Literacy for Diverse Student Learners Instructional intervention research that examines a particular form of vocabulary learning by English Language Learners in the context of instruction Aim is to study vocabulary acquisition, therefore, evaluation of instructional effectiveness is incidental to this aim. Such studies are desirable in this field given the lack of a coherent theoretical framework that links child development, language learning, linguistic context, and academic learning.
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Literacy for Diverse Student Learners Instructional intervention research that examines a particular form of vocabulary learning by English Language Learners.
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Literacy for Diverse Student Learners
Instructional intervention research that examines a particular form of vocabulary learning by English Language Learners in the context of instruction
Aim is to study vocabulary acquisition, therefore, evaluation of instructional effectiveness is incidental to this aim.
Such studies are desirable in this field given the lack of a coherent theoretical framework that links child development, language learning, linguistic context, and academic learning.
December 12, 2006 Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness
Is cognate awareness instruction effective in promoting English vocabulary development among 3rd and 5th grade Spanish speaking ELL’s?
Maria Carlo University of Miami
Diane AugustCenter for Applied Linguistics
Chris BarrUniversity of Houston
Walter Fajet,University of Miami
Background
One strategy believed to be successful in promoting the rapid acquisition of vocabulary by ELLs involves teaching children about the morphological structure of words.
Researchers believe that it is beneficial for ELLs if instruction on the structural analysis of words includes making students aware of the cross-linguistic morphological relationships between words in their two languages (García & Nagy, 1993; Nagy, García, Durgunoglu, & Hancin-Bhatt,1993; Jiménez et al., 1996; Nation 2001).
Continued
This involves making students aware of words that are cognates (words that are spelt alike and have similar meanings in two languages), and making them aware of similarities between derivational morphemes in the two languages.
In our previous work we found that 4th grade ELLs had superior vocabulary performance on English words that were cognates to Spanish relative to English words that were not cognates and were matched in frequency and part of speech to the tested cognates.
Moreover a composite measure of Spanish orthographic knowledge, breadth of word knowledge and morphological awareness related to performance on cognates but not to noncognates.
Research Question
Can an intervention developed to teach cognate awareness to Spanish/English bilingual 3rd and 5th graders improve their learning of English words that have cognate status in Spanish?
Does the cognate recognition strategy transfer to other cognates that have not been instructed?
Subjects
130 (122 completed program) 3rd grade Spanish-speaking students
128 (105 completed program) 5th grade Spanish-speaking students
All designated as English Language Learners Three public schools in Miami that offered
Spanish maintenance for 45 minutes 3 times a week (2 schools implemented at each grade level)
Majority within each school were Latino/a Schools had obtained grades of at least B
Measures
English Pre & Post-intervention Cognate Awareness Test
(48 items) Extract the Base (28 items) WLPB Passage
Comprehension Pre-intervention Only WLPB Letter-word ID WLPB Picture-Word
Vocabulary WLPB Listening
ComprehensionPost-intervention Only SVT Cognate
Comprehension (24 items)
Spanish Pre-intervention Only Extract the Base (28 items) WLPB Picture-Word
Vocabulary WLPB Letter-word ID WLPB Listening
Comprehension WLPB Passage
Comprehension
Researcher Developed Measures: Cognate Awareness Test
Developed to measure students’ awareness of Spanish cognates as a source of information for inferring meanings of unknown English words.
Examines whether Native Spanish Speaking children are better able to recognize the meaning of unfamiliar English words if these words have a corresponding sound, spelling, and meaning in Spanish
Researcher Developed Measures: Cognate Awareness Test
Example: edificebuildingcommitteeislandCongress
Cognates Awareness Test: Item Characteristics
High Spanish Frequency & Low English Frequency
Low English Frequency matches
25. conversespeak with someonefight with someoneinclude someoneleave out someone
26. jestdefendbendjokeobserve
Instructedcognates
not instructedcognates
Instructednoncognates
not instructednoncognates
permanent pensive feasible allot
conduct obligated sway strife
accumulation adorn prey discard
miniscule tranquil shallow pun
consists impede source drought
potent detain environment jest
isolated augment bound haul
expand edifice thrive gritty
occupies terminus replenished brittle
rituals profundity rough snug
pallid feasibility
castigate clutch
anterior leery
Researcher Developed Measures: Extract the Base
Measures children’s knowledge of derivational morphology (their awareness of the rules by which words change from one part of speech to another).
Example: recognition > recognize
(Test adapted from Carlisle, 1988)
Researcher Developed Measures: Extract the Base
1. publicity 1. The _______________ was happy with the show.
2. sensitive 2. Animals often ____________ storms before they
come.
3. breathe 3. Sometimes you can see your ___________.
Extract the Base: Item Characteristics
Morphological Transformation
Definition Example
Orthographic Spelling changes emptiness > empty
Phonological Pronunciation changes
cleanliness > clean
Both Spelling & Pronunciation changes
recognition > recognize
No Change No Change farmer > farm
Extract the Base: Scoring
• score of 0--Incorrect response associated with copying the derived form, providing a translation or a random letter string
• score of 1--partially correct indicating an attempt to extract a base or transform the word in some way but resulting in a letter string that was not viable either phonologically or orthographically .
