Increasing Comprehensible Input In Vocabulary Instruction

Increasing Comprehensible Input in Vocabulary Instruction Keith Pruitt, Ed.S. Doctoral Candidate Words of Wisdom Educational Consulting www.woweducationalconsulting.com www.myspace.com/wowedu

Agenda 9-10:30- Comprehensible Input and what it means to understand, Transfer theory, Schema 10:30-10:45 Break 10:45-12:00 Vocabulary Instruction Method 12:00-1:00 Lunch 1:00-2:30 Method, Exploding Vocabulary 2:30-2:45 Break 2:45-4:30 How to Create New Schema

What Level of Comprehension is Active in This? Martin dining room front door over main entrance partook ignited flames sanguine faces rebel Dean. You have understanding of each word. Perhaps background knowledge creates schema connections. But is this comprehensible input at the sentence level? Word level?

What is the level of Understanding Here? “A related observation about the F distribution is that it is positively skewed, not symmetric as are z and t . This is because F is always positive: It is the ratio of variances, both of which are positive, so F itself must be positive. There is no left-hand tail of F because the F distribution ends abruptly at 0.” Russell T. Hurlburt (2003). Comprehending Behavioral Statistics . Thomson: Australia, p. 336.

Observations In the first example, there was no syntax . So there was no comprehensible input at the sentence level even though there was understanding of every word . In the second example, syntax was present but a void developed of word level meaning not allowing contextual understanding of the paragraph. “It had something to do with…”

Could We Conclude… Teaching grammar is not the same as acquiring or learning language? ( Krashen, 2003) Just learning words does not equal comprehension. (Word callers) Knowing words is a pre-requisite to comprehension. There are multiple factors for comprehension.

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm.. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! Can You Read This?

The evidence strongly supports a simple hypothesis. We acquire language in only one way: when we understand messages; that is, when we obtain “comprehensible input.” We acquire language, in other words, when we understand what we hear or what we read, when we understand the message. Krashen, 2003 Comprehensible Input

Is Comprehensible Input something done by the teacher to the student or by the student based on the teacher?

The Greater the Comprehensible Input … … the greater the capacity to comprehend.

So which is more desirable? The student who reads every word? Or The student who understands the meaning?

What is Involved In Comprehension? What Does it Mean to Understand? Making Sense of text based on author’s intention and message. Understanding how the words interplay to relay a message. To exercise intellectual muscle To context with a text in a meaningful way Jamika’s Story

And in the midst of normal conversation regarding comprehension, English Language Learners enter the picture and try to comprehend the input they receive. What must it be like? Perhaps this video will shed some light.

Cummins’ Interdependence Theory : Increasing CI through Transference To the extent that instruction in Lx is effective in promoting proficiency in Lx, transfer of this proficiency to Ly will occur provided there is adequate exposure to Ly (either in school or environment) and adequate motivation to learn Ly. --J. Cummins, 1981. “The Role of Primary Language Development in Promoting Educational Success for Language Minority Students.” In Schooling and Language Minority Students: A Theoretical Framework . P. 29

The Principles Common Underlying Proficiency Cognitive and linguistic abilities L1 background serves as the basis for schemata of L2 Using commonality of language, transfer of linguistic features and skills across languages In this sense, Cummins is defining comprehensible input Friendship = amistad

What Do ELL Students Need? The keys to effective reading instruction for ELLs include activating or building background knowledge, helping students use psychological strategies and linguistic cueing systems to construct meaning from English texts, choosing appropriate materials, and organizing curriculum around themes. --David and Yvonne Freeman

Theoretical Reasons It Works Brain-based research on functionality (Anderson) Schema Theory (Piaget, Anderson) Connection with background knowledge How Does The Mind Work in Learning?

Questions to Make Connections What do I already know about…rocks? What is this called in my language? Can I transfer that language?

Background Transfer Chart CLOCK CUP FORK Is This In My Language? What I Know About Word English Word

Background Transfer Chart CLOCK CUP FORK 叉 ; 耙 Eat 杯子 Drink coffee 时钟 Tell Time Is This In My Language? What I Know About Word English Word

Background Transfer Chart CLOCK CUP FORK tenedor Food copa Coca reloj Time Is This In My Language? What I Know About Word English Word

How Is Schema Created? What Comes to Your Mind When You Think of… Dog Bridge Statue Man How about when I spell this word?

