Developing Oral
Language Skills
Reading First
MA Department of Education
November 15, 2006
Objectives
How language abilities and background knowledge are
related to oral and reading comprehension
How to activate prior knowledge and build background
knowledge
How to use the themes and complex concepts in the core
program to strengthen classroom discourse
How to facilitate discussion in your classroom
Learn vocabulary maintenance activities
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Discussion
(Standard 1)
Discussion promotes self-discipline and reflects
respect for others
Students will be able to:
Follow rules for formal and informal discussion in
large and small groups by:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Listening actively
Staying on topic
Considering the ideas of others
Avoiding sarcasm and personal remarks
Taking turns
Gaining the floor in appropriate ways
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Questioning, Listening, Contributing
(Standard 2)
Group discussion may lead to greater complexity of thought
as students expand on the ideas of others, refine initial ideas,
pose hypotheses, and work toward solutions.
Group work helps students gain a deeper understanding of
themselves as they reflect upon and express their own
thinking
Students will be able to:
Pose questions
Listen to others
Contribute their own information or ideas in
discussions and interviews in order to acquire new
knowledge
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Oral Presentation
(Standard 3)
Oral presentations demonstrate appropriate
consideration of audience, purpose, and the
information to be conveyed
Students will be able to:
Maintain focus on topic
Use eye contact, adequate volume, clear pronunciation
Use language to persuade, explain, or seek information
Use recognizable organization
Keep the audience’s attention, interest and respect
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Vocabulary and Concept Development
(Standard 4)
Students will understand and acquire new
vocabulary…to read, write, and speak with
flexibility and control
Students will be able to:
Sort and identify words into various classification and
conceptual categories
Identify common antonyms and synonyms
Identify the meaning of common idioms and figurative
language
Recognize and use words with multiple meanings
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Theme
(Standard 11)
Theme identification clarifies the student’s
interpretation of the text.
Students will be able to:
Relate themes in works of fiction and nonfiction to
personal experiences
Identify themes as lessons in folktales, fables, and
Greek myths for children
Identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of theme in a
literary work and provide evidence from the text to
support their understanding
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Brainstorm:
Why do we need to develop What opportunities exist for
oral language skills:
oral language development:
Methods of oral language
instruction effectively and
consistently implemented
in:
K: 1: 2: 3:
Some challenges that make
oral language instruction
difficult to put in place:
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Objectives
How language abilities and background knowledge
are related to oral and reading comprehension
How to activate prior knowledge and build background
knowledge
How to use the themes and complex concepts in the core
program to strengthen classroom discourse
How to facilitate discussion in your classroom
Learn vocabulary maintenance activities
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Source: Neuman, Susan B. and Dickinson, David K., “Handbook of Early Literacy Research”
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Differences in SES cause differences
among students in both
comprehension and fluency
Lower SES students:
 Lower vocabulary
 Less support for reading in
the home –less practice
Lower Comprehension
Lower Comprehension
Lower Fluency
 Less preparation in
preschool environment for
early acquisition of
alphabetic principle
Lower Fluency
 Less exposure to books
Lower Comprehension
Lower Fluency
 Fewer opportunities to
develop rich content
Lower Comprehension
knowledge
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Language and Comprehension
Vocabulary knowledge correlates strongly with
reading and oral comprehension (Biemiller, 2005)
Students need to know the meaning of 90-95% of the
words in text
Language can only grow through interaction with
people and texts that introduce new vocabulary,
concepts, and language structures (Hirsch, 2003).
A large language gap exists between advantaged
and disadvantaged students (Hirsch, 2003)
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Comprehension
“Intentional thinking during which meaning is
constructed through interactions between text and
reader”
(Harris and Hodges, 1995).
Readers derive meaning by actively relating the
ideas represented in print to their own knowledge
and experiences and construct mental
representations in memory
.
(National Reading Panel, 2000)
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Background Knowledge
Students need more than vocabulary to
understand text:
They need a “threshold of knowledge
about the topic being discussed”
(Hirsch,
2003).
