Teaching Adults to Read: Vocabulary

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Teaching Adults to Read Vocabulary

• 2008 Minnesota Summer Institute
• August 6, 2008

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Sponsored by the National Institute for Literacy
www.nifl.gov

• Facilitated by
• Kathy St. John
• katlit2003_at_yahoo.com
• Kaye Beall
• kaye_beall_at_worlded.org

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Workshop Objectives

• By the end of the workshop, participants will
  have
• Defined vocabulary
• Named the findings and explained the implications
  of reading research for vocabulary
• Used tools for assessing reading skills in
  vocabulary
• Demonstrated effective strategies for teaching
  vocabulary

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Vocabulary

• Research
• Assessment
• Instruction

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Vocabulary
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Research Related to Vocabulary
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Findings Vocabulary Instruction

• Research
• No emerging principles/practices
• Relatively little research at K-12 level

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Findings Vocabulary Instruction

• Research
• Important trends for ABE
• Vocabulary can be improved in general functional
  literacy settings, although teaching vocabulary
  in a specific setting, such as a family literacy
  or workplace setting, may be more effective.
• Compatible with limited K12 research. Engaging
  contexts may be more effective.

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Ideas from K12 Research

• Methods identified in K12 Research
• Explicit instruction
• Implicit instruction
• Multimedia methods
• Capacity methods
• Association methods

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Findings Vocabulary Instruction

• Practice (trends at Adult and K12 level)
• Repetition in multiple contexts
• Wide reading
• Active engagement
• Teach vocabulary using multiple, engaging
  contexts that foster repeated exposure to new
  concepts (such as family or workplace settings

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Why is Vocabulary Important?

• For beginners, oral vocabulary is the basis for
  meaningful reading.
• Readers cant understand a writers message
  unless they understand most of the words, so they
  must learn new word meanings to become better
  readers.

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Who Needs Vocabulary Instruction?

• Non-native speakers (ESOL students)
• Many intermediate and higher-level readers

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Assessment of Vocabulary
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Edgar Dales Degrees of Knowing Word Meanings

• I never saw or heard the word before.
• I know there is such a word, but I dont know
  what it means.
• Ive heard it and seen it. I know what it has to
  do with but I cant tell you what it means
  specifically.
• I know what it means. Ill recognize it whenever
  I see it or hear it. I can use it.
• Dale, E. (1976) The living word vocabulary.
  Elgin, IL. Dome Press

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Vocabulary Assessments

• Productive vocabulary
• words we know well enough to use in writing
  or speaking
• Receptive (listening) vocabulary
• words we know well enough to understand when
  seen in print or heard in conversation

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Vocabulary Assessments (continued)

• Elicited word meanings. Oral (productive)
  vocabulary.
• Diagnostic Assessments of Reading (DAR)
• Davidson and Bruce Word Meaning Test (Free to
  download at www.nifl.gov/readingprofiles/)

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Vocabulary Assessments (continued)

• Multiple choice (oral-written). Limited receptive
  vocabulary.
• Adult Basic Learning Examination (ABLE)
• Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE)

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Vocabulary Assessments (continued)

• Multiple choice (oral-pictures). Two tests of
  Receptive Vocabulary
• Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-III)
• Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement III

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Vocabulary Assessments (continued)

• Embedded in comprehension passages. Limited
  receptive vocabulary.
• Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE)
• Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System
  (CASAS)

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Instruction in Vocabulary
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Vocabulary Development

• Research-based Tips
• Pre-teach unfamiliar words in instructional text.
• Ensure multiple exposures to words by teaching
  useful, real-life words and words learners will
  encounter in subject-matter texts they are
  studying.

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Vocabulary Development (continued)

• Engage learners in using and working with the
  words in several ways.
• Teach word-learning strategies like structural
  analysis, using context clues and using a
  dictionary.
• Encourage wide reading of level-appropriate
  matters in varied subject-material areas.

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In TextWords to Pre-teach

• Teach those words that
• Are important for comprehension of text
• Are not well defined by context
• Allow opportunities to apply/reinforce
  word-learning strategies previously taught

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In GeneralOther Words and Word-learning
Strategies to Teach

• Signal words
• Idiomatic expressions
• Words in the news
• Subject-matter words (e.g. science and social
  studies)
• Roots, prefixes and suffixes
• Difficult words (homographs and homophones,
  unfamiliar or unusual words)

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In GeneralOther Words and Word-learning
Strategies to Teach (continued)

• Types of context clues
• Restatement or definition
• Synonym
• Antonym

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Types of Context Clues

• Restatement
• The little girl missed her nap, so she was
  really cantankerous. She was grumpy and difficult
  all afternoon.
• Definition
• An advocate is a person who not only believes
  strongly about a cause, but also speaks up in
  support of it.

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Types of Context Clues

• Synonym
• The team could be described as robust, very
  strong and sturdy.
• Antonym or contrast
• Im usually gregarious, but after I lost my job,
  I kept to myself for several weeks.

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Choosing Words to TeachAnother Approach

• Consider how useful they arehow frequently a
  reader will encounter them.
• Three tiers of words have been identified by
  Isabel Beck (2002)
• Beck, I. McKeown, M.G. and Kucan, L. (2002)
  Bringing words to life Robust vocabulary
  instruction. New York. Guilford Press.

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Three Tiers of Words

• Tier One The most basic words that rarely
  require instruction (car, sad, man)
• Tier Two High frequency words for mature
  language users (coincidence, insistent,
  reluctant)
• Tier Three Low frequency words, often limited to
  specific domains (isotope, entomologist, lathe)

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Prohibition

• The period between 1920 and 1923 is known as
  Prohibition Era. In 1919, the adoption of the
  18th amendment made the manufacture, sale and
  transportation of alcoholic beverages illegal.
  Prohibition, which was a response to the public
  opinion that alcohol destroyed lives and
  disrupted families, was a great failure.
  Bootleggers illegally produced and distributed
  alcohol. Speakeasies, illegal Establishments
  where people could buy and drink alcohol, sprung
  Up everywhere. Most of this illegal commerce was
  run by organized crime
• Excerpted from Access Critical Thinking Skills
  (2004). Harcourt Achieve, Inc.

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Pre-Teach Vocabulary

• Teach those words that
• Are important for comprehension
• Are not well defined by context
• Are unfamiliar or especially difficult
• Apply/reinforce word-learning strategies
  previously taught
• and words that are
• Signal words
• Subject-matter words
• Roots, prefixes, and suffixes
• Types of context clues

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Background Knowledge

• Its more than vocabulary. What about the bigger
  concepts and bodies of knowledge to which words
  relate and refer?
• Limited knowledge of the subject matter of a text
  makes it hard to make inferences and use context
  clues.
• What can we do?

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Assessing a Sample Vocabulary Lesson
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Vocabulary Wrap Up

• Research
• Assessment
• Instruction

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Thank you!

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