some Students Have Markedly Smaller Vocabularies—1
 Students who may have markedly smaller vocabularies include
special students, English-language learners, and students of
poverty.
 Hart and Risley (1995, 2003) estimate that by age 3, some less
advantaged students have heard 30 million fewer words than their
more advantaged peers.
 Hart and Risley further estimate that these children enter school
knowing about 1/2 as many words as their more advantaged peers.
 Moats (1999) estimated that linguistically disadvantaged children
enter school knowing about 5,000 words compared to the more
advantaged children knowing 20,000 words.
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Some Students Have Markedly Smaller Vocabularies—2
 Our data (Graves, Sales, & Davison, 2009), gathered from a project
titled The First 4,000 Words, indicate that some students entering
school know even fewer words than Moats estimated. For example,
the bottom 10 percent of first graders we tested knew only about 1/2
of the 1,000 most frequent English words.
 Unless something is done, this gap will continue to grow throughout
both the elementary and secondary years.
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What Happens if the Gap Isn’t Closed
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A Program Powerful Enough to Promote Such Increased
Growth Must Clearly Be Multifaceted, Long-Term, and Go
Beyond Vocabulary to Affect the Curriculum as a Whole
 By multifaceted, I mean a program that assists students in
learning new words in at least four different ways.
 By long term, I mean a program that lasts not for weeks, not
for months, not just from K-5, but from kindergarten through
high school.
 By the curriculum as a whole, I mean the content and
sequence of the entire curriculum.
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A Four Part Vocabulary Program
• Frequent, varied, and extensive language experiences
 Teaching individual words
 Teaching word-learning strategies
 Fostering word consciousness
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Much of the Comprehensive Vocabulary Program I'll Lay
Out Today Is Described in These Three Books.
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FREQUENT, VARIED, AND
EXTENSIVE LANGUAGE
EXPERIENCES
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Frequent, Varied, and Extensive
Language Experiences
Immersion in a word-rich environment
Rich and varied experiences in listening, discussion,
reading, and writing
Participation in shared book reading—for students with
very small vocabularies
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Immersion in a Word-Rich Environment—1
• By a word-rich environment, I am referring first to the physical
environment: the classroom, the school library, the school, the
home, and perhaps even the community library.
• The first key here is lots of books and other reading material,
attractively displayed, invitingly displayed, on various topics, at
various reading levels.
• A second key is words prominently displayed: on a word wall, at
other points around the room, on the teacher’s desks, on word
cards students have, in the library, around the school, and
possibly even at home.
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Immersion in a Word-Rich Environment—2
• In addition to a word-rich physical environment, we want to
make the classroom a word-rich emotional and intellectual
environment that encourages and celebrates rich word
usage.
• One vital key here is to make the classroom a place that
invites experimentation with words and with ideas—a safe
place where a mispronunciation, a malaprop, or a
misunderstanding is treated as an opportunity for growth and
not something to be ridiculed or in any way derided.
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Rich and Varied Experiences in Listening
• We need to consider listening and discussion experiences
before reading experiences because most children—except for
some ELLs—will not learn many new words from the reading
they do in school texts when they are reading in 1st, 2nd, and or
even 3rd grade material.
• With children reading at these grade levels, the principal key to
exposing them to rich vocabulary is to read to them from books
containing more sophisticated words than the books they read
themselves.
• Another key—and this is for students at all grade levels—is to
sometimes use some fairly sophisticated vocabulary yourself.
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Rich and Varied Experiences in Discussion
• The key to getting rich vocabulary into discussion is to get meaty
and somewhat academic topics to discuss.
• Another key to getting rich vocabulary into discussion is to study
and discuss topics in some depth and over some period of time.
• I have found the “teaching for understanding” literature (Blythe,
1998; Perkins, 1992; Whisk, 1998) helpful in selecting topics.
• It is also the case that discussions of content subjects such as
science and social studies often engender some sophisticated
vocabulary.
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Rich and Varied Experiences in Writing
The keys to getting rich vocabulary in students' writing parallel
those for discussion:
Write about meaty and somewhat academic topics.
Write about topics in some depth.
Write about matters related to content subjects such as
science and social studies, areas in which students
have developed some knowledge.
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Rich and Varied Experiences in Reading
• Beginning about grade 4, the vocabulary in school texts will be
richer, and of course many trade books include rich vocabulary.
