1. Building Academic Language for Sixth Grade Students with Learning Disabilities
Academic language—the words in text, rarely used in speech.
Rollanda E. O’Connor, Kathleen Bocian, Victoria Sanchez, Kerri Knight-Teague, Guadalupe Guzman, Brian Jones
University of California at Riverside
Kristen Beach, University of North Carolina, Charlotte

2. Academic Content in Middle School
Relies on reading expository text
Frequent, high-level vocabulary
Reading level above grade level
Students with LD
Placed in general education social studies & science
Reading and vocabulary too difficult

3. Academic Language Necessary for reading comprehension in middle school
Usually learned through wide reading
Poor readers lack access
“Exposure” insufficient
Where and how can students learn these words?

4. Vocabulary CHAAOS Creating Habits to Accelerate Acquisition Of
Students’ Language

5. Three-year Longitudinal Design
Yr 1: Teach 6th grade students with LD 48 academic words
Teach their SpEd ELA teachers to deliver these lessons
Share results with teachers every four weeks
Use teacher feedback to improve lesson structure and feasibility

6. Three-year Longitudinal Design
Yr 2: As students enter 7th grade, add 48 additional words
Teach their 7th grade SpEd teachers to deliver these lessons
Monitor 6th grade teachers’ continued implementation
Share results with teachers every four weeks
Use teacher feedback to improve lesson structure and feasibility
Yr 3: As students enter 8th grade, add 48 additional words

7. Student Participants: 4 schools
Business as Usual
CHAAOS
Eligibility Categories
N = 20
N = 32
Learning Disabilities
15 (75%)
28 (87%)
Speech/Lang
1 (5%)
Autism
2 (10%)
1 (3%)
OHI
3 (10%)
Language
English preference
38%
41%
Spanish preference
62%
59%

8. Student Descriptive Statistics
Business as Usual
CHAAOS
WASI Full-scale IQ
77.9 (12.4)
79.8 (15.90
Reading Comprehension
66.4 (9.9)
68.5 (10.9)

9. Special Education Teacher Participants
Business as Usual
CHAAOS
Years experience
T1 = 5
T2 = 18
T3 = 4
T4 = 21
Credentialed in SpEd?
Yes for both
Master in Education?
1 yes, 1 no
Speaks Spanish?
Minimal for both

10. Lesson Design
Interactive with production responses Multiple opportunities for students to learn meanings Multiple opportunities for students to use words Conversations with peers Conversations with teacher Games to practice Multiple opportunities for students to review words in future lessons

11. CHAAOS Components: Instruction
PowerPoint slides for teacher instruction of 4 new words per week
Scripts for teachers to use or adapt (predictable routine)
Student workbooks with practice activities and sentence stems
Weekly review

12. CHAAOS Components: Assessment
Pre- and post-assessments every 4 weeks
Group Multiple choice
Group Comprehension usage:
Cloze tasks at sentence and paragraph levels
Individual assessment of definition & sentence generation

13. A Weekly Predictable Routine
Monday
Introduce four new words
Student-friendly definitions and contexts
Discuss contexts and meanings
Write words and meanings in workbooks
Tuesday and Wednesday
Brief review of all four words
Concentrate on two of the four words in new contexts

14. A Weekly Predictable Routine
Thursday
Activities that cross all four words
Group games for practice
Students generate sentences
Repeat weekly routine in 4-week cycles, 3 cycles total

15. Lesson 5 Page 5 Grade 6 Cycle 3 Set 10
Grade 6 Cycle 3 Set 10 Lessons 5-8
Lesson 5 Page 5
Grade 6
Cycle 3 Set 10

16. Apply Negotiate Abandon Apprehensive
Directions: Practice saying and writing the vocabulary words of the week. Break the words into parts if you have trouble saying it.
Apply
Negotiate
Abandon
Apprehensive
Grade 6 Cycle 2

17. Apply Example: Definition: To use
You have probably heard “apply for a job” and that is one way to use apply. This is another way to use it.
Apply
Definition: To use
Synonym: use, utilize
Example:
He applied the brakes and stopped the car.

18. Negotiate Example Definition: Work out a deal
Synonym: bargain, agreement
Example
I tried to negotiate with my mom. I would do more chores for extra money.

19. Abandon
Definition: Leave behind
Synonym: desert, walk out on
Example
You could tell the house was abandoned because it had broken windows.

20. Apprehensive Example Definition: Afraid
Synonym: anxious, fearful
Example
They saw a shark yesterday, so she was apprehensive about getting in the water.

21. Lesson 6 Page 6 Grade 6 Cycle 3 Set 10
Grade 6 Cycle 3 Set 10 Lessons 5-8
Lesson 6 Page 6
Grade 6
Cycle 3 Set 10

22. Grade 6 Cycle 3 Set 10 Lessons 5-8
Directions: Review the words and definitions. Remember, read the whole chart one time and then quiz yourself.
Word
Definition
Apply
To use
Negotiate
Work out a deal
Abandon
Leave behind
Apprehensive
Afraid
Grade 7 Cycle 2 (Winter)

23. He applied the brakes and stopped the car.
Definition: To use
Apply
He applied the brakes and stopped the car.
If he didn’t stop at that precise moment, he would have hit a tree.
What did he use?
He stopped at what moment?

