Beginning a New Series About Learning to Read and Reading to Learn:Stepping into Reading

Language is important and a pathway to reading.

I AM coming back to this blog with an emphasis on early (k-3) reading skills.  There continue to be way too many 3rd graders who are not reading at 3rd grade level.

We need to examine the tools we have to teach early reading skills and why teachers and even special educators or Level 2 RTI teachers are NOT using these tools.

I continue to look for answers and suggesting helpful resource links.

Today I want to recommend a book I'm currently reading:  Unlocking Literacy: Effective Decoding and Spelling Instructions (2010) by Marcia K. Henry, who has worked in the field of reading instruction for struggling readers for more than 50 years.  This book is recommended by G. Reid Lyon, Louisa Moats, Virginia Berninger, Donald Deshler, Keith Stanovich, Susan Brady and Cheryl Gabig.

Becoming a Reader

How many children are learning to read in the early grades.  Here is a success story.

http://www.parkrecord.com/news/reading-program-expands-to-park-city-elementary-schools/

Reading program expands to Park City elementary schools

Teachers are trained to help all children read, including those with dyslexia   Carolyn Webber  October 13, 2017

From Discourse to Reading Comprehension?

When should we start addressing reading comprehension?  Is Kindergarten too early to work on reading comprehension skills?

We know that parents and other adults including preschool teachers are encouraged to begin engaging babies and toddlers in book “reading”.  Of course, the reading is being done by the parent/teacher/adult.  We also know that adults engage children in conversations about books, using, for example, “Dialogic Reading”.

When might we begin to “teach” reading comprehension skills in a somewhat more formal sense?

Let’s assume that it is possible to teach some reading comprehension skills in Kindergarten.  In my grandson’s kindergarten this past year, his teacher actively engaged the class in learning some basic reading comprehension skills—story characters, setting, and story plot.  They read both narrative and information texts.  They had “favorite” books.  They shared what a book was “about.”  They also wrote “stories” from their personal experience.

But are there curricula for teaching comprehension in the primary grades.  That’s what I’ll explore in the next series of posts.

Normal Language Development and the Role of Oral Language in Common Disabilities

This is a companion piece to the last posting on Language Development.  Children with disabilities like Autism, Learning Disabilities, and Intellectual Disabilities are very likely to have delayed oral language or an oral language disability.  Here is a power point explaining the areas that a speech/language/ pathologist might address.

What role does Oral Language Play in “Disabilities”

Speech-Language Pathologists— Who Are We, and What Do We Do

From the American Speech Language and Hearing Association, May, 2017

From ASHA Access Schools

http://www.asha.org/uploadedFiles/What-SLPs-Do.pdf 

The Role of Oral Language in Literacy and Learning

The role of Oral  Language in Literacy and Learning

http://92Y.org/WonderplayConference | With anecdotes from her own vast professional experience as a language Pathologist, Dr. Soifer discussed how Oral language is the foundation of literacy and a crucial skill for learning and social development. Oral language develops much faster than many people realize. Good language skills have far reaching influences on children's development. The specifics of language 

Published on Nov 20, 2012

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzpkRZvdOCw&feature=em-subs_digest-vrecs 

1 hour 20 minutes

This is long but well worth your time.  It is like a mini course in Language Development.

Sentence Functions and Conversation: The heart of language development

SENTENCE FUNCTIONS

7 Functions of Language expressed at the sentence level by Michael Halliday

Instrumental: I want a banana

Regulatory:  “First I … you need a rake and you have to build over the rake.”

Interactional:  “Do you like cricket too Henry?”

Personal:  “I know that song ‘cause we sang it at Kindergarten.”

Heuristic:  “We could make a water thing to tell how much rain we got.”

Imaginative: “Alice the camel has one hump, one hump, one hump.”

Representational:  “It is raining really heavy and heavy all day.”

From: Michael Halliday’s chapter in Language Development:  A Reader for Teachers edited by Brenda Miller Power and Ruth S. Hubbard, Merrill Prentice Hall, 2002

The chapter begins with a question asked by a teacher of English: “What is language?”, to which Halliday responds: “Why do you want to know?” Halliday’s point is that it matters why you want/need to define language. He takes the perspective of the child learning language: that is, the child’s “Model” of language internalized as a result of his experience. “The child knows what language is because he knows what language does.” [That is, the function(s) of language]. Halliday goes on to write:

“….The determining elements of the young child’s experience are the successful demands on language that he himself has made, the particular needs that have been satisfied by language for him….”

