Fundamentals of Teach ins Ens Iish to Speakers of Other . · Lansuases in K-12 · Mainstream Classrooms Third Edition
Hanizah Zainuddin Florida Atlantic University-Boca Raton Noorchaya Yahya Florida Atlantic University-Boca Raton Carmen A. Morales-Jones Florida Atlantic University-Boca Raton Eileen N. Whelan Ariza Florida Atlantic University-Boca Raton
Kendall Hunt publishing company Part Three: Or~anizing and Planning for New or Second Language Instruction 93 13. Integrating Language and Content, Carmen A. Morales-lones 95 14. Curriculum Design and Day-to-Day English Language Instruction, Carmen A. Morales-lones 103
Part Four: Development and Instruction of Language Skills for English Language Learners (ELLs) 127 15. English Language Listening Development and Instruction, Noorchaya Yahya 129 16. English Language Oral Development and Instruction, Noorchaya Yahya 151 17. English Language Vocabulary Development and Instruction, N oorchaya Yahya 173 18. English Language Reading Development and Instruction, Hanizah Zainuddin 193 19. English Language Writing Development and Instruction, Hanizah Zainuddin 233 20. Teaching Grammar to English Learners in the Mainstream Classroom, Linda Gerena 267
Part Five: Teaching ESOL through the Content Areas 277 21. Effective Strategies for Teaching Mathematics to English Language Learners (ELLs), Joe Furner and Barbara Ridener 279 22. Teaching ESOL through Music, Drama, and Art, Timothy Rodriguez 299 23. Teaching Science to English Language Learners, Joan Lindgren 311 24. Pedagogy to Teach Social Studies from a Global Perspective for English Language Learners, Toni Fuss Kirkwood 329 25. Special Education and the Linguistically Diverse Student, Cynthia Wilson and Margarita Bianco 339 26. Using Technology with English Learners, Eileen N. Whelan Ariza, Roberta Weber, Sherrie Sacharow, and Renee Zelden 357 Appendix A: A Rainbow of Children: A Sampler of Cultural Characteristics (Cultural Quizzes), Eileen N. Whelan Ariza 373 Appendix B: Interesting Insights and Cultural Facts, Eileen N. Whelan Ariza 397 References 399 Index 431
vi Contents chapter 17 glish Language Vocabulary evelopment and Instruction
•!• Research on teaching vocabulary to English language learners (ELLs) •!• Difficulties faced by English language learners (ELLs) in learning vocabulary •!• Some strategies/ski lis of teaching/learning vocabulary for ELLs •!• Techniques of teaching vocabulary for multiple levels of language pronciency •!• Alternative assessments for vocabulary learning
The mind remembers what the mind does. -Rivers, 1981 Mr. Olson is a first-grade teacher. He uses thematic units in his class. This week, his class is learning about ocean life. He incorporates content area centers such as social studies, science, and math into his lessons. All these centers consist of tasks that contain literacy skills. As Mr. Olson teaches the math, social studies, and science concepts, he also teaches to the language objectives. Today, his class is learning new words such as hermit crab, symbiosis, camouflage, and schools of fish, and they are introduced through total physical response and the use of realia. Mr. Olson shows his students a real hermit crab. For the phrase "schools of fish," he asks students to act out the movement of schools of fish by moving as a group. He then asks students to write sentences using these new words in their discovery journal. Mr. Olson always ends his lesson by reviewing the vocabulary words as a means of assessing his students' level of comprehension of the concepts.
173 Introduction word vocabulary such as blackbird, teapot, table scraps, etc. Examples of set phrases are in other Many second language learners can attest that when words, not in other terms; the bottom line, not the they are faced with an unfamiliar text in a nonnative lowest line; all of a sudden, not most of a sudden. A language, their first challenge seems to be its vocabu good example that Keith Folse (2004b) used for a lary. When texts have many new words, students variable phrase is, It has come to my attention that quickly despair and are discouraged. A key compo ... If one receives a letter that starts out this way, it nent of reading ability is vocabulary. Therefore, there usually does not contain a good message. Therefore, is no doubt that there is a close connection between this is an example that the learner needs to know that vocabulary knowledge and success in reading com the whole phrase is a single phrase or single vocabu prehension tests, as shown in many studies. Research lary item. Native speakers use phrasal verbs all the ers (Alderson, 1984; James, 1996; Laufer, 1992, time and do not understand why they are difficult for 1997) have reported the relationship between L2 vo L2 learners. A phrasal verb consists of two or three cabulary knowledge and L2 reading ability. Huckin words. The first word is always a verb and the sec and Bloch (1993), when discussing the cognitive ond is a preposition or particle/adverb. If there's a model of strategies that L2learners make use of when third word, it is usually a preposition. Examples of they attempt to infer an unknown word's meaning, phrasal verbs are: put away, put on, put off, come stated, "Research has shown that second language back, come off, come up, come down with. Exam readers rely heavily on vocabulary knowledge, and ples of idioms are feeling blue, selling like hotcakes, that a lack of vocabulary knowledge is the largest break a leg, etc. obstacle for second-language readers to overcome" (p. 154). Laufer and Sim (1985) found that vocabu lary is most important, syntax least important. Folse Why Is Vocabulary Difficult for English . (2004b) stated, "While correlation does not necessar Language Learners? ily imply causality, the fact is that empirical studies English language learners experience difficulties in have shown that good L2 readers, writers, speakers, learning L2 vocabulary because they have to relabel and listeners have a more extensive vocabulary under familiar concepts with foreign terminologies. These their control" (p. 28). new vocabulary items have to be learned and stored in their long-term memory, and their retrieval ini tially may not be easy. What Is Vocabulary Learnin~? Jiang (2004) explains the difference between L1 children's vocabulary acquisition and adult L2 vo Vocabulary learning is more than the study of indi cabulary acquisition as follows: vidual words. Nattinger and DeCarrico (1992) ob served that a significant amount of the English lan Adult L2 learners often do not have as much guage is made up of lexical phrasal verbs (two or