Transcript Learning Meaning - Springfield Public Schools

Learning Meaning
Vocabulary Instruction
For Elementary Students
Lori Hornfelt
Speech-Language Specialist
Maple Elementary
Thanks to the following
resources:
• Beck, Isabel, McKeown, Margaret, & Kucan, Linda. (2001)
Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction.
Guilford Press.
• Lubliner, Shira. (2005) Getting into Words: Vocabulary
Instruction that Strengthens Comprehension. Paul H.
Brookes
• Paynter, Diane; Bodrova, Elena; & Doty, Jane. (2005) For
the Love of Words: Vocabulary Instruction that Works.
Jossey-Bass.
• National Institute for Literacy, The Partnership for
Reading. “Vocabulary Instruction”
http://www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading/publications/reading_first1vocab.html
• Antikajian , Karen & Swan, Janis. (2005) “Vocabulary
Instruction” workshop presentation
Just the Facts
• 1st grade children from higher-SES groups
know about twice as many words as lower
SES children.
• High-performing high school seniors know
about 4 times as many words as lowerperforming peers.
• High-performing 3rd graders had
vocabularies about equal to lowestperforming 12th graders.
• Vocabulary size is associated with the
ability to comprehend new information and
even with later income levels.
“The fact that early differences
in vocabulary remain through
the school years is
understandable if little is being
done to change that situation
during the school years.”
(Beck, p.2)
Types of Vocabulary
Listening
Speaking
Reading
Writing
“Oral vocabulary is a key to
learning to make the transition
from oral to written forms,
whereas reading vocabulary is
crucial to the comprehension
process of a skilled reader.”
(Paynter)
Difficulties with learning vocabulary
through written text:
• Written context lacks intonation, body
language, physical surrounding.
• Students often choose independent
reading that does not contain challenging
vocabulary
• Students need skills to
– Adequately decode words
– Recognize that a word is unknown
– Comprehend the main idea of the text in order
to use context cues.
Types of Word Learning
• Learning a new meaning for a known word
– Branches of rivers/trees/government
• Learning the meaning for a new word
representing a known concept
– Spheres: baseball, globe
• Learning the meaning of a new word
representing an unknown concept
– photosynthesis
• Clarifying and enriching the meaning of a
known word
– Running, jogging, trotting, dashing, sprinting
Vocabulary Development
Kindergarten - 1st Grade
• Vocabulary learned through oral language
experiences.
• Starting in 1st grade, students understand
common prefixes and suffixes that are added to
the base without changing the base:
teach/teacher; happy/unhappy
• Metalinguistic skills are not yet developed.
– Student doesn’t stop reader when a new word is
encountered; may stop reader if curious to know more
about content.
– Understands multiple-meaning words only if meanings
are concrete and literal
– Defines words by
• Listing attributes
• Describing function
• Giving a simple synonym
Vocabulary Development
2nd - 3rd Grades
• Vocabulary learning more directly related to classroom
content
• More aware of words they don’t know & better able to ask
questions about specific words and word relationships
• Read aloud experiences have words beyond their everyday
experiences
• Reading vocabulary is much more limited than listening
vocabulary.
• Know more affixes: un-, re-, pre-, -less, -er, -est, -ful
• Growing interest in word play, puns, & jokes
• Define words in more structured ways, e.g., categories
• Vocabulary learning strategies: synonyms, root words,
context cues
Vocabulary Development
4th- 5th Grade
• Print becomes major source of new words.
– Assigned reading needs to be ahead of student’s
speaking & listening vocabulary.
• Vocabulary is content-area specific & includes
more abstract words that cross content areas
(assume, conclude)
• Metalinguistic skills have increased.
– More advanced knowledge of word parts
– Literal & figurative meanings of many words.
Understand frequently used idioms & metaphors and
those based on visual imagery.
• More independent in learning word meanings.
– However, tend to rely on guessing from context which
often backfires for abstract, technical & academic words.
• Mastered the skill of formal definition & can use
multiple sources; however will not reach adult
levels without explicit modeling and coaching.
Vocabulary Development
ELL
• Learn everyday vocabulary before
academic vocabulary
• Difficulty with idioms and figurative
language
• Need explicit explanations and more
examples than with English students
• If the ELL student’s native language is
similar to English, teaching cognates is a
useful approach.
Characteristics of an Effective
Vocabulary Program
• Small set of critical words identified for direct
instruction
• Multiple exposures to words in various contexts
• Utilize & build students’ background knowledge
• Introduce & use words in meaningful contexts
• Multimodal learning opportunities
• Explicitly teach student strategies for independent
word learning
• Plan for incidental vocabulary learning embedded
into daily interactions with students
• Planned vocabulary review
• Motivate student interest in words
So Many Words, So Little Time
How to Choose Vocabulary to Teach
• 3 Tier Approach (see handout)
• Ask yourself the following questions:
– How generally useful is the word? Are
students likely to encounter it in other texts?