“…We shall try to identify the models of language with which the normal child is endowed by the time he comes to school at the age of 5….”

Halliday then goes on to describe “models” of language function the child brings to school: Instrumental, Regulatory, Interactional, Personal, Heuristic, Imaginative, and Representational. See the chart above for the categories, the functions they are designed to achieve, and examples.

Language Use and Learning

In the same text on Language Development: A Reader for Teachers, Gay Su Pinnell describes “Ways to Look at the Functions” of Children’s Language”* in which she offers examples based on classroom observations, a process for doing those observations, and ways to enhance children’s 7 functional uses of language.

*Taken from Observing the Language Learner” (pp. 57-72), A. Jaggar and M. T. Smith-Burke (Eds., Newark, DE: International Reading Association, 1985

There are many texts and example that address the relationship between oral language and school success, some of which we will refer to as to move to our next level of oral language—discourse. Many of these are from the 1970’s beginning with a seminal work by Cazden and Hymes in 1972 (Functions of Language in the Classroom). The date is mentioned not to suggest that these sources, ideas, and concerns are outdated; but, rather, to suggest that language use and school success is an old and ongoing topic of interest and importance. More recent texts include:

******

The Functions of Language (at the sentence level): Some examples and excerpts from Halliday.

So, when a child uses a sentence we need to pay attention to its function, not just its form.. Note that these examples are at the sentence level, but they only take on meaning as they function as part of a discourse/conversation….both oral and written.

Instrumental: Language is used as a means of getting things done.
I want… a car, boat, treat…. I want to…go home, find a book…

“Success in this use of language does not in any way depend on the production of well-formed adult sentences; a carefully contextualized yell may have substantially the same effect…”

Regulatory: Language is used to regulate the behavior of others.

You shouldn’t….tear the paper,
go there; use that pencil, take that book..

While this function of language, in the child’s experience, may initially be used by adults, the child learns to use it, too.

Interactional: Language is used to address social interactions—both personal and group interactions.
Let’s work on this together.
We can do this.
You don’t belong here.

Personal: Language is used reflect self, his/her personality, uniqueness
I’m good at math.
I like to play dominoes.
I think school is fun.

Heuristic. Language used to explore one’s environment—language as a means of investigating reality, a way of learning about things.
I have a question?
Do that mean…?
Oh, look, there’s a frog.

“Imaginative. Language used to create his/her own “environment” as he/she can image it to be.
Hi, Mr. Pepperoni Pants.
This is a zigo.
The request of the buggy coming right up. Humming…
Once there was a big tree house…

Representational: Language used to communicate about something, for expressing propositions.

Mars is a million miles away.
The zoo has many wild animals.
Molly is sick.

* * * *

More example as we move to the next section on oral language development: The Discourse or Conversation Level.

Processing Complex Sentences Can Impact Speaking, Listening, and Reading Development

 Sentences (Part 2 of 3):  Processing Sentences

“Sentence” is the third unit (sound-word-sentence-discourse) of oral language described as a primary basis for learning to read and reading to learn.  Developmentally, the “average” child begins to put words together to form “sentences” by age 2.   They don’t know the “parts of speech” names, but they do learn that there are certain kinds of words that go together (nouns and verbs, nouns and adjectives, verbs and adverbs) to achieve a certain purpose.  As they continue to develop, their sentences grow longer and more complex. 

I write about sentences in terms of three dimensions:  structure, process(ing) and function.  I began with structure because structure (form/grammar) is often the way sentences are talked about by adults and are addressed in school curriculum. 

Sentence Processing

There is more to sentence development than its form or structure (syntax). Equally important for the development of literacy (reading) skills are processing of sentences and using sentences for communication—function.

Processing complex sentences

From a developmental perspective Loban’s research with 211 students followed from K to grade 12 shows the following about students’ skills at processing language at the sentence level:

*Those superior in oral language in kindergarten and grade one before they learn to read and write are the very ones who excel in reading and writing by the time they are in grade 6.

^In sentences in oral language, the high group in the 1^st grade demonstrates a proficiency in elaboration attained by the low group only at grades 5 or 6.

^Although all subjects knew and used all the basic structural patterns of English sentence, the high group had a much greater flexibility and repertoire within the pattern of a sentence: that is, they had more ways to fill slots like the subject, the modifiers, and the objects.

^The members of the high group used more subordination, combining communication units in complex fashion

^The high group showed

            *longer communication units

            *greater elaboration of subject and predicate

            *more embedding in transformational grammar

            *greater use of adjectival dependent clauses

Difficulties in attending to or producing long and/or complex sentences impacts reading in a number of ways.