contextualized input as children, which makes three words) to longer institutionalized expressions the extraction and integration of lexical mean (Lewis, 1993, 1997). Lexical phrases can often be ings difficult. More important, adults already learned as single units, so the principles of learning possess a well-established conceptual and lexi them are similar to those for learning individual cal system, and most L2 words have a corre words. Keith Folse (2004b) categorized vocabulary spondent concept and translation in the adult for second language learners as single words, set learner's first language (L1). Thus there's little phrases, variable phrases, phrasal verbs, and idioms. need for them to learn new concepts or mean Examples of single words are animals: alligator, ings while learning L2 words, at least at the lions; countries: Malaysia, Iran, Brunei; actions in early stages of L2 acquisition. The lack of the past: slept, ate, played football; descriptions: contextualized input and the presence of an ex excited, sad, lazy. This group also contains multi- isting conceptual and L 1 system make adult L2
1 74 Part Four: Development and Instruction of Language Skills for English Language Learners uisition fundamentally different from vo ing, explicit instruction, and independent strategy. acquisition in the L1. When children Incidental learning of vocabulary is defined as an new words in their L1, they learn words approach that requires teachers to provide opportu concepts at the same time. As a result, word nities for extensive reading and listening. Explicit form and meaning are often inseparable. Thus, instruction involves diagnosing the words learners when children or adults see a word in their L1, need to know, presenting words for the first time, its meaning becomes available automatically. elaborating word knowledge, and developing fluency When people speak in their L1, the retrieval of with known words. Hunt and Beglar (1998) defined lexical forms is usually spontaneous and effort independent strategy as an approach that involves less. In contrast, adult L2 vocabulary acquisition practicing guessing from context and training learn is accompanied by little conceptual or semantic ers to use dictionaries. They also caution teachers development. Instead, the existing L1linguistic that students' level of language proficiency has to ·and conceptual systems are actively involved in be considered when choosing each approach. They sec the L2 learning process (p. 417). propose that, in general, explicit instruction is best ~·s a Four other factors contribute to the difficulties used with students who are at the beginning and in :s of experience while learning English vocabulary. termediate levels, because at these levels, students' Jme is confusion over synonyms, resulting in the use vocabularies are limited. For intermediate and ad am inappropriate synonyms. For example, English vanced learners, vocabulary learning is suggested kes, lan.gmtge learners may say, "My brother is long and through the use of extensive reading and listening, instead of "tall and thin." This may be due to and it is best to train students to use the dictionary fact that in ELLs' L 1, a distinction is not made earlier in the curriculum. n~rwef~n the synonyms long and tall. In English, the expression that the tea is strong is used, whereas in Incidental Learning Chinese the collocation is "thick tea." Another factor Nagy, Herman, and Anderson (1985) stated that sin is using circumlocution in place of an exact word as most words in first and second languages are prob tbel a result of a lack of one-to-one correspondence be ably learned incidentally through extensive reading 1ese tween the words in L1 and English. For example, and listening. In their study, they found that for na 'red English language learners may say, "A lady who is tive speakers of English, learning vocabulary from ini- carrying a baby" instead of saying the word "preg context is a gradual process. They estimated that, nant." A third issue is false cognates, words such as given a single exposure to an unfamiliar word, there L1 embrassa (which does not mean embarrassed; it was about a 10% chance of learning its meaning vo- means pregnant in Spanish), may be used. Idiomatic from context. Likewise, L2 learners can be expected expressions by far are the most difficult domain of to require many exposures to a word in context be tch vocabulary learning for English language learners. fore understanding its meaning. Several recent stud ces For instance, ELLs will take these idiomatic expres ies have corroborated their statement confirming that m sions literally. Expressions like break a leg, lost his incidental L2 vocabulary learning through reading :dy marbles, and green with envy may all be confusing does occur (Chun and Plass, 1996; Day, Omura, and xi for ELLs. Hiramatsu, 1991; Hulstijn, Hollander, and Greida re With learning strategies and practice, English nus, 1996; Zimmerman, 1997). Extensive listening ult language learners will be able to acquire the new is also found to increase vocabulary learning (Elley, tle vocabulary and expressions. 1989). m he Research on Vocabulary Teaching Explicit Instruction of Hunt and Beglar (1998) proposed a systematic frame For second language learners entering a university, :x- Laufer (1992) found that knowing a minimum of .__2 work for instruction of vocabulary development through the use of three approaches: incidental learn- about 3,000 words was required for effective read-
Chapter 17: English Language Vocabulary Development and Instruction 17 5 ing at the university level, whereas knowing 5,000 (VLSs). In vocabulary learning, she found two dis words indicated likely academic success. Coady tinct approaches among learners: structured and un ( 1997) proposed that beginners should supplement structured. Learners who use the structured approach their extensive reading with study of the 3,000 most do something and do it consistently; they engage in frequently used words until the words' form and independent study, initiate learning activities and meaning become automatically recognized (i.e., op~ortunities, record the lexical items being learned, "sight vocabulary"). review vocabulary notes, and practice the vocabu lary outside class. Learners who use the unstructured Independent Strategy Development approach either do not use any of these strategies or One of the principles of Independent Strategy De do not use them consistently. Sanaoui (1995) made a velopment is guessing from context. Studies have strong case for VLSs teaching. She suggested that shown