Making Words Real for Young Children

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Making Words Real for Young Children
Presented by Lynn Hoover, M.Ed.,
CALT-QI Assistant Director Rawson-Saunders
School Austin, Texas lhoover_at_rawson-saunders.org
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Phonological Form
Meanings
Words
Syntax
History
Morphology
Orthography
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Understanding Word Meanings is Critical to
Comprehension

• Vocabulary knowledge is strongly related to
  proficient reading comprehension.
• A word may be decoded accurately but without
  meaning knowledge comprehension is limited.
• Knowledge of word meaning facilitates accurate
  word recognition.

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• Vocabulary is the body of words known by the
  speaker of a language.
• Receptive vocabulary is the word meanings
  recognized in context.
• Expressive vocabulary is the word meanings known
  well enough that they can be used appropriately.

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What we know about research with younger students
Even in the primary grades the range in
vocabulary between children with smaller and
bigger vocabularies is large. (Biemiller
Slonim, 2001) Children with weaker vocabularies
are less likely to learn new words from
incidental exposure than children with larger
vocabularies. (Nicholson Whyte, 1992 Penno et
al., 2002 Robbins Ehri, 1994)
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Words in Text

• 107 words account for 50 of the words in running
  text.
• 5,000 more words account for an additional 45 of
  the words in running text.
• Infrequent words (5 of total) carry the most
  unique meaning in a passage.

Nagy and Anderson (1984)
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Where do children learn words?
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How We Learn Words

• Through many exposures to examples in context,
  both spoken and written
• Through explicit instruction
• Constructing definitions and using a dictionary
• Analyzing word structure
• Exploring word relationships
• Learning sounds and morphemes of a word
• Learning word origins
• Learning a words usage and multiple meanings.

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Using a Dictionary is Not Enough

• Reading a definition does not tell us how a word
  is actually used
• We need examples in context
• Dictionary definitions can be incomplete
• Being able to define a word is an end result of
  knowing the word very well

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What words do I teach?
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3-Tier Model for Choosing Vocabulary Words from
Text
Developed by Isabel Beck
Low-frequency words Technical words
Tier 3
Words to Teach high frequency, high utility
Tier 2
Tier 1
Known, common words
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Words to Teach Directly

• Words critical to understanding the text
• Words with that are likely to be encountered many
  times
• Difficult words that need interpretation
• metaphorical, abstract, nuanced
• Beck McKeown, 2002

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Embedded Instruction

• Simple explanation of target words provided
  within the context of the story. Provides both
  definitional and contextual information.
• (Biemiller, 2004)

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Explain meanings in everyday language.

• Uses clear sentences and doesnt use a lot of big
  words to define words.
• Harper Collins Publisher

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• Reinforce definitions with
• Gestures
• Pictures
• Objects
• Examples and Non-examples

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Developing Oral Language

• Naming as an oral activity
• Describing activity

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Describing Objects or Pictures

• Using a structured hierarchy is helpful.
• Name the object.
• Name the category in which it belongs.
• Name the function, use, or purpose.
• State the color, size, and shape.
• Make a comparison.
• Make a simile or metaphor.

Neuhaus Education Center
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Repeated Read-Aloud

• Use literature to maximize childrens vocabulary
  growth.
• Pre-reading discussion focused on key vocabulary
  and concepts that may be unfamiliar
• During first reading allow children to follow the
  story thread without frequent interruptions.
• Repeated reading sessions stop to discuss
  vocabulary and concepts
• Read each story at least 3 times
• Provide repeated exposures to new words in the
  classroom

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Text Talk for Young Children

• Direct instruction in vocabulary occurs after a
  story has been read and discussed. (If needed for
  comprehension, teacher gives brief explanation
  for the word during reading.)

Beck McKeown, 2001
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An Example of Direct Instruction

• Word used in context of story.
• Children repeat the word with teacher.
• Meaning of the word is explained in a student
  friendly way.
• Examples given by teacher in contexts other than
  the one in the story.
• Children interact with examples or provide their
  own examples.
• Finally, children say the word again to reinforce
  its phonological representation. T. What is the
  word?

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Activities for Students to Interact with Words

• Questions, reasons, and examples
• Making choices
• Relating words
• Children creating examples

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Sorting Activities
duck top hiss doll gull hen jacks buzz hon
k peck yap bat
Categories They Have Wings Toys Animal Sounds
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Sorting Activities
fuzz kiss sink tank puff box well tub bit
sip lick muff
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Word Scales
Mad Words angry furious livid
annoyed irritated upset
Really mad
A little bit mad
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Word Scales
Big Words
Really big
A little bit big
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Antonym Pairs and Scaling

• dead - alive
• hot - cold
• fat - skinny
• straight - bent
• honest - devious
• winner - loser
• angry - delighted

Complementary or Gradable
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Take a gradable antonym pair and fill out the
scale from one extreme to the other with words
that show degrees of meaning.
hideous
gorgeous
ugly
homely
plain
attractive
beautiful
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Engaging students with word meanings through
discussion

• Word Associations
• Students associate a new word with a presented
  word or phrase.
• Example
• Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel
• Vocabulary introduced
• shiver, sparrow, envelope
• Which word goes with a party invitation?
• Which word goes with a cold, windy day?

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Have you ever?

• Describe a time when you might shiver.
• When might you envy someone?

Beck, McKeown, 2002
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Applause, Applause!

• Students are asked to clap in order to indicate
  how much they would like to be described by the
  target words
• curious stingy delightful
• Not at all A little bit A lot

Beck, McKeown, 2002
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Idea Completions

• The children said that the man was stingy
  because
• The audience thought the play was delightful
  because

Beck, McKeown, 2002
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Simple Questions to Engage Learners

• When might you?
• How might you?
• Why might you?

Beck, McKeown, 2002
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Maintaining Words

• Post target words and tally when used by teacher
  or students.
• Apply learned words to new stories.
• Use words in reading and writing.

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References Baumann, James F. Kameenui, Edward
J. (2004). Vocabulary instruction Research to
practice. New York Guilford Press. Baker, Scott
K., Simmons, Deborah C., Kameenui, Edward J.
(2005). Vocabulary acquisition Synthesis of the
research. University of Oregon. Beck, Isabel.
McKeown, Margaret G. (2002). Bringing words to
life Robust vocabulary instruction. New York
Guilford Press. Eberhardt, Nancy Sorese,
Denise. (1999). Language categories
Phonetically vocabulary to read, classify, and
spell. Longmont, CO Sopris West. Lubliner,
Shira. (2005). Getting into words Vocabulary
instruction that strengthens comprehension.
Baltimore, Maryland Brookes Publishing. Neuhaus
Education Center. Developing metacognitive
skills Vocabulary and comprehension. (2004).
www.neuhaus.org
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