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Background Knowledge
Frees up working memory to make
connections between new and previously
learned information, and as a result
readers/listeners can:
• Integrate sentences and paragraph
(Hess, Foss, & Carroll, 1995; Zwaan & Radvansky, 1998)
• Make inferences (Kintsch, 1994)
• Develop deeper understanding (McNamara et al., 1996).
• Allow for learning and transfer to novel situations (Kintsch, 1994).
• Retain learned information: new information lasts longer
(Kintsch et al, 1990).
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Types of Background
Knowledge
• Topic Knowledge – soccer, spiders, cars, Spain
(Chiesi et al., 1979; Pearson et al., 1979; Spilich et al., 1979; Taylor, 1979).
• Conceptual Knowledge – loyalty, sacrifice, friendship,
habitat, immigration, countries, transportation, weather
(Alexander, 1992; Ehren, 2005)
• Script Knowledge – going to the movies, weddings, birthday
parties, going to a restaurant (Bower, Black, & Turner, 1979)
• Cultural Knowledge – customs, dress, behaviors (Ehren, 2005)
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Theme
An important idea or subject that runs through a
story – sometimes unstated.
The theme of a selection can be the topic,
message, lesson, main point, moral
(Graesser
et al., 2002; Zwaan et al., 2002).
It operates at the concept level beyond a
particular plot (Williams, 1993; Williams et al., 2002).
Theme is the abstraction of the events described
(Williams et al., 1994).
Theme identification becomes an anchor for idea
integration (Singer, 1990).
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The Plan
The plan is to strengthen language skills, concept
knowledge, and build background knowledge using
the core program
How do we do this? Use themes from the core to
strengthen/build knowledge and vocabulary
The goal:
•
•
•
•
•
Help students understand the connections among the stories
Build vocabulary of familiar and unfamiliar concepts
Students will use the vocabulary during oral language activities
Revisit the new vocabulary throughout the 5 or 6 weeks
Then maintain the use of the language
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Objectives
How language abilities and background knowledge are
related to oral and reading comprehension
How to activate prior knowledge and build
background knowledge
How to use the themes and complex concepts in the core
program to strengthen classroom discourse
How to facilitate discussion in your classroom
Learn vocabulary maintenance activities
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READ the STORY
“TEAMMATES”
(Open Court Reading, 2005)
Selecting Words:
YOU TRY IT!
Identify explicitly stated topic, complex concepts,
theme
Look at core program vocabulary selection
Exist, extraordinary, apathetic, intimidate, experiment,
humiliations
Identify additional words/ideas to teach
Theme
Explicit Topic
Complex Concepts beyond the theme
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Sample Words
Topic: Baseball
Peer pressure
Segregation
• Racial bias
• Prejudice
Courage
Relationships
Apathy
Tolerance
Humiliation
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Before Reading:
Activating Prior/Building Background
Knowledge with Oral Language Activities
Categories: Topic
Gradable Antonyms
Discussion: Concept and theme
Semantic Map: Topic (word web)
Story Impression
Word splash
Four Square Concept Map
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Categories
Purpose: Build background knowledge;
categorization; pre-teaching vocabulary; teaches
main idea and supporting details.
Directions:
Select story topic
• (farm, weather, baseball, etc.)
Select words from story and other related known words
(K and 1 use pictures)
Ask students to read their words and group themselves
accordingly
Have groups discuss why they are grouped that way (Moats,
2005)
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Gradable Antonyms
Purpose: Build background knowledge; preteach/re-teach vocabulary in an interconnected way
Directions:
Choose a gradable antonym (examples: hot/cold, big/small)
Split into groups of 4 or 5 or into two teams
 Brainstorm related words in the groups (ex: hot, cool, cold, warm)
Arrange the words in a continuum (ex: hot, warm, cool, cold)
Share and discuss the word lists with the group
Note: Pictures may be used for students in K/1.
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Discussion
Purpose: To develop discussion and oral presentation skills;
promote vocabulary development; build background knowledge.
Directions:
Hand out vocabulary cards to each group.
Have the group discuss their word. They will share their word
with the other students.
After five minutes of small group discussion, each group will
“teach” the other students the word.
Groups can exchange words.
