1. Teaching for Deep Understanding in the PreK-3 Literacy Classroom Charlotte County Middle School Charlotte County, Virginia August 3, 2010 Julie Janson Gray
2. “ ..a reader’s general vocabulary knowledge is the single best predictor of how well that reader can understand text” Anderson, R.C. & Freebody, P. (1981)
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4. 5-6 years @ 10 years Concrete Abstract Wd Recognition Wd Meanings Development of Word Learning
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6. “ Good comprehension instruction includes both explicit instruction in specific comprehension strategies and a great deal of time and opportunity for actual reading, writing, and discussion of text.” (Duke & Pearson, 2002, Effective Practices for Developing Comprehension Instruction, p. 207)
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Editor's Notes
Activity: Activate prior knowledge & set purpose for today: Discuss & write their questions from reading about vocabulary and comprehension instruction for K (1) on chart: I wonder… Read Fancy Nancy (share about Tier 1, 2 & 3 words--1 cent and 1 dollar words)
Vocabulary: “words we need to know to communicate with others” (from A Closer Look at the Five Essential Components of Effective Reading Instruction: A Review of Scientifically-Based Reading Research for Teachers by Learning Point Associates (2004): see website www.learningpt.org for more details) Baker, Simmons, and Kameenui (1995) tell us that “vocabulary acquisition is crucial to academic development. Not only do students need a rich body of word knowledge to succeed in basic skill areas, they also need a specialized vocabulary to learn content area material.”
Jim Trelease calls listening the reservoir that drives the other three. Use the example of gigantic. Ask volunteer to sit in chair (display word over head) & ask them to tell us their new word for today. Can you give her 1 word clues? If you’ve never heard it--can you say it? If you’ve never heard it or said it what happens when you encounter it in a book? Writing?? How do we fill the reservoir of listening? Listening & Speaking - often referred to as oral vocabulary Listening: words we understand when others talk to us Speaking: words we use when we talk to others Reading: words we know when we see them in print (sight words and words we can decode) Writing: words we use when we write—
Typical 1st graders understand and use about 6,000 words: nearly all represent concrete objects. Around age 10, words learned become more abstract , less concrete. In typical conversation, we use about 5,000 common words (basic lexicon). Another 5,000 less common. (About 80% (83%) of the words commonly used with children in conversation come from 1,000 words of the basic lexicon) See Donald Hayes & Margaret Ahren (1988) handout
Cunningham and Stanovich (1991) found that reading comprehension tested in 11th grade could be predicted to a moderate degree from listening vocabulary known in first grade (PPVT). Growth comes from non-print sources like parents, peers, teachers, lectures, discussions, television, etc. (interactions with people which introduce new vocabulary, concepts, and language structures. It makes sense, because most children are not reading content that is as advanced as their oral language. For many, listening comprehension continues to be more advanced than reading comprehension through eighth grade. The correlation between print vocabulary performance and reading comprehension performance is generally in the .70 and .80 range (Beck & McKeown, 1990; Bloom, 1976). ALSO, determining the difficulty of a passage (readability level) is in partly done by assessing the vocabulary demands of the passage. Comprehension performance is reduced when the passage contains 10 to 20% uncommon words (others say 15%)…Freebody & Anderson, 1983; Marks, Doctorow, & Wittrock, 1974; Wittrock, Marks, & Doctorow, 1975). Dale-Chall Readability calculates the number of words not on a list of 3000 words presumed to be known by an average fourth-grader, then calculates the number of words per sentence, and using a formula or a chart, estimates the difficulty of the text. The Frye uses syllable length…an association of vocabulary. The Lexile uses frequency…again, an association of vocabulary. Knowing words in a passage may not be enough. Prior knowledge of the topic comes into play as well. Vocabulary knowledge is related to topic knowledge, which, in turn, is related to reading comprehension. People who know a lot about a topic know a lot of the related vocabulary. Vocabulary is strongly related to IQ as well…this is why many people use measures of vocabulary knowledge as a proxy to IQ. Robbins, C., & Ehri, L. C. (1994). Reading storybooks to kindergartners helps them learn new vocabulary words. Journal of Educational Psychology, 86, 54-64. Grade K This study examined the effects of reading storybooks on the development of vocabulary for kindergartners. Individual reading sessions were conducted with 45 kindergartners in which an adult read the same storybook to students two times within a 2-4 day period. Implies that students with smaller vocabularies will need additional support to receive the same benefit.
“ In 1978,Dolores Durkin published her famous (perhaps infamous) study documenting the paucity of comprehension instruction and explicit strategy explanations in elementary classrooms” (Duke & Pearson, 2002) Studies form ‘80’s/90’s have suggested that there is little reading comprehension instruction in schools (e.g.,Pressley & WhartonMcDonald,1998).
Most of the emphasis occurs with direct explanation & modeling during shared reading & read-alouds. Guided, Independent practice & application are limited except to above grade level students (who are readers end of 1st & higher).
Browse activities for vocabualry & comprehension building that might be useful for providing additional support for students with weaker vocabularies.