that guessing from context is a complex and class time be spent on assisting students to become often difficult strategy to carry out successfully. To autonomous learners who can work on vocabulary guess successfully from context, learners need to development independently inside or outside the know about 19 out of 20 words (95%) of a text, classroom. which requires knowing the 3,000 most common Sabo and Lightbown (1999) surveyed 90 stu words. In addition, learners need to know the same dents on their use of strategies in learning English part of speech as the unknown word. They should vocabulary. They found that students with higher also break down the unknown word into parts ("re levels of achievement had more frequent and elabo write" becomes "re + write") and determine if the rate strategy use. In addition, they found that two meaning of the parts matches the meaning of the factors that contribute to these learners' success of unknown word. Another principle within the Inde vocabulary learning are the time they spent on task pendent Strategy Development is to teach students and learner independence. Students who spent more how to use dictionaries. Use of bilingual dictionaries time on the task-by studying, initiating opportuni has been found to result in vocabulary learning ties for practicing vocabulary, and being exposed to (Knight, 1994; Luppescu and Day, 1993). Hulstijn, the target items-and those who can learn indepen Hollander, and Greidanus (1996) showed that com dently seem to be the ones who are more successful pared with incidental learning, repeated exposure to at vocabulary learning (cited in Folse, 2004b). words combined with marginal glosses or bilingual The effect of metacognitive strategy training dictionary use led to increased learning for advanced was studied by Rasekh and Ranjbary (2003). Fifty learners. Luppescu and Day's (1993) study on Japa three Iranian college-age ELL students participated nese students reports that use of bilingual dictionar in their study. The students were randomly assigned ies resulted in vocabulary learning unless the unfa into the control and experimental groups. Both miliar word had numerous entries, in which case the classes were subjected to the same variables: text dictionaries may have confused learners. Knight book, instructor, and instruction time. The only dif (1994) found that use of a bilingual dictionary may ference between the two groups was that the experi be much more likely to help lower-proficiency learn mental group received explicit instruction in ers in reading comprehension because their lack of metacognitive strategies; for ten weeks, the students vocabulary can be a significant factor in their ability in this group were reminded of strategy use; appro to read. Laufer and Hadar (1997) found that students priate strategies for various words were discussed. who use bilingualized dictionaries that contain L2 Both groups took the vocabulary posttest at the end definitions, L2 sentence examples, as well as L1 of the course. The researchers found that the experi synonyms had better comprehension of new words mental group had higher vocabulary scores than the than students who used either bilingual or monolin control group. gual dictionaries. Rasekh and Ranjbany (2003) concluded as Sanaoui (1995) conducted one of the most im follows: portant studies on vocabulary learning strategies
176 Part Four: Development and Instruction of Language Skills for English Language Learners explicit instruction and practice the experi opener and label them with the different el f etn.ents o group received about how to plan their 1 h a ever. Then t e teacher. . connects the new w Ords to uv~ Chapter 17: English Language Vocabulary Development and Instruction 177 will not make students retain vocabulary efficiently key word technique. Learners remember words without further off-line effort by the learners. Her better when a word is associated with a visual study supports the literature that incidental vocabu image. lary learning is not particularly efficient; therefore, 6. Teachers can add various L2 information to the intentional learning should be encouraged. cards for further elaboration. Learners can con One way to promote vocabulary development sciously associate newly met words with other is through sustained silent reading (SSR) that teach L2 words that they know and add these words to ers can use in class. Once students develop the the card. In addition, they can add sentence ex ability to read in a sustained fashion, then most of amples, parts of speech, definitions, and key the reading should be done outside class. Another word images. strategy for vocabulary development is through the learning of word-pair translation; vocabulary cards In teaching vocabulary, teachers should also be should be used because learners can control the aware of receptive and productive knowledge. Re order in which they study the words. Moreover, ceptive knowledge means being able to recognize additional information can be added to the cards. one of the aspects of knowledge through reading and When teaching unfamiliar vocabulary, teachers listening, and productive knowledge means being need to consider the following: able to use it in speaking and writing. Therefore, teachers should be selective when deciding which 1. Students need to hear the pronunciation and words deserve deeper receptive and/or productive practice saying the word aloud in addition to practice as well as which types of knowledge will be just seeing the form, because the stress patterns most useful for their students. of the words are important. Words are stored in Students can be taught to elaborate word knowl the memory in both ways. edge through expanding the connections between 2. Students should start learning vocabulary by learners' knowledge and new information. Students learning semantically unrelated words. They can choose L2 words from the surrounding context should avoid learning words with similar forms and then explain the connections to the recently and closely related meanings at the same time. learned word (Prince, 1996). Nation (1994) sug For example, "affect" and "effect" have similar gested that teachers should create opportunities to forms and are likely to cause confusion. Like meet these useful, recently learned words in new wise, words with similar, opposite, or closely contexts that provide new collocations and associa associated meanings may interfere with one an tions. Exercises that can deepen students' knowledge other if studied at the same time. of words include sorting lists of words and deciding 