Developing Usable Vocabulary Knowledge

1
Developing Usable Vocabulary Knowledge

• William Nagy
• January 2008

2
Getting startedSome assumptions

• Vocabulary knowledge is extremely important
• Promoting vocabulary growth is a demanding task
• Our goal is developing usable vocabulary
  knowledge

3
Vocabulary is important

• A large vocabulary is essential for academic
  success
• Reading comprehension
• Writing
• Content area learning
• Smaller vocabularies are associated with academic
  risk
• ELLs
• Students from low-income families

4
Promoting vocabulary growth is a demanding task

• The number of words students need to learn is
  immense
• Traditional vocabulary instruction can be
  ineffective and boring
• Effective vocabulary instruction can be time- and
  labor-intensive

5
We need to help students develop usable
vocabulary knowledge

• Not all vocabulary knowledge is usable
• Almost any kind of vocabulary instruction can
  improve students performance on vocabulary tests
• But many commonly-used methods of vocabulary
  instruction do not reliably increase reading
  comprehension

6
We need to help students develop usable
vocabulary knowledge

• Usable vocabulary knowledge
• Includes competence in the academic register
• Involves procedural as well as declarative
  knowledge - learning a word is like learning to
  use a tool
• Is generative it supports the learning of
  additional words

7
Developing usable vocabulary knowledge

• A theme question for the day How does it change
  your approach to vocabulary instruction to think
  of word knowledge as procedural / strategic
  knowledge rather than only as declarative
  knowledge?
• See handout Elements of Effective Strategy
  Instruction

8
Overview of the day Four sections

• Learning to understand and use vocabulary-rich
  language
• Learning words well enough to use them
• Learning to cope with new words
• Putting it all together, with special attention
  to diversity

9
Learning to understand and use vocabulary-rich
language

• Understanding the differences between
  conversational and academic language
• Providing students with rich and varied oral and
  written language experiences

10
Number of rare words per thousand words of text

• Conversation (college educated) 17
• Prime-time television shows 23
• Preschool books
• Childrens books
• Comic books
• Adult books
• Popular magazines
• Newspapers

11
Number of rare words per thousand words of text

• Conversation (college educated) 17
• Prime-time television shows 23
• Preschool books 16
• Childrens books 31
• Comic books 54
• Adult books 53
• Popular magazines 66
• Newspapers 68

12
Why is the Vocabulary of Conversation so
Impoverished?

• Different communicative purposes and demands
• (Explanation can be at odds with solidarity Do
  I have to explain it to you?)
• Processing demands on production and
  comprehension
• (It takes too much time to think of just the
  right word while youre talking)

13
Conversational vs. Academic Language
14
Conversational vs. Academic Language
15
Its not just oral vs. written language

• Some uses of written language (e.g., text
  messaging, informal emails) have communicative
  purposes more like those of conversation
• Some uses of oral language (e.g., storytelling)
  have communicative purposes more like those of
  academic language

16
Contextualized oral language (4-Year-Old Adult
Playing with Legos)

• Child This is me and thats you.
• Adult Okay
• Child No, This is me and thats you and thats
  me.
• Adult No, No. Thats me. Wait. Thats me?
• Child Yeah.
• Adult All right.

17
Less-Contextualized Oral Language(Same
Participants)

• Adult Where did you find out about Star Wars?
• Child I dreamed that I was in Star Wars and I
  saw this strange pack of ooie and I saw mud.
• Adult You saw a strange pack of ooie?
• Child I saw a big pack of stinky, ooie garbage.
  He lives in there, in a stinking pack of
  garbage.
• Adult Who does?
• Child Jabba!