• Books, in the words of Steve and Kate Stahl, are “where the
words are.”
• Even a little book like Andrew Clements’ Frindle, a book for 3rd or
4th graders, yields words like mania, investment, and disruption.
• As soon as they are able, children need to begin reading complex
texts, texts rich in vocabulary and rich in content (Adams, 20102011).
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Participation in Shared Book Reading: An
Intensive Approach for Students with Very Small
Oral Vocabularies
 Shared book reading is a well researched and fully
described approach that has been shown to work well.
 I’ll first note some general characteristics of the
approach
 Then I’ll briefly describe two versions of it:
Biemillers Rich and Systematic Instruction
Sales & Graves's First 4,000 Words
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Characteristics of Effective Shared Book Reading
 Involves several readings of a number of short books
 Focuses students' attention on words
 Deliberately stretches students and scaffolds their efforts
 Employs carefully selected words and books
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Biemiller’s Systematic Instruction Approach to Shared Book
Reading—1
• Select books that are interesting, enjoyable, and contain the sorts
of words you want to teach: 30 books for the year.
• Select words known by some but not all students, 24 words per
book. Typical words Biemiller teaches include difficult, hint,
immediate, and particular.
• Day 1: Read the book once, including some comprehension
questions.
• Days 2-4. Read the book 3 times, defining 8 of the 24 words each
time. Definitions should be short and student friendly.
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Biemiller’s Systematic Instruction Approach to Shared Book
Reading—2
Day 5. Review all 24 words in new contexts but with the same
definitions.
A comprehensive list of the words Biemiller recommends teaching is
available in Words Worth Teaching. SRA/McGraw-Hill: Columbus,
OH.
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Sales & Graves First 4,000 Word Approach to Shared
Book Reading—1
• The First 4,000 Words is an individualized, web-based program for
ensuring that students in grades 1-4 can read the most frequent 4,000
English words (Sales & Graves, 2007, 2009).
• Targeted at English learners, struggling readers, and children of
poverty with small vocabularies.
• Uses a multimedia system to diagnose individual student's knowledge
of the most frequent words and begins teaching unknown words at
the level at which the student knows about 80 percent of them.
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Sales & Graves First 4,000 Word Approach to Shared Book
Reading-2
• The program includes (1) individualized Web-based instruction
presented on the computer, (2) a Web-based monitoring and
record keeping system for teachers, and (3) a DVD to prepare
teachers to use the program.
• A full description of the program, the words themselves (which
make up about 80% of the words in a typical text, and a demo
are available at thefirst4000words.com.
• The words on the list are ordered by frequency. The five most
frequent words are the, of, and, to, a, five middle frequency file,
boots, reflect, custom, background, and the five least frequent
abuse, loving, generous, excessive, arteries.
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Knowing only the 500 most frequent, a student could read
only the words shown here.
Could it be an _______? The year before, _______ had seen one for the
first time when his mother took him to a _______ _______ in _______,
_______ _______. He had _______, _______, as the _______ a
_______ by _______ on the _______ of a _______ that was _______ on
the _______. Now _______ an _______ was right here in _______, and
about to _______ over his house. Not _______ to _______ a thing,
_______ the _______ and _______ up the _______ of the house to its
_______. From there he had a good _______ of the _______, _______
the _______ place. And in the _______, _______ ever_______, he saw
the _______.
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Knowing the 1,000 most frequent words, a student could
read only the words shown here.
Could it be an _______? The year before, _______ had seen one for
the first time when his mother took him to a _______ in _______,
_______. He had watched, _______, as the _______ gave a
_______ by _______ on the _______ of a _______ that was _______
on the ground. Now maybe an _______ was right here in _______,
and about to _______ over his house. Not _______ to _______ a
thing, _______ opened the window and _______ up the _______ of
the house to its _______. From there he had a good view of the
_______ River, _______ past the _______ place. And in the sky,
coming ever _______, he saw the _______.
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Knowing the 2,000 most frequent, a student could read
only the words shown here.
Could it be an airplane? The year before, Charles had seen one for
the first time when his mother took him to a flying _______ in
_______, Virginia. He had watched, _______, as the _______ gave a
_______ by _______ oranges on the _______ of a _______ that was
_______ on the ground. Now maybe an airplane was right here in
_______, and about to fly over his house. Not _______ to _______a
thing, Charles opened the window and climbed up the _______ roof of
the house to its _______. From there he had a good view of the
_______ River, _______ past the _______ place. And in the sky,
coming ever closer, he saw the plane.
