Problem Based Learning and the Language Learner 5 Part Series

Problem Based Learning and the Language Learner SeriesPart Two: Selecting Academic and Content Vocabulary

It stands to reason that the more word meanings one knows, the more easily one can construct meaning through reading (Thorndike, 1973 & Whipple, 1925).

Narration (18 seconds):Welcome to Problem Based Learning and the Language Learner 5 Part Series. This is Part Two: Selecting Academic and Content Vocabulary.

It stands to reason that the more word meanings one knows, the more easily one can construct meaning through reading (Thorndike, 1973 & Whipple, 1925).

1Overview

Overarching Question for SeriesEnduring Understanding for SeriesCritical ContentAcademic VocabularyContent VocabularyTiers of VocabularyCritical SkillsDefine & DistinguishSelectImplement TerminologyFree morphemesLexical vs functionalHow can I implement a PBL that is accessible and supports ELLs for success?ELLs must acquire twice as much English vocabulary, twice as fast as native speakers, often without any exposure to hearing English outside of school. This is no small feat! (Lems, Kristin, Miller, Leah D. & Soro, Tenena M., 120).Topic: Selecting Academic and Content Vocabulary

Narration (55 seconds):As an overview, this series is centered around an overarching question, How can I implement a PBL that is accessible and supports ELLs for success? The enduring understanding for part two is that ELLs must acquire twice as much English vocabulary, twice as fast as native speakers, often without any exposure to hearing English outside of school [and that] this is no small feat! (Lems, Kristin, Miller, Leah D. & Soro, Tenena M., 120).

The topic for part two is selecting academic and content vocabulary. The critical content in part 2 is academic vocabulary, content vocabulary and tiers of vocabulary. The critical skills are to be able to define and distinguish, select, and implement targeted vocabulary. Terminology that may be new for some educators are free morphemes which can be lexical or functional.

2What are academic and content vocabulary?

Academic Vocabulary

Academic vocabulary words are words that are transferable between contexts. Many times these words are used in directions, test questions and tasks.Content Vocabulary

Content vocabulary are words specific to your discipline. Often times your content words are lexical free morpheme words. Lexical free morpheme words have a stem/base with an affix within the word. Academic VocabularyContent Vocabulary

Narration ( 1 min 35 secs):What are academic and content vocabulary? Academic vocabulary and content vocabulary support each other.

(10secs) Academic vocabulary. Academic vocabulary is transferable between contexts. Many times these words are used in directions, test questions and tasks. To illustrate, here is an example from an ESL class. (11 secs) Students are reading a short story and the teacher wants them to be able to summarize, retell and analyze characters and plot development. Even though this is a picture from an ESL class, these academic vocabulary words are also used in other content classes. In a science class ELLs may be asked to retell steps to an experiment. In an engineering class students may be asked to summarize the engineering cycle/process. In math, ELLs may be asked to analyze a procedure for solving a math equation in relation to solving a PBL. Thus, academic language is transferable. (30 secs)

Content vocabulary. Content vocabulary is specific to a discipline. Often times content words are lexical free morpheme words. Lexical free morpheme words have a stem/base with an affix within the word. This actually helps students to learn the words meaning when they break down lexical free morpheme words. (17 secs)

In the example picture provided, these were the content words that accompanied the academic words we just discussed on the left. These words are more specific to the discipline of the classroom environment. Rarely, content words may be found in other disciplines, but usually if they are, they carry a different meaning. This will be discussed further on the next slide. (17 secs)

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How can I distinguish the two?Academic VocabularyContent Vocabulary

contentcontentcontentcontentcontentcontentcontentcontentacademicacademicacademicacademicacademicmicroscopeamplitudemultiplicationtablediameterallegiancelatitudescaleanalyzeexplaininterprethypothesizeillustratetableMath or Sciencegraphic that represents data and numbers

ESLA flat surface in which a person can write on, eat on or work on

explainmicroscopeamplitudeinterpretmultiplicationhypothesizetablediameterillustrateallegiancescalelatitudeanalyze

Narration (2 mins and 30 secs):Now that you should know what academic vocabulary is and what content vocabulary is, it is important to check and make sure you can distinguish between the two.