18
Providing students with rich and varied oral and
written language experiences

• Using and evoking richer oral language
• Increasing students exposure to written language
• Calling students attention to the differences
  between written and oral language

19
Using and evoking richer oral language

• What works
• Wasik, B., Bond, M., Hindman, A. (2006). The
  effects of a language and literacy intervention
  on Head Start children and teachers. Journal of
  Educational Psychology, 98(1), 63-74.
• Jordan, G., Snow, C., Porche, M. (2000).
  Project EASE The effect of a family literacy
  product on kindergarten students early literacy
  skills. Reading Research Quarterly, 35(4),
  524-546.

20
Using and evoking richer oral language

• Why a preschool intervention is relevant for
  older students
• 1) Well-documented principles of language
  development are unlikely to change completely as
  children get older
• 2) Patterns of teacher language use recommended
  in the preschool intervention have also been
  suggested on other grounds for improving the
  quality of classroom discussion for older students

21
Using and evoking richer oral language

• Use more descriptive language when speaking
• Elaborate on student language
• Ask open-ended questions

22
Using More Descriptive Language When Speaking

• Teachers were trained to expand their use of
  vocabulary and to provide elaborate explanations
  and descriptions of common activities and events.
  A simple comment of good job was encouraged to
  become I like the way you use the color blue to
  draw the sky. Similarly, the glue is on the
  table becomes The glue is on the round table
  next to the scissors.
• (Wasik et al., 2006, p. 67)

23
Elaborating on Student Language

• The teacher acknowledged what the child said
  and tried to extend the childs language about
  the concept about which the child was talking.
  For example, if a child said, I made a house,
  the teacher would respond with Yes, you built a
  house with the 10 blocks, repeating or recasting
  what the child said using a more detailed
  explanation and vocabulary words (Wasik et al.,
  2006, p. 67).

24
Asking Open-Ended Questions

• Why questions are the essence of inquiry....
  Aside from being the basis of at least one side
  of science and of logic, why questions also
  develop childrens persuasion and argumentation
  abilities, and logical thinking (Johnston, 2004,
  p. 37).

25
Asking Open-Ended Questions

• Teachers were trained to use various
  questioning starters such as, Tell me about it!
  I wonder how? How did that happen? and What
  if..? in their everyday conversations with
  children, thus encouraging the use of vocabulary
  words and facilitating childrens use of
  language (Wasik et al., 2007, p. 67).

26
Increasing students exposure to written language

• Increase the amount of time students spend
  reading text at the appropriate level
• Read aloud to students
• Discuss what you have read aloud

27
Calling students attention to the differences
between written and oral language

• Model appreciation for well-crafted phrases and
  sentences
• Have students collect and share examples of
  well-crafted writing
• Write down a line you wish you had written
  (Johnston, 2004, p. 16)
• Post examples of well-crafted writing in the
  classroom
• Use these examples as models for writing

28
Additional Resources

• Beck, I., McKeown, M. (2001). Text Talk
  Capturing the benefits of read-aloud experiences
  for young children. The Reading Teacher, 55(1),
  10-20.
• Beck, I., McKeown, M. (2006). Improving
  Comprehension with Questioning the Author. New
  York Scholastic.
• Johnston, P. (2004). Choice Words How Our
  Language Affects Childrens Learning. Portland,
  ME Stenhouse.
• van Kleeck, A., Stahl, S., Bauer, E. (Eds.)
  (2003). On reading books to children. Mahwah,
  NJ Erlbaum.

29
Section Wrap-up

• See Questions on Discussion handout
• Learning to understand and use vocabulary-rich
  language

30
Learning words well enough to use them

• Why to teach words thoroughly
• How to teach words thoroughly
• Which words to teach thoroughly

31
Why to teach words thoroughly

• Learning words well enough to use them
• To understand text containing that word
• To use that word in writing
• To answer vocabulary items on new contextualized
  tests
• The need for fluency of word knowledge

32
Understanding Text Containing Instructed Words

• Definition-based vocabulary instruction does not
  reliably increase comprehension of texts
  containing the instructed words (McKeown, Beck,
  Omanson, Pople, 1985 Stahl Fairbanks, 1986)