3. Students should be encouraged to study words on the categories; making semantic maps with lists regularly over several short sessions instead of either provided by the teacher or generated by the studying them for one or two longer sessions. learners; generating derivatives, inflections, syn Repetition and review should take place almost onyms, and antonyms of a word; making the trees immediately after studying a word for the first that show the relationships among superordinates, time. coordinates, and specific examples; identifying or 4. Students should study five to seven words at a generating associated words; combining phrases time, dividing larger numbers of words into from several columns; matching parts of colloca smaller groups. As learners review these five to tions using two columns; completing collocations as seven vocabulary cards, they will more quickly a cloze activity; and playing collocation crossword get repeated exposure to the words than when puzzles or bingo. larger numbers of words (20-30) are studied. Teachers should provide students with opportu 5. To promote deeper mental processing and bet nities that build fluency. An activity that promotes ter retention, teachers can use activities like the fluency includes the recycling of already known 178 Part Four: Development and Instruction of Language Skills for English Language Learners familiar grammatical and organizational Techniques of Teach ins that students can focus on recognizing or without hesitation. Other activities that Vocabulary for Multiple Levels fluency include the development of sight through extensive reading and studying Beginning Level ~o,;nPt1r.v vocabulary. Fluency exercises in English language learners who are at the beginning and paced readings. In timed reading, level stage of English proficiency either may have can increase their speed by sliding a 3 X no word recognition at all or may possess a very piece of paper down the page while attempt limited amount of word recognition-spoken or . understand 80% of a passage. Learners' prac written. Students at this level may frequently misuse be looking up groups of words rather words, making communicating with others difficult individual words when reading. Students can because of limited vocabulary. Teachers can use timed reading on passages that have already several strategies to help these learners develop read. In paced readings, the teacher determines word recognition at this level. Word families help time and pushes the learners to read faster. One these learners to handle learning new words in a of paced reading is a "reading sprint," in which manageable way because students can be taught to read their pleasure reading book for five separate onset and rimes in a word. For instance, the and count the number of pages they have teacher can introduce the rime -en, and students and . Then they try to read the same number of teachers can collectively brainstorm for words that as the time decreases from five minutes, to they can form using this rime with different onsets, to three, to two for each sprint. Finally, they such asp, h, d, t, m. "Word family flaps" is an activ for five minutes again at a relaxed pace and ity that uses word families. Each student will have a the number of pages they have finished. specific word family to work with. Each student will Students should be trained to use dictionaries. get a premade flap card-a piece of paper folded in nfortunately, in most classrooms, very little time is half, lengthwise, and then cut so that there is one provided for training in dictionary use. Students may empty space and three flaps. On the empty space, the need extra practice to locate words with many en child will write the word family (e.g., -ake). On the tries. Furthermore, learners need to be taught to use underside of each flap, the child will draw a picture all the information in an entry before making con of a word made from that word family (cake, lake, clusions about the meaning of a word. Learners rake). On the top of the flap "cake," the child will should be alerted to the value of good sentence ex write the letter "C" to indicate what letter was added amples that provide collocational, grammatical, and to the word family to make the word. All the chil pragmatic information about words. Teachers should dren's flaps will be bound together and posted in the also emphasize the importance of checking a word's classroom for practice saying words. original context carefully and comparing this to the Another enjoyable activity for these students is entry chosen, because context determines which the creation of a word wheel, wherein the rimes sense of a word is being used. Teachers should also match with the onsets to form words as they turn the explore electronic dictionaries with multimedia an wheel. Another strategy that teachers can use is to notations, which offer a further option for teachers provide these learners with words that have root and learners. Teachers may want to investigate the words that originate from their native language. For CD-ROM dictionaries published by Collins CO instance, Spanish learners may recognize the word BUILD, Longman, and Oxford. However, these CD denture from the Spanish word dentadura. Teachers ROM dictionaries do not link most of their entries to can then explain that diente means "teeth" in Eng a visual image. The one exception is The New Ox lish. This will not only help students to bridge new ford Picture Dictionary CD-ROM (1997), which knowledge to old, but helps them later in searching includes 2,400 illustrated words (mainly concrete for and recognizing words with root meaning (e.g., nouns) and is available in a bilingual version. dentist, dental, orthodontist). For other languages Chapter 17: English Language Vocabulary Development and Instruction 179 that may not have the same root words as English, 2. Attending to the meaning of a part or several such as the Asian languages, teachers can teach stu parts of a word dents to look up etymologies of words in the diction 3. Noting the structure of part or all of the word ary. Likewise, students can learn about cognates. 4. Placing the word in the topic group to which it Teachers should also adapt vocabulary lists for belongs students by choosing between five to eight words 5. Visualizing the word in isolation or in a written that have root meanings that come from their native context language. 6. Linking the word to the situation in which it At this level, teachers can utilize fun activities to appeared reinforce the already taught vocabulary by having 7. Creating a mental image of the word the students play a word grab-with-song activity. 