Module 7 key components

BY: HANNAH MCMICHAEL

Talking with young children

 All children have been expanding their language since they were
able to do so and continue to do so throughout their converstation.
New language expands out of a child’s simple utterances that are
developed through exploration of language. Conversations create
opportunities for language to be expanded. This is why giving
children quality language opportunities is important. In a
conversation one of two things happen, the participant gives
something to the other participants or takes something from them.
These dynamics can be exchanged both verbally or non verbally
and the reaction that occurs helps to cause links in conversation.

 click to learn more about conversation

The development of conversation

 Children begin their oral language by creating sounds that they

have heard from their families. Eventually, they begin so make word
utterances, this can happen at different ages. The young children
begin to learn words and repeat them over and over.
 Around 2-3 years of age children begin to use language, that again
is heard at home, and is also only understood at home. Children
begin to produce sentences and begin using grammatical features.
 After three years of age students are able to make themselves
understood and begin using the structure of grammar.
The importance of talking with children

 Children begin to grow through conversation long before they learn

to talk. All interactions, even looks, gestures, and reaches, help
children to grow in conversation. Children who have more
conversation directed at them have better language processing
and often learn words more quickly than those who do not receive
as much direct speech. The faster a child can make a connection
to words they already know the easier it is for them to figure out
what comes next and learn the words that follow.
What can teachers do?
-increasing learning through conversation
 Create rich context for language learning
 Increase language learning opportunities
 Understand children learn language easily through conversation
 Consider why a child is reluctant to speak
 Recognize the importance of reading aloud
 Create the need to produce language
 Arrange for sources of new language
 Think about easy to learn language structure
 Understand how children discover new rules
 Understand how children learn the order of words
 Appreciate how children learn to say the same thing in different ways
 Encourage alternative constructions
 Consider impact of overloading a child’s grammar
 (Clay, p.136-141)
Vocabulary development

 Vocabulary words are learned gradually and throughout context

(Cunning, 244). As students see words in different contexts it helps
them to develop a stronger more accurate meaning of the word.
The more that a student knows about a word the better it sticks in
their memory. A base of 4,000 word families make up about 90% of
the words students will see. There are three Tiers of words that
students need to learn and should guide the words chosen for
instruction. Tier 1 words, are everyday words learned through
listening and speaking. Tier 2 words are words that appear primarily
in print rather than day to day conversation. Tier 3 words are words
that belong with specific content. Tier 2 words are those which are
the focus of vocabulary instruction.
Vocabulary strategies

 Venn diagram
 word of the day
 Direct vocabulary instruction
 Graphic organizer
 Predictions
 Teaching root words
 Semantic words
 Riddles
 Crossword puzzles
 Word sorts
 Click here to see vocabulary
strategies at work
Vocabulary instruction for ELL

 English language learners rely more on their vocabulary knowledge

than native English speakers. However, since they know fewer
English words they know the meaning of fewer words. It is important
to give English language learners intensive vocabulary instruction. In
order to help ELL students fully understand the meaning of a word
provide a translation for new vocabulary to help gain better
understanding. Vocabulary is the main road block for students who
are working toward learning English. Vocabulary development for
ELL could be a simple label or using cognates to dig deeper.

 Cognates- words that have the same spelling in both English and Spanish but have different
pronunciation
Socioeconomic vocabulary and
language gap
”By age three, it is believed that children growing up in poor
neighborhoods or from lower- income families may hear up to
30 million fewer words than their more privileged
counterparts.”
 Studies have found that by age
four, children who are of the
upper class have heard 30 million
more words than children whose
families are on welfare.
Differences between families of
low SES are noticeably lower in
vocabulary and language
development as young as 18
months. Research shows the by
the age of 2 there is a 6 month
language gap in children from a
low SES environment.
Reading strategies to develop
comprehension
 Sequencing
 Retelling
 Predicting
 Previewing
 Summarizing
 Imaging
 Close reading
 (Gunning, p. 319)

 click here to watch for more information about building comprehension

Steps to comprehension strategy
instruction
 1. Introducing the strategy: Explain what is it and why you are doing
it. Students will be more interested if they see the purpose.
 2. Demonstrating and modeling: show how the strategy works in a
real life situation, have students note what you did to make the
strategy successful.
 3. Guided practice: The teacher does most of the work before
gradually releasing more independence to student.
 4. Independent practice: apply the strategy to a variety of materials
 5. Assess and reteach: observe application, reteach if necessary
 6. reinforcement: add strategy to repertoire and move to a new
strategy
Reading to develop
comprehension
 Determine main idea: Main idea is not the most important idea in the story
but the overall gist the text gives and is the frame work for comprehension
organization. Main idea comprehension must be taught in detail, step by
step. You must teach students to look at all essential information and
decide what major idea the details support.
 Determine important details: Determining what is important in a text is
key in comprehension. Determining the main idea is a big part of
finding the most important information. Once the main idea is
apparent the reader can then focus on the details.
 Making inferences: Inferencing requires direct instruction as students often
times don’t realize that inferencing is important as you read. Inferencing is a
very important piece of comprehension as much of the story is left untold
by the author and needs to be inferred by the reader to get the full
message of the story.
Causes for failure of comprehension

 Words may be unknown

 Concepts are unknown
 Punctuation is ignored or misread
 Words or phrases are given wrong emphasis
 Organization is difficult
 Reader becomes lost in details
 Inadequate prior knowledge

 (Gunning, p. 323)
Discussion for comprehension

 When students participate in a discussion about their reading it

helps them to construct meaning within the text. Sharing ideas helps
students to interchange ideas and see things from another
perspective. Reciprocal teaching is one way to get students talking
about a story or text they have read. This type of teaching
introduces group discussion and helps students check for
understanding. There are four techniques to help students gain
comprehension through discussion. The four techniques students
are participating in during reciprocal teaching are predicting,
question generating, clarifying, and summarizing. This discussion
technique can be used during whole group, small groups, or during
book discussions.
 click here for a group discussion about a text (7:30-8:19)
resources

 Introducing Vocabulary. (n.d.). Retrieved March 22, 2018, from

https://wv.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/cheatl.plr.introvocab/introducing-
vocabulary/#.Wrl8NhNSzBI
 (n.d.). Retrieved March 25, 2018, from http://www.hanen.org/Helpful-Info/Our-Views-
on-the-News/Conversations-Key-to-Language.aspx
 Session 3. (n.d.). Retrieved March 29, 2018, from
http://www.learner.org/workshops/teachreading35/session3/sec2p2.html
 Creating Literacy Instruction for All Students. (n.d.). Retrieved March 21, 2018, from
https://www.pearson.com/us/higher-education/product/Gunning-Creating-Literacy-
Instruction-for-All-Students-8th-Edition/9780132685795.html
 Clay, M. M. (2014). By different paths to common outcomes: literacy learning and
teaching. Auckland, New Zealand: Global Educations Systems (GES) Ltd.
 Gunning, T. G. (2016). Creating literacy instruction: for all students. Boston: Pearson.