Mediation in the relationship among EL status,vocabulary, and science reading comprehension

The authors investigated the mediating effects of general academic and science-specific vocabulary on science reading comprehension among English learners (ELs) of varied proficiency. The sample included 169 regular education Grade 7 students (86 current ELs; 83 former ELs) enrolled in 1 urban school in Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The results indicated that both vocabulary types—rarely explicitly taught at the secondary level—were significant contributors to reading comprehension, above and beyond EL status. The full parallel mediation model accounted for 55% of the variance in science reading comprehension. Notably, the mediating effects of both vocabulary types were significant and statistically similar in size, yet, not sufficient to fully explain ELs' reading scores. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Examining the role of vocabulary depth, cross-linguistic transfer, and types of reading measures on the reading comprehension of Latino bilinguals in elementary school

Given the increase of bilingual students in the K-12 public school system, understanding reading comprehension performance, especially among this population, has been a major focal point in the research literature. This study explores the nature of reading comprehension among a sample of 123 Spanish–English bilingual elementary students. We add to the existing knowledge base regarding reading comprehension in two significant ways: (1) augmenting the Simple View of Reading by testing the role of both vocabulary depth contribution and dual-linguistic ability in English reading comprehension; and (2) questioning the manner through which reading comprehension is understood through measurement and conceptualization. Specifically, we build a comprehensive model of reading comprehension that tests the effects for vocabulary depth, Spanish oral language, and biliteracy. In line with previous research that suggests different reading measures tap different abilities, we test our model for three different measures of reading comprehension: a cloze exercise, a passage and multiple choice based test, and a timed silent sentence reading judgment task. Our findings converge with previous research on the role of vocabulary depth in reading comprehension and also challenge prior work which has compared different reading measures. Implications for theoretical and empirical approaches to understanding reading comprehension, specifically among Spanish–English bilingual students, are discussed.     

The impact of a systematic and explicit vocabulary intervention in Spanish with Spanish-speaking English learners in first grade

This study examined the impact of a 15-min daily explicit vocabulary intervention in Spanish on expressive and receptive vocabulary knowledge and oral reading fluency in Spanish, and on language proficiency in English. Fifty Spanish-speaking English learners who received 90 min of Spanish reading instruction in an early transition model were randomly assigned to a treatment group (Vocabulary Enhanced Systematic and Explicit Teaching Routines [VE-SETR]) or a comparison group that received general vocabulary instruction using the standard reading curriculum with general strategies designed to increase the explicitness of instruction (General Systematic and Explicit Teaching Routines). Results indicated a statistically significant difference in depth of student Spanish vocabulary knowledge favoring the VE-SETR group. Differences on language proficiency in English, general vocabulary knowledge in Spanish, and oral reading fluency in Spanish were not statistically significant. Implications for future research are discussed.     

An emergent interaction between reading fluency and vocabulary in the prediction of reading comprehension among French immersion elementary students

This study investigated an emergent interaction between word reading fluency and vocabulary knowledge in the prediction of reading comprehension among French immersion students in Grades 2 and 3. A group of 66 students were tested on measures of phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, word reading accuracy, vocabulary, word reading fluency and reading comprehension in English and French at both time points. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine whether vocabulary and word reading fluency interact in predicting English and French reading comprehension. Regressions were constructed for each language and grade separately. Results showed that in Grade 2, word reading fluency and vocabulary contributed independently to reading comprehension, though an interaction between these variables was not observed in either language. By Grade 3, an interaction between these constructs emerged and was shown to predict reading comprehension in both English and French. Specifically, vocabulary was positively related to reading comprehension among students with moderate to high levels of fluency, while vocabulary did not uniquely contribute to reading comprehension among those who were less fluent. The emergence of an interaction in Grade 3 suggests that as students’ reading skills become more proficient, reading comprehension outcomes are better explained by taking into account the interaction between reading fluency and vocabulary knowledge.