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Semantic Maps
(Stahl & Nagy, 2006)
Purpose: To teach word meanings in relation to other words and to
develop concepts; builds background; main idea and supporting
details
Directions:
Brainstorming: The teacher and class brainstorm ideas that
relate to the topic. The teacher might stop and explain some of
the terms that the students come up with in a discussion forum.
Mapping: These terms can be drawn into a map. To draw the
map, the students, with assistance, would come up with 3 or 4
categories that describe the terms on the board and arrange them
in a map.
Reading: After the map is complete, the students and teacher
read a book or selection about the topic.
Completing the Map: After reading, teachers and students as a
group discuss what they have learned from the reading.
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Story Impressions
Purpose: Builds background knowledge;
vocabulary pre-teaching; story structure
Directions:
Teacher writes main points and words in a list on an
overhead or chart paper
Prior to reading and in groups, students develop a story
using the words or phrases in exactly the order that they
are on the list.
Students share stories with the rest of the class.
Students compare their stories with the actual story (Stahl
& Nagy, 2006).
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Word Splash
Purpose: Build Background Knowledge; Vocabulary
Development; Discussion; Story Structure
Directions:
Select theme-related vocabulary from story
Select main points from story
“Splash” words on the board
Have students identify words they do not know
Have other students help clarify words
Working in groups, students will develop a story using as
many of the words as possible
Students share their stories before the read aloud
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Four Square Concept Map
Stahl & Nagy (2006) and F.C.R.R.
Purpose: To produce the meaning of words, build background
knowledge and maintain vocabulary knowledge and use after reading.
Directions:
Provide text, a dictionary, target words and the student worksheet to the
students. (example: soothing)
Write the target word in the box labeled “Word”. (example: soothing)
Give the students the definition of the word. This is not written down
because it is meant to begin a conversation.
Discuss some examples of what the target word means and list the
examples of the concept in the box labeled “What are some examples?”
(examples: bath, soft music, lying down, chocolate)
Ask the students for some things that are not examples of the target word.
List the words in the box that is labeled “What it is not like.” (examples:
traffic, rap music, someone yelling)
Finally, ask the students to compose and discuss a definition for this
concept then write it in the box that is labeled “What is it?” (example:
Something that is soothing relaxes you.)
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Four Square Concept
Map
Word:
What are some examples?
Soothing
Bath, soft music,
lying down,
chocolate
What is it?
What is it not like?
Something that is
soothing relaxes
you.
Traffic,
rap music,
someone yelling
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Objectives
How language abilities and background knowledge are
related to oral and reading comprehension
How to activate prior knowledge and build background
knowledge
How to use the themes and complex concepts in the core
program to strengthen classroom discourse
How to facilitate discussion in your classroom
Learn vocabulary maintenance activities
Massachusetts Department of Education
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After Reading
Revisit words following the Beck
model
Discussion/Handing Off
Theme wall/concept wall/conceptquestion board
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Discussion/Handing-Off
Purpose: Develop discussion skills; develop vocabulary and
concept understanding.
Directions:
The teacher will begin with an open-ended theme related
question (see slide 36).
Students raise their hands to participate in the discussion.
The teacher participates, but does not dominate the discussion.
You can use a ball, stuffed animal, koosh ball, etc. to identify the
speaker and the others can “hand-off” to continue the discussion.
The teacher continues to pose questions to facilitate the
discussion.
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Building a Theme Wall or
Concept-Question Board
Purpose: To promote vocabulary development; build
background knowledge; maintain learned vocabulary.
Directions:
Find the unit theme – usually a big concept(s)
Find the theme of the story – how is it related to the unit theme?
Find additional Tier 2 vocabulary – related to themes – may not
be stated
Teach meanings before, during, after reading
Expand understanding/maintain vocabulary
Theme wall – place words on a permanent wall space
Other texts (read aloud or in centers)
Multiple opportunities for students to use
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Setting for Discussion
Students should be facing one another
Everyone should make group discussion rules
See ELA Standards 1 and 2 for Rules
Teacher should sit WITH students as part of the
group
Teacher opens the discussion with starter comments
about selection using new and previously learned
concept or theme language (next slide)
Teacher gives signal to participate in discussion
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Using the Words:
Question Stems For Discussion
Why is the story about peer pressure?