For example, in her text on Teaching Reading Comprehension Processes (1991), Judith Westphal Irwin describes three kinds of comprehension skills: metaprocesses, macroprocesses and microprocesses.  Under microprocesses, Irwin describes the importance of chunking words into meaningful phrases, selecting what is most important from the sentence to keep in short term memory for interpretation of upcoming sentences (that is, microselection); and then using that information across sentence boundaries (integrative processes).

            “Integrative processes” she defined as the processes involved in understanding and inferring the relationships between clauses and sentences.  Three main types of integrative processes are understanding anaphora, understanding connective relationships, and making “slot filling” inference.” (Irwin, page 38).  In the following pages, she offers several suggestions for teaching these skills.  (pp. 38-49)

* * *  

Cheryl M. Scott, Chapter 16: Syntax in Stone, et. al. (Eds.), Handbook of Language and Literacy:  Development and Disorders, (2005)

http://books.google.com/books?id=e3rckmb3a3MC&printsec=frontcover&dq=C.+Addison+Stone&hl=en&sa=X&ei=pbBOU7-xEMG0yATaioDgDg&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Syntax&f=false

Scott lists three things that make sentences complex:

1)      Features of open class words (nouns, verbs); reversible passive sentences

2)      Number and type of syntactic operations (usually reflected in sentence length)

3)      Types of syntactic operations (reversible order, subordination, ambiguity, parsing, etc.)

So, just as is the case in Words/Vocabulary, the complexity of sentence and the operations required to process them, (anaphora, connectives, inferences, for example) influences how easily a child can process sentences.

This reminds us of the quote from the work of Amanda C. Brandone, Sara J. Salkind, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, U. of Delaware and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek:

  “… Although most grammatical structures are in place by the age of 5, children continue to acquire more complex forms and rules of grammar in the school setting….”

Although the “average” child has mastered the basic structures of sentences by age 5, children still need to learn the more complex structures that will require more demanding processing.  The question we need to ask is how they will learn these sentence structures in order to process them efficiently and effectively.  This does not mean that we should focus on directly teaching “grammar” to young children as a basis for reading.  Young children (preschool through primary grades) learn language skill through meaningful contexts.   Sentences become meaningful to children when we focus on the “functions” of sentences, part 3 of our “sentence” topic.

  

* * *  

Let's Try "Sentence" Structure Again

From the original blogpost about  Sentnences - Sentence Structure

"Dialogue About Language, Literacy, and Learning" Blog for April 17, 2014   Part 1 of 3

Sentences (Part 1 of 3)

“Sentence” is the next unit (Sound-Word-Sentence-Discourse) of oral language that provides a basis for learning to read and reading to learn.  Developmentally, the “average” child begins to put words together to form “sentences” by age 2.  What do children know about sentences as they begin to put them together?  They don’t know the names of the parts of speech that make up sentences (nouns, verbs, adverbs, etc., or the role of those in sentences as subjects, objects…etc.), but they do learn that there are certain kinds of words that go together (nouns and verbs, nouns and adjectives, verbs and adverbs).  As they continue to develop, their sentences grow longer and more complex. 

I am going to write about sentences in terms of three dimensions:  structure, process(ing) and function.  I’m going to begin with structure because structure (form/grammar) is often the way sentences are approached in school. 

STRUCTURE

A few sites are helpful.  First is a chapter on Language Development by Amanda C. Brandone, Sara J. Salkind, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, U. of Delaware and  Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Temple University

On Language Development.  (It was not clear from the link which book contained this chapter)  http://udel.edu/~roberta/pdfs/Bear%20chaptBrandone.pdf   In this chapter, the authors use content, form, and use as their framework for discussing language development.  They write:

“To better address typical and atypical language development as well as strategies of prevention and intervention, the five structural components of language-- phonology, semantics, syntax, morphology, and pragmatics--. may be simplified into three essential aspects of communication: content, form, and use (Bloom & Lahey, 1978). Content refers to the semantics of language—the concepts and ideas that are encoded in words. Form is the way in which meaning is represented, including speech, sign language, and writing. In the context of spoken language, form encompasses phonology, morphology, and syntax. Finally, use refers to the function of language in context. Although each of these aspects of language can be identified separately, they are inherently interconnected elements in communication (Bloom & Lahey). Language problems may arise when there is a disruption within anyone component of the model or in their integration. The following sections consider the typical development of each of these aspects of language.”