8. Associating some physical sensation to the This is a simple activity that does not require a lot of word preparation. For this activity, the teacher needs a 9. Associating the word to a key word song that students know most of the words from and a stack of word cards. The word cards are placed on In applying this list and assuming that the native the board using putty (blue tack) or magnetic strips. language is English and we are learning Malay as The teacher lines students up in two rows, and she our second language, the following would be plays the song. As the song is playing, each student appropriate: in each row will walk up and grab the word he or she heard in the song. This is a great word recogni 1. Linking the word to the sound of an L 1 word, tion activity for beginning learners. the sound of an L2 word, or a sound of a word in A gamelike activity that teachers can use to another language. Suppose a student wants to teach word association is called "What's the Word?" learn the Malay word bendara ("flag"), for ex On an index card, the teacher writes a word, for ex ample. In remembering the word bendara, he/ ample, school, and writes four or five key words that she could think of the English word banner, cannot be used to describe that particular word (e.g., because it has a similar sound. teachers, blackboards, students, desks, tests). Any 2. Attending to the meaning of a part or several other words can be used except for the words written parts of a word. To remember the Malay word on the index card. Students then guess the word on perjalanan ("journey"), a student may associate the index card. Another recognition activity that is with part of the word, jalan ("road"). suitable for beginning students is the "Chime-In" 3. Noting the structure of part or all of the word. A poster. Students are invited to repeat a word and student may learn the Malay word terbang write its beginning letter on an index card. For in ("fly") from the already learned word kapal ter stance, when a student sees the word man, the stu bang ("airplane"). dent says the word and then says the first letter of 4. Placing the word in the topic group to which it the word, which is /mmm/. belongs. These Malay words can be categorized in the category for greetings: Selamat pagi ("Good morning"), Selamat tengahari ("Good Using Mnemonic Associations afternoon"), Selamat malam ("Good night"). Learners can learn and remember words through 5. Visualizing the word in isolation or in a written mnemonic links. Cohen (1990) suggested nine types context. Visualizing the word in isolation in of mnemonic associations: volves remembering of the configuration of the word; for instance, the student can memorize the 1. Linking the word to the sound of an Ll word, Malay word makan ("eat") by remembering that to the sound of an L2 word, or to a sound of a it has two a's or it has a kin the middle of the word in another language word. 180 Part Four: Development and Instruction of Language Skills for English Language Learners ;!)11L1'-U''t> the word to the situation in which it Beep It, Write It, and Frame It .·-~·~., ..,.n A student first heard the Malay word This strategy is best used with new English language ("sleep") when someone said that Alan learners. Students are asked to sound the words out, in class. He/she could remember it by write them out in the air, and use imagery to frame the situation in which it was heard them in their mind. Students tend to learn the vo in this case, the situation of Alan sleeping cabulary words better when they learn and remem class. ber the words in many different ways: pronouncing ·r'--.n""".. a mental image. A student can learn the them out, kinesthetically writing the words out in the Malay word senyum ("smile") by picturing the air, and then visualizing the words in their head. image of his/her mom smiling at him/her. Associating some physical sensation to the word. A student may remember how faces Enrichment Packets . ~scrunch up when people eat a sour mango, which Along with teaching vocabulary items using pic then reminds the learner of the Malay word rna tures, teachers can--on their own or with the help of sam ("sour"). students--create vocabulary packages by using de Associating the word to a keyword. The Malay partment store catalogues. Using these catalogues word hujan can be learned by first thinking of offers teachers and students a natural categorization the English word "hurricane" as the key word of vocabulary words, especially nouns. The catego and then have the mental image of the down- ries range from furniture to sports to clothing. For ord, pour. To retrieve the meaning of hujan, evoke instance, under the category of clothing, teachers •din the word "hurricane," which in tum will reevoke can cut and mount the pictures of different types of :s to the image of the downpour. This strategy com clothing on index cards. Words that describe the ex- bines strategies 1 and 7. items are listed on the back of the cards. Students he/ can work individually using these enrichment pack ner, Flash Cards ages, or they can work in groups to sort the picture cards out and learn the new vocabulary items. Stu eral Picture Flash Cards dents can create their own dictionary based on the 10rd Beginning learners can prepare words on small flash words that they want to learn. :iate cards. Individual words are written on the front of the flash cards, and students can draw pictures on d. A the back. Flash cards should be made small so that Semantic Maps or Word Webs ang learners can transport them easily from one place to Semantic maps or word webs can work both ways: ter- another so that they can study the words. convergent or divergent. In the convergent approach, teachers draw a circle with arrows pointing inward. ;hit Native Language Flash Cards Each arrow is linked to another smaller circle. For ized Learners can also make flash cards that contain na instance, the teacher fills in six smaller circles with 1agi tive language meanings of words on the back of the words/pictures such as glove, bat, ball, bases, um rood cards or native language mnemonics that will re pire, and players. Students then guess the word in ). mind them of the target language words that they are the larger circle that is in the middle-baseball. For itten learning. the divergent approach, the teacher draws a circle tin- Teachers can monitor students' learning of new with arrows pointing outward. At the tip of each ar o the vocabularies by giving bonus points to students who row is a word that