literacy for diverse student learners

Literacy for Diverse Student Learners

Instructional intervention research that examines a particular form of vocabulary learning by English Language Learners in the context of instruction

Aim is to study vocabulary acquisition, therefore, evaluation of instructional effectiveness is incidental to this aim.

Such studies are desirable in this field given the lack of a coherent theoretical framework that links child development, language learning, linguistic context, and academic learning.

December 12, 2006 Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness

Is cognate awareness instruction effective in promoting English vocabulary development among 3rd and 5th grade Spanish speaking ELL’s?

Maria Carlo University of Miami

Diane AugustCenter for Applied Linguistics

Chris BarrUniversity of Houston

Walter Fajet,University of Miami

Background

One strategy believed to be successful in promoting the rapid acquisition of vocabulary by ELLs involves teaching children about the morphological structure of words.

Researchers believe that it is beneficial for ELLs if instruction on the structural analysis of words includes making students aware of the cross-linguistic morphological relationships between words in their two languages (García & Nagy, 1993; Nagy, García, Durgunoglu, & Hancin-Bhatt,1993; Jiménez et al., 1996; Nation 2001).

Continued

This involves making students aware of words that are cognates (words that are spelt alike and have similar meanings in two languages), and making them aware of similarities between derivational morphemes in the two languages.

(e.g, motivación-motivation; edificio-edifice; preocupado-preocupied; enfermo-infirm)

Preliminary study

In our previous work we found that 4th grade ELLs had superior vocabulary performance on English words that were cognates to Spanish relative to English words that were not cognates and were matched in frequency and part of speech to the tested cognates.

Moreover a composite measure of Spanish orthographic knowledge, breadth of word knowledge and morphological awareness related to performance on cognates but not to noncognates.

Research Question

Can an intervention developed to teach cognate awareness to Spanish/English bilingual 3rd and 5th graders improve their learning of English words that have cognate status in Spanish?

Does the cognate recognition strategy transfer to other cognates that have not been instructed?

Subjects

130 (122 completed program) 3rd grade Spanish-speaking students

128 (105 completed program) 5th grade Spanish-speaking students

All designated as English Language Learners Three public schools in Miami that offered

Spanish maintenance for 45 minutes 3 times a week (2 schools implemented at each grade level)

Majority within each school were Latino/a Schools had obtained grades of at least B

Measures

English Pre & Post-intervention Cognate Awareness Test

(48 items) Extract the Base (28 items) WLPB Passage

Comprehension Pre-intervention Only WLPB Letter-word ID WLPB Picture-Word

Vocabulary WLPB Listening

ComprehensionPost-intervention Only SVT Cognate

Comprehension (24 items)

Spanish Pre-intervention Only Extract the Base (28 items) WLPB Picture-Word

Vocabulary WLPB Letter-word ID WLPB Listening

Comprehension WLPB Passage

Comprehension

Researcher Developed Measures: Cognate Awareness Test

Developed to measure students’ awareness of Spanish cognates as a source of information for inferring meanings of unknown English words.

Examines whether Native Spanish Speaking children are better able to recognize the meaning of unfamiliar English words if these words have a corresponding sound, spelling, and meaning in Spanish

Researcher Developed Measures: Cognate Awareness Test

Example: edificebuildingcommitteeislandCongress

Cognates Awareness Test: Item Characteristics

High Spanish Frequency & Low English Frequency

Low English Frequency matches

25. conversespeak with someonefight with someoneinclude someoneleave out someone

26. jestdefendbendjokeobserve

Instructedcognates

not instructedcognates

Instructednoncognates

not instructednoncognates

permanent pensive feasible allot

conduct obligated sway strife

accumulation adorn prey discard

miniscule tranquil shallow pun

consists impede source drought

potent detain environment jest

isolated augment bound haul

expand edifice thrive gritty

occupies terminus replenished brittle

rituals profundity rough snug

pallid feasibility

castigate clutch

anterior leery

Researcher Developed Measures: Extract the Base

Measures children’s knowledge of derivational morphology (their awareness of the rules by which words change from one part of speech to another).

Example: recognition > recognize

(Test adapted from Carlisle, 1988)

Researcher Developed Measures: Extract the Base

1. publicity 1. The _______________ was happy with the show.

2. sensitive 2. Animals often ____________ storms before they

come.

3. breathe 3. Sometimes you can see your ___________.

Extract the Base: Item Characteristics

Morphological Transformation

Definition Example

Orthographic Spelling changes emptiness > empty

Phonological Pronunciation changes

cleanliness > clean

Both Spelling & Pronunciation changes

recognition > recognize

No Change No Change farmer > farm

Extract the Base: Scoring

• score of 0--Incorrect response associated with copying the derived form, providing a translation or a random letter string

• score of 1--partially correct indicating an attempt to extract a base or transform the word in some way but resulting in a letter string that was not viable either phonologically or orthographically .