Language Development

This link shows overall language development, but there are several references to the development of sentences:

“The next crucial milestone in the development of language form occurs when the child discovers that rule-based combinations of words actually express more than the meaning of any of the individual words. For example,

by 17 months children are able to discriminate between ‘‘Cookie Monster is tickling Big Bird’’ and ‘‘Big Bird is tickling Cookie Monster’’ (Hirsh-Pasek  & Golinkoff,1996). Comprehension of these rule-based combinations comes prior to production using these rules. Children begin to combine words into two-word utterances (e.g., ‘‘car go’’ and ‘‘more juice’’) between 18 and 24 months. These early word combinations express meaningful relationships yet tend to be missing function words (the, a), auxiliary verbs (am, is, has), and the bound morphemes that mark plural (s), possessive (-’s), or tense (-ing,-ed). As children learn to combine words into longer sequences, they add the function words and bound morphemes that were absent from their first…”

Their Milestone charts show language development of content, form, and use.  Note here the reference to syntax/sentence development across charts.

12-18 mos.

Semantic roles are expressed in one-word speech, including agent, action, object, location, possession, rejection, disappearance, nonexistence, denial.

Words are understood outside of routine games; still need contextual support for lexical comprehension.

18–24 mos.

Average expressive vocabulary size: 200–300 words at 24 mos.

Prevalent relations expressed: agent–action, agent–object, action–object, action–location, entity–location, possessor–possession, demonstrative–entity, attribute-entity.

^Understands basic semantic roles and relations; two word utterances and two syllable words emerge

^Utterances are telegraphic with few grammatical markers

24–30 mos.

Understanding and use of questions about objects (What?), people (Who?), and basic events (What is x doing? Where is x going?

^Use of no, not, don’t as negation between subject and verb; Use of sentences with semi-auxiliaries—gonna, wanna).

30–36 mos.

Use and understand Why? questions.

36–42 mos.

Use and understand semantic relationship between adjacent and conjoined sentences, including additive, temporal, causal, contrastive.

^Present tense auxiliaries appear; be verbs used inconsistently

42–48 mos.

Use and understand ‘‘when’’ and ‘‘how’’ questions.

Use conjunctions and as well as because to conjoin sentences.

^Early emerging complex sentences types, including full prepositional clauses, hi clauses, simple infinitives

48–60 mos.

Use conjunctions when, so, because ,and if

“… Although most grammatical structures are in place by the age of 5, children continue to acquire more complex forms and rules of grammar in the school setting….”

…” For most children, the development of language proceeds without difficulty.  By the age of 5, typically developing children have mastered the building blocks of the system and are left only to refine and integrate their skills in order to use language in an increasingly complex range of tasks. During the course of the development of  language, there is a tremendous range of what can be considered normal.” [Use of bold print mine.]

…” Through interaction with family, peers, teachers, and caregivers, children learn communicative competence, or how to use language appropriately and strategically in social situations (Hymes, 1967). Because we use language for so many purposes, many skills are involved in communicative competence (see Becker-Bryant, 2001)…”

“Children need to learn to ask questions, make requests, give orders, express agreement or disagreement, apologize, refuse, joke, praise, and tell stories. They must learn social routines (such as saying ‘‘Trick or treat’’ on

Halloween), terms of politeness, and ways to address others. Children must also understand how to initiate, maintain, and conclude conversations, as well as take turns, provide and respond effectively to feedback, and stay on-topic. Crucially, they must learn to be sensitive to their audience and to the situations in which they are communicating. Sophistication in pragmatics continues to develop throughout childhood and into adulthood. [bold mine]

Some additional references for sentence form/syntax:

 Some resources posted on the Brandone et. al. link:

http://www.asha.org/public/

The public page of the website for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association offers resources to help all audiences better understand communication and communication disorders. It also provides links to early intervention references and professional referral services for access to qualified care.

http://www.bamford-lahey.org

The Bamford-Lahey Children’s Foundation is a foundation dedicated to conducting and supporting programs that will enhance the linguistic, cognitive, social, and emotional development of children. The Foundation’s current focus is improving the language development of children with language difficulties.

This website provides a thorough list of references on language disorders as well as information relevant to the goal of developing guidelines on evidence-based practices in child language disorders

And two other google search links:

http://www.education.com/reference/article/language-development-preschool-children/

Language Development; short; commercial

Images for syntax development

https://www.google.com/search?q=images+of+syntax+development&client=gmail&rls=gm&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=BXBNU8C9K-Wb2QW4yYDADw&ved=0CCoQsAQ&biw=1414&bih=641

http://dbsenk.wordpress.com/2011/10/09/understanding-oral-language/

http://www.almightydad.com/general-interest/learning-to-speak-developmental-milestone

Part 2 of the Sentence Series is on sentence processing.