contains similar meanings to the Hhe create their own flash cards and an inventory of flash word in the big circle. For instance, the teacher that cards. Students can exchange an inventory of flash writes the word happy in the big circle. Students can o the cards with their peers in the classroom. fill in the smaller circles surrounding the big circle with pleased, glad, joyful, delighted, or thrilled. Chapter 17: English Language Vocabulary Development and Instruction 181 Songs Beneath My Wings," for instance, teachers can ask Teachers who use songs in the classroom allow their following questions: beginning English language learners to "hide behind What does the phrase wind beneath my wings the music" (McDonald, 1984). McDonald stated: mean? . . . avoids the heat of a spotlight landing on a What does the phrase flying higher than an timid student. It also warps the students' percep eagle connote? · tions of how difficult it is to use the new lan What does the phrase content to let me shine guage. The result is ... a loss of certain inhibi mean? tions, a new respect for one's own voice and the learning of whatever vocabulary, grammar and List words that describe the admiration the punctuation the song has to offer (p. 43). singer has for her hero. The repetitive nature of words in the chorus part of songs makes learning words for beginning learn Games ers easier as well as enjoyable. These students can Teachers can use commercially made games such as chime in only on the chorus parts of the songs, Pictionary, Scrabble, Password, Hangman, and Jeop which will make learning the words manageable. ardy, or students can create their own games while Because they will be singing the song alongside the learning new words. The famous game show "Who other students, they will be less intimidated by the Wants to Be a Millionaire?" can be adapted to search task of producing the sounds of the target language. for meanings of words students have learned from A catchy tune rings in these learners' ears and makes literature reading or content areas. In the more com them want to repeat the words of the song over and petitive and kinesthetic game Fly Swatter, teachers over. This repetition reinforces their learning of write words on the board or a poster board and put new words and grammatical structure. The use of students in two teams. Each team has a fly swatter. songs offers a variety to the classroom structure and When the teacher reads the definitions of the words, takes away the monotony of a classroom routine one student from each team walks up to the board in which students only read and write. Singing and swats the word that fits the definition. The stu will lower students' affective filter and make them dent who swats the correct word first gets a point for want to learn because of the gaiety and fun-filled his or her team. This game is a lot of fun, and stu atmosphere. dents learn vocabulary words without realizing that Activities that utilize songs can offer practice they are learning. with similes, metaphors, and vocabulary learning. A crossword puzzle is a common game that stu The words and combination of words in similes and dents enjoy as they are challenged to link meanings metaphors are some of the more difficult features of with vocabulary terms. Software programs are avail the language for nonnative speakers. Certain songs able that allow teachers to construct their own cross contain a lot of similes or metaphors. Songs such as word puzzles or games that they can use to teach "The Traveler" have phrases such as "riding like the different sets of words to students. When students wind" and "like a crazy fool." The song "The Green, encounter words, new and old, and discuss these Green Grass of Home" contains expressions such as words in terms of meanings, origin, and analysis, "lips like cherries." Bette Midler's song "Wind Be they will incorporate them into their daily use in neath My Wings" is rich with similes and metaphors speech as well as writing. that English language learners can learn from in a fun way. Many songs contain words that deal with a Teaching Vocabulary through TPR particular theme or emotion. Students can be asked to identify various words, and then they can form Asher (1972) first reported the field testing of teach clusters of words. By teaching vocabulary words for ing language using commands. He called the method literal and nonliteral meanings using the song "Wind total physical response (TPR). Teachers can teach 182 Part Four: Development and Instruction of Language Skills for English Language Learners .,.,n""''"' learners using commands or mime--chil- Structural Analysis like to imitate and love to role-play. Action In structural analysis, students are taught a simple like cry, laugh, tremble, eat, run, and hop can technique of using word parts to determine meaning. acted out easily by newcomers to the target Because there are many affixes in the English lan without having to produce the sounds of guage, teachers can teach students to locate word words. The beginners may find this strategy of meanings by showing them prefixes and suffixes in vocabulary less intimidating and fun to do. words that can determine part of the meaning of the can easily use short poems from Silver words. For instance, the words bimonthly, rephrase, collection of poems for students to act out. and semicircle are words that can be taught using the chants are other examples of materials that stu structural analysis-parts of the words such as bi can use in a TPR activity when learning new ("two"), re ("again") and semi ("half') give students clues to the meanings of the words. Intermediate learners possess a little more of the language and are able to learn new vocabulary through a semantic feature analysis technique in ,.._,.. A'""' language learners who are at the intermedi which they have to categorize and recognize the re level frequently use wrong words, and their vo lationship of interrelated terms. This technique is cabularies are inadequate for a smooth conversation. best used at the end of a unit of study. Teachers cre Terms may be used inappropriately due to con ate a matrix of columns and rows. For instance, in straints in lexical usage. They may be able to use teaching vocabulary words from a literature book, some idiomatic expressions that approximate those Red Riding Hood, teachers can set up the table of the native speakers. Vocabulary teaching strate shown in Figure 17-1. gies that teachers can use with these learners. include structural analysis, semantic feature analysis, cate gorization, and dictionary use. 11 .. 