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Knowing the 4,000 most frequent, a student could read all
the words shown here except those in grey.
Could it be an airplane? The year before, Charles had seen one for
the first time when his mother took him to a flying exhibition in Fort
Myer, Virginia. He had watched, enthralled, as the pilot gave a
bombing demonstration by dropping oranges on the outline of a
battleship that was traced on the ground. Now maybe an airplane was
right here in Minnesota, and about to fly over his house. Not wanting
to miss a thing, Charles opened the window and climbed up the
sloping roof of the house to its peak. From there he had a good view
of the Mississippi River, flowing languidly past the Lindbergh place.
And in the sky, coming ever closer, he saw the plane (Giblin, 1997, p.
3).
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Opening Screen
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Story Level Listening Pre-Assessment: The Tree
House Studio
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The Setting for Shared Book Reading: The Cozy Cave
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Shared Book Reading: Level 1
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Shared Book Reading: Level 2
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Sample Game Format
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Story Level Listening Post Assessment: The Tree
House Studio
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TEACHING INDIVIDUAL WORDS
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Topics Dealt with in Teaching Individual Words
• Characteristics of Effective Instruction
• Rich and Powerful Instruction
• Introductory Instruction
• Repetition and Review
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Some Characteristics of Effective Instruction for
Individual Words
• Instruction that involves both definitional information and
contextual information is markedly stronger than instruction
that involves only one of these.
• Instruction that also involves activating prior knowledge and
comparing and contrasting meanings is stronger still.
• More lengthy and more robust instruction that also involves
students in actively manipulating meanings, making
inferences, searching for applications, and frequent encounters
is still stronger.
• BUT—STRONGER INSTRUCTION TAKES MORE TIME!
With the number of words to be learned we very often do not
have more time.
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Three Types or Intensities of Instruction
Introductory Instruction
Rich and Powerful Instruction
Repetition Review
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INTRODUCTORY INSTRUCTION
• Pointing out words to be learned
• Providing glossaries
• Using pictures
• Context/dictionary/discussion
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Pointing Out Words To Be Learned
Given the huge number of words that students need to learn, it
is clearly impossible for you to teach all of them.
One thing you can do that takes less of your time than any sort
of teaching is to identify some words in an upcoming selection
that are important but that students may not know and just give
students a list of those words telling students that they need to
learn those they don't already know them.
Students should be able to handle such a task beginning in
about grade 3.
Not only does this save you valuable time, it gets students doing
something they should be doing—looking for unknown words
and learning them.
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Providing glossaries
Probably the next least time-consuming and least intrusive thing
you can do to assist students with the vocabulary of selections
they are reading is to provide glossaries of important terms.
tsu-na-mi. A large wave that can occur after an underwater
earthquake
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Using Pictures
Solar system. The nine
planets that revolve around
our sun make up our solar
system.
Someday it may be
possible for humans to
explore all the planets in
our solar system, but that
will not be soon.
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Definition Plus Rich Context
Give students a definition for the word.
Give students the word in a rich context, typically one you create.
If time permits, discuss the definition, the context, and some other
contexts in which the word might be used.
mandate
In a democratic government, a mandate is the authority granted by
the people for government officials to act as their representatives.
President Obama believed that he had a mandate from the people to
pursue health care reform.
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RICH AND POWERFUL INSTRUCTION
• Semantic mapping (Heimlich & Pittleman, 1986)
• Frayer method (Frayer, Frederick, & Klausmeier, 1969)
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Semantic Mapping
1. Put a word representing a central concept on the board,
overhead, lcd, smart board, etc.
2. Ask students to work in groups listing as many words related to
the central concept as they can.
3. Display students’ words grouped in broad categories.
4. Have students name the categories and perhaps suggest
additional ones.
5. Discuss with students the central concept, the other words, the
categories, and their interrelationships.
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Semantic Mapping Example
Conditions
Owners
Run down
Hard to reach
Small
Make good money
Crowded
Don't live there
Drab
Often don't care
TENEMENT
Costs
Tenants
Not cheap
People without a lot of money
Lower than some places
New immigrants
Too high
City people
Large families
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Frayer Method
1. Define the new concept.
2. Distinguish between the new concept and similar concepts it
might be confused with.