Vocabulary Development: Part 5 Instruction Age 3 to Grade 3

Vocabulary Instruction begins early in the form of parent or adult-child conversation, as noted in the last posting.  There is also more “intentional ” vocabulary instruction at the preschool-primary grade levels. *

I would start by suggesting a few sources:

Speaking and Listening for Preschool Through Third Grade by Lauren B. Resnick and Catherine B. Snow, published in 2008 by the International Reading Association.  In this booklet (with video) they list 3 strands of Standards: (1) Habits, (2) Kinds of Talk and Resulting Genres, and (3) Language Use and Conventions.  The focus on vocabulary happens under Standard 3.3: Vocabulary and Word Choice.

Another resources: (*I haven't tried to copy a slideshare link, so I'm not sure how well it will show.)

Please note that this was a 2 hour workshop with time for interacting with the materials/handouts.

https://www.slideshare.net/FranWWCamp/naeyc-conference-on-vocabulary-2016-autosaved

Handouts from this Workshop.  For complete handout, contact Toomeyand12@gmail.com

Powerful Vocabulary, NAEYC Conference, October 2016, Fran Toomey (toomeyand12@gmai.com  Handout 1 – Frameworks (CHOOSE ONE)

Thirty Million Words Dana Suskind, M.D.,  0-3 Years	Bridging the Gap, Christ & Wang (Young Children, 2010)	Beginning Literacy with Language, (age 3-5+) Dickinson & Tabors	Speaking & Listening for Preschool Through 3rd Grade Resnick & Snow	Toomey Synthesis
Tune In: Follow the child’s lead: notice what child is doing and join in, using “motherese,” responding  to child’s response (behavioral and verbal), use repetition (same stories, same words), get on the same physical level.	Provide purposeful exposure to new words *Teach thematically to provide multiple exposures to words throughout the day through read-alouds, conversation, centers and projects. *Select books in which illustrations and text provide clues to word meanings *Use interactive read-aloud style to engage children in cognitively challenging talk about books *Create media center where children view DVDs, electronic books and  interactive read alouds	Conversation & Dialogic Reading In the Home--Book Reading: Immediate Talk (about the book) and Non-immediate Talk (recollection of personal experiences, comments/qs about general knowledge (P. 49) *Choose a variety of book types *Discuss some aspect of the book before and after reading *Use Intonation, gestures and point to illustration … without interrupting flow of text. *Make the book experience overflow into other areas of life.	Domains ^Add words to familiar knowledge domains (KD)(people, animals, foods, households) ^Sort relationships among words in KD ^Add new domains from subjects and topics being studied.	W.O.R.D.S Words that are developmentally* appropriate (See Handout 2) Opportunities to use words in a meaningful way across time and place, beginning with the immediate time and place and expanding to other times and places Representing/recording words in a form that encourages remembering and retrieving Dialogue is at the heart of word learning (Books and Conversation) Stories are the starting place!

Powerful Vocabulary, NAEYC Conference, October 2016, Fran Toomey (toomeyand12@gmail.com}  Handout 2: CHOOSING WORDS

Small Kids, Big Words Laura Pappano Harvard, 2008 PreK-Gr 3

Creative Curriculum Steps Before The Study: https://www2.teachingstrategies.com/ national/pdfs/Closer-Look-Studies-National_1.pdf/

Choosing a Topic For Learning http://www.naeyc.org/tyc/article/preschoolers-study-transportation TYC Vol 9 NO. 3     Download PDF

OWL: Making Every Word Count  (Page 27) See Word Lists (pp 302-341)

Vocabulary Development: 5A

Here are several short videos on how to help young children develop vocabulary:

Language and Learning: Infants and Toddlers

Uploaded on Feb 4, 2011

The purpose of this video is to illustrate the role of the teacher in using language to support children's development. The interactions you will see include positive language, expansion, questioning, and redirection. Teachers use these techniques to expand children's knowledge, 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DPhIQh91Mw  14 minutes

Language Development Videos

Supporting Oral Language Development in a Language-Rich Environment 9 minutes  Ages 3-5

Published on Apr 13, 2016

Oral language is the foundation for learning to read and write, and is critical for supporting the development of children’s early literacy skills. This video introduces some of the rule systems of language that children need to master to develop strong oral language skills, and stresses 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRw9tSQRpQU

Scaffolding Language Skills

Vocabulary Development Words: Semantic, Syntactic, Phonology   *Introduce words in context

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLXxcspCeK8&t=333s  7 minutes

Vocabulary: Part 4: Content Words in Story and Information Text

Tier 3: Content Words

My favorite source on vocabulary knowledge: K through HS is the Text Project.  There is an extensive list of resources on this site.  Here are some that address Tier 3: Content Words for younger children.