– How does the word relate to other words, to
ideas that students know or have been
studying?
– Is the word essential to understanding the
meaning of the text?
– Could the word create confusion? Multiplemeaning?
• Pre-test to identify student needs
Creating a Customized Word List
• Review resources
– Grade level vocabulary lists
– State & district standards
• Identify vocabulary from fiction &
nonfiction books students will
encounter
• Identify vocabulary on standardized
tests
– E.g., trace, analyze, describe,
summarize, etc.
• Identify content area vocabulary
Who’s Responsible for
Teaching Vocabulary?
School-Wide
Grade Level
Classroom
Family
Student
K-2 Vocabulary Sources
• Trade books for read aloud
• Theme/unit/content vocabulary
• Simple stories that students are
reading can be sources of
vocabulary through the use of
synonyms, antonyms, associations,
and classification.
3rd - 5th Vocabulary
Sources
• Read aloud books
• Content area vocabulary
• Multiple meaning words
– @36% of teacher utterances from K to 8th
contain at least one multi-meaning statement
• Teacher assigned independent reading
– Student selected books often do not have
challenging vocabulary.
• It is estimated that a typical novel written for
teenagers or younger readers has a vocabulary size
of only 5,000 words.
When is vocabulary not
appropriate for a certain
grade?
• When you cannot explain the
meaning of a word in terms that
students know.
• If the words used to explain a target
word are likely unknown to the
students
“It is not until middle school that most
children’s reading comprehension
catches up with their oral
comprehension. Until that time,
children benefit immensely from
hearing stories read aloud. When
teachers read aloud, they expose
children to complex language and
vocabulary that children rarely
encounter in oral discourse or
independent reading.”
Lubliner, p. 135
K-2 Read Aloud
Strategies
• Activate background knowledge prior to reading
– Have students predict what story might be about
• While reading, briefly explain words that are
necessary for comprehension & may be unknown
• Encourage student to listen & make pictures in
their mind as you read aloud. Show pictures after
each section is read.
• Immediately following the reading lead students
in activities to work on the meaning of 3 words
• Repeated readings of the story on subsequent
days allows for more discussion and “think
aloud” during the reading.
3rd-5th Read Aloud
Strategies
• Activate background knowledge prior to
reading
• Introduce key vocabulary prior to reading
• Explain vocabulary briefly as you read to
aid comprehension
• Have students identify words they don’t
know
– Vocabulary log
– Stop sign strategy
• Immediately following reading lead
students in work on key words
Vocabulary Teaching Sequence following
Read Aloud or Content Instruction (Beck)
•
•
•
•
Review word in context of story
Students say the word aloud
Give a student friendly explanation of word
Give examples of word in contexts beyond
the story - relate to students’ lives
• Students give examples or do a word
activity
• Students say the word again
• Repeat this for each word, then do an
activity that uses all 3 words
Student Friendly Explanations of
a Word
• Characterize the word and how it is
typically used
• Explain the meaning in everyday
terms
• Student friendly explanations often
use words like something, someone,
or describes.
Quick Oral Word Activities
example words: disappear, precious, foolish
• Words associations
– Which word goes with (silly)?
• Have you ever _______?
– Has anything ever disappeared at your house?
• Idea completion
– Susan said her teddy bear was precious
because _____
• Questions, Reasons, & Examples
– Which of these might be precious? Why?
• My pencil, my wedding ring, my socks
– What would you want to disappear? Not want
to disappear? Why?
Quick Oral Word Activities (page 2)
• Making Choices
• -I’m going to say some words, you say
‘foolish’ if it is an example of foolish.
finishing my homework
putting my homework in the bird’s cage
• Relationships between target words
• -Show me how your face would look if
something disappeared/ you saw someone
acting foolish/ you lost something precious to
you
• If_______________
• -If your teacher disappeared, would you be
bored or surprised?
Quick Oral Word Activities (page 3)
• Students create examples:
– What is precious to you?
– When have you acted foolish?
Planning for Incidental
Vocabulary Learning
•Create a vocabulary rich
environment
•Select books & resources that
support vocabulary learning
•Use a robust vocabulary with
students
•Create semantic cluster walls
Creating a Vocabulary-Rich
Environment
• Place labels in the room & change them to more
sophisticated terms as students learn
– Armchair - comfortable - relax
– Light switch - electrical circuit connector
– Window - transparent sunlight emitter
• Vocabulary Preview
– Post new words that will be learned during the week
• Words of Interest
– Students post words they found that are interesting
• Word Wise
– Students post words that confused them
• Meet and Greet
– Container of vocabulary words. Whenever there is a free
moment, pick a word to review, have students write a
sentence, or quiz students for award points/All Stars.