33
Using Words in Writing

• Knowing the definition of a word does not provide
  students enough information to produce
  meaningful, well-formed sentences using that word
  (McKeown, 1993 Miller Gildea, 1987 Scott
  Nagy, 1997)

34
Answering vocabulary items on new contextualized
tests

• Vocabulary items will function both as a
  measure of passage comprehension and as a test of
  readers specific knowledge of the words meaning
  as intended by the passage author. (National
  Assessment Governing Board, 2005, p. iv)

35
Contextualized vocabulary item

• The citizens consumed their supply of gravel
  through wanton development.
• a) ate or drank
• b) used up
• c) spent wastefully
• d) destroyed
• (Pearson, Hiebert, Kamil, 2007, p. 287)

36
The need for fluency of word knowledge

• Fluent reading requires efficiency in retrieving
  word meanings as well as efficiency in word
  recognition
• Fluency in retrieving word meanings is associated
  with depth of vocabulary knowledge
• ELLs are likely to have less depth as well as
  less breadth of word knowledge
• L2 fluency promotes transfer of L1 knowledge to
  L2 reading (Proctor et al., 2006)

37
How to teach words thoroughly

• Three traits of effective vocabulary instruction
• Providing sufficient scaffolding

38
Three traits of effective vocabulary instruction

• For students to learn words well enough to use
  them, instruction must include
• Both definitional and contextual information
  (what it means, and how it is used)
• Activities that require depth of processing
  (meaningful use)
• Multiple encounters
• (Stahl, 1986 Stahl Fairbanks, 1986 Beck,
  McKeown, Kucan, 2002)

39
Providing sufficient scaffolding

• For students to learn words well enough to use
  them, instruction must include activities that
• Require students to actually use the words (i.e.,
  understand or produce language that uses them)
• Are sufficiently scaffolded that students who
  didnt already know the words can be successful

40
Learning words well enough to use them

• Activity that doesnt involve using the word
  meaningfully Matching words with their
  definitions
• Activity which could be meaningful but which
  isnt sufficiently scaffolded Asking students
  to write a sentence for a word for which they
  have been given the definition

41
Learning words well enough to use them

• Activities that involve using the word
  meaningfully, and are sufficiently scaffolded
• Asking students to answer questions that require
  using their knowledge of the words definition
  (What is something you might need to confine?)
• Asking students to complete a sentence stem (The
  two explorers decided they were not compatible
  because.)

42
Learning words well enough to use them

• More activities that involve meaningful use of
  instructed words
• Asking questions that involve pairs of instructed
  words (If you assist some new students, will
  they appreciate it?)
• Encouraging and rewarding reports of seeing,
  hearing, or using instructed words outside of the
  classroom

43
Learning words well enough to use them

• More activities that involve meaningful use of
  instructed words
• Asking students to choose which of two scenarios
  better fits a word, and to defend their choice
  (Which is a better example of a strategy
  thinking about whether to do your homework before
  or after you go to the movies, or thinking about
  what it would be like to have lived 100 years
  ago?)

44
Possible limitations of intensive vocabulary
instruction

• Time- and labor-intensive
• Teacher-directed
• Focuses on content (meanings and uses of specific
  words) rather than on strategies
• Recommendations for activities and word selection
  may be biased towards narratives
• Extent of transfer to uninstructed words is not
  known

45
Which words to teach thoroughly

• Teachers must be strategic in choosing
• which words to teach
• what level of instruction is appropriate for
  words that are taught

46
Levels of intensity in vocabulary instruction

• Providing exposure to rich language
• Explaining a word in passing
• Explaining what a specific instance of a word
  contributes to a specific text
• Teaching a word so that students can use it
  flexibly and effectively in a variety of contexts

47
Choosing words for instruction / choosing level
of intensity of instruction

• Frequency Does this word occur often enough in
  written language to make it worth spending time
  on?
• Productive control Do I want my students to be
  able to use this word?
• Distribution Does this word occur in a variety
  of genres and subject areas?
• Role in the lesson / curriculum Is this word
  important for what we are learning about?
• Role in the text Do I need to know this word to
  understand the main point of the text?

