Powerful Strategies for Building and Retaining Vocabulary and Information in Struggling Students
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RtI-AIS Practice Series Powerful Strategies for Building and Retaining Vocabulary and Information in Struggling Students Everyone Reading Annual Conference 2018 Esther Klein Friedman, Ph.D. Executive Director Office of Literacy and AIS Office of CIPL Division of Teaching and Learning Goals and Agenda Goals: • To describe a range of activities for building and retaining vocabulary Agenda: I. Vocabulary Within a Theoretical Model of Reading II. A Bit of the Research to Consider in Vocabulary Instruction III. A Cook’s Tour of Methodologies in Vocabulary Instruction IV. Resources V. Q & A 2 What Vocabulary Do You Need to Get This Joke? A man goes into a bar. He’s sitting on the stool, enjoying his drink, when he hears “You look great!” He looks around— there’s nobody near him. He hears the voice again. “No, really, you look terrific.” The man looks around again. Nobody. He hears, “Is that a new shirt or something? Because you are absolutely glowing.” He then realizes that the voice is coming from a dish of nuts on the bar. “Hey,” the man calls to the bartender. “What’s with these nuts?” “Oh,” says the bartender, “they’re complimentary.” 3 Vocabulary Within a Theoretical Model of Reading 4 Where Does Vocabulary Fit? Chall’s Three Goals of a Reading Program, Plus NRP’s Five Pillars Automatic Rapid Decoding Building of the Lexicon Ability to Think While Reading Phonological Awareness Phonics Fluency Vocabulary Comprehension and Writing 5 Primary Characteristics of Struggling Readers • They sometimes have not mastered basic knowledge and strategies required for decoding unfamiliar words • They are almost always less fluent readers—their sight word vocabularies are many thousands of words smaller than average readers • They usually know the meanings of fewer words • They usually have less conceptual/factual knowledge • They are almost always less skilled in using strategies to enhance comprehension or repair it when it breaks down • They will typically not enjoy reading or choose to read for pleasure 6 Goal in Literacy Instruction: Skills and Strategies Plus Content It’s not just being able to read, it’s also building fund of knowledge from the reading. (The more you know, the more you learn; the less you know, the fewer anchors for new information.) (as per Alfred Tatum) 7 Otherwise You See Severe Matthew Effects The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. Many struggling readers will be affected by this phenomenon of accumulated deficit. The further behind they are, the further behind they will get – unless targeted, effective intervention is put in place. 8 A Bit of Research to Consider in Vocabulary Instruction 9 What We Know From Research Children enter school with meaningful differences in vocabulary knowledge as a result of differences in experiences and exposure to literacy and language activities. The vocabulary gap grows larger in the early grades. Children who enter with limited vocabulary knowledge grow much more discrepant over time from their peers who have rich vocabulary knowledge. (Hart & Risley, 1995) 10 Meaningful Differences Words Words heard in Words heard in Words heard heard per a 100-hour week a 5,200-hour in 4 years hour year Group A 616 62,000 3 million 13 million Group B 1,251 125,000 6 million 26 million Group C 2,153 215,000 11 million 45 million The difference between Group A and Group C is what is often referred to as the 30-million word gap. Michael D. Coyne, Ph. D., University of Conn. 11 The Vocabulary-Early Literacy Connection According to Biemiller, reading print and understanding words are the two conditions needed for success in reading “grade-level” books. “For adeQuate reading comprehension from grade three on, children reQuire both fluent word recognition skills, and an average or greater vocabulary. The presence of these two accomplishments does not guarantee a high level of reading comprehension, but the absence of either word recognition or adequate vocabulary insures a low level of reading comprehension.” 12 Here’s Something Interesting With the exception of instruction to increase reading accuracy and fluency, the content of effective literacy instruction for students reading below grade is very similar to that recommended for students reading at grade level and above. (as per Joseph Torgesen) (So which tier does this imply for vocabulary instruction?) Yes! It’s tier 1 – the classroom. That’s the most efficient place for building vocabulary! 