     

英语词汇量与语言各项技能及综合能力之相关研究

通过对我国重点矿业院校非英语专业大学生英语词汇量与语言各项技能水平的相关研究，发现学生四级阶段词汇量平均达到4192个；词汇量与口语、听力、阅读理解、词汇结构、完型填空、写作及四级成绩之间在a=0．01水平下线性关系均显著；不同语言综合能力的学习者，其词汇量状况存在显著差异；不同词汇量的学习者，其语言综合能力也存在显著差异。     

Codeswitching techniques: evidence-based instructional practices for the ASL/English bilingual classroom

The authors present a perspective on emerging bilingual deaf students who are exposed to, learning, and developing two languages--American Sign Language (ASL) and English (spoken English, manually coded English, and English reading and writing). The authors suggest that though deaf children may lack proficiency or fluency in either language during early language-learning development, they still engage in codeswitching activities, in which they go back and forth between signing and English to communicate. The authors then provide a second meaning of codeswitching--as a purpose-driven instructional technique in which the teacher strategically changes from ASL to English print for purposes of vocabulary and reading comprehension. The results of four studies are examined that suggest that certain codeswitching strategies support English vocabulary learning and reading comprehension. These instructional strategies are couched in a five-pronged approach to furthering the development of bilingual education for deaf students.     

Developmental changes in the nature of language proficiency and reading fluency paint a more complex view of reading comprehension in ELL and EL1

We examined theoretical issues concerning the development of reading fluency and language proficiency in 390 English Language Learners (ELLs,) and 149 monolingual, English-as-a-first language (EL1) students. The extent to which performance on these constructs in Grade 5 (i.e., concurrent predictors) contributes to reading comprehension in the presence of Grade 2 autoregressors was also addressed. Students were assessed on cognitive, language, word reading, and reading fluency skills in Grades 2 and 5. In Grade 2, regardless of language group, word and text reading fluency formed a single factor, but by Grade 5 word and text reading fluency formed two distinct factors, the latter being more aligned with language comprehension. In both groups a substantial proportion of the variance in Grade 5 reading comprehension was accounted for uniquely by Grade 2 phonological awareness and vocabulary. Grade 5 text reading fluency contributed uniquely in the presence of the autoregressors. By Grade 5 syntactic skills and listening comprehension emerged as additional language proficiency components predicting reading comprehension in ELL but not in EL1. Results suggest that predictors of reading comprehension are similar but not identical in ELL and EL1. The findings point to a more nuanced and dynamic framework for understanding the building blocks that contribute to reading comprehension in ELLs and EL1s in upper elementary school. They underscore the importance of considering constructs such as vocabulary, whose role is stable, and other components of language proficiency and reading fluency whose role becomes pivotal as their nature changes.     

Evaluating the efficacy of using sentence frames for learning new vocabulary in science

Science students are increasingly challenged to use technical language related to the topics that they are studying, and therefore, science teachers benefit from knowing which tools are effective to support students in learning to use new terms. This study examined the impact of using one such tool—sentences frames—to teach science vocabulary, as measured through a science-writing task. Using an experimental approach with extant middle school science classes that offered a sample of 75 mainly Latino school students from grades six through eight, the researcher together with participating teachers identified 10 essential terms per science unit. The teachers used vocabulary-focused sentence frames for teaching the terms in one science unit, and a more traditional science text-based approach for teaching vocabulary in another unit. The writing task required at the end of the units consisted of essays in response to science-based prompts that directed students to use as many target science words as possible; matching/cloze format quizzes were also used to measure pretest and posttest receptive vocabulary knowledge. Findings indicated that there were advantages for teaching new science vocabulary via sentence frames as measured by use of the words in writing, but there were no advantages for sentence frames on quizzes measuring receptive vocabulary. Advantages of sentence frames for writing approached but did not reach statistical significance. There was some evidence that current and previous English language learners benefited more than initial English speakers from sentence frames, implying that utilizing sentence frames to teach science vocabulary might offer needed support especially for these subgroups. Limitations of the study included the sample size and the possibility that the strategy utilized in the comparison group might have offered some of the same advantages in producing language with technical vocabulary that the sentence frames unit offered.     

