1. So Many Words, So Little Time! Which Words Do I Choose?
Erica Bowers, Ed.D.
Laura Keisler, Ed.D.

2. What is the goal for the learners you support?
Academic Literacy!
If advanced academic literacy is our goal- than we, as teachers, must be acutely aware of the academic language demands students will encounter.

3. What is different about language as students progress through the grades?
It becomes more “Academic.”
Scarcella (2003) defines Academic English as “a variety or a register of English used in professional books and characterized by the specific linguistic features associated with academic disciplines.”
“The difference between the ‘everyday’ and the ‘specialist’ lexis [words] is a major way that language of academic texts differs from the ordinary interactional language of daily life” (Schleppegrell, 2004).
Language used to “access and engage with the school curriculum” (Bailey & Heritage, 2008)

4. From Narrative to Academic

5. Science Text Use very specific content area language
Cause/Effect structure
if _____, then _____
You need to be able to “read”
And present information
graphically

6. Math Texts Use very content specific language
Diagrams, equations, graphs
A lot of text on one page!

7. History Texts Tend to use another “voice”
Use multiple charts, graphs, pictures, political cartoons.
Unfamiliar phrases

8. Don’t think Language Arts is Immune!
Content specific language AND multiple meaning words!
Bloom’s language
Complex sentence structure

9. Students must learn to…
Read, write, and speak like a scientist
Read, write, and speak like a historian
Read, write, and speak like a mathematician

10. What makes Academic Language so difficult?
Academic language is more than just the words (vocabulary) we speak- it’s knowing how and when to use them! For example: Everyday language: Cow-brain sandwiches are illegal now because you might get Mad Cow. Science speak, “Human consumption of the cerebrum matter of the Bos taurus or related bovid mammals is currently interdicted by legislation related to the potential for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy—or BSE—contraction.”

11. Distinguishing between the Form and Function of Language
Language Forms- the structure of language.
Syntax and sentence structure
Narrative and Expository text structure
Grammatical features
Academic Vocabulary
Language Functions: the purposes/tasks for using language.
Explain
Infer
Analyze
Synthesize
Compare/Contrast
Persuade

12. Vocabulary: A Key Component to Comprehension
Vocabulary knowledge strongly influences reading comprehension.(Nagy & Scott , 2000; Beck & McKeown, 2007)
Knowledge of word meanings affects every aspect of language knowledge. (Stahl, 2003, p. 241)

13. Which words do I choose?

14. The Importance of Selecting the “Right” Words
135,473
13,882 words
2,980 words
1,676 words
620 words
203 words
107 words
So many words, so little time!
310 words make up about 50% of words in text.
We often find ourselves teaching the rare words that only occur in 10% of text!
The trick is to teach the middle of the pyramid.
Zeno et al., 1995

15. One Method for Selecting Vocabulary
Tier Words
A strategy created by Beck, Mckeown, & Kucan (2002) to select critical words for instruction.

16. Tier Words cont.
An ideal reader’s vocabulary contains three tiers of words:
Tier 1 words- high frequency & common words. We gain most of these words through exposure in oral language. (i.e., happy, run, stop…)
Tier 3 words- infrequent words that are often content driven (i.e., ptolemy, viscosity, temperance). It is best to directly teach these using student friendly definitions.

17. These are the words to focus on during instruction.
Tier Words cont.
Tier 2 words- occur frequently in the ideal reader’s vocabulary and across many content areas (i.e., manufacturing, journal, recycle).
These are the words to focus on during instruction.

18. Try it….
Johnny Harrington was a kind master who treated his servants fairly. He was also a successful wool merchant, and his business required that he travel often. In his absence, his servants would tend to the fields and cattle and maintain the upkeep of his mansion. They performed their duties happily, for they felt fortunate to have such a benevolent and trusting master.
Which words are Tier 2?
Activity excerpted from Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2002, p. 16

19. Do your selections agree?
Johnny Harrington was a kind master who treated his servants fairly. He was also a successful wool merchant, and his business required that he travel often. In his absence, his servants would tend to the fields and cattle and maintain the upkeep of his mansion. They performed their duties happily, for they felt fortunate to have such a benevolent and trusting master.

20. Another Consideration…
Words with more that take on a shade of a different meaning in a content area….
e.g., function, distribute, factor, power.

21. Academic Vocabulary: making it explicit
What technical vocabulary might students be unfamiliar with?
Is everyday vocabulary used in an unfamiliar way in the text (i.e., are there words with multiple meanings students might not be aware of)?