48
Why frequency is an important criterion for word
selection

• There are many words which seem like high utility
  (Tier 2) words, but which in fact occur so
  rarely that they are unlikely to warrant
  intensive instruction
• Examples of words that occur less than once in a
  million words of text anthem, assert, bribe,
  conjecture, crumple, doze, fraud, inquire, lease,
  oblong, parody, pounce, pretense, sedate,
  synonymous

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Cumulative Frequency by Word Rank
50
Limitations of frequency as a (sole) basis for
word selection

• Frequency lists usually give frequency for the
  word form, not for specific meanings
• High frequency words are more likely to have
  multiple meanings
• High frequency words are more likely to already
  be known by many students

51
Information about Frequency

• Wordlists easy to locate on the Internet
• General Service List 2,000 most frequent words
  in English (West, 1953)
• Academic Word List 570 high-utility words not
  on the General Service List (Coxhead, 2000)
• Dale-Chall Word list 3,000 common words likely
  to be known by fourth graders

52
Additional resources

• Beck, I., McKeown, M., Kucan, L. (2002).
  Bringing words to life. NY Guilford.
• McKeown, M. G., Beck, I. L., Omanson, R. C.,
  Pople, M. T. (1985). Some effects of the nature
  and frequency of vocabulary instruction on the
  knowledge and use of words. Reading Research
  Quarterly, 20, 522-535.
• Stahl, S. (1986). Three principles of effective
  vocabulary instruction. Journal of Reading
  29(7), 662-668.
• Stahl, S., Fairbanks, M. (1986). The effects
  of vocabulary instruction A model-based
  meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research,
  56, 72-110.

53
Section Wrap-up

• See Questions on Discussion handout
• Learning words well enough to use them

54
Learning to cope with new words

• Why students need to have word-learning
  strategies
• What we know from research
• Word-learning strategies as comprehension
  strategies
• Metacognitive / metalinguistic foundations of
  word-learning strategies

55
Why students need to have word-learning
strategies

• There are too many words to teach them all
• Encountering new words in text is the norm, not
  the exception
• Familiar words are often used with figurative or
  other less-familiar meanings
• Students should take increasing responsibility
  for all aspects of their learning, including
  vocabulary growth

56
There are too many words for you to teach them
all

• Too many words in the English language
• Number of main entries in Websters Third,
  unabridged 200,000
• Number of different words in printed school
  materials, grades 3-9 88,000

57
There are too many words for you to teach them
all

• Too many words in average childrens vocabularies
• Conservative published estimates of school
  childrens annual vocabulary growth 1,000 root
  words
• Other widely-cited estimates of school childrens
  annual vocabulary growth 2,000 3,000 words
• If students with smaller vocabularies are to
  catch up, they have to learn words at a faster
  rate than average students

58
Learning to cope with new words

• What we know from the research
• Teaching students to use context clues improves
  their use of context (Fukkink de Glopper, 1998)
• Teaching students about word parts improves their
  use of word parts (Nunes Bryant, 2006)
• Students can be taught to use word parts and
  context in combination (Baumann et al. 2003)
• Comprehension instruction that includes
  strategies for dealing with unfamiliar words can
  improve comprehension (Palincsar Brown, 1984
  Rosenshine Meister, 1994 Klingner Vaughn,
  1999)

59
Learning to cope with new words

• Some things we know about effective strategy
  instruction (see handout Elements of Effective
  Strategy Instruction)
• Explain why, when, how to use strategy
• Model
• Gradual transfer of responsibility to students
• Prompt and encourage application across the
  curriculum

60
Word-learning strategies as comprehension
strategies

Compre-hension strategies
Word-learning strategies
Word-level comprehension strategies
61
Some word-level comprehension strategies