Does knowledge of connectives play a unique role in the reading comprehension of English learners and English‐only students?

Connectives (e.g., although, meanwhile) carry abstract meanings and often signal key relationships between text ideas. This study explored whether understanding of connectives represents a unique domain of vocabulary knowledge that provides special leverage for reading comprehension, and whether the contribution of knowledge of connectives to reading comprehension differs for students from distinct language backgrounds. Understanding of connectives, word reading efficiency and breadth of vocabulary knowledge of 75 English language learners (ELLs) and 75 English‐only (EO) fifth graders were assessed. Hierarchical multiple regression techniques revealed that understanding of connectives explained a sizeable and significant portion of unique variance in comprehension beyond that explained by breadth of vocabulary knowledge when controlling for word reading efficiency. The magnitude of this relationship was larger for EO students than for ELLs. Findings indicate that connectives play an important role in comprehension, but that the strength of their influence varies by readers’ linguistic background.     

Academic vocabulary and middle school English learners: an intervention study

The goal of this experimental intervention study was to determine if evidence-based instructional strategies for general vocabulary words are effective with middle school English learner (EL) students and academic vocabulary words. Participants showed significantly more growth in their knowledge of academic vocabulary during the treatment condition than during the control condition. A secondary goal of this study was to examine the predictive utility of students’ English language proficiency, and students’ general vocabulary knowledge in English was a positive predictor for their academic vocabulary growth during the intervention. However, participants’ growth during the control period had the greatest predictive utility for their growth during the intervention. Furthermore, this relationship was negative, suggesting that the intervention had the greatest benefits for students who made the least progress in English vocabulary in the absence of the intervention. Implications for instruction, policy, and future research are presented.     

The role of word decoding,vocabulary knowledge and meta‐cognitive knowledge in monolingual and bilingual low‐achieving adolescents' reading comprehension

In this study, we analysed the relationships between word decoding, vocabulary knowledge, meta‐cognitive knowledge and reading comprehension in low‐achieving adolescents and examined whether the strength of these relationships differed between Grade 7 and 9 students and between monolingual and bilingual students. Tests were administered to 328 students in Dutch prevocational education. Multilevel analyses showed positive effects of vocabulary and meta‐cognitive knowledge on reading comprehension that were consistent across grades and across monolinguals and bilinguals. Additionally, we found a positive effect of word decoding for seventh graders, but no effect for ninth graders. There was also a positive effect of bilingualism on reading comprehension when vocabulary differences were controlled. This finding suggests that for bilingual students, reading comprehension is hampered by limited second‐language vocabulary knowledge and that these students will profit more from an increase in vocabulary knowledge than their monolingual peers. The results underline the importance of vocabulary and meta‐cognitive instruction for low‐achieving adolescents.     

Evaluating the role of polysemous word knowledge in reading comprehension among bilingual adolescents

This study reports on the development of an assessment to measure bilingual adolescents’ knowledge of polysemous vocabulary and explores the contribution of polysemous word knowledge to reading comprehension among those students. Spanish–English bilingual students in seventh grade (n = 107) completed a battery of standardized reading and language measures along with a researcher-designed measure of their knowledge of the academic senses of words that also have casual, everyday meanings. Item-response theory analyses and correlational analyses provided validity evidence for the assessment. Regression analyses indicated that students’ knowledge of academic senses of polysemous words predicted their reading comprehension, even after controlling for their knowledge of the casual sense of the same words, vocabulary breadth, and decoding skills. Findings suggest that comprehension of grade-level texts is uniquely predicted by the ability to recognize the meanings of familiar words when they appear in academic contexts.     