How did the character show acceptance?
Scaffold at first – How did Pee Wee show Jackie
acceptance? How did Jackie respond? What would
you do?
How did Jackie change from the beginning to the
end of the story?
What was Jackie like at the beginning of the story?
How did he change?
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During discussion:
Make connections
Make connections among past stories
Make connections with personal experiences
Make connections with other content areas
Keep the words posted throughout school year and
revisit often
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Support for ELL and LowLanguage Learners
Using the story “Teammates”:
Which topics or concepts need additional
instruction?
Are there additional words that you need to
teach?
Are there activities you can do to support
understanding?
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Suggestions for the ELL and
Low Language Learner
• Pre-teach
• Re-teach
• Introduce topic with easier materials
• Pictures
• Concept Maps
• Read-alouds with same topic/concept/theme
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Objectives
How language abilities and background knowledge are
related to oral and reading comprehension
How to activate prior knowledge and build background
knowledge
How to use the themes and complex concepts in the core
program to strengthen classroom discourse
How to facilitate discussion in your classroom
Learn vocabulary maintenance activities
Massachusetts Department of Education
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After Reading and Throughout
the Year:
Maintenance Activities
Four Square concept map
Gradable antonyms
Multiple meanings
Charades
Guess that word
Finish the story
Fly Swatter
Handing Off
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Multiple Meanings
(Stahl & Nagy, 2006)
Purpose: to enable the students to adjust the meanings of words to
fit a new context.
Directions:
Display word cards and sentence cards
Read the sentence card saying “blank” where there is a space.
(example: My uncle works in a ten ____ building.)
Find the word that completes the sentence. (example: story) Read
the sentence with the word in it. Note: each word will have two
sentences.
State what the word means (example: story means floor of a
building)
Continue until all words have two sentences.
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Charades
Stahl & Nagy (2006)
Purpose: To get children engaged in learning word
meanings that makes them think about the words in a way
that helps them remember a word’s meaning.
Directions:
Split the students into two – four teams. Give each
team a list of vocabulary words
Each team member will take turns acting out one
of the words on the list.
The first team to identify the word will get
a point.
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Guess that Word
Purpose: Forces student to use verbal descriptions
while maintaining word use.
Directions:
Teacher places vocabulary words on small slips of paper.
Class is divided into teams.
A member draws a slip of paper from bag.
Team member describes the word to their team without using the
word.
Student’s team will try to guess the word.
If they can, they get the point. If not, the other team gets a
chance (Stahl & Nagy, 2006).
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Finish the Story
Purpose: To maintain vocabulary use; story structure; oral
language.
Directions:
Distribute one to four vocabulary cards to the students.
Read the introduction of a story.
Students continue the story with what might happen using
one or more of their words in a sentence. (GRADE
Resource Library)
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Fly Swatter
Purpose: To maintain learned vocabulary.
Directions:
Put vocabulary words randomly on an overhead
transparency.
Form two teams and give each team a different colored
fly swatter.
As you read the student friendly definition, the first two
students in line will find and swat the correct word.
Continue until all students have had at least one turn.
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For the Next Time
From your core reading program choose the theme
words you will be teaching for one unit theme.
Using the resource packet, develop “before reading,
discussion, and maintenance” lessons for each story
in the unit theme.
On the recording sheet, record the words, the
activities and your observations. These observations
will be shared at the next Regional Meeting.
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References
Alexander, P.A. (1992). Domain knowledge: Evolving themes and emerging concerns. Educational Psychologist, 27, 33 –
51.
Biemiller, A. (2005) Vocabulary issues in measurement and effects across ages:A paper presented at the International Dyslexia
Association as part of a symposium on Vocabulary and Reading: Crucial Issues for Measurement and Instruction; Denver,
CO.
Bower, G.H., Black, J.B. & Turner, T.J. (1979). Scripts in memory for text. Cognitive Psychology, 11, 177-220.