3. Give examples, and explain why they are examples.
4. Give non-examples, and explain why they are non-examples.
5. Present students with examples and non-examples, and ask
students to distinguish between them.
6. Have students present examples and non-examples, explain
why they are one or the other, and provide feedback.
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Frayer Method Partial Example—1
1.
Perseverance is a trait that a person might possess. A person
demonstrates perseverance when he or she remains constant to some
purpose or task over some extended period despite obstacles.
2.
Perseverance differs from stubbornness in that perseverance is typically
seen as a positive quality and the goal toward which one perseveres is
typically a worthwhile one. Conversely, stubbornness is usually seen as
a negative quality, and the goal pursued by a person who is being
stubborn is often not a worthwhile one.
3.
A person who graduates from college despite financial responsibilities
that require him or her to work full time while in college would be
demonstrating perseverance because the goal is worthwhile and it takes
a long and steady effort to reach it.
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Frayer Method Partial Example—2
4.
Someone who goes fishing a lot just because he or she enjoys it is not
demonstrating perseverance because there is no particular purpose
here and no obstacles.
5.
[examples and non-examples]
6.
[student-generated examples]
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REPETITION AND REVIEW
Regardless of how well you teach a word initially, if you want
students to have that word in their vocabularies over time,
repetition is critical. Richek (2005) has suggested several
approaches, two of which I'll describe here.
• Anything goes
• Connect two
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Anything Goes
Display the words to be reviewed where everyone in the class can see
them and explain to students that occasionally you are going to point to
some of the words displayed and ask questions about them.
From time to time, ask students to do something with the one or more of
the words. They might
Define the word
Give two of its meanings
Use it in a sentence
Give an example of the thing named by the word
Say where you would find the thing named by the word,
Note other words or concepts to which the word is related
Explain the difference between two of the words/concepts on the list
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Connect Two
Give students two columns of 5-10 words each and ask them to
identify relationships between a word in column one and a word in
column two.
bayonet
disgrace
muffled
exposed
insignificant
splendid
roll
hoarse
exuberant
cunning
pondered
ruefully
courier
musket
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TEACHING WORD-LEARNING STRATEGIES
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Teaching Word-Learning Strategies
Word-learning strategies are conscious and flexible mental
processes that readers use in an effort to infer the meanings of
unknown words they meet while reading.
Word-learning strategies are tools we teach students to use as
they are reading.
When students master word-learning strategies they become
increasingly independent and mature readers.
Without word-learning strategies, students are not likely to master
the 30,000 words that competent readers learn by the end of 5th
grade or the 50,000 words they learn by the end of high school.
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The Principal Word-Learning Strategies
Using context
Learning and using word parts
Using glossaries and the dictionary
Recognizing and using cognates (for Spanish speakers)
Recognizing and dealing with idioms (for all ELLs)
A combined strategy for dealing with unknown words
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When to Teach Strategies
Prior to grade 3, I would teach strategies rather casually and
informally in the context of reading. Call this introductory instruction.
In the 3rd grade, I would begin more formal instruction.
In an ideal world, initial instruction would be largely concluded by
grade 5.
However, if older students have not had quality instruction in wordlearning strategies, they are likely to profit from instruction in at least
some elements.
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General Guidelines for Instruction in Word-Learning
Strategies
Realize that teaching word-learning strategies requires
significant time and effort on both your part and students' part.
If you cannot teach all strategies, teach one or two strategies
well rather than more strategies less well.
Use direct explanation as you basic instructional approach.
Temper the direct explanation approach with some constructivist
elements.
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Principles of an Approach That Combines Direct
Explanation and a More Constructivist Approach-1
Give students opportunities to construct knowledge.
Motivate students to use the strategy, explaining and discussing
its value.
Provide a description of the strategy and information on when,
where, and how it should be used.
Model use of the strategy for students on a text the class can
share.
Work with students in using the strategy on a text the class can
share.
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Principles of an Approach That Combines Direct
Explanation and a More Constructivist Approach-2
Discuss with students how the strategy is working for them,
what they think of it thus far, and when and how they can use it
in the future.
Guide and support students as they use the strategy over time.
At first, provide a lot of support. Later, provide less and less.