24. Apply What needs to be applied in each picture? To do what?
Definition: To use
What needs to be applied in each picture? To do what?
You need to apply __________ to ________.

25. Abandon Everyone was afraid to enter the abandoned house.
Definition: Leave behind
Everyone was afraid to enter the abandoned house.
There was a controversy over whether it was haunted or not!
The primary reason people thought it was haunted was because they would hear spooky sounds at night.
What was left behind?
What was the primary (main) reason people thought it was haunted?

26. Abandon I (would / wouldn’t) abandon __________ because __________.
Definition: Leave behind
Would you abandon this? Explain
I (would / wouldn’t) abandon __________ because __________.

27. 3. Abandoned Kitty: Read the story
3. Abandoned Kitty: Read the story. Decide which vocabulary word completes the sentence.
Applied
Primary
Abandoned
 We found an _________________ kitten on the street!
First, we _________ a warm towel to clean it.
Then, we fed it some food.
The __________________ reason you should not abandon your animal is __________________

28. Lesson 7 Page 7 Grade 6 Cycle 3 Set 10
Grade 6 Cycle 3 Set 10 Lessons 5-8
Lesson 7 Page 7
Grade 6
Cycle 3 Set 10

29. Grade 6 Cycle 3 Set 10 Lessons 5-8
Directions: Review the words and definitions. Remember, read the whole chart one time and then quiz yourself.
Word
Definition
Apply
To use
Negotiate
Work out a deal
Abandon
Leave behind
Apprehensive
Afraid
Grade 7 Cycle 2 (Winter)

30. I tried to negotiate with my mom.
Definition: Work out a deal
I tried to negotiate with my mom.
I will do more chores for extra money.
I need precisely $30 to buy the game.
What is your deal?

31. Negotiate Are these kids negotiating? What for?
The kid is negotiating for a __________.

32. Apprehensive A shark was spotted earlier.
Definition: Afraid
Apprehensive
A shark was spotted earlier.
She was apprehensive about getting in the water.
Some people wanted to kill the shark, which started a controversy.
What is she afraid of?
What is the argument over?

33. Does this make you apprehensive?
I am apprehensive about ______________.

34. 3. Homework Negotiations: Read the story
3. Homework Negotiations: Read the story. Decide which vocabulary word completes the sentence.
apprehensive
controversy
negotiate
The class is having a _______________ over homework.
We want to ________________ a deal with our teacher.
We will do ALL our classwork, but we want 100 nights WITHOUT homework.
I am ______________ that she won’t accept our deal.

35. Lesson 8 Page 8 Grade 6 Cycle 3 Set 10
Grade 6 Cycle 3 Set 10 Lessons 5-8
Lesson 8 Page 8
Grade 6
Cycle 3 Set 10

36. Grade 6 Cycle 3 Set 10 Lessons 5-8
Directions: Review the words and definitions. Remember, read the whole chart one time and then quiz yourself.
Word
Definition
Apply
To use
Negotiate
Work out a deal
Abandon
Leave behind
Apprehensive
Afraid
Word
Definition
Controversy
Serious argument
Sustain
Keep something going
Primary
Most important of all
Precise
Exact thing
Grade 7 Cycle 2 (Winter)

37. Grade 6 Cycle 3 Set 10 Lessons 5-8
Crazy Crossword
Your job is to complete the crossword in your book as a review. Let me explain how a crossword works. We will do a few examples together.

38. Crazy Crossword Answer Key

40. Which features of CHAAOS instruction stand out to you?

41. Multiple Choice Test Design
abandon
to leave something and never come back (correct)
to go to a city in England on vacation (graphic: London)
to get on a sinking ship and stay put (semantic: abandon ship)
to go to a party and meet new people (incorrect)

42. Multiple Choice Test Design
apprehensive
afraid something bad will happen (correct)
thankful for what someone did for you (graphic appreciate)
doing your best at something that scares you (semantic: antonym brave)
thinking that it is almost time to eat dinner (incorrect)

43. Did students improve? Multiple Choice

44. And What About English Learners?
ELs < Native English speakers at pretest
Gains for students in CHAAOS did not differ for ELs
Neither status an a EL nor the treatment x EL interaction were significant (p = .81)

45. Did students improve? Usage of Words

46. Examples of Definitions Prior to Instruction
Apprehensive
To be on the defensive side
Like responsibility
Negotiate
Its like perceive
To make business, make someone buy something, commerce them

47. Example: Pre and Post Generated Definitions of Words For CHAAOS Students Receiving Instruction

48. Conclusions
Students learned, on average, 88% of the words their teachers taught.
Students retained the meanings of words 4-21 weeks after instruction ended.
IQ did not interact significantly with learning as measured through MC.
ELs learned word meanings as efficiently as NES.
Teachers learned to implement instruction with high fidelity with 2-6 models.

49. Recommendations for Teachers
Consider 15 minutes of systematic vocabulary instruction in ELA classes for students with exceptionalities.
Select high-utility words
Provide multiple opportunities for students to:
Practice word meanings
Discuss how to use them
Consider a range of appropriate contexts