Teaching and assessing academic vocabulary

Hello colleagues, I'm looking forward to teaching an advanced ESL class starting in mid July. I will focus on academic language in general in this class, of which academic vocabulary is an essential component. Many of us now draw upon the Academic Word List (The AWL is available here http://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/resources/academicwordlist/) when teaching academic vocabulary since this list includes the 570 most common academic words found across academic disciplines, e.g., analysis, significant, context, etc.

Since I also understand the value of teaching vocabulary in context, I work at identifying academic vocabulary from the reading we are doing in class. A resource that is helpful is Tom Cobb's Vocabulary Profiler http://www.lextutor.ca/vp/eng/. This online tool immediately identifies all words found in the AWL from text that is copied and pasted into the site's text box.

When teaching vocabulary, I want students to make a personal connection to the words they are learning. We know from research that making a personal connection helps students to remember words better. For example, for the word analyze, I would first explain that to analyze is to think about or study something very carefully. I would then offer some examples: To analyze is not to look at something quickly; to analyze you must carefully study something over a period of time. For example, scientists carefully analyze the results of their research.

I then offer a structure for students to practice using the new word in a conversation with a partner in class. For example:

Q:  What is the first step you take when analyzing a math word problem?

A: The first step I take when ________________a math word problem is I ____________ (verb)

the problem.

Students fill the first blank with the appropriate form of the word analyze (i.e., analyzing) and in the second blank, they add another verb that makes sense in the context (i.e., read).

I also offer a structure so students can practice writing. For example:

A jury needs to _________________ all the _____________________ (noun) before deciding whether someone is guilty or innocent.

 

We know we need to encounter words multiple times to really learn them, so revisiting and recycling the words in a variety of ways in class is important too. The key to assessment is to pose questions that will make it clear that the student understands the new word and can use it appropriately. For instance, in the next classes, I use the following prompts to review how we use the word analyze. Students can practice asking and answering the questions being sure to use the new word in their conversations. I can also choose among these prompts for a written quiz in which students are required to use the new word in their response.

 

  • How much time would you need to analyze the results of a scientific experiment?
  • What information would you need to analyze to decide which of two teams is likely to win a soccer match?
  • Would looking at photos in a history book about the Iraq War, help you to analyze the causes of the war? Why or why not?
  • Why might it be helpful to have more than one analysis of a serious problem?
  • Could someone give an analysis of a news story after reading the headline? Why or why not?

I welcome your thoughts about and reactions to this approach to teaching and assessing academic vocabulary. Please share your ideas as well as your questions about teaching and assessing academic vocabulary.

Cheers, Susan

Moderator, Assessment CoP

Comments

Susan,

Thank you for the excellent foundation to vocabulary instruction. The research literature is so clear that strengthening reader's vocabulary is central to improving their independent reading levels and comprehension. In fact, a finding that initially surprised me was that vocabulary had its own direct link to improving reading comprehension. On further thought I suppose that makes sense but I was expecting that vocabulary's contribution would also have an influence on reading fluency or influence comprehension through fluency.

On a broader scope of available research, the authors of the 2008 IES (Institute of Education Sciences) practice guide on improving adolescent literacy (NCEE 2008-4027), identified 16 studies that provide support for direct instruction in vocabulary. This research covered students across upper elementary, middle and high schools from diverse geographic regions and socioeconomic backgrounds. One of the findings of interest was that the probability of learning new vocabulary while reading was relatively low -- about 15%. 

Wouldn't you expect that for learners who have difficulty with decoding, fluency, and comprehension would have even more difficulty? That is, I expect that for most of our adult education and literacy program participants, the probability would even be lower. Explicit instruction is critically important to improved reading and certainly a very difficult component to address.

I'm glad that you are approaching the need for explicit instruction in vocabulary.

Regards,
Daryl
Reading and writing group moderator

Thanks, Daryl, for bringing up the 2008 study with adolescents and the citation that the probabability of learning new vocabulary while reading was at best 15%. I can still remember teachers in high school telling me to try to figure out the meaning of a word from context, and me thinking, you know, it really doesn't work all that well. I assume that the percentage cited here is for both native and non native speakers of English?

At any rate, vocabulary instruction is especially key for adults learning English. I. M. P. Nation states in Nation, 2005, that using context to understand new vocabulary requires an understanding of more than 98% of the words of a passage (Nation, 2005).

(Nation, I. M. P. (2005). Teaching and learning vocabulary. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning (pp. 581–595). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.)

I'd be curious to hear how practitioners pre-teach the vocabulary. What resources and strategies do you use?

Great discussion!

Miriam (subject matter expert, adult  English langauge learner community)

 

Thanks Daryl and Miriam for your comments. As you both point out, the research literature is clear on the need to teach vocabulary explicitly with all learners-- especially for those who are learning English. Since there are so many potential words to choose from, it makes good sense to focus on words that have the most currency, i.e., words that students will encounter most often across various subject areas. While I deeply value teaching words in context, I also believe that we can create meaningful context when using activities like the ones I describe above, i.e., structuring activities and posing questions that help students to make personal connections to words and requiring them to actually use the words in their response. I believe conversation activities are especially valuable. For example, students can pair up with a partner for a quick Think-Pair-Share to respond to a prompt. I start teaching my summer class tomorrow, and it would be wonderful to hear additional ideas for ways to effectively teach vocabulary! Cheers, Susan Moderator, Assessment CoP