A Focus on Vocabulary
It could certainly be a daunting task to try and bring students up to a certain level of vocabulary. What caught my eye while reading “A Focus in Vocabulary” was the idea of the “Matthew Effects” (2), that good readers read more and improve their vocabulary, while poor readers read less and develop a less extensive vocabulary. By the time students reach secondary school, they may have either had poor reading skills since elementary school, or, if an ELL, had less experience with English overall than their peers. In terms of students who are not ELL’s but lack effective reading skills, while the article may supply many tools and strategies, I wonder if these are enough to combat a way of reading that’s been ingrained into them, possibly for most of their lives?
I had an English teacher in grade 11 who gave my class weekly vocabulary quizzes, but I’m not sure if my classmates who did less well in school ever cared enough to learn the words. Based on my conversations with those I knew, they were not interested, and not concerned with their quiz marks. The quizzes were multiple choice, and therefore they would simply circle their guesses, hand it in, and forget about it. I’m sure my teacher meant well and was genuinely trying to improve the vocabulary of our class, but after reading the article I would be more inclined to try a different method and diversify my teaching. Rather than giving a vocabulary quiz that was the exact same format every week as my teacher did, I would try to vary my approach, with the hopes that every student would find at least one method effective for them.