Closing  the  Vocabulary  Gap  in  Preschool  

How  to  assess  English  Language  Learners  vocabulary  in  Preschool  and  help  close  the  gap  between  them  and  their  

native  English  speaking  peers    

Amber  Sullivan  TE  870  Project  III  

Fall  2013    

* This  presentation  is  intended  to  propose  shared  book  reading  and  family  involvement  as  two  powerful  methods  to  help  close  the  vocabulary  gap  of  preschool  age  English  Language  Learners.  

         

*  This  growing  population  of  students  under  the  age  of  5  who  are  English  Language  Learners  presents  a  number  of  challenges  for  teachers,  schools  and  for  those  families  who  aren’t  native  English  speakers.  

*  According  to  the  Urban  Institute  (2010)  one  in  five  children  (under  the  age  of  18)  is  a  child  of  immigrant  parents.    This  makes  it  the  fastest  growing  segment  of  the  U.S.  population.  

*  The  U.S.  Census  Bureau  reported  that  the  Hispanic/Latino  population  grew  by  13%  from  July  200  to  2004:  of  those  4.2  million  were  preschool-­‐age  (U.S.  Census  Bureau  2005).  

*  In  2007,  34.7%  of  Head  Start  students  were  Spanish-­‐speaking  ELL’s.  (Urban  Institute  2010)  

Large  and  Fast-­‐Growing  ELL  

*  How  does  our  school  compare  to  these  national  numbers?  *  In  our  current  school  setting  the  following  is  true:  *  67%  of  our  students  are  Hispanic  *  57%  are  English  Language  Learners  

Our  School  Statistics  

*  As  teachers  in  early  childhood  education,  it  is  important  that  we  know  how  oral  language  develops  in  native  speakers  and  second  language  learners.  *  We  need  to  assess  their  vocabulary  through  oral  language  checklists  in  various  observational  settings  and  continue  to  monitor  children’s  progress  as  they  learn  the  English  language.  *  Oral  Language  includes:  *  Speaking,  listening  and  vocabulary  

What  Can  We  Do?  

*  Vocabulary:  *  Look  at  the  following:  plays  with  words,  makes  connections  with  

new  words,  uses  new  words  appropriately  during  play  and  other  situations  

*  Speaking:  (Expressive  Vocabulary)  *  Look  at  the  following:  responds  when  spoken  to,  takes  turn  

speaking,  joins  in  singing  songs,  speaks  clearly,  length  of  sentences/phrases,  initiates  conversations,  asks  questions,  tells  about  another  time  or  place,  and  appropriate  grammar  (word  order,  pronouns,  etc.)  

*  Listening:  (Receptive  Vocabulary)  *  Look  at  the  following:  listens  to  stories,  rhymes,  etc.  with  

interest,  and  follow  single  and  multi-­‐step  directions  (age  appropriateness)  

Assessments    

Austin'Sullivan,870,Course,Project Vocabulary,Assessment,Form

Child'a,NameClass:DateExpressive)Vocabulary Large,Group Small,Group Individual,Setting Additional,Comments

Responds,when,spoken,to

Takes,turn,speakingjoins,in,songsSpeaks,clearlyLength,of,sentencesInitiates,conversationsAsks,questionsTells,about,another,timeUses,appropriate,grammar:,ed,,ing,endingsReceptive)VocabularyListens,to,songs,and,stories,with,interestFollow,one,step,directionsFollows,multipe'step,directionsVocabulary)AcquisitionPlays,with,wordsMakes,connections,between,new,words,and,known,onesUses,words,appropraitely,in,play,other,situations

(Adapted,from,Roskos,,Tabors,&,Lenhart,2009)

Assessment  Rubric  based  on  Preschool  Oral  Language  Objectives  

*  Oral  language  assessments  in  the  preschool  classroom  should  have  the  following  three  components:  (Roskos,  Tabor  &  Tenhart,  2009)  1.  Screening  measures:  *  Informal  and  Formal  Observations  *  Choose  a  small  number  of  children  to  focus  on  each  day,  roughly  3,  over  a  two  

week  period.  *  Compare  the  formal  and  informal  results  

2.  Monitoring  Tools:  *  Because  vocabulary  is  one  component  of  oral  language  it  may  be  necessary  to  

observe  speaking  and  listening  components  along  with  vocabulary  items.  *  Don’t  just  assess  and  then  put  it  in  a  folder,  continue  to  observe  and  tailor  your  

instruction  to  your  students  needs.  3.        Performance  Evaluations:  *  Commercial  tests  such  as  Peabody  Picture  Vocabulary  Test  *  Assessments  include  evaluations,  determine  whether  the  curriculum  being  

provided  is  meeting  the  oral  language  needs  of  the  students.    