Transportation

http://textproject.org/assets/products/stories-of-words/Stories-of-Words-2016-Transportation.pdf

Clothes

http://textproject.org/assets/products/stories-of-words/Stories-of-Words-2016-Clothes.pdf

Flight

http://textproject.org/assets/products/stories-of-words/Stories-of-Words-2016-Flight.pdf

Science (on the playground)

Critical Science Vocabulary

New words in science lessons and texts usually represent unknown concepts (e.g., photosynthesis, erosion). This is different than the new vocabulary in narratives that typically pertain to known concepts (e.g., new words such as raucous and boisterous instead of the familiar noisy). In this presentation, Elfrieda H. Hiebert [presenter] will discuss the need to make science vocabulary education a priority in grades one through four. If the concepts are not taught in grades one through four, later when the students are in the middle grades they will be faced with an inordinate number of challenging words, representing complex and unknown concepts

http://textproject.org/assets/products/word-pictures/content-area-word-pictures/CAWP-Magnets.pdf

http://textproject.org/assets/products/word-pictures/QRWP-A10-Science-on-the-Playground.pdf

Vocabulary Part 3 Tiered Words

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

 Excerpted from one of my other blogs: Dialogue About Language, Literacy, and Learning

Several distinctions have been made about types of vocabulary words to be learned.  One currently popular distinction is categorizing “Tiered Words.”  Beck formulated a system where she described words as Tier 1, Tier 2 or Tier 3. Here’s a link to her work with Mc Keown and Kucan (Creating Robust Vocabulary, Guildford Press, 2008):

 https://www.aea267.k12.ia.us/system/assets/uploads/files/76/which_words_to_teach.pdf

 al. al. describe these levels (tiers) as

Tier One: Most basic words, rarely require instruction in school; Exs: clock, baby, happy

Tier Two: Words that are of high frequency in mature language use and are found across a variety of domains; Exs: coincidence, absurd, industrious.

Tier Three: Words whose frequency of use is quite low and is often limited to specific domains; best learned when needed in a content area; Exs: isotope, lathe, peninsula

(Note: Tiered vocabulary is not to be confused with Tier 1, 2, and 3 Instruction in Response to Intervention literature. Those tiers refer to the level of intervention needed for students who are or are not progressing as expected in the regular classroom. The instruction is not specific to vocabulary).

* * * *

 A description of tiered words from an elementary school.

http://www.wappingersschools.org/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=618&ModuleInstanceID=4106&ViewID=047E6BE3-6D87-4130-8424-D8E4E9ED6C2A&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=16669&PageID=3688

Taken from Images of Academic Words where there are many other images/links. Simply google “images for academic words.”

                                                                             ****

And here is a commercial site that provides a 3 minute video distinguishing tiers of words: http://www.learninga-z.com/commoncore/academic-vocabulary.html

Tier 1 words: These words are basic vocabulary or the more common words most children will know. They include high-frequency words and usually are not multiple meaning words.

Tier 2 words: Less familiar, yet useful vocabulary found in written text and shared between the teacher and student in conversation. The Common Core State Standards refers to these as “general academic words.” Sometimes they are referred to as “rich vocabulary.” These words are more precise or subtle forms of familiar words and include multiple meaning words. Instead of walk for example, saunter could be used. These words are found across a variety of domains.

Tier 3 words: CCSS refers to these words as “domain specific;” they are critical to understanding the concepts of the content taught in schools. Generally, they have low frequency use and are limited to specific knowledge domains. Examples would include words such as isotope, peninsula, refinery. They are best learned when teaching specific content lessons, and tend to be more common in informational text.

So, we might consider Tier 2 words as general “academic words” while Tier 3 words are considered “content specific words” referring to words/concepts learned in content areas like science and social studies.

We can also distinguish words important for instruction: frequency, conceptual complexity (abstractness), and word relationships: familiarity, morphological family, semantic relationships and dispersion.

