Edith Cowan UniversityResearch Online

Research Journeys in Education Conferences, Symposia and Campus Events

2012

Intensive Teaching to Improve VocabularyWendy Moore

Presented at ECU Research Week 2012This Presentation is posted at Research Online.http://ro.ecu.edu.au/crje/16

School of EducationEdith Cowan University

More Dynamite for your Dollar

Intensive TeachingIntensive TeachingIntensive Teaching Intensive Teaching to Improve Vocabularyto Improve Vocabularyp yp y

Wendy MooreSchool of EducationSchool of Education

Research Supervisors:Dr Lorraine HammondDr Lorraine Hammond

Assoc. Prof Tony Fetherston

School of EducationEdith Cowan University

The Critical Role of Vocabulary

V b lV b l IndependentIndependent

Oral Language Oral Language

VocabularyVocabulary Independent Reading

Independent Reading

ComprehensionComprehension

Effective Effective

Phonemic APhonemic A

Word Recognition

Word Recognition

ReadingReading

AwarenessAwareness RecognitionRecognition

Letter -Sound KnowledgeLetter -Sound Knowledge Academic

SAcademic SKnowledgeKnowledge SuccessSuccess

School of EducationEdith Cowan University

Contrasting Approaches

DirectDirectStudentStudent DirectDirectBeck &

McKeownBiemiller &

BooteAnnandale

et al

DirectDeepDirectDeep

StudentCentredStudentCentred

DirectBroadDirectBroad

“Narrative”Literature-based

ti iti

“Rich”Child-friendly

d fi iti

“Maxi”Present many more wordsactivities

Discuss word meanings

definitionsContextual

understanding

more wordsProvide brief definitions

Consider word choice

Use interesting

Fewer, more pertinent words

Revisit and revise

Use a range of word difficulties

Revisit and Use interesting words

Revisit and revise 3+ times revise

School of EducationEdith Cowan University

The Research QuestionsWill students effectively learn new words through a story-based vocabulary program?vocabulary program?

Will one approach be more effective than others in helping students to learn new words?to learn new words?

Will word difficulty affect word learning?Will word difficulty affect word learning?

Will children with better vocabularies learn more words?Will children with better vocabularies learn more words?

Will t h fi d th f l d ff ti ?Will teachers find the program useful and effective?

School of EducationEdith Cowan University

The Research DesignStandardised Tests – All schools (PPVT Receptive and EVT Expressive Vocab)

Gwellup

NarrativeNarrative

Emmerson

Rich

Twickenham

MaxiSet A (Pre & Post Test)Set A (Pre & Post Test)

MaxiSet C (Pre & Post Test)

MaxiSet C (Pre & Post Test)

Set C (Pre & Post Test)

NarrativeSet B (Pre & Post Test)

Set B (Pre & Post Test)

RichSet A (Pre & Post Test)

Focus FocusFocus

ity c

heck

s

Set C (Pre & Post Test)Set C (Pre & Post Test)

RichSet B (Pre & Post Test)

RichSet B (Pre & Post Test)

Set B (Pre & Post Test)

MaxiSet A (Pre & Post Test)

Set A (Pre & Post Test)

NarrativeSet C (Pre & Post Test)

Focus

FocusFocus

Focus

Focus

Focus

Fide

li

Standardised Tests – All schools (PPVT Receptive and EVT Expressive Vocab)

FocusFocus

Combined and adapted vocabulary programs – Control schoolsFocusFocus Focus

School of EducationEdith Cowan University

The Clever Talk Program

School of EducationEdith Cowan University

Measuring Learning

Which picture shows the place where people dwell? What does ‘dwell’ mean? Where could people dwell?

School of EducationEdith Cowan University

Instructional Breadth and Depth

School of EducationEdith Cowan University

Teacher ReflectionsTeacher Reflection Theme Narrative Maxi Rich

Enjoyment of storiesEnjoyment of stories

Ease of use

Students engaged & interestedStudents engaged & interested

Word learning and word use

Can be integrated, adapted, extendedCan be integrated, adapted, extended

Stories too long/complex/read too often

Too time consumingToo time consuming

Students disengaged/disinterested

Too many words or words too difficulty

Hard to find or develop resources

School of EducationEdith Cowan University

Limitations and Future DirectionsConfounding variables

T h lit d fid lit f i l t ti• Teacher quality and fidelity of implementation• English language learners

Limitations• Only 3 intervention classes/schools & 3 approaches • Limited time to trial each approach

I li tiImplications• Need for planned, high intensity vocabulary teaching• Need to provide teachers with resources and training p g

Future directions• Adaptations to improve model (integration, genres, texts)• Minimal requirements to effect generalized change• Broader issues of sustainable pedagogical improvement