Assessments  

*  Based  on  the  statistic  presented,  it  is  important  to  be  familiar  with  the  stages  of  language  development  for  these  students.  *  At  the  preschool  level,  I  like  to  think  that  all  students  as  

English  Language  Learners(ELL),  especially  those  classrooms  that  have  the  youngest  students,  those  who  will  be  3  before  December  31.  (Yet  during  this  presentation  ELL  will  be  used  only  for  those  students  who  come  from  families  having  a  home  language  other  than  English).  *  If  they  are  all  learning  English,  does  the  development  differ  

between  native  speakers  and  and  those  learning  a  second  language?    Yes!  

Second  Language  Development  

Age   Language  Milestones  

3  months   Makes  cooing  sounds  

11  months   Babbling  sounds,  multi-­‐syllable    Ie:  Mama,  dada,  baba  

16  months   Uses  some  words  besides  mama  and  dada  

23  months   Forms  two  word  sentences  

34  months   Uses  prepositions,  can  carry  on  a  conversation  

47  months   Can  be  understood  by  most  unfamiliar  people  

Language  Development  (Native  English  Speakers)  

Adapted  from  Vukelich,  Christie,  &  Enz  (2002)    

*  “Vocabulary  is  used  to  describe  the  store  of  words  children  know.    It  is  organized  into  two  types:  1.  expressive  vocabulary,  which  are  those  words  children  can  use  to  express  themselves,  and  2.  receptive  vocabulary,  which  are  those  words  they  can  understand  when  heard  in  context.”  (Roskos,  Tabors,  &  Lenhart,  2009,  pg.  13)  

*  A  child’s  vocabulary  grows  gradually  over  time  with  many  encounters  with  a  new  word.    

*   Students  vocabularies  grow  at  an  astonishing  rate.  *  Native  English  speaking  preschoolers  have  receptive  

vocabularies  of  roughly  5,000  words.(Roskos,  Tabors,  &  Lenhart,  2009,  pg.  13)    Compare  that  to  those  of  the  ELL’s  in  your  class.    Some  of  them  may  have  only  20-­‐100  words.  

Vocabulary  Development  

*  Four  stages  1.   Use  Native  Language  2.  Nonverbal  Stage  3.  Telegraphic  and  Formulaic  4.   Productive  Language  

Vocabulary  Development  of  a  second  language  

(Roskos,  Tabors,  &  Lenhart,  2009)  

*  Speak  Native  Language  *  Child  will  use  home  language…when  everyone  around  the  child  is  speaking  a  different  language  there  are  two  options:    *  1.  speak  your  native  language  *  2.  stop  speaking  entirely  

Stage  1  

*  Nonverbal  Stage      *  This  can  last  for  varying  lengths  of  time  depending  on  the  

child.  *  During  this  stage  the  child  will  use  nonverbal  cues  to  get  help  

or  desired  needs  *  This  is  the  stage  where  children  begin  to  actively  “crack  the  

code”  of  the  second  language.  Which  may  include  the  child  repeating  the  new  language  that  the  teachers  and  peers  use  quietly.    *  An  example  of  this  may  look  like:  the  teacher  telling  the  

student  to  put  his  book  back.    Child  may  then  repeat  “put  book”  or  “put  book  back”  

Stage  2  

*  This  stage  will  only  occurs  when  the  child  is  comfortable  to  go  public  with  the  new  language.  (Roskos,  Tabors,  &  Lenhart,  2009)  *  Telegraphic  i.e.:  “put  cup”  for  I  want  to  put  the  cup  on  the  

table.  *  The  child  is  supplying  these  words,  not  repeating  them  like  in  

stage  2.  *  Involves  formulas:  Chunks  of  routine  phrases  that  are  

repetitions  of  what  the  child  hears.    Keep  in  mind  that  they  will  use  these  chunks  but  often  have  no  idea  of  their  meaning.  

   

Stage  3  

*  Productive  Language  *  Starts  with  formula  patterns  such  as  “I  wanna…”  *  Children  will  gradually  begin  to  learn  syntactic  (learning  

how  words  link  together)  rules  and  apply  such  grammar  rules  when  speaking  the  new  language.  *  Shortened  sentences  and  omission  of  articles  or  

prepositions  is  common.  