• Context
• Morphology (word parts)
• Dictionary use
• Polysemy (figurative and other secondary meanings
  of words)

62
Implications of understanding word learning
strategies as comprehension strategies

• Lower expectations (about word learning)
• The goal is not to learn what the word means, but
  to see if one can get enough information about
  the word to proceed with an acceptable level of
  comprehension
• Higher cognitive demands (relating to
  comprehension)
• The goal is not just to learn something about
  what the word means, but to integrate what one
  can learn about the word with the rest of the
  text to construct a coherent meaning

63
Implications of understanding word learning
strategies as comprehension strategies

• Two foundations of word learning
• Strategic knowledge What do you do when you
  encounter an unfamiliar word while reading?
• Metalinguistic foundations What do you need to
  know about language and about text to apply
  strategies effectively?

64
Example of strategic knowledge

• When you come to an unfamiliar word, look for
  familiar meaningful parts
• Make a hypothesis about what the word might mean
  on the basis of its parts
• Check to see whether this hypothesis makes sense
  given the context

65
Example of metalinguistic knowledge

• Certain suffixes (e.g., -al, -ity) can change the
  pronunciation of the word to which they are added
• Derivational suffixes signal a change in part of
  speech
• Greek roots tend to have consistent meanings in
  scientific words Latin roots tend to shift in
  meaning

66
Developing strategic and metalinguistic knowledge

• Developing strategic knowledge will tend to rely
  more heavily on simulated and integrated
  activities
• Developing metalinguistic knowledge is likely to
  require separated as well as simulated
  activities, in which attention can be given to
  relationships among words not in a text

67
The complexity of word-learning strategies

• Strategic word learners know
• How to use context, word parts, dictionaries
• The limitations of context, word parts,
  dictionaries
• How to integrate information from multiple
  sources (context, word parts dictionaries)

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The complexity of word-learning strategies

• Strategic word learners also know
• When they dont know the meaning of a word
• How much they need to know about a word in order
  to understand a text well enough
• Whether the resources at hand give them enough
  information (for example, when context only gives
  partial information about a words meaning,
  whether that partial information is enough to go
  on

69
Context and ELLs

• English Language Learners, even those with high
  levels of oral proficiency in English, may be
  less sensitive to certain types of information
  supplied by context, especially syntax

70
Word-learning strategies for informational text

• How might word learning strategies look different
  for informational text?
• What are some word learning strategies that might
  be especially important for informational text?

71
How might word learning strategies look different
for informational text?

• The hard words are more likely to be central to
  the point of the text
• The text is likely to provide more explicit
  information about the meanings of new words
• The hard words are more likely to be conceptually
  complex and difficult

72
What are some word learning strategies that might
be especially important for informational text?

• Attention to informational text features and
  structures used to highlight and explain key
  terms
• Using morphology as a mnemonic rather than as a
  means for inferring word meanings
• Graphic organizers, e.g., concept of definition

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http//www.readingquest.org/strat/cdmap.html

74
Additional Resources

• Baumann, J. F., Edwards, E. C., Boland, E. M.,
  Olejnik, S., Kameenui, E. (2003). Vocabulary
  tricks Effects of instruction in morphology and
  context on fifth-grade students ability to
  derive and infer word meanings. American
  Educational Research Journal, 40(2), 447-494.
• Bear, D., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S.,
  Johnston, F. (2008). Words Their Way Word
  study for phonics, vocabulary and spelling
  instruction (fourth edition). Upper Saddle
  River, NJ Pearson
• Johnston, F., Bear, D., Invernizzi, M.(2006).
  Words Their Way Word sorts for derivational
  relations spellers. Upper Saddle River, NJ
  Pearson
• Nunes, T., Bryant, P. (2006). Improving
  Literacy by Teaching Morphemes. New York
  Routledge.
• White, T., Sowell, J., Yanagihara, A. (1989).
  Teaching elementary students to use word-part
  clues. The Reading Teacher, 42, 302-308.