The Work of J R Anderson Sensory Memory Working Memory Discards OR Permanent Memory Files Anderson, J.R. (1995). Learning and memory: An integrated approach. New York: John Wiley & Sons

Learn new vocabulary by creating schema that connects with what is already known. (Beck, McKeown, Kucan and Marzano) What words come to your mind as you look at this picture? Turn and Talk

How About Now? What Schema Do You Have For This Picture? Can you transfer your learning? Can you adopt new schemes for this if I give you information?

How Can We Use Cummin’s Theory? Transfer of concept. If student knows concept in native language, it will be easier to transfer it to English. Teacher = Maestro Backpack = Mochila Hat = Sombrero

Now Let’s Look At Harder Concepts Find a partner: Discuss how you would go about explaining to students the following concepts: LIBERTY Photosynthesis Cell

Is This A Dilemma? Cell Sale Sail Ware Where Wear They’re There Their

Let’s Review: Strategies Used Alternative Texts Visuals Engagement Illustration/ stories Graphic Organizers Collaboration Humor- Keep it interesting and fun

Beck, McKeown, Kucan Vocabulary must first be orally introduced. Vocabulary is not grade specific. Words must be explained, not defined. Must be contextualized. Multiple usages in a meaningful context (8-10). Create Schema (visual representation) Students reflect with each other Three Tiers of Vocabulary

Working With Vocabulary Explain Restate Show Discuss Refine and Reflect Apply and Learning Games Robert Marzano, Building Background Knowledge

Explain Putting words in terms students already know. How would you explain to students the word comforting?

Comforting - Something or someone that is comforting makes you feel good when you are sad or hurt. Beck & McKeown, Elements of Reading Vocabulary, Steck Vaughn, 2004 Further explain by putting the word in a context. A warm cup of tea is comforting when my throat hurts. My dog feels comforting when I am hurt.

Your Turn With a partner, come up with an explanation and a context for each of the following words. Versatile Serenade Glimpse Skyscraper Enhance

Your Turn Versatile If someone is versatile, they can do many different things. Serenade To serenade someone you would sing or play a song on a musical instrument. Glimpse If I get a glimpse of something I look at it quickly. Skyscraper A skyscraper is a very tall building in a city. Enhance To enhance something means to make it better.

Using Vocabulary Journals Have students create journals Words Schema Explanations Reflections Consultations

By creating the visual representation, they are making the learning concrete by making permanent memory files. Why is this important?

Hooking The Learning Have you ever met someone and then five minutes later…you couldn’t remember their name? Have you ever met someone for the first time that you had talked with on the phone for a long time only to think,… they don’t look like what I thought? Do you think in images? Think about your husband or wife. Do you just dream in words, or do you create images?

Do Not Under-estimate the power of a picture. The Heart of the Tulip By Keith Pruitt

Exaggerate Beck and McKeown, Elements of Reading Vocabulary, Steck Vaughn, 2004

scheming The cats were scheming against the birds.

Fatigue The bear was very fatigued from walking so far.

Icon Michael Phelps is an Icon of Olympic swimming.

Spider Would this be helpful in a Science lesson? ©Keith Pruitt, Art by Keith

Connecting an image to a vocabulary word is the way in which the brain files information. For ELL students, creating the visual representation is tantamount to creating the file in the permanent memory. See- Building Background Knowledge , Marzano

Open For Discussion What are the possible advantages of students discussing with each other their concepts of a word (context, visual representation, etc.)? Ability to transfer from L1 to L2 using peer tutoring. Sharing personal understanding broadens each understanding. Creates multiple contexts for usage.

Reflection allows a refinement of understanding. It permits the memory file to be adjusted to incorporate new understandings.

http://www.gamequarium.com/evocabulary.html http://eslbears.homestead.com/Contact_Info.html http://www.manythings.org/lulu/

Using Graphic Organizers Graphic organizers take concepts and organize them visually enabling students recall of their comprehensible input. May be used as part of the games/ practice. Valuable as a tool for assessment.