• score of 2--partially correct extraction of the base expressed through a phonologically or orthographically viable letter string.
• score of 3--completely correct base
Design 3rd & 5th grade Study
Recruited all 3rd and 5th grade Spanish speaking ELLs in a school to participate in an after school program and provided free transportation to any family needing it.
Cognate intervention vs. FCAT Preparation course (Preparing Students for the FCAT: Thematic, Standards-Based Instruction Grades 4-5 published by Carson Dellosa)
4 treatment & 4 control classrooms in each school. Stratified random assignment of students to conditions
on the basis of WLPB measures in Spanish and English.
Delivery of Treatment and Control Curricula 6 weeks (24 lessons) Small groups of 8-10 students Delivered by school teachers who received 8
hours of training in 4 sessions. (2 pre-treatment and 2 during treatment)
One hour after-school 4 times a week
Cognate Intervention
3 units on Exploration: Antarctica, Coral Reefs, & Space General lesson on cognates and learning to recognize them on
basis of phonology, orthography, and shared meaning. Target words consisted of cognates or noncognates Units open with a theme-related video and biography of an
explorer. Pre-teaching of target words using translation equivalents, child-
friendly definitions, and extension activities such as those suggested by Beck and colleagues.
Words then presented in informational texts with comprehension questions inserted at critical points within the text. All reading conducted as group and orally by the teacher
Hypotheses:
Positive effect of cognate instruction Treatment > Control on instructed cognates Treatment > Control on non-instructed cognates Treatment > Control on instructed noncognates Treatment=Control on non-instructed noncognates
Effect of word type favoring cogntates Effect of English Word Knowledge (EWK) and
Spanish Word Knowledge (SWK). EWK and SWK are composite of WLPB Letter-Word ID; Picture-Word ID; Extract the Base
Interaction of Rx with SWK & EWK SWK should not predict to noncognates
Descriptives…
Performance (in Scaled Scores) on Spanish WLPB at PretestSpanishWLPB
Condition 3rd GradeMean(SD)
5th GradeMean(SD)
PictureVocabulary
Treatment 74.55 (26.06) 76.09 (23.06)
Control 68.98 (23.82) 82.22 (21.88)
Listening Treatment 89.98 (15.62) 94.19 (13.44)
Control 89.15 (12.58) 93.35 (14.13)
Letter-WordID
Treatment 105.86 (34.92) 120.93 (26.04)
Control 107.32 (35.43) 116.70 (26.02)
Passage Treatment 83.70 (23.26) 85.63 (11.78)
Control 82.38 (20.92) 84.39 (12.66)
English WLPB Condition 3rd Grade Mean(SD)
5th Grade Mean(SD)
Picture Vocabulary
Treatment 70.44 (21.33) 60.17 (33.87)
Control 72.48 (19.61) 76.83 (20.47)
Listening Treatment 75.91 (19.65) 67.46 (32.20)
Control 79.30 (18.45) 81.65 (24.98)
Letter Word ID Treatment 95.38 (18.17) 93.57 (29.03)
Control 97.97 (17.04) 102.57 (13.60)
Passage Treatment 92.16 (16.05) 82.96 (23.92)
Control 93.18 (16.95) 91.61 (14.17)
Performance (in Scaled Scores) on English WLPB at Pretest
Measure Condition 3rd GradeMean
(Std. Deviation)
5th GradeMean
(Std. Deviation)
English Extract the Base(range 0-84)
Treatment 28.84 (11.72) 37.48 (13.63)
Control 32.13 (10.99) 42.43 (10.80)
Spanish Extract the Base(range 0-84)
Treatment 33.28 (15.51) 45.63 (13.54)
Control 31.49 (15.00) 46.33 (13.98)
Cognate Awareness(range 0-48)
Treatment 19.27 (4.80) 27.65 (8.88)
Control 18.56 (5.89) 31.78 (8.59)
Performance on Researcher Developed Measures at Pretest
Time Word Type Condition Mean SD N
Pre Cognates Control 10.94 3.90 62
Treatment 11.55 3.60 60
Noncognates Control 7.65 2.94 62
Treatment 7.85 2.58 60
Post Cognates Control 11.74 4.60 62
Treatment 12.18 4.14 60
Noncognates Control 8.27 2.88 62
Treatment 9.00 2.36 60
Third Grade Performance on Cognate Awareness Test as a Function of Time of Test, Word Type, and Condition
Time Word Type Condition Mean SD N
Pre Cognates Control 12.92 4.67 50
Treatment 11.25 4.33 55
Non-cognates Control 11.76 4.02 50
Treatment 10.15 4.49 55
Post Cognates Control 12.08 4.42 50
Treatment 12.15 4.73 55
Non-cognates Control 11.98 4.33 50
Treatment 11.07 4.79 55
Fifth Grade Performance on Cognate Awareness Test as a Function of Time of Test, Word Type, and Condition
Condition Mean Std. Dev.