1 Small, Big, Human Animal Vulnerable Uses Deceit Wolf Red Riding Hood Hunter Semantic Feature Analysis for Red Riding Hood Chapter 17: English Language Vocabulary Development and Instruction 18) First, a grid of rows and columns is created. The •!• What part of speech is it? topic or concept is placed above the grid as a title •!• If it is a noun, is it countable or (characteristics of characters in Red Riding Hood). uncountable? Down the first column on the left, members of the •!• If it is a verb, does it take an object? topic or concept or word (wolf) are listed. Across the •!• Look at the example and note the similarity top row, the features or attributes of the members of in their sentence patterns. the topic or concept or word (e.g., human, animal, •!• Copy these patterns to write a new uses deceit) are placed. Spaces can be added to en sentence. able students to add their own attributes of the word •!• Have each group write its sentence on the or concept. Students then determine which charac board and discuss the results. teristics belong to each member of the concepts un der study, and place Xs in those boxes. A follow-up Another activity that teachers can use is the fol discussion of these words or concepts will help stu lowing (Rutledge, 1994). dents have a better comprehension of the usage of Introduce students to a dictionary of synonyms. these words or concepts in context. Give students a short passage in which several words are identified as key words. Have the students sup ply synonyms for the key words by looking them up Dictionary Use from the dictionary of synonyms. Students can also Dictionaries are usually used to find out the meaning attempt to write sentences using the words they of unknown words. However, a lot of information is found in the dictionary that are synonymous to the contained in dictionaries that learners can access to key words the teachers identified. use vocabulary productively. A strategy that teachers can implement with the The following activities are examples of how use of a dictionary is to teach students how to deal teachers can teach vocabulary through the use of a with polysemous words (Folse, 2004b). Many Eng dictionary. Teachers can write an unfamiliar word on lish words have multiple meanings. When learners the board and tell the learners to form groups. Then look up the unknown words in their monolingual or learners are asked to follow these steps to gather bilingual dictionary, they often have to decide which information about the word that will help them write meaning they should select. Teachers should teach an original sentence containing the word (Nation, this skill explicitly and have students practice it. 1994): Teachers should find high-frequency words for this dictionary activity. Look at the following example 1. Find the meaning of the word. from Intermediate Reading Practices, 3rd edition 2. Use the grammar notes and an example in the (Folse, 2004a): dictionary to find out about the grammar of the word. 184 Part Four: Development and Instruction of Language Skills for English Language Learners Usage: Definitions and Contexts Read this entry, and answer the questions by placing a check (.I) by the correct answer. Form (form) n. 1. The shape or structure of something. 2. Avariety or kind of: form of ocean life. 3. A paper or application with blanks of information. 4. Condition, especially about health or fitness. 5. A change in a word, vt 1. Make or shape. 2. Organize. Vi Take shape; develop [Middle English forme, Fourme, from Old French, from Latin forma, form, shape] the meaning or context that form has in each sentence Please complete this form. ___n.1 n.2 ___n.3 ___n.4 ___n.5 He won because he was in excellent form. ___n.4 s. ___n.1 n.2 ___n.3 ___n.5 ls ,_ Did you learn those irregular verb forms? p _ __n.1 n.2 ___n.3 ___n.4 ___n.5 0 y e Of course, in addition to these strategies, songs, Another variation of the personal dictionary is games, and TPR can also be used to teach vocabu Vocabulary Figures. Students can choose to draw e lary to intermediate learners. The level of difficulty any figure they want. They then divide the figure tl for these learners will have to be varied from that of into four parts (refer to Figure 17 -3). Other items ·- the beginners. that can be included in the figure are synonyms, ant s ELLs can create their own personal dictionaries onyms, context clues, and words/phrases that go r by selecting their own organizing principle: subject with the selected words. h. specific, alphabetical, general/technical, or social/ 1 academic (Reiss, 2008). Students can include their native language in the dictionary. An example of a s personal dictionary is shown in Figure 17-2. 1 English Portugese pencil sharpener o apontador de lapis student a aluna Vocabulary Figures Another strategy that teachers can use to teach white board o quadro vocabulary items is through the use of a text analysis bran co Web site that can help you narrow down the words that you really need to teach. One such site is The desk a carteira Compleat Lexical Tutor developed by the Universite de Quebec a Montreal. The Web address is http:// www.lextutor.ca/vp/eng. There is a space on this site Personal Dictionary Theme: Classroom that you can either type or paste your text and sub- Chapter 17: English Language Vocabulary Development and Instruction 18 5 mit it. Within seconds, a color-coded vocabulary sition, especially the learning of vocabulary, is sup profile of the text will appear. This color-coded pro ported. In this unit, students are to (a) describe file represents four different frequency types (Reiss, how archeologists learned about the building of 2008): pyramids, (b) describe five discoveries made by ar cheologists during the exploration of the pyramids, •!• The most frequent 1,000 word families and (c) define and correctly use the following vo •!• The second 1,000 most frequent word families cabulary: pyramids; evidence, excavation, architec •!• Academic Word list, or words that are common ture, and sepulchral chambers. In the first lesson across all subject domains plan on this unit, teachers can include the following •!• Off-List Words: topic specific, technical, and/or activities: infrequently used words; also dates, place names, and names of people 1. Brainstorm words about pyramids that students already know. Based on the result of the text that teachers in 2. Create an interactive "Word Wall" using the put, they can prioritize the words that they want brainstormed words. students to learn. 3. Group the reading of the first five pages of the chapter. 