EAT ATE Will Eat A Graphic Way of Showing Tense Past Present Future

Use graphic organizers to help students use the words in meaningful contexts Drinking warm tea when my throat hurts Holding my cat in my lap A warm blanket on a cold night Comforting

Using Word Maps Helps Students Integrate New Words

Check the box that matches the meaning of the word at the top comforting Sandpaper A blanket Being hit Versatile Sing and dance Play piano Read a book Companionship A stranger Someone in Another city A Pet Fashionable Hoop Skirt Tailored suit Coveralls

Exploding The Vocabulary Through direct instruction, 5-8 words/week Adds approximately 160 words to reading/writing vocabularies. If we take the connective words for those five… look what happens.

So work becomes Works Worker Worked Working Will Work Labor Job Employment Exert Lazy A Word Tree Starts with Base Word

Using Word Tree Those five words have become @50 words. Now in 32 weeks we have instructed 1600 words. Students may gain another 320-600 words via reading. Now we have exploded the vocabulary by a maximum of 2200 words in 32 weeks. In the traditional program 640 words are instructed, but only 64-120 of them are learned. And emphasis is on spelling.

You Try It Here are some common words taught. What other words may we teach in conjunction with these: Glimmer Vast Artistic Disturb

Using Word Sorts Morris suggests that using the tactile experience of word sorts provides mental stimulus for students and creates schema files. How might word sorts look in your classroom? Here are a couple of examples.

Using children, create a photo collection of these words and have students match pictures to words. Have students act out the action words using the nouns (TPR). Which part of my body can I raise? Have set of words and then other words with which I can make compound words.

Create a word sort activity using these root words. Toy Fish Seal

Preview, View, Review Method presented by Freemans of pre-teaching read aloud text--- Build Vocabulary and Background Knowledge Distribute copies of the Modeled Reading Text Organizer. Ask children to share what they know about bumblebees. Explain that a colony means a group of the same kind of animals living together. Tell children that a bumblebee colony is made up of a queen, the workers, and the drones. Then point to the picture on the organizer and tell children that it shows the inside of a bumblebee queen’s nest. Next say the words bumblebee queen , egg , honey pot , and larvae , and have children say the words with you.

Preview Using Story Mapping Build schema with Visual Anchor Visual Transference

Word Substitution Sometimes Known as Trading Penny Words for $ Words Make= Create, Build, Construct, Craft Went= traveled, drove, walked Like- admire, enjoy, ?, ?, ? Fast- ?, ?, ?, ?

Creating New Schema New Experiences New Vocabulary What ways can we use to create new experiences for students? Turn and Talk

Creating New Schema Virtual Learning (Marzano) Visit www.woweducationalconsulting.com For a list of virtual tour sites.

Creating New Schema Read Alouds (Linda Hoyt, Freemans)

Steps to Using What words need explaining? What substitute words could I use that students might understand? How can I explain the word so as to create a context for the students? What schema can I build- can I hook the learning?

Your Turn Get in groups of three-four Examine a big book and select three words that need pre-teaching before reading the story. Create a lesson of how you would teach those words using our steps from Beck.

Creating New Schema Using Spanish Cognates Hundreds of words in Spanish and English have common roots in Latin. Many of the these words are the same except for one letter. These serve as good basis of conversation. Turn and Talk: Tell me what the English word is for these Spanish cognates.

Spanish Cognates Ocurrir Reptil Ciclo Paciente Invitar Cooperar Educacion Sociedad Presente

Creating New Schema Teaching By Theme (Freemans) My Family Suitcase My Family Mi Familia أسرتي --Dr. Stephen White

Building The Family Each student receives a cardboard luggage cut out. They may use pictures or text to tell the story of their family. They may work together to work with language, but each person in the luggage should be labeled (L1 and L2). Teacher then helps to fill in the story.

Summary ELL students (and all others) are engaging learning based on the accumulation of words. Having multiple strategies in the classroom can help boost reading achievement and the acquisition of a new language. Research shows that using Beck methodology brings success for every disaggregated group, ethnicity, socio-economic class.

Your Turn Turn and Talk: What strategy have you learned today that you want to incorporate into your classroom? What impact would learning 2000+ words/year have on your students? What are your first steps?

Thank You Words of Wisdom Educational Consulting Keith Pruitt [email_address] 615-448-7304 www.woweducationalconsulting.com www.myspace.com/wowedu

Increasing Comprehensible Input In Vocabulary Instruction

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Increasing Comprehensible Input In Vocabulary Instruction