Take a look at the list of vocabulary words. Which would you sort as academic and which as content words? When the brick wall appears, check to see where the words from the list were placed in order to assess how well you sorted the words in the list. (22 secs)

Often times, a visual that is used to help distinguish the two types of vocabulary is the image of bricks and mortar. This type of visual helps to illustrate the difference in function/purpose of each. Content vocabulary is represented by red bricks. Academic vocabulary is represented by the mortar between the bricks. The mortar keeps the bricks together and provides structure. Like the mortar, academic vocabulary helps to identify the language function desired in order to use the content vocabulary. To illustrate, analyze, hypothesize or explain. (31 secs)

As I mentioned in the previous slide, rarely, content words are seen in more than one discipline. To explore, lets take a look at the content word table. (35) Table can have different meanings from a math or science class to an ESL classroom. In math or science a table is a graphic used to organize data and numbers for students to interpret. On the other hand, in an ESL classroom it can also be used to mean a table to eat on, write on or work on. Same word, but different disciplines provide a different context to create meaning. Now you try. What is another content word you see that an ELL might see in a different discipline? (33 secs)

As a final thought. Here is a new image to use to help illustrate academic vs content vocabulary. Here we have a fish that wants to get from one side of the river to the other. The content vocabulary words help it swim and function on the left side of the river. The academic language provide the structure and support like the bridge, to help the student transfer skills from one discipline to another. Because of excellent vocabulary instruction for both academic and content vocabulary this fish can jump and swim off to a new adventure, while other fish are stuck on the right side of the river. (31 secs)

4Tiers of vocabulary3 Tiers of VocabularyTier ITier IITier III most basic, common rarely require instruction in school high-frequency words mature language show up in a wide variety of texts common for written and oral language already has ways to express the concept important, opportunity to build rich connections

low-frequency words limited to specific contexts most articulate and precise there is no formula for selecting age appropriate - grade level not a precise onenot clear cut

Narration (1 min 3 secs):Now that you can define and distinguish the two categories of vocabulary from academic to content we must begin diving deeper by considering the tiers of vocabulary in order to help you select which academic and content vocabulary words to focus on in your instruction.

There are three tiers of vocabulary. A great reference for this information is the book called Bringing Words to Life. In short, tier 1 words are the most basic, common English words and rarely require instruction in the school setting, with the exception of NEP ELLs. Tier II words are high-frequency words. These words help to build a rich vocabulary for the ELL and usually show up in a variety of contexts. Most often, students already have a way for expressing the concept that the tier II word represents. Tier III words are low-frequency words because they are very limited to specific contexts and allow the student to be most articulate and precise.

This being said, it is important to note that there is no formula for selecting grade/age appropriate vocabulary words and there is not a precise measure for distinguishing between the tiers. Tiers of vocabulary help educators to analyze their targeted vocabulary for instruction. On slide 8, shades of vocabulary is an excellent strategy fortiering your vocabulary instruction.

* This slide was made using page 19 of Bringing Words to Life as reference5How do I identify/select critical vocabulary?

WORDS

How many words should I teach?. . .useful . . .students likely to meet often in other texts . . . word relate to other words, ideas that students know or have been learning . . . to the topic/concept . . . bring to the text or situation . . . relate to the PBL?

What role does it play in communicating?Review unitReview standardsReview your purposeWhat does the student need to know?What does the student need to be able to do?How long would it take to teach the words I am considering?

Narration (1 minute):As an educator, at times it can feel like you are drowning in a pool of words that your ELLs do not know and it can be overwhelming to teach them all. Well. . . Dont teach them ALL.

When you begin compiling articles and resources for your PBL, you will be surrounded by a lot of adult language. When you are thinking about adapting your text (which is part 3 of this series), you need to be intentional in the words you choose. Points to consider to help you evaluate and select terms to teach are: - its usefulness whether the student is likely to see it in other texts how relatable it is to other words or ideas in the PBL

Also, make sure you concretely identify what it is that the student needs to know and be able to do through your unit/PBL. Think about how long it will take to teach each word. Some words require minimal instruction while others need a 5 minute dissection.

*this slide is paraphrased from the book Bringing Words to Life page 29.

6Basic Foundational Strategies: NEP1s and NEP2s

Figure 2: RealiaFigure 4: personal dictionaryFigure 1: Icons and Pictures

Figure 3: Gestures

Narration (2 mins 30 secs):Now that you can identify and select your vocabulary to teach, it is time to discuss some basic foundational strategies to teach vocabulary for NEP1s and NEP2s.

Figure 1: Icons and pictures. Icons and pictures can be used to help deliver instructions and to guide the student about what he/she needs to do. For example, listen . . . analyze . . . evaluate . . . write . . . discuss with group . . . discuss with a partner . . . Simple direct images really help reinforce academic vocabulary that help the student know what they need to do. Usually, if the images are being used to support directions or tasks, it is ideal to use direct action verbs paired with a picture representation.

Figure 2: Realia. Realia is a great content vocabulary strategy. It is most useful for concrete nouns that may be unfamiliar to the student. In figure 2 students were reading a book called Parvanas Journey. Their authentic guest speaker brought in cultural items that related to contextual vocabulary in the book that students might not have been familiar with. The students were able to work with the items in order to conceptualize the vocabulary from the text better. This allowed them to understand the text at a deeper level.