Select Books & Resources to
Support Vocabulary Learning
• Book baskets for current themes or
units
• Dictionaries or word banks made by
the class with words & pictures
• Read aloud book vocabulary placed
on a wall with a copy of the book
cover
• Select books for free or independent
reading that have vocabulary targets
Expand The Words You Say
• Use synonyms to teach subtleties in
meaning
– E.g., Clothes, costume, dress, outfit,
garment, garb, uniform
• Purposely use more sophisticated
vocabulary for everyday activities
– See handout
Create Semantic Cluster
Walls
• Post vocabulary words according to
semantic relationships to help
students remember and associate
meaning
– Possible clusters:
What People Do
Size & Amounts
Time
Places
Food
Noises
Things We Use
Feelings
People
Talking
Animals
Your Body
Direct Vocabulary
Instruction
Words that are more complex
or nuanced require direct
instruction rather than
incidental.
Direct Vocabulary Scheduling
Options
• Words related to content areas
taught during content instruction
• Time following read aloud used for
vocabulary instruction
• Scheduled time dedicated to
vocabulary
• Short bursts of vocabulary work
throughout the day, e.g, “word of the
day”
Direct Vocabulary Instruction
Sequence
• Students work with word meaning
• Students deepen their
understanding of vocabulary
• Students engage in vocabulary
games and word play
• Students review vocabulary/
assessment
Defining vs. Explaining
• To use a dictionary effectively, the student
needs to have some knowledge of the
word in question.
• In 3 different studies, when students were
given dictionary definitions of new
vocabulary & asked to generate
sentences the results were as follows:
– 63% of student sentences were judged to be
“odd”
– 60% were unacceptable
– Students frequently interpreted one or two
words from a definition as the entire meaning.
Defining vs. Explaining (page 2)
• Instead of introducing new
vocabulary with a dictionary
meaning, explain and give examples
instead.
• Varying your definitions or
explanations throughout the week so
students won’t just memorize a
definition.
Student Activities for Finding
Word Meanings
• Sentence completion to describe meaning
– We use this word to
describe____________
• Answering questions
– What does it mean that something is
(immense)?
– In this picture, what things are
(immense)?
– If a (problem is immense), what does
that mean?
• Examples and nonexamples
Student Activities for Finding Word
Meanings
(page 2)
• Visual representations
– A sketch that demonstrates word
meaning
– Create a symbol to represent meaning
– Complete a graphic organizer
– Make a physical model (e.g., science
concepts)
• Kinesthetic representations
• Vocabulary journals, notebooks, logs
Student Activities to Deepen Their
Understanding of Word Meanings
• Creating analogies (see handout)
• Completing semantic feature
analysis (see handout)
• Categorizing and Classifying
vocabulary
• Word Sorts (see handout)
A few vocabulary games and
word play ideas
• Match Me
– 1/2 of students have word cards & 1/2 have
picture/definition cards. Students find the
person that has the matching word or
definition
• Songs
– Put vocabulary to familiar tunes
– Student write rap songs
• BINGO
– Give student blank grids. They write one
vocabulary word in each box so their card is
different from the others. Someone reads the
definitions & students mark their cards.
More games. . . .
• Beanbag games
– Student tosses bag to the next person if
teacher says a word that doesn’t belong to the
target category & holds on to bag if word does
belong to the category
– Students toss beanbag to next person after
they name a word that is associated with the
target word or category
• Password
– Divide class into 2 teams. Give one person on
each team a set of 10 cards that belong to a
semantic cluster. The reader gives clues for
each word. The whole team can guess or
individuals can take turns. The team with the
most correct wins.
Assessing Student
Progress
Assess knowledge of new words
across different contexts. Relying on
one specific context may lead to
overestimating students’ abilities.
Assessing Student
Progress
• Conventional quizzes
– True/false judgment of sentences with
vocabulary
– Matching definition to word
– Writing sentences with words
– Sentence completion of fill-in-the blank
• Performance assessments
–
–
–
–
Products: concept maps, diagrams
Record verbal definitions
Group story using vocabulary
Teacher-student conferences
• Self-assessment rubrics
Assessing Student Progress
(page 2)
• Anecdotal Evidence
– Student writing samples, presentations,
conversations
• Individual student records
– Vocabulary notebook, notecards,
journals
– Reading references
• Students use sticky notes to mark place in
reading as well as written work where they
notice a vocabulary word
• Students log sources where they find
vocabulary
Extension Beyond the
Classroom
• Students bring in evidence of
seeing, hearing, or using target
words outside of the classroom
• Students assigned to bring in an
interesting word they have seen or
heard.