Stage  4  

Ages   Native  English  Speakers   Second  Language  Learners  

23  months    

•  Forms  two  word  sentences    

•  Non-­‐verbal  in  second  language  

•  may  be  still  in  babbling  stage  of  native  language  

34  months    

•  Uses  prepositions,  can  carry  on  a  conversation  

•  Typically  between  2,500  and  5,000  words  

 

Playing  with  new  language  seen  by  repeating  short  phrases  without  meaning,    •  may  have  a  range  of  15-­‐50  

English  words  

47  months    

•  Can  be  understood  by  most  unfamiliar  people.  

•  Usually  uses  4-­‐6  word  sentences  

 

•  Limited  English  expressive  vocabulary  

•  Growing  receptive  vocabulary  

•  Understood  by  teachers  and  parents  

Adapted  from  (Roskos,  Tabors,  &  Lenhart,  2009),  Vukelich,  Christie  &  Enz,  2002)  

Language  Development  Comparison      

*  According  to  Graves,  August  and  Mancilla-­‐Martinez  (2013)  a  source  of  difference  between  first-­‐  and  second-­‐language  vocabulary  development  stems  from  learners’  degree  of  proficiency  in  the  second  language  (pg.  10).  *  This  creates  a  bigger  challenge  for  preschool  age  children  

because  they  are  still  developing  their  skills  in  their  Native  language  even  though  we  are  asking  them  to  develop  language  and  emergent  literacy  skills  in  English.  

English  Language  Learners  Vocabulary  

*  I  suggest  shared  book  reading  and  family  involvement  as  two  powerful  ways  to  help  close  the  vocabulary  gap  of  preschool  age  English  Language  Learners.  *  Shared  book  reading  refers  to  adults  reading  aloud  to  

children,  stopping  at  various  time  throughout  the  text  to  talk  about  the  vocabulary  and  dictate  the  purposes  for  reading.      *  Shared  book  reading  offers  meaningful  contexts  in  which  

to  discuss  new  words  (Graves,  August,  Mancilla-­‐Martinez,  2013).  

Strategies    

*  Shared  book  reading  is  a  distinct  instructional  tool  for  teaching  vocabulary  to  children  who  enter  school  with  small  vocabularies.    This  applies  to  native  speakers  as  well  as  ELL.    *  Shared  book  reading  helps  children  develop  oral  language  

comprehension  and  print  knowledge.  *  Usually  shared  book  readings  are  with  the  same  story  

offering  repeated  exposure  to  the  same  text  over  the  course  of  a  week  or  length  of  a  given  unit.  *  It’s  a  good  idea  to  have  a  copy  of  the  shared  book  in  the  

student’s  home  language  as  well  as  English.  

Shared  Book  Reading  

*  During  the  shared  book  reading  the  teacher  will  gradually  release  the  responsibility  of  telling  and  reading  the  story  to  the  students.    Referred  to  as  the  Gradual  Release  Model  (Roskos,  Tabors,  Lenhart,  2009).  *  It  is  important  that  during  the  readings  the  teacher  is  

providing  instruction  on  vocabulary,  print  concepts  and  comprehension  skills.    For  the  purpose  of  this  presentation  I  will  focus  on  teaching  vocabulary.  *  Here  is  an  example  of  a  shared  read-­‐aloud  though  

Teaching  Strategies  Curriculum  (our  curriculum)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ2rL0eByfc  

*  The  teacher  modeled  several  explicit  instructions  by  using  “Think  Alouds”  to  model  behaviors  of  what  good  readers  do.  *  Vocabulary:  words  had  pictures  in  the  story  to  match,  gave  

child-­‐friendly  definitions  *  Predictions  *  Included  story  elements:  title,  author,  problem/solution  *  Fluency  *  Modeled  making  connections  between  the  text  and  the  

audience  

*  The  next  slide  will  show  a  technique  referred  to  as  say-­‐tell-­‐do-­‐play  as  adapted  from  Roskos,  Tabors  &  Lenhart,  2009.  *  In  order  to  help  our  ELL,  besides  following  the  module,  I  

am  suggesting  that  this  type  of  information  also  be  introduced  to  parents  as  a  way  to  foster  the  home-­‐school  connection.      *  A  given  shared  reading  book  should  be  available  in  libraries  

or  for  loan  from  the  school  so  parents  can  read  them  to  students  while  in  the  home  in  their  native  language,  thus  fostering  the  family  involvement  component  in  closing  the  vocabulary  gap.  