Figure 3: Gestures. Using consistent body language and gestures for NEPs assists with students knowing the academic culture of the school and classroom as well as aiding them in understanding social cues which can be very important for presenting to authentic audiences for PBLs. For instance, timeout . . . quiet please . . . Even pointing to different areas of the body to reference what the student needs to do is helpful. For instance, pointing to your head to tell the student you want him/her to think, or pointing to your eyes to show you want the student to look at or watch something.

Figure 4: Personal dictionaries. Personal dictionaries are helpful for content vocabulary as well as academic vocabulary. Students create their own dictionaries with pictures and meanings related to their class/unit in order to develop vocabulary. Most often ELLs get to self select which words to include, yet at times it might be helpful for a teacher to select. This is a wonderful mobile tool for the student.

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Basic foundational strategies for lep3s and lep4s

Figure 1: Shades of Vocabularyarticulatedinformedstatedsaid

mathmathematicsmathematicianbiologybiologistsciencesciencesscientistFigure 2: Word BenchFigure 3: Storyboardpicturepicturepicturecaptioncaptioncaption

Narration (3 mins 30 secs):Now lets take a look at some ideas for basic, foundational strategies for LEP3s and LEP4s.

Figure 1: Shades of Vocabulary. Shades of vocabulary is a strategy that really helps LEPs to enrich their vocabulary to tier II and sometimes tier III words. Shades of vocabularys purpose is to start with a word the student already knows (normally a common English word, sometimes an overused word) to then use resources like a thesaurus, or words from a text to create a list of synonyms. Then, the student chooses a new word from the list to express an idea more articulately. This also provides opportunity for an ELL to compare, analyze and evaluate the uses of each word related to the one word he/she already knew. First, the teacher needs to laminate the color card so that the student can use expos or wipe off markers. Next, he/she writes the word known to him/her on the lightest shade on the card. This transparency represents the lightest weight of a word meaning it isnt very articulate and is too broad of a term, so therefore, light in weight. In essence, the more articulate and precise the word choice, the deeper the color. As the ELL progresses to each darker tone, he/she has to evaluate its weight its richness. Finally, the ELL considers the communicative purpose and context in order to decide which word is best suited for his/her need to communicate. The biggest selling point is that you can differentiate which color chip card to use based on the language level. For my low LEP3s, I use the color card with only three shades. For other LEP3s I use the cards with four shades. Ultimately, for LEP4s you can have color cards with up to six or seven shades. The more shades, the more synonyms that the ELL has to research and evaluate.

Please consider the part of speech the words are when implementing this strategy. This strategy works best for modifiers (adjectives), adverbs, and verbs. It is not ideal for nouns. The example shown demonstrates adjectives. However, this can easily be used with verbs as well. For example, commonly when ELLs write using dialogue, usually the two main verbs accompanied with the dialogue are said or asked. Using shades of vocabulary a student might instead come up with a plethora of verbs associated with dialogue. To demonstrate, instead of writing asked a student might discover words like inquired. Instead of said a student might discover the word stated, articulated, uttered or informed.

Figure 2: Word Benches. Word benches really help ELLs see how words can be related to each other. When ELLs can see similar roots/stems/bases in words, they can begin to dissect its meaning. Also, through word benches LEP students can dissect meaning of vocabulary words by analyzing affixes attached to the root/stem/base. Commonly, these would be lexical free morpheme words in your content. The example word benches should help illustrate for you how a LEP ELL can look at the words in the bench to find commonalities in the spelling in order to dissect the root/stem/base as well as any affix to discover meaning and relationships between words.

Figure 3: Storyboard. For LEP3s, storyboards help the student draw/create images to represent vocabulary words used in a text. First, as the teacher you can select the targeted vocabulary to create a story board with or you can let the student. Then, the storyboard provides opportunity for multiple communicative engagement pieces to practice the vocabulary. The student can create images to represent the meaning of each word and then construct captions that can be written using the vocabulary word or a partner can write captions based on looking at the images as well. Finally, the storyboard can then be used to create conversation about the text. This vocabulary strategy is very dynamic and provides multiple points of assessment in various language domains.

8Launch into action!

What are three ah-has you learned about academic and content vocabulary?How are two ways you plan to implement basic vocabulary strategies into your PBL work?What is one question you have about selecting vocabulary to teach?

Narration (30 secs):You are ready now to launch off into action!

Take a moment for mental or written reflection: What are three Ah-has you learned about academic and content vocabulary for ELLs in your PBL work? How are 2 ways you plan to implement basic vocabulary strategies? What is a new question you have about selecting vocabulary in PBL work?

The slide show is over, but you just reached the starting line to launch into implementation! 9