Engaging in vocabulary learning in science: the promise of multimodal instruction

To a science ‘outsider’, science language often appears unnecessarily technical and dense. However, scientific language is typically used with the goal of being concise and precise, which allows those who regularly participate in scientific discourse communities to learn from each other and build upon existing scientific knowledge. One essential component of science language is the academic vocabulary that characterises it. This mixed-methods study investigates middle school students’ (N?=?59) growth in academic vocabulary as it relates to their teacher’s instructional practices that supported academic language development. Students made significant gains in their production of general academic words, t(57)?=?2.32, p?=?.024 and of discipline-specific science words, t(57)?=?3.01, p?=?.004 in science writing. Results from the qualitative strand of this inquiry contextualised the students’ learning of academic vocabulary as it relates to their teacher’s instructional practices and intentions as well as the students’ perceptions of their learning environment. These qualitative findings reveal that both the students and their teacher articulated that the teacher’s intentional use of resources supported students’ academic vocabulary growth. Implications for research and instruction with science language are shared.     

Expository text comprehension in secondary school: for which readers does knowledge of connectives contribute the most?

The present study examined whether knowledge of connectives contributes uniquely to expository text comprehension above and beyond reading fluency, general vocabulary knowledge and metacognitive knowledge. Furthermore, it was examined whether this contribution differs for readers with different language backgrounds or readers who vary in reading fluency, general vocabulary knowledge or metacognitive knowledge levels. Multilevel regression analyses revealed that knowledge of connectives explained individual differences in eighth graders' text comprehension (n = 171) on top of the variance accounted for by the control variables. Moreover, the contribution of knowledge of connectives to text comprehension depended on a reader's level of metacognitive knowledge: more metacognitive knowledge resulted in a larger association between knowledge of connectives and text comprehension. Reading fluency, vocabulary knowledge and language background did not interact with knowledge of connectives. Findings are interpreted in the context of the strategic use of connectives during expository text reading.

What is already known about this topic?

• Connectives (words such as moreover, because and although) help the reader in establishing coherence between text parts.
• In primary school, for fifth graders, knowledge of connectives has been shown to be uniquely related to English text comprehension controlling for reading fluency and general vocabulary knowledge.
• For fifth graders, the relationship between knowledge of connectives and English text comprehension was higher for English‐only students than for their peers who learned English as a second language.

What this paper adds:

• The present study found that knowledge of connectives also has a unique relation with Dutch expository text comprehension for eighth graders above and beyond reading fluency, general vocabulary knowledge and metacognitive knowledge (about text structure and reading and writing strategies).
• The relationship between knowledge of connectives and text comprehension was not moderated by reading fluency, general vocabulary knowledge and language background (monolingual versus bilingual Dutch).
• Metacognitive knowledge did impact the relationship between knowledge of connectives and text comprehension: the higher the metacognitive knowledge, the higher the association between knowledge of connectives and text comprehension.

Implications for theory, policy or practice

• Secondary school readers are assumed to benefit from knowing connectives because these words are frequent in expository texts and signal relationships that students may often not infer without the help of these devices (i.e., with the use of background knowledge). This seems to apply in particular for expository texts that are intended to convey new information and relationships to students (see also Singer & O'Connell, 2003 ).
• We found a significant interaction between knowledge of connectives and metacognitive knowledge, which seems to indicate that knowing more connectives does not help much in improving expository text comprehension when metacognitive knowledge about text structure and reading strategies is low. This result suggests that it may be wise to couple instruction on the meaning of connectives with instruction about the structure of expository texts and ways to strategically deal with these texts.
• More specifically, besides instruction on the meaning of connectives, we advise teachers in secondary school to get students to understand the importance of connectives as markers of local and global coherence in texts, and to teach them how to strategically use connectives during reading.

