massachusetts, 20041. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Massachusetts, 2004 1

Enhancing Students’ Vocabulary Knowledge

Isabel L. Beck University of Pittsburgh

captivate

enthusiastic mesmerize

soar awe


What research says about vocabulary?

Which word meanings need to betaught?

How should word meanings beintroduced?

What are some ways to engagestudents with word meanings?


• Vocabulary knowledge is highlyrelated to reading achievement.

• People have different amounts ofvocabulary knowledge.

What I knew about vocabulary research and instruction before I started studying it


High-knowledge third graders hadvocabularies about equal to lowest-performing twelfth graders (Smith, 1941).

Linguistically “poor” first graders knew5,000 words; linguistically “rich” knew20,000 words (Moats, 2001).

Once established, such differences aredifficult to ameliorate (Biemiller, 1999; Hart& Risley, 1995).

The magnitude of “different amounts” ofvocabulary knowledge.

What I didn’t know


• There is very little vocabulary instruction inthe schools (Biemiller, 2001; Scott, Jamieson,& Asselin, 1998; Watts, 1995.)

What else I didn’t know

High vocabulary people not only know more words, they know more about the words they know


capableemanatedfamiliargarlichurryodor

peacefulpolite

wonder

An Instructional matter thatmade a big impression

• Which words were selected for instruction.


Choosing Words to Teach:Three Tiers

Tier One:

the most basic words clock, baby, happy rarely require instruction in school


Tier Three:

words whose frequency of use is quitelow, often limited to specific domains

isotope, lathe, peninsula

probably best learned when neededin a content area

Choosing Words to Teach:Three Tiers cont…


Tier Two:

high-frequency words for maturelanguage users

coincidence, forlorn, industrious

instruction in these words can addproductively to an individual’slanguage ability

Choosing Words to Teach:Three Tiers cont…


Importance and Utility

Words that are characteristic of mature language users and appear across a variety of domains.

Two of the Most Essential Criteria for Choosing Tier Two Words

Conceptual Understanding

Words for which students understand the general concept but provide precision and specificity in describing the concepts.


Word Tier-anny: Where do these fall?

forlornceilingtriumphantoboeabsurd

hungryhostilecornercolonialbreak


Other instructional matters thatmade a big impression

All words selected for instructiontreated the same

Typical instruction was limited

Often - only a definition and sentence or example

Content of example often dull, ordinary.

The teacher told the boys to stop quarreling.

Quarrel: an argument, disagreement


Better instruction

• Intermediate grade studies

• Primary grade studies

• What’s better instruction?

So big impressions led to research


Interesting words with mileage.

Explanations in everyday connected language,rather than dictionary definitions.

Providing several contexts in which a wordcan be used.

Things for kids to do that require them toprocess the meanings of words.

At least some of the examples, situations, andquestions are interesting and less pedantic.

High frequency of encounters.

What’s better instruction


How effective are definitions? Studies that provided dictionary definitions and asked students to create sentences or answer brief questions about the words showed:

63 percent of the students’ sentences were judged to be “odd” (Miller & Gildea, 1985)

60 percent of students’ responses were unacceptable (McKeown, 1991; 1993)

Introducing Vocabulary


Student-friendly explanations tellwhat a word means in everyday

connected language


Dictionary Friendly

Contagious: able to bespread by contact

An illness is contagious ifyou can catch it easilyfrom another person whois sick with it.

Attention: thoughtful care or kindness

If someone is getting attention they are being well-taken care of.

Unexpected: not expected; surprising

If something is unexpected you are surprised about it.

Eavesdropping: listening secretly to a conversation

If you are eavesdropping, you are listening to what other people are saying without them knowing.


If you wanted to eavesdrop on someone in the next room. . .

a) . . . that people on the street stopped to listen.

The doorbell wasn't audible from the kitchen. . .

b) . . . you can hear better if you put your ear up to the keyhole.

Jack answered the phone, but the din of music and voices. . .

d) . . . so we didn’t know that the guests had arrived.

The farmer heard a commotion outside and then ran out to find. . .

e) . . . that two puppies had gotten into the chicken coop.

The serenade that the man played for his sweetheart was so beautiful. . .

f) . . . made it hard for him to hear who was on the other end.