• Vocabulary games sent home for
practice
Teaching Students Strategies for
Independent Word Learning
“Of course, it is not possible for
teachers to provide specific instruction
for all the words their students do not
know. Therefore, students also need to
be able to determine the meaning of
words that are new to them but not
taught directly to them. They need to
develop effective word-learning
strategies.”
(NIFL)
“Instructional strategies need
to focus on the process of
deriving word meanings, in
contrast to the product of
coming up with the right
meaning of an unknown
words.”
(Beck)
Independent Word Learning
Strategies
• Clarifying strategies
– Activating background knowledge
• Lubliner’s Mine Your Memory
– Studying word structure
– Deriving meaning from context
• Self-monitoring strategies
• Use of dictionaries and other
reference aids
K - 2nd Grade Preparation for
Word Learning Strategies
• Prediction: picture, title, vocabulary
• Activating background knowledge
– Lubliner’s Mine Your Memory
• Teacher modeled Think Aloud for looking
for word meaning in context
• Beginning word structure
– Word building: play, player, playful, playpen,
ballplayer
• Cause-Effect signal words and
relationships in narratives (because, so)
• Development of “word consciousness”
Study the Structure
“It is hypothesized that it is the ability
to learn how new words are derived
from known words that accounts for
the fact that between grades 1 and 5,
children increase their vocabulary
size from approximately 10,000
words to approximately 40,000
words.”
(Paynter)
Start with a vocabulary for
talking about word parts
• Affixes
– Prefixes
• 4 most common: un-, re-, in-, dis• Negative prefixes account for 37% of words with
prefixes that children are likely to encounter
• Base words
– Any words from which many other words are
formed: migrate, migration, migrant,
immigrant, migratory
• Word roots
– Words from other languages that are the
origin of many English words
– About 60% of all English words have Latin or
Greek origins (see handout)
Sequence for Teaching Word
Structure
• Initially focus on helping students
recognize words that are part of the
same word family
– build, building, builder, builds, rebuild
• Teach common prefixes and suffixes
• Introduce Root Webs (see handout)
• Teach common Latin and Greek
roots
Consider the Context
• Context is more likely to help a student
infer word meaning under the following
conditions:
– The text provides plenty of information that
supports inference
– The target word and the contextual support
are closely linked
– The child has partial word knowledge
– The child has background knowledge related
to the unknown word
(Lubliner)
Context Strategies
• Infer meaning from text (see
handout)
– Comma clues
– Explanation clues
– Feeling clues
– Opposition clues
• Teach high-frequency signal words
– Usually adverbs that indicate a
particular kind of relationship between
concepts in the text
High frequency signal words
include:
• Definition words:
– Means, refers to,
consists of, in other
words
• Example words:
– For example, for
instance, such as,
including
• Sequence words:
– First, second, next, then,
finally, soon
• Comparison words:
– Similar, just like, in the
same way, in
comparison, likewise
• Opposition words:
– In contrast, but, yet, on
the other hand,
however
• Cause-Effect words:
– Because, therefore, so
consequently, due to,
so that
“Proficient readers know that context
does not always work, but most
children lack the ability to think
critically about strategy
effectiveness. Teachers build
flexible strategic thinking by
providing examples of context that is
helpful, not helpful, and misleading.”
(Lubliner)
Self-monitoring Strategies for
Independent Reading
• How well do I know these words?
• How fast can I read and still
understand?
– Lubliner’s stoplight strategy
– Clink and Clunk strategy
• What strategies will best help me
understand unknown words?
Stoplight Vocabulary
(see handout)
• Redlight words:
– I don’t know the word
• I need to stop and use clarifying strategies
• Yellow-light words: (3 levels)
– I understand the general meaning of the word,
but I can’t use it.
– I can give examples of the word
– I can define the word.
• I need to slow down and check my comprehension
• Green Zone:
– I know the word well and can use the word
meaningfully in a sentence.
• I can read at the speed limit.
Click and Clunk
Klinger, et. al (2001) From Clunk to Click,
Collaborative Strategic Reading
• Clicks: when we understand what we
read, everything “clicks” along
smoothly
• Clunks: when we don’t understand
what we read, “clunk,” we stop when
we get to a clunk
– We use fix-up strategies to figure out
what the clunk means, so we can
continue on
Clunk Fix-up Strategies
• Reread the sentences with the clunk and
look for key ideas to help you figure out
the word.
• Think about what makes sense.
• Reread the sentences before and after the
clunk looking for clues.
• Look for a prefix or suffix in the word that
might help.
• Break the word apart and look for smaller
words that you known.
“When children get into words, they
acquire the building blocks of
knowledge, allowing them to share
meaningful ideas. Providing children
with rich vocabulary and independent
word-learning skills prepares them
for success in higher education and
gives them the ability to receive and
share information in an ever
changing world.”
(Lubliner)