One of the very best sources on a range of vocabulary topics is the Text Project.  See, for example:

http://textproject.org/topics/vocabulary-and-morphological-awareness/vocabulary/

Vocabulary Development and Learning: Part 2B

The topic of vocabulary development is important enough to add some new and recent links/excerpts:

    

Recent Trends in Income, Racial, and Ethnic School Readiness Gaps at Kindergarten Entry

Sean F. Reardon, Ximena A. Portilla (August 2016 ). Recent Trends in Income, Racial, and Ethnic School Readiness Gaps at Kindergarten Entry, American Educational Research Association (AERA) Open, DOI: 10.1177/2332858416657343,

From Reading Rockets

http://www.readingrockets.org/research-by-topic/recent-trends-income-racial-and-ethnic-school-readiness-gaps-kindergarten-entry?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ReadingRockets_StrugglingReaders+%28Reading+Rockets%3A+Struggling+Reader+Resources%29

A short excerpt:

“This study found that low-income kindergarten students have reversed the trend of growing academic achievement gaps between them and their higher-income peers. Academic achievement gaps grew from the 1970s to the 1990s, but from 1998 to 2010 the gaps shrank 10-16%. During this time frame, the White-Hispanic kindergarten readiness gap and the White-Black gap each dropped. Researchers attributed the improved preparedness, in part, to low-income parents spending significantly more time reading to their children, taking them to museums, and introducing them to educational games on computers. Despite the narrowing of these readiness gaps, they remain large and, in fact, progress is so slow that at the rate that improvements are occurring, it will take at least 60 years for disparities to be eliminated.”

Teaching Vocabulary  Early, Direct, and Sequential

By Andrew Biemiller

http://www.aft.org/periodical/american-educator/spring-2001/teaching-vocabulary#sthash.D6BkLdow.dpuf

A short excerpt

“Schools now do little to promote vocabulary development, particularly in the critical years before grade 3. The role of schooling in vocabulary acquisition has been the subject of much debate. Early (pre-literacy) differences in vocabulary growth are associated with social class (Duncan, Brooks-Gunn, and Klebanov, 1994; Hart and Risley, 1995; McLloyd, 1998). Nagy and Herman (1987) and Sternberg (1987) argue that much vocabulary acquisition results from literacy and wide reading rather than from direct instruction. However, it is obvious that a great deal of vocabulary acquisition occurs before children become literate, and before they are reading books that introduce unfamiliar vocabulary (Becker, 1977). Cantalini (1987) and Morrison, Williams, and Massetti (1998) both report that vocabulary acquisition in kindergarten and grade 1 is little influenced by school experience, based on finding that young first-graders have about the same vocabulary (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test) as older kindergarten children. Cantalini reported the same result for second grade. - See more at: http://www.aft.org/periodical/american-educator/spring-2001/teaching-vocabulary#sthash.D6BkLdow.dpuf “

Closing the Vocabulary Gap

http://languagemagazine.com/closing-the-vocabulary-gap/

Alex Rappaport argues that word acquisition may be the easiest way to close the achievement gap

A short excerpt:

“One promise of public education is to level the playing field across the socioeconomic and ethnic spectrum. Unfortunately, the system is not fulfilling that promise. The achievement gap has been an issue for decades, and it’s getting worse."

"A recent study released by Stanford University sociologist Sean F. Reardon shows that the gap has widened by 40% since the 1960s. The study looked at the disparity in academic achievement between students in the tenth percentile of family income against students in the ninetieth percentile. Standardized test scores were used as a metric, which is fairly common in achievement gap studies. Other metrics include high school dropout rates and college graduation rates. Unfortunately, the relationship between income and achievement is consistent across all of these metrics. According to Teach for America, only 8% of students growing up in poverty graduate from college by age 24, compared with 80% of students in more affluent areas. In other words, the effects of the gap extend beyond test scores and make a significant impact on achievement throughout a student’s academic career.”

"Many researchers attribute the lower achievement to “opportunity gaps” such as a lack of educational resources at home, limited access to health-care, and even more subtle factors like test bias, stereotyping, and peer pressure. With so many social and cultural factors at play, the problem can seem insurmountable. What to fix first? And how? Elimination of poverty or improvements to the health care system can’t be achieved from within the classroom walls" ….