• score of 2--partially correct extraction of the base expressed through a phonologically or orthographically viable letter string.

• score of 3--completely correct base

Design 3rd & 5th grade Study

Recruited all 3rd and 5th grade Spanish speaking ELLs in a school to participate in an after school program and provided free transportation to any family needing it.

Cognate intervention vs. FCAT Preparation course (Preparing Students for the FCAT: Thematic, Standards-Based Instruction Grades 4-5 published by Carson Dellosa)

4 treatment & 4 control classrooms in each school. Stratified random assignment of students to conditions

on the basis of WLPB measures in Spanish and English.

Delivery of Treatment and Control Curricula 6 weeks (24 lessons) Small groups of 8-10 students Delivered by school teachers who received 8

hours of training in 4 sessions. (2 pre-treatment and 2 during treatment)

One hour after-school 4 times a week

Cognate Intervention

3 units on Exploration: Antarctica, Coral Reefs, & Space General lesson on cognates and learning to recognize them on

basis of phonology, orthography, and shared meaning. Target words consisted of cognates or noncognates Units open with a theme-related video and biography of an

explorer. Pre-teaching of target words using translation equivalents, child-

friendly definitions, and extension activities such as those suggested by Beck and colleagues.

Words then presented in informational texts with comprehension questions inserted at critical points within the text. All reading conducted as group and orally by the teacher

Hypotheses:

Positive effect of cognate instruction Treatment > Control on instructed cognates Treatment > Control on non-instructed cognates Treatment > Control on instructed noncognates Treatment=Control on non-instructed noncognates

Effect of word type favoring cogntates Effect of English Word Knowledge (EWK) and

Spanish Word Knowledge (SWK). EWK and SWK are composite of WLPB Letter-Word ID; Picture-Word ID; Extract the Base

Interaction of Rx with SWK & EWK SWK should not predict to noncognates

Descriptives…

Performance (in Scaled Scores) on Spanish WLPB at PretestSpanishWLPB

Condition 3rd GradeMean(SD)

5th GradeMean(SD)

PictureVocabulary

Treatment 74.55 (26.06) 76.09 (23.06)

Control 68.98 (23.82) 82.22 (21.88)

Listening Treatment 89.98 (15.62) 94.19 (13.44)

Control 89.15 (12.58) 93.35 (14.13)

Letter-WordID

Treatment 105.86 (34.92) 120.93 (26.04)

Control 107.32 (35.43) 116.70 (26.02)

Passage Treatment 83.70 (23.26) 85.63 (11.78)

Control 82.38 (20.92) 84.39 (12.66)

English WLPB Condition 3rd Grade Mean(SD)

5th Grade Mean(SD)

Picture Vocabulary

Treatment 70.44 (21.33) 60.17 (33.87)

Control 72.48 (19.61) 76.83 (20.47)

Listening Treatment 75.91 (19.65) 67.46 (32.20)

Control 79.30 (18.45) 81.65 (24.98)

Letter Word ID Treatment 95.38 (18.17) 93.57 (29.03)

Control 97.97 (17.04) 102.57 (13.60)

Passage Treatment 92.16 (16.05) 82.96 (23.92)

Control 93.18 (16.95) 91.61 (14.17)

Performance (in Scaled Scores) on English WLPB at Pretest

Measure Condition 3rd GradeMean

(Std. Deviation)

5th GradeMean

(Std. Deviation)

English Extract the Base(range 0-84)

Treatment 28.84 (11.72) 37.48 (13.63)

Control 32.13 (10.99) 42.43 (10.80)

Spanish Extract the Base(range 0-84)

Treatment 33.28 (15.51) 45.63 (13.54)

Control 31.49 (15.00) 46.33 (13.98)

Cognate Awareness(range 0-48)

Treatment 19.27 (4.80) 27.65 (8.88)

Control 18.56 (5.89) 31.78 (8.59)

Performance on Researcher Developed Measures at Pretest

Time Word Type Condition Mean SD N

Pre Cognates Control 10.94 3.90 62

Treatment 11.55 3.60 60

Noncognates Control 7.65 2.94 62

Treatment 7.85 2.58 60

Post Cognates Control 11.74 4.60 62

Treatment 12.18 4.14 60

Noncognates Control 8.27 2.88 62

Treatment 9.00 2.36 60

Third Grade Performance on Cognate Awareness Test as a Function of Time of Test, Word Type, and Condition

Time Word Type Condition Mean SD N

Pre Cognates Control 12.92 4.67 50

Treatment 11.25 4.33 55

Non-cognates Control 11.76 4.02 50

Treatment 10.15 4.49 55

Post Cognates Control 12.08 4.42 50

Treatment 12.15 4.73 55

Non-cognates Control 11.98 4.33 50

Treatment 11.07 4.79 55

Fifth Grade Performance on Cognate Awareness Test as a Function of Time of Test, Word Type, and Condition

Condition Mean Std. Dev.

