English Education

This article is about language acquisition from preschool through elementary school . By the age of 3, most children have acquired an almost adult-like understanding of syntactical constructions (Bates & Goodman, 1997). By the time they have entered first grade they have acquired their native language’s phonological system, and can produce almost all of the sounds of their native language (Graves, 1987). The mastery of vocabulary acquisition, though, is still vastly incomplete. In school, children develop additional word-learning strategies. Direct vocabulary instruction appears to contribute to vocabulary acquisition (Graves, 1987). Biemiller (2001) suggests that at least 80% of the words children acquire by the sixth grade are learned through direct instruction; children acquire root word meanings through direct explanations from parents, educators, and peers, and within texts. Although research on the best technique of direct vocabulary instruction is mixed, several conclusions ...

This posting is the rest of my previous posting, vocabulary acquisition from birth to preschool (1). Before infants learn to communicate with words, their gestures signal an understanding of language (Lock, 1978; Namy & Waxman, 1998; Woodward & Hoyne, 1999). These referential gestures imply an understanding of others’ intentions, and are a nonverbal precursor of verbal reference (Golinkoff, Mervis, & Hirsh-Pasek, 1994). Truly communicative words arise when infants not only link spoken sounds with objects Vocabulary Acquisition: A Primer 3 and events in the environment, but also understand that words reference objects and concepts. An understanding of others’ intentions is essential for language acquisition. Joint attention serves as a means for referential word learning (Bloom, 2000; Tomasello, 2003). When the infant and the caregiver are jointly attending to an aspect of the environment, instigated perhaps with a communicative gesture like pointing, the caregiver labels s...

VOCABULARY ACQUISITION FROM BIRTH TO PRESCHOOL This posting is about vocabulary acquisition from birth to preschool . Although it appears that infants learn to attend to and produce language with ease, acquiring a language in an immense task (MacWhinney, 1998; Thiessen & Saffran, 2003). Infants’ early learning is probably facilitated by maturational constraints on perceptual and cognitive abilities that confine infants’ attention to crucial elements of language that are necessary for its mastery (Newport, 1990). Neonates as young as 2 days old show preference for their native language, indicating that at least some aspects of their mother’s language probably are acquired prenatally (Moon, Cooper, & Fifer, 1993). Infants are able to perceive and discriminate adult speech sounds as early as 1 month of age (Eimas, Siqueland, Jusczyk, & Vigorito, 1971). By 4–6 months of age, infants can discriminate categorically distinct phonemes in their native language (e.g., /ba/ vs. /da/)....

Dear readers... Today I would like sharing about about language learning and teaching , especially about vocabulary acquisition .  Read my posting below! Dramatic advances have occurred in our understanding of how children learn to read. These advances have been accompanied by changes in how reading is taught, both to children for whom learning to read is no more difficult than most other kinds of learning and to children for whom learning to read is among the most difficult challenges they will face. However, much of what has been learned has been about the processes by which readers access the sounds and meaning represented by printed symbols at the level of the individual word. Understanding how readers fully comprehend the meaning of connected text, and what might be done when this is the challenge, represents a more difficult undertaking. This addresses a central question for everyone interested in how individuals comprehend the meaning of what they read: What is known about v...

This article is about writing strategies for Advanced Writers . You will find that there is much overlap between writing activities and support that benefit both your advanced writers and fluent English students. As well, you can draw on some of the suggestions that we’ve given you to support your intermediate-level students. Below we offer you a few more suggestions that provide writing support for your advanced students as they continue to expand their vocabulary and refine their written language. 1. Literature response journals Even students at the advanced level may find it difficult to respond to literature in completely unstructured ways. A modification is to organize students into groups where by each one has a specific responsibility. For example, these roles can be word hunter, event analyzer, character analyzer, connector , and questioner . For each chapter in the book, the students maintain their responsibilities. The word hunter brings def...

Intermediate writers will benefit from scaffolds, models, and writing support that help them expand their vocabulary and language development. 1. Show not tell This instructional strategy will help your English learners develop vocabulary and descriptive writing skills (Peregoy & Boyle, 2005; California Department of Education, 1996). First, share with your students a paragraph that is rich in description and paints a picture in their minds. Children’s literature is full of such language. Showing and not telling helps your students learn to paint a picture with words. Repeated lessons with your students that help them begin to show and not tell will strengthen their vocabulary and narrative writing. Starting with a brainstorm on relevant vocabulary is helpful. Here are a few “tell” sentences you can start with: She didn’t have any friends. I love my mom. Family picnics are so much fun. My dog is old. This was the scariest moment of my life! 2. Sentence combining Many intermediate-l...

This writing is my next posting about writing strategies for beginning writers . Basic language patterns and a great deal of vocabulary assistance are especially important at this level. Remember to make use of your older English learners who are at the beginning stage of writing as cross-age helpers. They can read their own material to students in the early grades. Pattern books and concept books are especially good for cross-age helpers to share. 1. Wordless picture books Wordless picture books are excellent for providing writing scaffolds. First, much of the vocabulary is evident in the pictures. Second, the structure or story line is also provided. Students can first orally discuss the story, generating language and ideas. This oral language then leads to writing, such as creating simple sentences that describe the existing story. 2. Story captions This involves writing story captions for a familiar story. After multiple readings, you can photocopy pictures from the book you’ve bee...

Today, I would like sharing Writing Strategies fo English Learners. We’ve developed what we think is a useful chart on the table below that will help you guide your English learners in developing their writing skills. Down the left column of the chart, you see the domains of writing that students should develop and across the top row of the chart, you see the three stages of English language development. In each coordinate of the chart, there are very brief descriptors of the types of writing activities or instructional tools that can be useful in that particular domain. In the pages following Table, you will find explanations of each descriptor—what it is, how to do it, and why it’s effective. We want to be clear that the explanations of these instructional tools are brief. A good reading/language arts methods text will expand on our explanations. You may find those that we’ve referenced in this book especially helpful. Also, be mindful that some of these writin...

Writing is so important in our daily life, while only a few poeple that know some facts about writing . Let’s begin with what may be a review for you on some important facts that we know about writing. Ten Truths About Writing 1.       Just as with oral language, writing develops in stages. The more writers practice and the more support they have, the better they get. 2.       All writers must consider speaker, audience, and purpose. Who are you? To whom are you writing? What’s the message that you are conveying? A writer needs to be clear about these elements in shaping a piece of writing. 3.       Writers select interesting topics to write about, authentic reasons to write, and have regular opportunities to write (Temple, Ogle, Crawford &Freppon, 2005). Writers select topics based on their interests. They want to convey something about a topic of interest and are probably not so eager to write about an assi...