Transcript Document

Word Consciousness: One Vital Part of a
Comprehensive Vocabulary Program
mommy
Michael F. Graves
University of Minnesota, Emeritus
[email protected]
Spotlight on Vocabulary: Research
and Practice From IRA Publications
IRA Convention, Atlanta
May, 2008
timid
kitty
Why Vocabulary Instruction Is Important
Vocabulary is a hugely important factor influencing
success in and out of school.
It is central to reading, writing, communicating, and
probably thinking.
Many students of poverty, students who struggle with
reading, and English learners come to school with
vocabularies half the size of those of their middle-class
classmates (see particularly Hart & Risley, 1995, 2003, on
children of poverty).
Without help, these students will fall further and further
behind.
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Why Word Consciousness Is Important
The vocabulary learning task is huge:
The average seventh grade student probably knows
30,000 words.
The average high school graduate probably knows 50,000
words.
Acquiring this number of words means learning about 8
words a day.
In fact, both of these are underestimates as they do not
take into account multiple meanings, proper nouns, or
idioms.
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Why Word Consciousness Is Not Enough
Because the vocabulary learning task is huge, only a
multifaceted program is strong enough to help
students accomplish the job they face.
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A Multifaceted Vocabulary Program
Providing frequent, varied, and extensive
language experiences
Teaching individual words
Teaching word-learning strategies
Fostering word consciousness
From M. Graves. (2006). The Vocabulary Book. New
York: Teachers College Press; Newark, DE: IRA;
Urbana, IL: NCTE.
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Word Consciousness-1
word consciousness n
1. an awareness of words
2. a positive disposition toward words
3. interest in learning words and learning about words
4. knowledge of various aspects of words
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Word Consciousness-2
As noted, the term “word consciousness” refers to an awareness of
and interest in words and their meanings (Graves & Watts, 2002).
Word consciousness integrates metacognition about words,
motivation to learn words, and deep and lasting interest in words
(Anderson & Nagy, 1992).
Students who are word conscious will simplify our task as teachers
because they will learn a lot of words on their own.
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Word Consciousness-3
Although fostering word consciousness differs from grade to
grade, doing so is vital at all grade levels.
There are some time-consuming word consciousness activities,
but for the most part fostering word consciousness does not take
a lot of your time or your students’ time.
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Some Types of Word Consciousness
Activities
Creating a Word-Rich Environment
Recognizing and Promoting Adept Diction
Promoting Word Play
Fostering Word Consciousness Through Writing
Involving Students in Original Investigations
Teaching Students about Words
(Graves & Taffe, 2007)
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Creating a Word-Rich Environment-1
Fill the room with books and other material on many topics and
many reading levels, and be sure the books contain some new
words for all students.
Frequently read to students from books that include some new
vocabulary.
Include lots of discussion of meaty topics that invite sophisticated
words.
Make the classroom a safe place that invites and rewards
experimentation with language and ideas.
Include dictionaries and thesauruses for students reading at various
levels.
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Creating a Word-Rich Environment-2
Include a really good dictionary for English learners like the Collins
COBUILD New Student’s Dictionary or the Longman Study Dictionary
of American English.
Include books in which words play a central role like DeGloss’s
Donavan’s Word Jar, Schotter’s The Boy Who Loved Words,
Clements’ Frindle, and Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth.
Include word books for young writers like Babs Bell Hajdusiewicz’s
Words, Words, Words (for beginning writers) and Words and More
Words (for young writers).
Ms. Hadley’s Wonderful Word Wall is a good example of a wonderfully
word-rich classroom.
Encourage reading and writing outside of school.
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Recognizing and Promoting Adept Diction
Can be accomplished in four simple steps:
1.
Make it a point to use some sophisticated vocabulary, and
sometimes comment on your word choices.
2.
Point out adept word choices in the material students are
reading, listening to, or viewing.
3.
Compliment student on their adept word choices in their
discussions and their writing.
4.
Have students keep personal notebooks in which they record
new and interesting words.
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Promoting Word Play
Play commercial games like I Spy, Balderdash, Taboo Junior, and
Taboo.
Play well-known home-made games like Hangman, Word Bingo,
or Dictionary. (Billsgames.com has a nice version of Hangman.)
Play newer home-made games like Applause-Applause, Word
Associations, and Idea Completion.
Engage in word play activities with idioms, clichés, and puns.
Use books that employ a lot of word play like Fred Gwynne’s The
King Who Rained and A Chocolate Moose for Dinner.
Use books filled with word play activities like Bernard Most’s
Zoodles and Richard Lederer’s Pun and Games.
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Fostering Word Consciousness Through Writing
Make vocabulary work a significant part of the writing process.
Create writing activities focused on vocabulary.
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Make Vocabulary Work a Significant Part of
the Writing Process: Focus on Vocabulary
During Revising
Is this the best word to get across my meaning?
Is the word precise enough?
Is it appropriately formal or informal?
Is it a word my reader will know?
Is it a word my reader will find interesting.
Have I used it too much? Should I use a synonym?