75
Section Wrap-up

• See Questions on Discussion handout
• Learning to cope with new words

76
Putting it all together, with special attention
to diversity

• A multi-faceted approach to promoting vocabulary
  growth
• Carlo et al. (2004) as an example of a vocabulary
  intervention
• Promoting word consciousness
• Awareness of register, dialectal, and home
  language differences

77
A multi-faceted approach to promoting vocabulary
growth

• Four components of a vocabulary curriculum
  (Graves, 2006)
• Providing rich and varied language experiences
• Fostering word consciousness
• Teaching word-learning strategies
• Teaching individual words

78
A multi-faceted approach to promoting vocabulary
growth

• Resources for a comprehensive, multi-faceted
  approach to promoting vocabulary growth
• Graves, M. (2006). The Vocabulary Book. Newark,
  DE International Reading Association
• Stahl, S., Nagy, W. (2006). Teaching Word
  Meanings. Mahwah, NJ Erlbaum

79
Carlo et al. (2004) as an example of a vocabulary
intervention

• Carlo, M., August, D., McLaughlin, B., Snow, c.,
  Dressler, C., Lippman, D., Lively, T., White,
  C. (2004). Closing the gap Addressing the
  vocabulary needs of English-language learners in
  bilingual and mainstream classrooms. Reading
  Research Quarterly, 39(2), 188-215

80
Carlo et al. (2004)

• The participants
• 254 bilingual monolingual 5th graders
• 9 classrooms, four schools in California,
  Virginia, Massachusetts
• The intervention
• 15 weeks
• Four days a week
• 10-12 new words per week
• 30-45 minutes per day

81
Carlo et al. (2004)

• Instruction
• Monday Spanish speaking students get text in
  Spanish
• Tuesday Introduction of texts and words in
  English using context to infer meanings of some
  of the words
• Wednesday cloze tasks with target words
• Thursday depth of word knowledge word
  association tasks, synonyms antonyms, semantic
  feature analysis
• Friday word awareness root words, affixes,
  polysemy, cognates

82
Carlo et al. (2004)

• Results
• Significant gains on four out of five outcome
  measures
• Learning to be word learners Students who
  participated in the program in fourth and fifth
  grades learned more in fifth grade than those who
  didnt participate in fourth grade

83
Promoting word consciousness as a pervasive
attribute of your classroom

• Model being an appreciator of effective use of
  words
• Model being a word learner
• Students should feel safe asking about word
  meanings, without fear that they will just be
  sent to the dictionary by themselves
• (By all means, send students to the dictionary
  but go with them, or at least send them in
  groups)
• Make talk about words and language part of the
  everyday life of your classroom

84
Awareness of register, dialectal, and home
language differences

• Non-judgmental discussion of language variation
• Contrastive analysis as an aid to learning
  conventions of school language

85
Awareness of register, dialectal, and home
language differences

• Bilingualism / bidialectalism as a resource
• Metalinguistic benefits of bilingualism
• Cognates as a resource
• Translation/paraphrase as a comprehension
  strategy

86
Additional Resources

• Graves, M., Watts-Taffe, S. The place of word
  consciousness in a research-based vocabulary
  program. In A. Farstrup S. J. Samuels (Eds.),
  What Research Has to Say About Reading
  Instruction, third edition (pp. 140-165).
  Newark, DE International Reading Association.
• Nation, I. S. P. (2001). Learning Vocabulary in
  Another Language. Cambridge Cambridge
  University Press.
• Scott, J. A., Nagy, W. (2004). Developing
  word consciousness. In J. Baumann E. Kameenui
  (Eds.). Vocabulary instruction Research to
  practice (pp. 201-217). New York Guilford.

87
Section Wrap-up

• See Questions on Discussion handout
• Putting it all together, with special attention
  to diversity