Example  of  Say-­‐Tell-­‐Do-­‐Play  for  The  Ear  Book  (Perkins,  1968)  

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 Pre-­‐reading  Instructions:  *  Introduce  each  of  the  5  words  with  a  picture  *  Say  the  word,  have  the  students  repeat  it  *  Use  a  child  friendly  definition    *  Use  gestures  or  actions  (DO)  *  Have  the  students  tell  it  to  another  friend    

 During  Reading:  *  When  you  get  to  these  five  words  in  the  story  point  to  the  words  and  any  

accompanying  pictures  in  the  book.    

 After  Reading:  *  (Play)  Another  idea  is  to  play  recordings  of  the  five  vocabulary  words,  using  the  

picture  cards  from  the  pre-­‐reading  activities.  

Protocol  Explained  

*  It’s  important  that  parents  realize  that  while  learning  English  in  their  school  setting,  children  should  still  be  continuing  to  speak  their  native  language  at  home.  

*  Having  a  strong  foundation  of  vocabulary  and  speaking  skills  in  their  native  language  will  only  strengthen  their  future  reading  and  writing  skills  in  English.  

*  Provide  a  literacy  package  to  be  sent  home  the  week  you  will  be  studying  the  unit.    

*  In  the  literacy  package  include  the  following:    *  Copy  of  the  book  in  native  language  *  Picture  cards  and  child  friendly  definitions  in  the  child’s  home  language  *  Activity  or  coloring  pages  that  correspond  to  the  books  learning  objectives  *  If  parents  are  unable  to  read  the  story,  think  about  recording  an  audio  or    provide  

and  the  definitions  of  the  English  targeted  words  in  their  native  language.  

Home  School  Connection  

*  The  richness  of  the  language  environment  in  children's  homes  is  linked  to  children's  language  and  literacy  skills  (Seefeldt,  2004).  

*  We  need  to  encourage  the  importance  of  providing  language  experiences  at  home  through  reading,  conversations,  etc.  

*  Differences  in  children  who  have  parents  that  engage  in  conversations  and  those  who  do  not.  *  What  do  these  difference  look  like?  *  Talking  more,  interactions  with  their  peers  

*  How  do  we  as  teachers  notice  it?  *  Our  conversations  with  them,  responses  to  questions      

Importance  of  Home-­‐School  Connections  

*  Help  inform  parents  of  this  important  factor  in  their  children’s  current  and  future  literacy  learning.  *  For  our  preschoolers  this  also  means  that  parents  need  to  

continue  to  speak  in  their  native  language  in  the  home  so  these  skills  can  continue  to  develop.  *  “Pre-­‐existing  knowledge  for  English  Language  Learners  is  

encoded  in  their  home  language,  we  need  to  teach  in  a  way  that  fosters  transfer  of  concepts  and  skills  from  the  students  home-­‐language  to  English”  (Cummins,  Bismilla  &  Chow,  2009,  pg.  1).  

     

*  We  can  strengthen  the  home-­‐school  connection:  *  Encourage  the  parents  to  come  and  read  in  their  native  

language.  *  Help  with  activities  during  school  and  engage  in  

conversations  with  the  ELL  students  in  their  native  language  and  in  English  (connecting  new  knowledge).  *  Having  parents  complete  surveys  regarding  more  

resources  they  would  like  to  learn  about.  *  Providing  literacy  bags  or  even  just  vocabulary  picture  

cards  in  Native  languages  and  English  that  correspond  to  out  weekly  read-­‐aloud  text.  

       

*  Shared  book  reading  and  family  involvement  are  two  powerful  ways  to  help  close  the  vocabulary  gap  of  preschool  age  English  Language  Learners.  *  Assessment  factors  such  as  formal  and  informal  

observations,  monthly  monitoring  and  program  evaluation  are  all  crucial  in  determining  if  our  students  are  in  fact  improving  their  oral  language  in  all  of  the  vocabulary  areas.  *  Since  preschool  age  children  are  still  developing  their  

native  language  it  is  important  to  encourage  them  to  continue  to  use  their  native  language.  

 

Concluding  thoughts…  

*  It’s  crucial  that  parents  and  teachers  communicate  with  children  through  shared  book  readings  and  real  conversations  throughout  the  day,  EVERYDAY!      *  We  want  our  ELL  to  keep  their  native  language.    We  want  

them  to  continue  to  grow  their  native  speaking  abilities  concurrently  while  learning  to  speak  English  in  the  classroom.  *  Helping  our  youngsters  achieve  oral  language  progress  

similar  to  their  native  speaking  peers  will  help  them  continue  to  close  the  vocabulary  gap  as  their  English  improves.  

Concluding  thoughts…