4. Invite students to select words from their Vocabulary Teach ins in Content reading to add to the Word Wall. Areas 5. Complete the first section of the graphic organizer listing initial steps used by the Content areas teachers must teach to two objectives: archeologists. language and content. Besides teaching concepts 6. Include in the graphic organizer words from within math, science, and social studies, teachers the Word Wall (pyramid, evidence, excavation, must make a point to teach key content vocabulary architecture, and sepulchral chambers). as well as elements of language structure and func tional language use. Language objectives should be The subsequent lesson plans in this unit will identified in lesson plans, introduced to students at contain the review of key words taught in the first the beginning of the lesson, and reviewed through unit. Students will continue to extend the Word Wall out the lesson (Echevarria, Vogt, and Short, 2000). to include other words they learn throughout the Analogy, the process of linking newly learned words unit, and they will be challenged to articulate the to other words with the same structure or pattern, key vocabulary orally and in writing. During this can help learners develop key vocabulary. Teachers unit of study on pyramids, many terms and phrases can teach and review vocabulary items using anal related to pyramids are introduced, discussed in the ogy. For instance, in a seventh grade world culture text, and included on the Word Wall, graphic orga class, students learn that Muslims are monotheistic nizer, and worksheet. However, teachers can still (i.e., they believe in one God). The word mono limit the number of words students are expected to (meaning one) in this lesson is emphasized. Students master to five or six. This is one way in which teach then are referred to other words with the same mor ers use scaffolding techniques in helping English pheme (e.g., monopoly, monogyny, monologue). language learners learn English vocabulary through Teachers can review and recycle words drawing content area study. A note on using a Word Wall: students' attention to tense, parts of speech, and sen Words should be organized around a theme and tence structure. Students become familiar with the placed in categories to facilitate and speed up the newly learned words and English structure as teach learning of new words. For real beginners, however, ers repeat and reinforce language patterns. Let us some of these vocabulary words can be explained examine a teaching scenario of a social studies unit through the use of picture files or a bilingual diction on Egypt in which students' second language acqui- ary. The Oxford Picture Dictionary for the Content 186 Part Four: Development and Instruction of Language Skills for English Language Learners 17-4) is a great resource for content tory, U.S. History, etc. There are clear pictures that in their class. Examples of topics in match the content area key vocabulary items in the are The U.S. and the World, World His- unit, and they are theme-based. Asia, Africa, and Australia Rel1g1ons and Important Features 1. Buddhism 2. Christianity 3. Confucianism 4. Great Barrier Reef 5. Great Pyramid 6. Hinduism 7.1slam 8. Judaism on, .vill tirst Vall the 9. Mount Everest 10. Nile River 11. Sahara 12. Sikhism the :his .ses the ga till I to :::h 13. Shinto 14. Taoism 15. Uluru 16. Victoria Falls ish Ask About the Past tgh Ask Where did . .. start? to find out Look at the maps. Ask and answer til: where something started. questions about where religions started. nd Where did Islam start? A: Where did Buddhism start? he B: Buddhism started in _____ er, Use ... started to answer the question. B: Where did start? ed Islam started in Saudi Arabia. lll A: ------nt Example from the Oxford Picture Dictionary for the Content Areas (Adapted) Chapter 17: English Language Vocabulary Development and Instruction 187 :1FIGURE 17·4 (continued) Pacific Ocean Indian Ocean Africa Australia and Oceania N Pacific Ocean Indian ~ TasmanSea Ocean ~ Example from the Oxford Picture Dictionary for the Content Areas (Adapted) 188 Part Four: Development and Instruction of Language Skills for English Language Learners modalities of introducing vocabu or antonym or key connecting word, and a brief ex ·'li:1'-,1.,_,..... ~ learners in learning the new vo- ample that does not have to be a whole sentence, just a good collocation. "Vertical pairings" is one of the then can incorporate the ongoing vo four retrieval possibilities that Folse (2004b) sug in this unit in their individual word gested that allow the following question/prompt-to (Bear et al., 2000). A student-made per answer pairings: (1) word-synonym, (2) synonym that includes frequently used words word, (3) translation~ollocation, (4) collocation is an individual word study book. Bear translation. Learners are asked to fold the page recommend that vocabulary in word vertically so that the only one column (i.e., the entire be organized by English language struc left column for #1 and #2 or the entire right column as listing together all the words studied so for #3 or #4) is visible. Learners should then cover end in -ion, -sion, and -tation. This may the entire column with another piece of paper or be a useful framework. Another way to use large card. Students should fold the right column study book is to group words according to under the left column if they want to retrieve an pollution-related words). English synonym or definition of the vocabulary. (2004b) suggested a strategy that put When this is done, only half of the page (vertically) 's research findings on "structured approach" is visible (i.e., the left half). Everything in the col practice. He recommended that teachers teach umn should be covered up except the very top word, to keep a vocabulary notebook that pro and then students work their way down the page student retrieval practice. Folse (2004b, p. exposing only the vocabulary word at first, pausing stated that "one of the most important factors in to recall/retrieve the synonym, and then the cover is a word is the number of times that the pulled down to uncover the correct answer. For the retrieves it." One way of keeping a vocabu retrieval of the target word from the synonym, learn notebook that allows multiple ways of retriev ers start with the last vocabulary item on the page words should contain four important pieces of and reverse the process moving upward on the ., ; ihf(>TIIJlatilon:· a target word, a translation, a synonym page . l' Chapter 17: English Language Vocabulary Development and Instruction 189