13 A Cook’s Tour of Methodologies in Vocabulary Instruction – The How To 14 Some Conventions in Vocabulary Instruction Frontloading all needed concepts prior to listening or reading (anchored instruction) - You cannot activate what is not there Student friendly definitions (put ‘you’ into the sentence) Clustering words in categories where possible Use of examples and non-examples (Freyer model) Distributed practice Vocabulary lists posted in classroom Personal vocabulary lists in notebook Limiting reliance on ‘go look it up in the dictionary’ Using context clues, but only where they are available Word consciousness taught explicitly Is greatly aided by wide reading in typically-developing readers Method of repeated readings After you say the word, make them say it (and say it and say it) Mix of explicit and implicit instruction For struggling adolescent readers, motivation and active engagement are critical 15 A Few Instructional Strategies We Will Explore • Wide Reading • Logographic Clues • Direct Instruction • Sentence Combining • The Three Tiers – Beck’s not RtI! • Sentence Expansion • Connecting New To Known • Etymology (a.k.a. Word Study) • Concept Categorization • Using More Precise Words • Frayer Model-Examples & • Teaching Word Consciousness Non-examples • Dictionaries • Context-Use Strategies • Use of Visuals 16 Now For the Good Stuff Vocabulary instruction is best done through a range of strategies and practices. Probably the most important way we build vocabulary is through wide reading. 17 Wide Reading 18 The Best Way to Foster Vocabulary Growth is to Promote Wide Reading “Research has shown that children who read even ten minutes a day outside of school experience substantially higher rates of vocabulary growth between second and fifth grade than children who do little or no reading.” (Anderson & Nagy, 1992, p. 46) What are the implications vis a vis Common Core Learning Standards? For building vocabulary, wide reading needs to be done with text that is not too difficult (Fisher & Frey, 2008, p. 140) 19 Why Can’t They Just Build Vocabulary Through Oral Language? Frequency of Word Use in Major Sources of Oral and Written Language Rare Words per 1,000 I. Printed texts II. Television texts Newspapers 68.3 Adult shows 22.7 Popular magazines 65.7 Children’s shows 20.2 Adult books 52.7 Children’s books 30.9 III. Adult speech Preschool books 16.3 College graduates 17.3 talk with friends/ spouses (Hayes & Ahrens, 1988) 20 Independent Word Learning From Wide Reading Percentile Minutes Per Words Read Per Rank Day Year l A student in the 20th percentile reads books Books Text Books Text ______.7 minutes a day. 98 65.0 67.3 4,358,000 4,733,000 90 21.2 33.4 1,823,000 2,357,000 l This adds up to _________words21,000 read per 80 14.2 24.6 1,146,000 1,697,000 year. 70 9.6 16.9 622,000 1,168,000 l A student in the 80th 60 6.5 13.1 432,000 722,000 percentile reads books 50 4.6 9.2 282,000 601,000 ______14.2 minutes a day. 40 3.2 6.2 200,000 421,000 l This adds up to 1,146,000__________ 30 1.8 4.3 106,000 251,000 words read per year. 20 0.7 2.4 21,000 134,000 10 0.1 1.0 8,000 51,000 Michael D. Coyne, Ph. D., University of Conn. 2 0 0 0 8,000 21 Independent Word Learning “Her brother, Norman, consulted the encyclopedia, and then announced that Imogene had turned into a rare form of miniature elk!” antlers, difficult, prodded, glared, advice, offer, fainted, lovely, decked, several, decorate, wandered, milliner, arrived, assistants, sighed, eventful, overjoyed This is the reason why picture books are also used with older students for ‘read to’ and ‘read by.’ Michael D. Coyne, Ph. D., University of Conn. 22 Wide Reading? What If They Can’t Read? Students learn new vocabulary from oral language experiences like listening to stories read aloud. (Bus, van Ijzendoorn, & Pellegrini, 1995; Elley, 1989; Neuman & Dickinson, 2001; Whitehurst et al., 1999) “The relative rarity of the words in children’s books is, in fact, greater than that in all of adult conversation, except for courtroom testimony. Indeed, the words used in children’s books are considerably rarer than those in the speech on prime time adult television” (Cunningham & Stanovich, 1998; Hayes & Ahrens, 1988) 23 Direct Instruction / The Teachable Moment 24 Direct Instruction vs. Point of Contact Do Both. Direct Instruction - gradual release of responsibility model § I do it § We do it § You do it together § You do it Point of Contact § The teachable moment § If you come across a word you think students don’t know, just tell what the word is, but don’t do it more than once or twice in a lesson (so as not to distract from what you are reading or saying) i.e., “Flare means flame” Consider how much practice (repetitions) are optimal to make a word stick] 25 Explicit Instruction vs. Implicit Learning of New Vocabulary – Biemiller’s Research In studying students in grades k-2, Biemiller found that students retained significantly more words when they were instructed in the words (rather than just exposed to them). He says: Instruction makes a difference.