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socioeconomic affects on language development
What is the importance of vocabulary development
importance of vocabulary in english
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Words are everywhere. We see, hear, and read them but “without vocabulary knowledge, words are just words-without much meaning” (Neuman & Wright, 2014, p. 7). Thus, it is imperative to develop oral vocabulary. Teachers must use different strategies to help children learn and internalize words and their meaning. This article highlights the importance of vocabulary and presents five principles of oral vocabulary development. Summary This article focuses on the importance of educators and parents teaching young children vocabulary. At the beginning, the article explains that children who live in lower-income families learn less words than those who live in higher-income families. It explains that children who know less words have more difficulty …show more content…
Therefore, I would incorporate these five principles into my instruction. Every Monday morning, I would introduce new vocabulary words to my students. I would provide short definitions for these words to help my students better comprehend them. Afterwards, I would allow my students to act out the words with me. By doing this, I would be providing implicit and explicit instruction. The second principle states that teachers must choose words on purpose; therefore, I would carefully and deliberately select and teach my future students Tier 2 words. Since the third principle explains that teachers should “build word meaning through knowledge networks”, I would teach words in categories (Neuman, &Wright, 2014, p. 9). Also, I would repeat the words various times throughout the day, displayed them on a word wall, and incorporate them into our class activities because the fourth principal states that children need constant exposure to words in order for them to truly remember the words and their meanings. Last but not least, the fifth principle explains that ongoing professional development is essential because well informed teachers can help children who are struggling with vocabulary make significant gains. Therefore, I will continue my professional development by reading journals and articles about vocabulary
From the Glass Castle, Jeannette’s mother read picture books with Jeannette and her siblings in their early childhood. This activity established good reading habits for Jeannette and her siblings. When she was older, after dinner, her father read the dictionary with the kids, looked up the words they did not know, and discussed the definitions (Walls 56). Because of the reading habits her parents gave her, every time Jeannette did not understand a word, she looked up the word in the dictionary. The routine of reading dictionary after dinner and the habit of looking up an unknown word in the dictionary helped Jeannette build up her vocabulary. With abundant vocabulary and excellent reading skills, Jeannette did not have problem with her college admission test. Studies show that having good reading habits not only increase the volume of children’s vocabulary but also help them perform well on their exams. In the Educational Testing Service (ETS) Policy Information Center 's report, The Family: America 's Smallest School, the author points out the importance of reading to children:
...y and Vocabulary Development During the Early School Years: A Longitudinal Study. Developmental Psychology. American Psychological Association Inc.
When I met with my host teacher Miss. S, I was able to observe her class during their literacy times. In her class she has twenty three students, ten boys and thirteen girls. Of the twenty three students, two of the students are ELL, two have special needs services, two have ADHD and one of the two is on the autism spectrum, five students have reading intervention, and three are in speech. We talked about the different techniques for teaching words that she uses with her students.
The child’s lexical inventory is well developed. She has no troubles with finding words to express her thoughts. Not many words are repeated and that illustrates that she has a vast vocabulary to where she does not have to borrow words. She does not over or under extend the usage of her words.
In order to enhance their vocabulary, to improve their comprehension of the text, students much first have background knowledge of basic definitions that will help them connect and build new vocabulary with former vocabulary. The students must also have the ability to look at the context of an unfamiliar word and be able to decipher the meaning based on the words or phrases that surround it. The foundational skills of accomplishing this is through studying early fundamental vocabulary words and then connecting new words with priorly known words of similar meaning. (Center for Research on Education, n.d.)
For children of lower income communities to rise out of poverty, they must be educated; and for them to prosper in school and receive an education they must breach the word gap and create a sound foundation in the language. With a strong foundation in language, reading and comprehension become easier to grasp; therefore school is more enjoyable, and they are less likely to fail. The word gap is a drawback not only for the low-income community but also to our country at large, as one of the authors said, “talk now or pay later”
It was stated in the article that a lot of the students’ vocabulary who lived in poverty in the urban areas was significantly lower than students who came from middle class families. It was also stated that poor families lacked language and verbal skills than those who came from middle class families. There were eight features that were evaluated when looking at students who struggled with language and verbal skills. Some of them include expectations that were challenging, involvement, and success. It seemed as they being socially accepted helped these students succeed as well.