Chiesi, H.L., Spilich, G.J. & Voss, J.F. (1979). Acquisition of domain-related information in relation to high and low domain
knowledge. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 18, 257 – 273.
Ehren, B.J. (2005). Looking for evidence-based practice in reading comprehension instruction. Topics in Language
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Fincher-Kiefer, R., Post, T.A., Greene, T.R. & Voss, J.F. (1988). On the role of prior knowledge and task demands in the
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Florida Center for Reading Research. http://www.fcrr.org/curriculum/PDF/G2-3/bookTwoVocabPartThree.pdf
Graesser, A., Pomeroy, V., & Craig, S. (2002). Psychological and computational research on theme comprehension. In M.
Louwerse & W. van Peer (Eds.), Thematics: Interdisciplinary Studies. Coverging Evidence in Language and
Communication Research, Vol. 3. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing Co.
Harris, T.L. & Hodges, R.E. (Eds.) (1995). The literacy dictionary: The vocabulary of reading and writing. Newark, DE:
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Hess, D.J., Foss, D.J., & Carroll, P. (1995). Effects of global and local context on lexical processing during language
comprehension. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 124, 62 – 82.
Hirsch, E.D. (2003). Reading comprehension requires knowledge – of words and the world. American Educator, Spring, 10
– 29.
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References
Kintsch, W. (1994). Text comprehension, memory, and learning. American Psychologist, 49, 292 – 303.
Kintsch, W. (1997). Comprehension: A paradigm for cognition. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Kintsch, W., Welsch, D., Schmalhofer, F., & Zimny, S. (1990). Sentence memory: A theoretical analysis. Journal of
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McNamara, D.S., Kintsch, E., Songer, N.B., & Kintsch, W. (1996). Are good texts always better? Interactions of text
coherence, background knowledge, and levels of understanding in learning from text. Cognition and Instruction, 14, 1 – 43.
Moats, L.C. (2005). Language essentials for teachers of reading and spelling: module 6. Longmont, CO: Sopris West.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel.
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reading instruction: Reports of the subgroups. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
Open Court Reading (2005). Teammates. Columbus, OH: SRA/McGraw Hill.
Pearson, P.D., Hansen, J. & Gordon, C. (1979). The effect of background knowledge on young children’s comprehension of
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Educational Psychology, 80, (1), 16 – 20.
Schneider, W., Korkel, J., & Weinert, F.E. (1989). Domain-specific knowledge and memory performance: A comparison of
high- and low-aptitude children. Journal of Educational Psychology, 81, 306 – 312.
Singer, M. (1990). Psychology of language. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
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References
Spilich, G.J., Vesonder, G.T., Chiesi, H.L., & Voss, J.F. (1979). Text processing of domain-related information for
individuals with high and low domain knowledge. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 18, 275 – 290.
Stahl, S. A. & Nagy, W. E. (2006). Teaching word meanings. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Taylor, B.M. (1979). Good and poor readers’ recall of familiar and unfamiliar text. Journal of Reading Behavior, 11, (4),
373 – 380.
van Dijk, T. A. & Kintsch, W. (1983). Strategies of discourse comprehension. Academic Press: New York.
Voss, J.F., Vesonder, G.T., & Spilich, G.J. (1980). Text generation and recall by high-knowledge and low-knowledge
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Williams, J.P. (1993). Comprehension of students with and without learning disabilities: Identification of narrative themes and
idiosyncratic text representations. Journal of Educational Psychology, 85, 631 – 641.
Williams, J.P., Brown, L.G., Silverstein, A.K., & deCani, J.S. (1994). An instructional program in comprehension of narrative
themes for adolescents with learning disabilities. Learning Disability Quarterly, 17, 205 – 221.
Williams, J.P., Lauer, K.D., Hall, K.M., Lord, K.M., Gugga, S.S., Bak, S.J., Jacobs, P.R., & deCani, J.S. (2002). Teaching
elementary school students to identify story themes. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94, 235 – 248.
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(Eds.), Thematics: Interdisciplinary Studies. Converging Evidence in Language and Communication Research, Vol. 3.
Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing Co.
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