When the 2006 ASCD Annual Conference rolled into Chicago earlier this year, several hundred teachers from the Chicago Public Schools capitalized on the opportunity to participate in pre-conference workshops designed to introduce them to the principles that help students build academic vocabulary.
Facilitators Phyllis Pajardo and Tim Westerberg told elementary and secondary practitioners that the importance of academic vocabulary is becoming clearer than ever. Simply, the concept of building academic vocabulary rests on the idea that the more students understand the academic terms in content standards, the easier it is for them to understand information they may read or hear about the topic.
Generally, students who have "advantaged" academic vocabulary do better in school. Students with "disadvantaged" academic vocabulary generally struggle.
New Research
New ASCD research shows that the ability to use the particular language of any discipline is a strong predictor of how well students will learn the subject when they come to school. In 2004 and 2005, researcher Robert J. Marzano, author of ASCD's Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement, studied the progress of 2,683 students who participated in a specialized Building Academic Vocabulary program designed to help them build a store of academic background knowledge.
Marzano's research found that
- In written and multiple choice assessments, the students who participated in the Building Academic Vocabulary program showed greater mean scores for the comprehension of new reading material that were statistically significant across the general literacy, mathematics, and science subject areas.
- The expected passing rates for the Building Academic Vocabulary participants exceeded the control groups across all measures by amounts ranging from 8.4 to 14.8 percent.
- For students on free or reduced lunch, the expected passing rates for the Building Academic Vocabulary participants exceeded those of the control groups across all measures by an average of 8.9 percent.
- For English language learners, the expected passing rates for the Building Academic Vocabulary participants exceeded the control groups across all measures by an average of 16.5 percent.
Pajardo and Westerberg told their Chicago audience that teaching specific terms to all students in a consistently effective way is one of the strongest actions a teacher can take to ensure that students have the academic background knowledge they need to understand the content they encounter in school.
Into the Classroom
According to Pajardo, building academic vocabulary works in all classrooms and subject areas. Specific techniques for teaching academic vocabulary include this six-step process:
- Provide a description, explanation, or example of the new term.
- Ask students to restate the description, explanation, or example in their own words.
- Ask students to construct a picture, symbol, or graphic representing the term or phrase.
- Engage students periodically in activities that help them add to their knowledge of the terms.
- Periodically ask students to discuss the terms with one another.
- Involve students occasionally in games that allow them to play with the terms.
Westerberg called on the Chicago teachers to take their newfound knowledge back to their schools and educate their colleagues on this best practice. "There are two ways to improve results: redesign the school based on best practices, or get new kids," he said. "If anything significant happens this decade in our schools, it will be because of your leadership on this kind of issue."