Work over time to help students use the newly learned strategy
in various authentic in-school and out-of-school tasks.
Review the strategy and further discuss students'
understanding of it and responses to it from time to time.
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A Combined Strategy for Dealing with Unknown Words
Met in Context
Recognize that an unknown word has occurred
Decide whether you need to understand it to understand the
passage.
Attempt to sound it out using your phonics skills.
(Consider that it might be a cognate.)
Attempt to infer its meaning using context.
Attempt to infer its meaning using word parts.
(Consider that it might be an idiom.)
Ask someone or consult a dictionary.
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The One-Semester Sequence, Word Learning
Strategies, My Colleagues and I Are Currently
Developing.
Compound Words
1 week
Prefixes
3 weeks
Inflectional Suffixes
1 week
Derivational Suffixes
2 weeks
Context
4 weeks
Dictionaries
2 weeks
A Combined Strategy
3 weeks
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A Poster from Our Word Learning Strategies Program
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FOSTERING WORD CONSCIOUSNESS
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Fostering Word Consciousness
The term “word consciousness” refers to an awareness of and
interest in words and their meanings (Graves & Watts-Taffe, 2002).
Word consciousness integrates metacognition about
words, motivation to learn words, and deep and lasting interest in
words.
• Although fostering word consciousness differs from grade
to grade, doing so is vital at all grade levels.
• There are some time consuming word consciousness
activities, but for the most part fostering word
consciousness does not take a lot of your time or
your students’ time.
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Word Consciousness
word consciousness n
1. an awareness of words
2. a positive disposition toward words
3. interest in learning words and learning about words
4. knowledge of various aspects of words
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Some Types of Word Consciousness Activities
• Creating a Word-Rich Environment
• Recognizing and Promoting Adept Diction
• Promoting Word Play
• Fostering Word Consciousness Through Writing
• Involving Students in Original Investigations
• Teaching Students about Words
(Graves & Watts-Taffe, 2008)
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Creating a Word-Rich Environment: Stocking a
Classroom Library
Books about Words:
For 2nd Graders: Monalisa DeGross’s Donovan’s Word Jar
For 3rd or 4th Graders: Andrew Clements’s Frindle
For 5th or 6th Graders: Norman Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth.
For All Ages: Roni Schotter’s picture book The Boy Who Loved
Words
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Creating a Word-Rich Environment: Encouraging Students
To Define Words for Free Rice
freerice.com—a website run by the United Nations World Food
Plan—donates 10 grains of rice to the World Food Program for each
word a user correctly defines.
There are 50 levels of difficulty, and will pronounce words.
It requires using Firefox or Internet Explorer
Here are items from level 1 and level 10.
battle means:
woods
rug
movie
fight
Margin means:
pupil
edge
swirl
inconsistency
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Recognizing and Promoting Adept Diction
1. Make it a point to use some sophisticated—but not exceedingly
rare—vocabulary, and sometimes comment on your word
choices.
2. Point out adept word choices in the material students are
reading, listening to, or viewing.
3. Compliment student on their adept word choices in their
discussions and their writing.
4. Have students keep some sort of personal record of new and
interesting words they encounter.
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Promoting Word Play
Play commercial games like I Spy, Balderdash, Taboo Junior, Scrabble,
and Taboo.
Play well-known home-made games like Hangman, Word Bingo, or
Dictionary. (billsgames.com has a nice version of Hangman.)
Engage in word play activities with idioms, clichés, and puns.
Play Synonym Toast on
http://www.scholastic.com/wordgirl/synonym_toast.htm
Construct word play activities from books like Richard Lederer’s Pun
and Games or Get Thee To a Punnery.
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Fostering Word Consciousness Through Writing: For
Example, Focus on Vocabulary During Revising
Is this the best word to get across my meaning?
Is the word precise enough?
Is it appropriately formal or informal?
Is it a word my reader will know?
Is it a word my reader will find interesting?
Have I used it too much? Should I use a synonym?
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Involving Students in Original Investigations
Because students are surrounded by words, vocabulary makes and
excellent topic of investigation. Some possibilities include:
The use of slang versus more formal vocabulary.
The vocabulary of different groups: Short order cooks, movie
people, sportscasters on TV, hucksters on TV or at fairs
The vocabulary of different age groups: Younger children,
adolescents, parents, grandparents
The vocabulary that is appropriate in different settings: School,
home, church, the cafeteria.