     

Examining listening previewing as a classwide strategy to promote reading comprehension and vocabulary

Classwide instructional strategies to improve not only reading fluency but also comprehension and vocabulary knowledge are essential for student reading success. The current study examined the immediate effects of two classwide listening previewing strategies on reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge. Twenty‐one, fourth‐grade general education students were exposed to three experimental conditions including a silent reading control condition, a listening previewing condition, and a listening previewing with vocabulary previewing condition. For all conditions, students read grade‐level passages, answered 10 comprehension questions, and completed a vocabulary‐matching task. Results showed that both listening previewing conditions led to improvements in comprehension as compared to silent reading. Adding a vocabulary previewing component to listening previewing procedures resulted in the highest levels of comprehension and vocabulary. Applied implications and directions for future research are discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Reading for meaning: The foundational knowledge every teacher of science should have

Reading is fundamental to science and not an adjunct to its practice. In other words, understanding the meaning of the various forms of written discourse employed in the creation, discussion, and communication of scientific knowledge is inherent to how science works. The language used in science, however, sets up a barrier, that in order to be overcome requires all students to have a clear understanding of the features of the multimodal informational texts employed in science and the strategies they can use to decode the scientific concepts communicated in informational texts. We argue that all teachers of science must develop a functional understanding of reading comprehension as part of their professional knowledge and skill. After describing our rationale for including knowledge about reading as a professional knowledge base every teacher of science should have, we outline the knowledge about language teachers must develop, the knowledge about the challenges that reading comprehension of science texts poses for students, and the knowledge about instructional strategies science teachers should know to support their students’ reading comprehension of science texts. Implications regarding the essential role that knowledge about reading should play in the preparation of science teachers are also discussed here.     

Language and reading development in children learning English as an additional language in primary school in England

Children learning English as an additional language (EAL) are a growing population of learners in English primary schools. These children begin school with differing levels of English language proficiency and tend to underperform in relation to their non-EAL peers on measures of English oral language and reading. However, little work has examined the developmental trajectories of these skills in EAL learners in England. EAL learners and 33 non-EAL peers in Year 4 (age 8–9 years) were assessed at three time points over 18 months on measures of oral language (vocabulary, grammar and listening comprehension), phonological processing (spoonerisms and rapid automatised naming) and reading skills (single-word decoding and passage reading). At t1, EAL learners scored significantly lower than non-EAL peers in receptive and expressive vocabulary (breadth but not depth), spoonerisms and passage reading accuracy. Contrary to previous research, no significant group differences were found in listening or reading comprehension skills. With the exception of passage reading accuracy, there was no evidence for convergence or divergence between the groups in rate of progress over time. After three years of English-medium classroom instruction, EAL learners continue to underperform relative to their non-EAL peers in breadth of English vocabulary knowledge. This discrepancy in vocabulary knowledge does not appear to narrow as a result of regular classroom instruction in the run up to the final stages of primary school, pinpointing vocabulary as a key target for intervention.     

词汇的理据理论与大学英语词汇教学

词汇是组成语言最主要和最基本的单位之一。英语学习者词汇量的多少直接影响其听说读写译各方面的能力。在外语教学的词汇教学中,如何激活学生已有的旧知识,让学生展开丰富的联想,加深对词义的理解,是要着重考虑的任务之一。本文从词汇的理据性特点出发,探究了大学英语词汇教学的策略。     

Moral Task of the Teacher According to Students,Parents and Teachers

In this longitudinal study, we examined the effects of the use of English as the language of instruction in the first 4 years of secondary education in The Netherlands on the students' language proficiency in English and Dutch, and achievement in subject matters taught through English. Compared to a control group in regular secondary education, students attending this form of bilingual education showed higher scores for their English language proficiency in terms of oral proficiency and reading comprehension. No effects have been found for receptive word knowledge and no negative effects have been found with respect to the results of their school leaving exams at the end of secondary education for Dutch and subject matters taught through English.     

翻译活动对二语词汇附带习得作用的实证研究

运用"投入量假设"的理论,对翻译活动和二语词汇附带习得之间的相关性进行实证研究,考查翻译活动对二语词汇习得的作用与价值。82名高校非英语专业学习者参与了这项实验。在阅读完一篇含有目标词的文章后,他们中的一半做阅读理解和完形填空练习,另一半做英汉互译练习。对受试者进行的即时词汇测试和延时测试的结果表明,翻译练习能够促成二语词汇的附带习得。而且,相对于阅读后做理解题及填空题,翻译练习能够获得更佳的词汇习得效果,尤其在词汇的产出性知识方面。