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Create Writing Activities Focusing on Vocabulary
Teaching Vocabulary as a Writing Prompt: A procedure based on
the work of Duin (Duin & Graves, 1987, 1988)
and Beck (Beck, McKeown, & Kucan 2002):
Select a set of ten or so words that lend themselves to writing
about a particular topic.
Involve students in rich and robust activities over several days:
Define the words, compare them to other words, examine the
contexts in which they do and do not apply, play games with
them, etc.
Have students write an essay in which they use as many of
the words as possible.
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A Writing Sample from a Student in Duin’s Program
“I think the space program would be more feasible if we sent more
than just astronauts and satellites into space. We need to send
tourists and change the whole configuration of the space shuttle so
that it can accommodate more people. When the tourists are in
space, they could fly some of the manned-maneuvering units and
retrieve stuff from space. They could maybe even see if other
planets are habitable. When the tourists come back they would
have the capability of doing anything in space. They truly would be
advocates of space. But, in order to make these special missions
happen, we will need to add more modules onto our space station.”
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Involving Students in Original Investigations
Because students are surrounded by words, vocabulary makes an
excellent topic of investigation. Some possibilities include:
The use of slang versus more formal vocabulary.
The vocabulary of different groups: Short order cooks, movie
people, hucksters on TV or at fairs.
The vocabulary that is appropriate in different settings: School,
home, church, the cafeteria.
How vocabulary changes over time. (See
alphadictionary.com/articles/generation_test.html)
The use of terms of address such as Mr., Mrs., Miss,
Ms., Dr.
The use of first names: on TV and in the newspaper, for females
versus males, for children versus adults.
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An Original Investigation by Two High School
Students
An investigation by Scott Rasmussen and Derek Oosterman “to
determine the best means of vocabulary acquisition in high school
students.”
These high school seniors read extensively about vocabulary
instruction and hypothesized that learning would be stronger when
instruction was (1) continuous and frequent, (2) explicit and active,
and (3) incorporated several senses.
In one experiment, they tested instruction involving 0, 1, 1, and 2
senses, and those groups scored 42%, 77%, 74%, and 86%
respectively.
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Teaching Students about Words
Some aspects of words that Nagy and Scott (2000, Scott & Nagy,
2004) suggest teachers consider themselves and consider teaching
to students:
Word learning is incremental.
Many words have more than one meaning
Word meanings are interrelated.
There are various aspects of word knowledge.
What it means to know a word varies across types of
words.
What it means to know a word depends on the needs
of the knower.
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The Six Types of Word Consciousness Activities
Creating a Word-Rich Environment
Recognizing and Promoting Adept Diction
Promoting Word Play
Fostering Word Consciousness Through Writing
Involving Students in Original Investigations
Teaching Students about Words
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References
Anderson, R. C., & Nagy, W. E. (1992). The vocabulary conundrum. American Educator, Winter,
14-18, 44-47.
Beck, I. L., & McKeown, M. G. (2001). Text talk: Capturing the benefits of read-aloud experiences
for young children. The Reading Teacher, 55, 10-20.
Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., & Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary
instruction. New York: Guilford Press
Collins COBUILD new student’s dictionary (3rd ed.). Glasgow, Scotland: HarperCollins.
Graves, M. F., & Taffe, S. W. (2007). For the love of words: Fostering word consciousness in
young readers. Paper submitted for publication.
Graves, M. F., & Watts-Taffe, S. M. (2002). The place of word consciousness in a research-based
vocabulary program. In S. J. Samuels & A. E. Farstrup (Eds.), What research has to say about
reading instruction (3rd ed., pp. 140-165). Newark, DE: IRA.
Longman Study Dictionary of American English. (2006). Essex, England: Pearson Education
Limited.
Nagy, W. E. & Scott, J. A. (2000). Vocabulary processes. In M. Kamil, P. Mosenthal, P. D.
Pearson & R. Barr (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (Vol. 3, pp. 269-284). New York:
Longman.
Scott, J. A., & Nagy, W. E. (2004). Developing word consciousness. In J. F. Baumann & E. J.
Kame'enui, (Eds.), Vocabulary instruction: Research to practice (pp. 201-217). New York: The
Guilford Press.
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Children’s Books
Clements, Andrew. (1996). Frindle New York: Scholastic.
Degross, Monalisa. (1994). Donavan’s Word Jar. New York: Scholastic.
Gwynne, Fred. (1976). A Chocolate Moose for Dinner. New York: Windmill Books.
Gwynne, Fred. (1970). The King Who Rained. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks
Haidusiewics, Babs Bell. (1997). Words and More Words. New York: Golden Year
Books.
Haidusiewics, Babs Bell. (1997). Words Words Words. New York: Golden Year Books.
Juster, Norton. (1996). The Phantom Tollbooth. New York: Random House.
Lederer, Richard. (1996). Pun and Games. Chicago: Chicago Review Press.
Most, Bernard. (1992). Zoodles. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Schotter, Roni. (2006). The Boy Who Loved Words. New York: Schwartz and Wade
Books.
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