Things for kids to do that require themto process meaning of words

Sentence Endings


Sentence stems: The newspaper called Mr. Bowman a philanthropist because. . . . I told my teacher I wanted to be a spectator at the play because. . . .

I scrutinized my mom’s face because. . . .

Things for kids to do that require them to process meaning of words


Word Lines

How surprised would you be if . . .

1. you saw your friend vault over the moon?

2. your teacher commended you for doing good work?

3. a dog started bantering with you?

4. the mayor urged everyone to leave town?

5. a coach berated his football team for not making a touchdown?

Least -------------------------------------------------------------------- Most Surprised Surprised

At least some of the examples,situations and activities are fun


Encounters Accuracy RT Compr

Traditional

Traditional

4

12

+

+

-

+

-

-

Rich

Rich

4

12

+

+

-

+

-

+

McKeown, Beck, Omanson, & Pople

What can be gotten from better kinds of instruction


Most recent big impressions

No evidence of early grades’ schoolcurricula making a difference

What’s considered vocabularydevelopment in the early grades

What should the schools do?


Tradebooks are excellent sources of Tier 2 words

appropriate charming

concentrate forlorn

exhausted absurd

dignified exquisite

rambunctious


Each word is contextualized for itsrole in the story.

The word's meaning is providedthrough student-friendly explanations.

Examples beyond the story contextare provided.

Children are asked to think aboutexamples and to provide their ownexamples.

Rich Vocabulary Instruction


sensible: In the story, Fred said “verysensible” when Monty thought the sign said“Help prevent forest fires.” If something issensible, it is the right thing to do; it makessense.

It would be sensible to makea list of what you need beforegoing shopping.

. . .

Sheepish Tale


Let’s say it’s raining out--what would be sensible to do?

If I said we were going on a long, long walk and you should wear sensible shoes, what kind of shoes would those be?

What kind of shoes would not be sensible for a long walk?

Sheepish Tale cont…


Participants: Poverty District, One School

4 kindergartens2 experimental2 control

4 first grades2 experimental2 control

Study 1

To what extent can instruction increaseyoung children’s knowledge of themeanings of sophisticated words?

22 words from 8 stories


Compared to a control group there waslearning, both statistically andeducationally. (Beck & McKeown, in press)

There was room for a lot more learning.

We reasoned why there wasn’t morelearning.

So---Study 2: What are the differentialresults for varying amounts of instruction?


Participants:Same poverty district as Study 1,different school

3 kindergartens 3 first grades

Within subject design

6 words from seven trade books = 42 words

21 words in the “Rich Instruction” condition21 words in the “More Rich Instruction” condition

Study 2


Rich Instruction for all 6 wordsMore Rich Instruction for 3 of the 6 words21 words in each category

Study 2 RichInst

MoreRich Inst

miserable x

immense xleisurely xevade x xstranded x xnecessities x x


16 15

32

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

2001 Study 1 Rich Instruction

(Experimental Group)

2002 Study 2 Rich Instruction

(Within Subject)

2002 Study More Rich Instruction

(Within Subject)

Percentage of Gains across Instructional Conditions on Picture Task for First Grade

(Beck & McKeown, in press)


needs to be asked in comparison to what?

Is it worth it. . .

• accepting the status quo

NOT AN OPTION

• in relationship to other read-aloud

vocabulary learning.

. . . Let’s see


Effect on vocabulary learning from other read aloud studies

• Effects range from 4 % to 40 %

• Why do results range so widely?

Higher learning reported when

Story is repeated at least 3 times

Explanation of the word is includedeach time

Word is illustrated in the story


If words are concrete/imageable results arein upper range (often that means nouns).

In Elley’s (1989) study, children learned 24%of the nouns and only 6% of the adjectivesand adverbs.

Important to acknowledge the role oflearning not easily pictured and moreabstract words in language development.

In Beck et al. studies, the majority of thewords were adjectives and adverbs.

Different Results for Type of Word


Actually children who are read to will encounter the words—after all the words came from read alouds

Strong evidence that the earlier word meanings are acquired the more readily they are accessed in later life.

In later texts, knowing some hard words may allow a steeper vocabulary trajectory.

Why teach sophisticated words to young students since they are not likely to

encounter them?


How sure am I thatyoung poverty children canlearn sophisticated words?


Thank You

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