Instructed Cognates Treatment 3.92 1.95

Control 3.28 1.68

Uninstructed Cognates Treatment 4.41 2.31

Control 4.91 2.56

Instructed non-Cognate

Treatment 3.81 1.74

Control 3.16 1.73

Uninstructed non-Cognate

Treatment 4.62 2.06

Control 4.86 2.03

Third Grade Post-test Performance on Cognate Test by Word Type and Instruction

Condition Mean SD

Instructed Cognates

Treatment 4.98 2.33

Control 4.54 1.76

UninstructedCognates

Treatment 7.82 3.21

Control 8.32 3.33

Instructed Noncognate

Treatment 5.20 2.61

Control 4.78 2.10

Uninstructed Noncognate

Treatment 5.8 2.74

Control 7.2 2.58

Fifth Grade Post-test Performance on Cognate Test by Word Type and Instruction

Tests of hypotheses…

3rd & 5th Grade Effect

EstimateInstructed Cognates Pr > |t|

EstimateUninstructedCognates Pr > |t|

Intercept 1.29 <.01 5.02 <.01

Pretest 0.33 <.01 0.43 <.01

Rx 0.66 <.01 -0.36 0.22

Rx*EWK 0.02 <.01 0.02 0.16

Rx*SWK -0.01 0.05 -0.01 0.22

English Word Knowledge (EWK)

-0.00 0.47 -0.01 0.52

Spanish Word Knowledge (SWK)

0.01 <.01 0.04 <.01

grade 3 0.00 . 0.00 .

grade 5 3.13 <.01 3.05 <.01

3rd & 5th Grade Effect

EstimateInstructed Non-cognates Pr > |t|

EstimateUninstructedNon-cognates Pr > |t|

Intercept 1.97 <.01 5.08 <.01

Pretest 0.12 0.09 0.19 <.01

Rx 0.93 <.01 -0.24 0.36

Rx*EWK 0.01 0.33 0.00 0.94

Rx*SWK -0.00 0.89 -0.01 0.18


0.02 <.01 0.03 <.01


0.00 0.36 0.01 0.33

Grade 3 0.00 . 0.00 .

Grade 5 2.40 <.01 1.34 <.01

3rd GradeEffect



Intercept 1.33 <.01 5.05 <.01

Pretest 0.24 0.01 0.23 0.01

Rx 0.57 <.01 -0.47 0.19

Rx*EWK 0.01 0.23 -0.01 0.46

Rx*SWK -0.01 0.19 -0.00 0.98


-0.01 0.20 0.01 0.35


0.02 <.01 0.03 <.01

5th GradeEffect



Intercept 3.79 <.01 8.17 <.01

Pretest 0.30 <.01 0.52 <.01

Rx 1.35 <.01 -0.37 0.47

Rx*EWK 0.00 0.87 0.05 0.02

Rx*SWK -0.01 0.37 -0.01 0.67


0.03 0.04 -0.03 0.13


0.02 0.04 0.04 <.01

3rd GradeEffect

EstimateInstructed Noncognates Pr > |t|

EstimateUninstructedNoncognates Pr > |t|

Intercept 1.97 <.01 4.92 <.01

Pretest 0.05 0.64 0.03 0.77

Rx 0.90 <.01 0.03 0.93

Rx*EWK -0.01 0.49 -0.02 0.21

Rx*SWK 0.01 0.46 0.00 0.76


0.02 <.01 0.03 0.03


0.00 0.68 0.00 0.70

5th GradeEffect

EstimateInstructed Noncognates Pr > |t|

EstimateUninstructedNoncognates Pr > |t|

Intercept 4.09 <.01 6.34 <.01

Pretest 0.11 0.33 0.27 <.01

Rx 1.18 0.01 -0.34 0.49

Rx*EWK 0.01 0.43 -0.01 0.77

Rx*SWK -0.01 0.42 -0.03 0.09


0.03 0.06 0.04 0.02


0.02 0.10 0.02 0.12

Summary

Obtained positive effect for treatment on instructed cognates and noncognates

No strong evidence of transfer of cognate recognition strategy to uninstructed cognates

Spanish Word Knowledge (SWK) predicts to cognates only

Improving Knowledge of Educational Effectiveness for ELLs Large scale evaluations of programs

implemented with ELLs Awareness that ELL is a label that serves

administrative needs and that the reclassification of children into FEP does not make them comparable to monolingual English speakers.

Studies that clarify how effect of instruction relates to linguistic, developmental, contextual factors particular to L2 populations

Acquiring Literacy in English

National Institute of Child Health and Human DevelopmentDepartment of Education/Office of Educational Research and Improvement

http://www.cal.org/acqlit/

literacy for diverse student learners

Documents

cognates words

learning of english

students aware of words

grade spanish speaking

grade ells

english vocabulary development

spanish maintenance

spanish relative