The use of terms of address such as Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms., Dr.
The use of first names: on TV and in the newspaper, for females
versus males, for children versus adults.
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THE FIFTH PART OF A "VOCABULARY"
CURRICULUM: THE CURRICULUM AS A
WHOLE
My comments here were particularly prompted by Marilyn Adams' excellent article,
"Advancing Our Students' Language and Literacy," which is the lead article in the current
issue of American Educator.
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A Sequential, Coherent, Spiral Curriculum—1
If we really want all students to build powerful vocabularies, we need to
attend to more than vocabulary.
As important as vocabulary is, we need to recognize that it is merely the
tip of the iceberg. The iceberg itself, the factor that underlies thinking
and reasoning, is knowledge.
Sixty years ago, Bruner proposed a spiral curriculum, a curriculum that
began in the primary grades with some rudimentary knowledge on topics
like social studies, science, and math, and systematically built on that
knowledge across the years of schooling.
Such a curriculum would require that students learn about a topic at a
certain level and then be put in a position to use that knowledge in their
subsequent studies.
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A Sequential, Coherent, Spiral Curriculum—2
Although we have done better in adopting such a curriculum in some
areas—notably math and science—we often have not done a very good
job of it.
The students who are most likely to get a spiral curriculum in math
and science are those in elite schools and courses; social studies
seldom if ever presents a spiral curriculum, and language arts and
reading seldom even approach one.
Let me give an example of the sort of curriculum I am talking about
using a snippet from a curriculum I was recently working with.
The program is called the Seeds of Science, and it is the result of a
very large project sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
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A Sequential, Coherent, Spiral Curriculum—3
I was looking at it because I was writing a paper on selecting vocabulary
to teach and was looking for an expository text.
What I found was daunting. The sixth book in the 2nd-3rd grade unit
contained the following potentially unknown content words:
absorb adaptation burrow clitellum cocoon decomposer
droppings earthworm habitat hatch moisture nutrient
organism predator protection reproduce root segments soil
survive
HELP? Not only do these 20 items represent four or five times as
many words as I believe I can teach at one time, but these are not
only new words, not just labels for existing concepts, but word
representing new and complex concepts that will require a good deal
of instruction and work by the students.
Mike Graves, Univ of Minn
79
A Sequential, Coherent, Spiral Curriculum—4
But because this is a truly spiral curriculum, not all of these words
need to be taught. This is the sixth book of ten books in the unit, and
many of these tough words/concepts have been taught as part of
previous lessons. In fact, the only words/concepts that are new here
are borrow, citellum, earthworm, and segments.
This illustrates the essence of a spiral curriculum, and it is an
excellent example of what we need to do more of if students are to
learn the vocabulary—and more important the concepts and
strategies—that they need to learn to succeed.
Mike Graves, Univ of Minn
80
SIX SPECIFIC SUGGESTIONS
Mike Graves, Univ of Minn
81
1. Beg, borrow, or steal a sequential, coherent, spiral curriculum, one
that begins with a small set of knowledge and skills and
systematically introduces students to increasingly complex
knowledge and skills that build on that original set. The most recent
American Educator deals with this topic.
2. Immerse students in a language rich environment. Particularly,
critical here are language-rich discussion and language-rich
reading, and some of that reading needs to be challenging.
3. Provide a program of interactive oral reading for those primary
grade children with very small oral English vocabularies. Doing
this will require something like 30 minutes per day over an
extended period of time.
Mike Graves, Univ of Minn
82
4. Teach individual words using both rich and powerful and
introductory instruction. And don't forget to review the words taught.
5. Teach word learning strategies including context, word parts, the
dictionary, cognates (for Spanish speakers), and idioms (for all
ELLs). Identify the grade levels where this will be done—probably
3, 4, and 5—and be certain that this instruction is sequential and
coherent and represents a spiral curriculum.
6. Foster word consciousness—students' interest, awareness, and
positive disposition toward words—in every way possible. This
does not take much of your time, it does not take much of your
students' time, and it should be fun for everyone.
Mike Graves, Univ of Minn
83
Some Recent and Forthcoming Vocabulary Books
Baumann & Kame'enui. (Eds.). (2004). Vocabulary instruction: Research to practice. New
York: Guilford.