 Preschool Through Third Grade Alignment and Differentiated Instruction: A Literature Review

August 2016 Prepared for: Policy and Program Studies Service Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development U.S. Department of Education

 Prepared by: Katie Drummond Aleksandra Holod Marie Perrot Antonia Wang American Institutes for Research Washington, DC 20007

https://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/disadv/p-3-alignment-differentiated-instruction/report.pdf

A short excerpt from a 108 page report

“Executive Summary This literature review provides a review of policies, programs, and practices that have the potential to help students sustain the positive effects of preschool as they progress from kindergarten through grade 3 (K–3). The U.S. Department of Education’s Policy and Program Studies Service commissioned this systematic literature review, which focuses on two specific approaches: (1) preschool and K–3 alignment, and (2) differentiated instruction in kindergarten and first grade. Background Research shows that participation in a high-quality preschool can improve young children’s readiness skills for elementary school, positively influencing behavioral, social-emotional, and cognitive outcomes (Andrews, Jargowsky, & Kuhne, 2012). Specifically, for children who may be at risk for academic challenges in early elementary school, attending a high-quality preschool can improve test scores and attendance, and it can reduce grade-level retention and placement in special education (Andrews et al., 2012; Barnett, 2008; Karoly & Bigelow, 2005; Reynolds, 1993; Reynolds et al., 2007). However, some preschool program evaluations document that strong initial benefits may not persist into early elementary school (Lipsey, Farran, & Hofer, 2015; Magnuson, Meyers, Ruhm, & Waldfogel, 2005; Manship, Madsen, Mezzanotte, & Fain, 2013; Ramey et al., 2000; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2010). Preschool benefits may not persist for many reasons, including lack of continuous follow-up with participating students, lack of family supports or involvement, or limited intensity or duration of the preschool program (Brooks-Gunn, 2003; Halpern, 2013; Reynolds, Magnuson, & Ou, 2006). The positive effects of preschool may not persist if children attend poor-quality elementary schools after preschool (Clements, Reynolds, & Hickey, 2004; Lee & Loeb, 1995). Without additional and continuous supports as children continue through the early elementary grades, participation in preschool cannot overcome potential challenges that children, particularly those at risk for poorer academic outcomes, may face. It is important to identify ways to sustain early cognitive, social-emotional, and academic gains in order to give all students opportunities to thrive academically. To explore potential ways to sustain the positive effects of preschool, this literature review focused on two specific topics: (1) preschool and K–3 alignment and (2) differentiated instruction in kindergarten and first grade. The U.S. Department of Education’s Policy and Program Studies Service (PPSS), in collaboration with the Office of Early Learning, selected eight topics for preliminary searches after initial attempts to identify interventions specifically designed to sustain the benefits of preschool turned up low yields. Based on the search results (and after receiving input from multiple Department offices), PPSS recommended two final topics for the literature review. PPSS made final decisions about further specifications for the differentiated instruction section (e.g., only include research spanning grades K–1 and exclude studies that focus exclusively on lower-achieving students)."

 Preschool and K–3 Alignment The first topic focuses on approaches to align preschool and kindergarten through grade 3.

"The first topic focuses on approaches to align preschool and kindergarten through grade 3. Preschool or prekindergarten and K–3 alignment (sometimes called P–3) emphasizes coordination among standards, curricula, instructional practices, student assessment, and teacher professional development between the preschool years and the early elementary school years. Early childhood experts assert that the effects of preschool may be sustained and investment in early education capitalized upon if curricula and instructional strategies from preschool through grade 3 are well aligned (Bogard & Takanishi, 2005; Brooks-Gunn, 2003; Howard, 2008). As Reynolds and Temple (2008) suggest, P–3 programs may provide more continuity and better organization of services for students as well as enhanced school-family partnerships.

Differentiated Instruction.

 The second topic focuses on differentiated instruction in kindergarten and first grade. The premise of differentiated instruction is that teaching practices and curricula should vary to meet the diverse needs and skills of the individual student and to optimize students’ learning experiences (Tomlinson, 2000, 2001). In a differentiated instructional delivery model, student needs are emphasized (Stanford & Reeves, 2009), with teachers purposively adapting instructional strategies and the focus of skill building to be responsive to individual or groups of students (Jones, Yssel, & Grant, 2012). One explanation for why initial benefits of preschool do not persist as students enter elementary school is that children who make early gains in preschool may not have the opportunity to maintain their growth rate or learning trajectory because early elementary instruction may focus on students who are less prepared and have low-level skills. In other words, instruction may not be differentiated, and in some cases may not be rigorous enough, to meet and build upon the skills that some students have upon school entry (Claessens, Engel, & Curran, 2013; Kauerz, 2006; Lipsey, Farran, & Hofer, 2015)."