22. Technical Vocabulary
Content/topic specific vocabulary they need to learn in order to understand the reading and build their knowledge of the subject
Integer
Hypothesis
Myth
Acropolis

23. Everyday Vocabulary
words that students are likely to encounter in many subject areas and can have either a specialized or more general meaning depending on the context in which they are being used.
Students may be familiar with these words but find that they may be used in unfamiliar or unique ways in a particular content area.

24. Try it… Give a definition for each word to the person sitting next to you:
Word Everyday Meanings Technical Meaning in a content area
Order __________________ ___________________________
Odd __________________ ___________________________
Story __________________ ___________________________
Good __________________ ___________________________
Pool __________________ ___________________________

25. Try this one!
Find X X 4 8

26. Other Resources for Selecting Words
The Academic Word List (List of Academic Words that occur in multiple academic contexts across genres):
Word Count (86,800 most frequently occurring words in English ranked by order of frequency)

27. Research suggests four main principles to guide vocabulary instruction:
Students should be active in developing their understanding of words and ways to learn them.
Students should personalize word meanings.
Students should be immersed in words.
Students should build on multiple sources of information to learn words through repeated exposures
(Nagy & Scott , 2000)

28. Activities that utilize the 4 principles of effective vocabulary instruction
Parade-Pause-Pair Vocabulary
The Semantic Sleuth Response Boards
The Semantic Sleuth
4-Corners
Multiple Meaning Carousel
The Semantic Sleuth Squad
Rise and Fall Definitions
Vocabulary Memory Boxes
Excerpted from Bowers & Keisler, 2010.

29. VOCABULARY GAMES
Games are excerpted from: Bowers, E. & Keisler, L. (2010). Building Academic Language through Content-Area Text: Strategies to Support English Language Learners. Huntington Beach, CA: Shell Education.

30. Rise and Fall Definitions
Teacher shares a sentence using a vocabulary word and offers two definitions for the word.
Students select the definition they feel is correct.
Rise (stand) or fall (sit) represents the 2 answer choices.
Students rise or fall depending on which answer they feel is correct.

31. Rise and Fall Definitions
Teacher sentence: At the beginning of the brainstorming session the leaders had an inchoate idea of what their mission statement should be. Rise: not yet completed, or fully formed; vague Fall: crazy, wild, irrational.

32. Rise and Fall Definitions
Teacher definition: After Sam forgot their anniversary, roses were not enough to mollify Sadie, who was clear that nothing less than diamonds would get him back in her good graces. Rise: invalidate, annul, void, cancel Fall: To soften, appease, pacify

33. Parade-Pause-Pair
Students make cards with either just the vocabulary word or just the definition.
Students choose one of their cards to
“parade.”
Students get up and parade (mix) until the teacher says, “pause.”
They pair with the closest person and share their card.
The pairs determine the word to match the definition or the definition to match the word.
After 2 “parades” students switch cards with their partner and continue playing.

34. The Semantic Sleuth Squad
Students are arranged in teams and each team is given a vocabulary word used in a teacher generated sentence.
Students work as a group to define their word by using context clues or word structure strategies.
Students write a team definition, explanation of the strategy they used to determine the meaning, and use the word correctly in a sentence.

35. Semantic Sleuth Squad
Sentence: Becky bought a machine that would help her to desiccate her fruit so that she could eat it in the winter. Strategy: Team definition: Team sentence:

36. Semantic Sleuth Squad
Sentence: His enemy was in an enervated state after he had been deprived of food and water. Strategy: Team Definition: Team Sentence:

37. References
Beck, I., McKeown, M. G., & Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction. New York, NY: Guilford Press. Beck, I. & McKeown, M.G. (2007). Increasing young low income children’s oral vocabulary repertoires through rich and focused instruction. The Elementary School Journal, 107(3), pp Bowers, E. & Keisler, L. (2010). Building Academic Language through Content-Area Text: Strategies to Support English Language Learners. Huntington Beach, CA: Shell Education. Huntington Beach, CA: Shell Education. Juel, C., Biancarosa, G., Coker, D., & Deffes, R. (2003).Walking with Rosie: A cautionary tale of early reading instruction. Educational Leadership, 60(7), pp.12–18. Nagy, W.E., & Scott, J.A. (2000). Vocabulary Processes. In M.L. Kamil, P. Mosenthal, P.D. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (Vol. III, pp ). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Snow, C. E. (1990). The development of definitional skill. Journal of Child Language, 17, pp Stahl, S. A. (2003). Vocabulary and readability: How knowing word meanings affects comprehension. Top Language Disorders, 23(3), pp