Baumann & Kaméenui. (Eds.). (in press). Vocabulary instruction: Research to Practice (2nd
ed.). New York: Guilford.
Beck, McKeown, & Kucan. (2008). Creating robust vocabulary. New York: Guilford.
Graves. (2006). The vocabulary book: Learning and instruction. New York: Teachers
College Press, IRA, and NCTE.
Graves. (2009). Teaching individual words: One size does not fit all. New York: Teachers
College Press and IRA.
Graves. (Ed.). (2009). Essential readings on vocabulary instruction. Newark, DE: IRA.
Graves, August, & Carlo. (in preparation). Teaching vocabulary to English language
learners. New York: Teachers College Press, IRA, and Center for Applied Linguistics.
Hart & Risley. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experiences of young
American children. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company.
Stahl & Nagy. (2006). Teaching word meanings. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
84
References 1
Adams, M. J. (2010-2011). Advancing our students language and literacy: The challenge of complex text. American
Educator, 34 (4), 3-11, 53. This issue of American Educator contrains a number of other excellent articles on the
Common Core Curriculum.
August, D., Carlo, M, Dressler, C., & Snow, C. (2005). The critical role of vocabulary development for English language
learners. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 20 (1), 50–57.
August, D., & Snow, C. (2007). Vocabulary instruction and assessment for Spanish speakers. Research project funded by the
National Institute for Child Health and Human Development in the Institute for Education Sciences.
Baumann, J. F. (2009) Development of a multi-faceted, comprehensive, vocabulary instructional program for the upperelementary grades. Research project funded by the Institute for Education Sciences.
Baumann, J. F., Kame'enui, E. J. (2004). Vocabulary: The plot of the reading story. In J. F. Baumann & E. J. Kame'enui (Eds.),
Vocabulary instruction: Research to practice (pp. 3-10). New York: Guilford Press.
Baumann, J. F., Ware, D., & Edwards, E. C. (2007). Bumping into spicy, tasty words that catch your tongue: A formative
experiment on vocabulary instruction. The Reading Teacher. 61, 108-122.
Beck, I. L., Perfetti, C. A., & McKeown, M. G. (1982). The effects of long-term vocabulary instruction on lexical access and
reading comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 74, 506-521.
Becker, W. C. (1977). Teaching reading and language to the disadvantaged— What we have learned from field research.
Harvard Educational Review, 47, 511-543.
Blachowicz, C. L. Z., Fisher, P. J. L, Ogle, D., & Watts-Taffe, S. (2006). Vocabulary: Questions from the classroom. Reading
Research Quarterly, 41, 524-539.
Biemiller, A. (2009). Words worth teaching. Columbus, OH: SRA/McGraw-Hill.
Biemiller, A. (1999). Language and reading success. Cambridge, MA: Brookline books.
Blythe, T. (1998). The teaching for understanding guide. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Carlo, M. S., August, D., McGlaughlin, B., Snow, C. E., Dressler, C., Lippman, D. N., Lively, T. J., & White, C. E. (2004). Closing
the gap: Addressing the vocabulary needs of English-language learners in bilingual and mainstream classes. Reading
Research Quarterly, 39, 188-215.
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References 2
Chall, J. S., & Dale, E. (1995). Readability revisited: The new Dale-Chall readability formula. Cambridge, MA: Brookline
Books.
Cunningham, A. E., & Stanovich, K. E. (1997). Early reading acquisition and its relationship to reading experience and ability
10 years later. Developmental Psychology, 33, 934-945.
Duin, A. H., & Graves, M. F. (1987). The effects of intensive vocabulary instruction on expository writing. Reading Research
Quarterly, 22, 311-330.
Duin, A. H., & Graves, M .F. (1988). Teaching vocabulary as a writing prompt. Journal of Reading, 22, 204–212.
Duke, N. K., & Pearson, P. D. (2002). Effective practices for developing reading comprehension. In S. J. Samuels & A. E.
Farstrup (Eds.), What research has to say about reading instruction (3rd ed., pp. 203-242). Newark, DE: IRA.
Goswami, U. (2001). Early phonological development and the acquisition of literacy. In S. B. Neuman & D. K. Dickinson
(Eds.), Handbook of early literacy research (pp. 111-125). New York: The Guilford Press.