Before I started planning the lesson, I asked myself whether the students possessed necessary vocabulary words to talk about the environmental issues. Vocabularies related to the environment are academic ones that need to be pre taught so that students can comprehend their reading, and then use the new vocabulary words in the production of English. Teaching vocabulary is extremely important because “second language learners rely heavily on vocabulary knowledge, and that lack of vocabulary knowledge
Stahl, S.A., & Fairbanks, M. M. (1986). The effect of vocabulary instruction: A model-based meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 56(1) 72-110
While some literacy acquisition theorists suggest that literacy acquisition is similar to oral language acquisition, I have to disagree. These theorists say that learning to read and write is a natural process that needs very little instruction, I have to disagree. According to Peregoy and Boyle, the authors of Reading, Writing, and Learning in ESL: A Resource Book for Teaching K-12 English Leaners, English learners can benefit from English literature instruction well before they have developed full control orally. This statement informs me that while the two forms of acquisition seem correlated, they indeed are not directly a result of each other. While oral acquisition seems can come more easily with exposure, reading and writing acquisition
Language plays an important in our lives, for children this is a critical time for them to learn how they can use language to communicate effectively from the when they learn through school and into adulthood. While a child goes through school they are exposed to Standard English, but there are diversities that appear in the classroom for example culture plays a part in language development. Gee and Hayes (2011) stated that there are many things that language can be including; a set of rules, a cognitive experience, a social tool or an object, but overall language is something that changed based on culture and social context. Acknowledging and accepting diversity in the classroom in relation to language and language learning is important
Language isn’t intentionally taught, but more picked up as the child grows up; “we do not learn words from dictionaries, we take them from conversations that subsequently shape our understanding of the world” (Thompson, 2009). Because of this, educators need to give time for children to practice their language skills. That doesn’t happen when children are doing skill-and-drill exercises over a concept, but rather when they are playing with their peers. Early educators can help facilitate this language development by introducing and teaching children new words and phrases.
This is the goal I want to achieve as a teacher and shows a relationship to my action research question. Apthorp, Randel, Cherasaro, Clark, McKeown, & Beck, (2012) research suggests that children’s oral vocabulary in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade predicts future reading achievement in both later elementary grades and high school. Together with, It is the oral vocabularies of emergent readers that first allow them access to meaning when applying letter-sound correspondences which is the dilemma that I have been going through the years. How can I instruct the learners into achieving this skill? Apthorp et al. (2012) also states that difference in language exposure between children in welfare families and the children in professional families is thought to be a major contributor to differences in young children’s vocabulary repertoires, measured in thousands of words. This could be the case in my situation, I work on a low-poverty community school where a 97 % receive free-reduce lunch and free
Oral language development is the foundation of learning to read and write. When we first make our big entrance into the world, our oral language starts developing. As we grow up, we hear all kinds of sounds such as words, songs, traffic and much more. Oral language is all about using spoken words to express knowledge, ideas, and feelings. According to an article called “Stay at Home Educators” oral language plays a tremendous role for literacy development. There are four great examples that they discuss in this article that I thought was very informative. Oral language helps develop vocabulary concepts. When students discover the meaning and pronunciation of words, they are understanding different types of speech.
Oral language skills play a significant role in the development of literacy skills. Research suggests that there is a high correlation between language development and reading comprehension. This is because as student's oral language abilities increase; they become more familiar with the phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic, components of learning language (Farrall, 2012). Additionally, the learning environment is of equal importance and should provide explicit modelling, age appropriate and authentic classroom experiences for developing and encouraging language. Teachers following Cambourne's eight conditions would support an environment enriching language and literacy development (Cambourne, 2001). The acknowledgement of linguistic diversity and suggested differentiation is also worth mentioning. The inclusion of regular planned and unplanned listening and speaking opportunities is vital for developmental progression.