Instructed Cognates Treatment 3.92 1.95
Control 3.28 1.68
Uninstructed Cognates Treatment 4.41 2.31
Control 4.91 2.56
Instructed non-Cognate
Treatment 3.81 1.74
Control 3.16 1.73
Uninstructed non-Cognate
Treatment 4.62 2.06
Control 4.86 2.03
Third Grade Post-test Performance on Cognate Test by Word Type and Instruction
Condition Mean SD
Instructed Cognates
Treatment 4.98 2.33
Control 4.54 1.76
UninstructedCognates
Treatment 7.82 3.21
Control 8.32 3.33
Instructed Noncognate
Treatment 5.20 2.61
Control 4.78 2.10
Uninstructed Noncognate
Treatment 5.8 2.74
Control 7.2 2.58
Fifth Grade Post-test Performance on Cognate Test by Word Type and Instruction
Tests of hypotheses…
3rd & 5th Grade Effect
EstimateInstructed Cognates Pr > |t|
EstimateUninstructedCognates Pr > |t|
Intercept 1.29 <.01 5.02 <.01
Pretest 0.33 <.01 0.43 <.01
Rx 0.66 <.01 -0.36 0.22
Rx*EWK 0.02 <.01 0.02 0.16
Rx*SWK -0.01 0.05 -0.01 0.22
English Word Knowledge (EWK)
-0.00 0.47 -0.01 0.52
Spanish Word Knowledge (SWK)
0.01 <.01 0.04 <.01
grade 3 0.00 . 0.00 .
grade 5 3.13 <.01 3.05 <.01
3rd & 5th Grade Effect
EstimateInstructed Non-cognates Pr > |t|
EstimateUninstructedNon-cognates Pr > |t|
Intercept 1.97 <.01 5.08 <.01
Pretest 0.12 0.09 0.19 <.01
Rx 0.93 <.01 -0.24 0.36
Rx*EWK 0.01 0.33 0.00 0.94
Rx*SWK -0.00 0.89 -0.01 0.18
English Word Knowledge (EWK)
0.02 <.01 0.03 <.01
Spanish Word Knowledge (SWK)
0.00 0.36 0.01 0.33
Grade 3 0.00 . 0.00 .
Grade 5 2.40 <.01 1.34 <.01
3rd GradeEffect
EstimateInstructed Cognates Pr > |t|
EstimateUninstructedCognates Pr > |t|
Intercept 1.33 <.01 5.05 <.01
Pretest 0.24 0.01 0.23 0.01
Rx 0.57 <.01 -0.47 0.19
Rx*EWK 0.01 0.23 -0.01 0.46
Rx*SWK -0.01 0.19 -0.00 0.98
English Word Knowledge (EWK)
-0.01 0.20 0.01 0.35
Spanish Word Knowledge (SWK)
0.02 <.01 0.03 <.01
5th GradeEffect
EstimateInstructed Cognates Pr > |t|
EstimateUninstructedCognates Pr > |t|
Intercept 3.79 <.01 8.17 <.01
Pretest 0.30 <.01 0.52 <.01
Rx 1.35 <.01 -0.37 0.47
Rx*EWK 0.00 0.87 0.05 0.02
Rx*SWK -0.01 0.37 -0.01 0.67
English Word Knowledge (EWK)
0.03 0.04 -0.03 0.13
Spanish Word Knowledge (SWK)
0.02 0.04 0.04 <.01
3rd GradeEffect
EstimateInstructed Noncognates Pr > |t|
EstimateUninstructedNoncognates Pr > |t|
Intercept 1.97 <.01 4.92 <.01
Pretest 0.05 0.64 0.03 0.77
Rx 0.90 <.01 0.03 0.93
Rx*EWK -0.01 0.49 -0.02 0.21
Rx*SWK 0.01 0.46 0.00 0.76
English Word Knowledge (EWK)
0.02 <.01 0.03 0.03
Spanish Word Knowledge (SWK)
0.00 0.68 0.00 0.70
5th GradeEffect
EstimateInstructed Noncognates Pr > |t|
EstimateUninstructedNoncognates Pr > |t|
Intercept 4.09 <.01 6.34 <.01
Pretest 0.11 0.33 0.27 <.01
Rx 1.18 0.01 -0.34 0.49
Rx*EWK 0.01 0.43 -0.01 0.77
Rx*SWK -0.01 0.42 -0.03 0.09
English Word Knowledge (EWK)
0.03 0.06 0.04 0.02
Spanish Word Knowledge (SWK)
0.02 0.10 0.02 0.12
Summary
Obtained positive effect for treatment on instructed cognates and noncognates
No strong evidence of transfer of cognate recognition strategy to uninstructed cognates
Spanish Word Knowledge (SWK) predicts to cognates only
Improving Knowledge of Educational Effectiveness for ELLs Large scale evaluations of programs
implemented with ELLs Awareness that ELL is a label that serves
administrative needs and that the reclassification of children into FEP does not make them comparable to monolingual English speakers.
Studies that clarify how effect of instruction relates to linguistic, developmental, contextual factors particular to L2 populations
Acquiring Literacy in English
National Institute of Child Health and Human DevelopmentDepartment of Education/Office of Educational Research and Improvement