Graves, M. F., & Watts-Taffe, S. M. (2008). Word consciousness comes of age. The Reading Teacher.
Graves, M. F., & Sales, G. C. (2009). The first 4,000 words. Seward Inc.: Minneapolis, MN.
Graves, M. F., Sales, G. C., & Davison, M. (2009, May). First-fourth grade students’ knowledge of the 4,000 most frequent
English words. Research poster presented at the annual meeting of the International Reading Association. Minneapolis.
Graves, M. F., & Watts-Taffe, S. M. (2002). The place of word consciousness in a research-based vocabulary program. In S.
J. Samuels & A. E. Farstrup (Eds.), What research has to say about reading instruction (3rd ed., pp. 140-165). Newark,
DE: IRA.
Hadley, J. (2004, May). Vocabulary instruction in a Reading First school. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the
International Reading Association, San Antonio.
Hart, B., & Risley, T. R. (2003, Spring). The early catastrophe: The 30 million word gap by age 3. American Educator, 27 (1),
4-9. Hart, B., & Risley, T. R. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experiences of young American children.
Baltimore: P. H. Brookes.
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References 3
Kieffer, M.J., & Lesaux, N. K. (2007). Breaking down words to build meaning: Morphology, vocabulary, and reading
comprehension in the urban classroom. The Reading Teacher, 61, 134-144.
Klare, G. R. (1984). Readability. In P. D. Pearson, R. Barr, M. L. Kamil, & P. Mosenthal (Eds.), Handbook of reading
research (pp. 681-794). New York: Longman.
Moats, L. (1999). Teaching reading IS rocket science. Washington, D.C.: American Federation of Teachers.
Nagy, W. E. (2005). Why vocabulary instruction needs to be long-term and comprehensive. In E. Hiebert & M. Kamil (Eds.),
Bringing scientific research to practice: Vocabulary (pp. 27-44). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Nagy, W. E. & Scott, J. A. (2000). Vocabulary processes. In M. Kamil, P. Mosenthal, P. D. Pearson & R. Barr (Eds.),
Handbook of reading research (Vol. 3, pp. 269-284). New York: Longman.
Perkins, D. (1992). Smart schools: From training memories to educating minds. New York: The Free Press.
Pressley, M., Harris, K. R., & Marks, M. B. (1992). But good strategy instructors are constructivists! Educational Psychology
Review, 4, 3-31.
Richek, M. A. (2005). Words are wonderful: Interactive, time-efficient strategies to teach meaning vocabulary. The Reading
Teacher, 58, 414-423.
Sales, G. & Graves, M. F. (2009a). Web-based pedagogy for fostering literacy by teaching basic vocabulary. Information
Technology, Education and Society, 9 (2). 5-30.
Sales, G., & Graves, M. F. (2009b). Reading vocabulary test. Minneapolis, MN: Seward Inc.
Sales, G., & Graves, M. F. (2009b). Listening vocabulary test. Minneapolis, MN: Seward Inc.
Sales, G., & Graves, M. F. (2007). The first 4,000 words: Keys to school success. Proposal funded by the U. S. Department
of Education.
Scarborough, H. S. (1998). Early identification of children at risk for reading disabilities: Phonological awareness and some
other promising predictors. In B. K. Shapiro, P. J. Accardo, & A. J. Capute (Eds.), Specific reading disabilities: A review of
the spectrum (pp. 75-119). Timonium, MD: York Press.
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References 4
Stahl, S. A., & Stahl, K. D. (2004). Word wizards all!: Teaching word meanings in preschool and primary education. In In J.
F. Baumann & E. B. Kame'enui (Eds.). Vocabulary instruction: Research to practice (pp. 59-78). New York: Guilford
Press
Sternberg, R. J. (1987). Most vocabulary is learned from context. In M. G. McKeown & M. E. Curtis (Eds.), The nature of
vocabulary acquisition (pp. 89-105). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Templin, M. C. (1957). Certain language skills in children, their development and interrelationships. Minneapolis: University
of Minnesota Press.
Terman, L. M. (1916). The measurement of intelligence. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
White, T. G., Graves, M. F. & Slater, W. H. (1990). Growth of reading vocabulary in diverse elementary schools: Decoding
and word meaning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 281–290.
Wiske, M. S. (Ed.). (1998). Teaching for understanding: Linking research with practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
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