A Wealth of Words
Comments(3) The acquiring of vocabulary comes quite naturally to many people. For these people it can be very difficult to remember the particular moments that solidified ones knowledge and “ownership” of a new vocabulary word. In fact, it is hard to remember how or when we learned most words at all!
I found this article* helpful because it broke down the learning of vocabulary into its smallest parts. After reading this, I can better identify the ways in which I acquired vocabulary and this helps me to gain insight on the experiences that my students may have.
I learned a great deal of vocabulary through my reading, as I loved to read in my spare time (“incidental word learning through reading”)*. I also learned much of my most sophisticated vocabulary from conversing with my parents and older sister (“oral language experiences at home”)*. They used more complex words and I incidentally and incrementally formed understanding and eventually took ownership of this vocabulary for myself. I also loved watching television shows that showcased lawyers, as well political debates and I loved anything that involved people with British accents (usually in the form of Public Broadcasting programs). This viewing exposed me to many terms and that were academic and were in contextual settings. I had the added resource of my parents (watching with me) to ask questions about vocabulary that I could not quite grasp. My parents also taught me a number of skills to help me decipher vocabulary for myself. They showed how to find the “root” word and also how to use contextual clues to interpret meaning. I also had regular access to the internet and attended thriving public schools, where my teachers used many methods to introduce us to words, from spelling tests to reading novels out loud as a class.
Looking back, I realize that I grew up with the opposite experience of “word poverty”*. I had a wealth of words. I remember sometimes being insulted by peers because I used too many “big words” and I was always surprised by their accusation, as I had acquired them incrementally and incidentally in my word wealthy life, and was shocked that they could not understand me. It didn’t occur to me at the time that I was incredibly privileged to be in this kind of vocabulary rich environment. Now as I think about my current and future students, I wonder what kind of language environments they are being exposed to outside of school and how I can use my influence to create the kind of environments that will help them to succeed.
In some ways, the study of theatre makes the language “playing field” a bit more even. This is because many of the theatrical terms are taken from languages from all over the world. For instance, Bertolt Brecht’s word “Verfremdungseffekt ” is of German origins and in clowning (commedia dell’arte) much of the language comes from Italy, such as a comedic “lazzi”. These terms will be a challenge for mainstream English speakers as well as ELLs and this may help to bridge the gap between their language learning experiences and make ELLs more comfortable as they see their English speaking counterparts having to work from a place of less privilege. However, this stresses the importance of the skills around teaching vocabulary for theater teachers, as we will sometimes be working with much less commonly known terms.
*Lehr, Osbourne & Heibert. A Focus on Vocabulary.http://vineproject.ucsc.edu/resources/A%20Focus%20on%20Vocabulary%20PREL.pdf
Melanie Reich
Melanie,
Fantastically written response, I felt compelled to reply!
I had a difficult time reflecting upon how I acquired my own vocabulary. I think for a large part, acquiring a standard set of words was an easier process as it came from a place of enjoyment. As a child I was an avid reader, so the process of learning new words, that can be potentially so painstaking, was eased in this way. Many times I would see a new word repeatedly in a text with no idea what it meant, but seeing it over and over again in different contexts would build up layers of meaning around the word, and eventually I could make an educated guess as to its definition.
My mom is a second language learner and in many of our conversations if she didn’t understand what I was saying, she’d ask me to spell it. It’s an interesting process to watch her put the letters together, recode it in her mind, usually attaching it to a definition in her own native tongue (mandarin) and then reformulate a response.
I liked your analogy of language as a muscle that needs to be worked and exercised in order not only to grow, but to maintain it strength and usage. It seems common for many ELL’s to gravitate towards speakers of their own language in order to find comfort in shared understanding. Language, especially new language, can throw you far out of your comfort zone. It is far less enticing to learn a new language when you have your own as a crutch. For example when I was young I was sent to Chinese school on the weekends. However all of my peers spoke fluent English, so I had no reason or motivation to learn these new, very different, and complicated sets of words. However when my grandparents came to stay with my family for a year, my mandarin improved more quickly than years of schooling could accomplish. They spoke little to no English, and in order to communicate with them I was forced to listen, speak (however haltingly) and obtain many new words. How can we as teachers, buffer this place of discomfort and make the, sometimes painful, acquisition of new language learning easier?
Kathy Zhang
Mel,
I am still learning how to use this blog thing and I landed on your post and couldn’t agree with you more.
One thing that I have been learning through this program is the neglect for the “simple” things I have learned. When I say “simple” I refer to such things as vocabulary. The ironic part is in truth they aren’t simple at all. I admit that I have been stubborn trying to fully comprehend what this class is about still sometimes and that has kept me blind. Sometimes there have been moments when I have read the textbook and felt it was Academic garbble but I wasn’t looking at the full picture. Someone very close had told me that when I get frustrated sometimes I have to learn to put a better positive spin on things. This is not only a good life lesson but also a teaching lesson and I can’t be thankful enough for that conversation.
I had never fully put myself in a position where an ELL student might be. I mean, I have always understood that learning a second language isn’t easy, especially english, but I didn’t reflect on it as much as I should.
Then I thought back to taking Japanese and Spanish here at UBC. The courses are so dense and fast that unless you have the time to dedicate yourself it is very difficult to comprehend what’s going on. Says the guy who didn’t pass his third level Japanese course! The classes at UBC never took the time to break down where words originated from. Japanese a little bit because they had the time but I took two summer spanish courses so it was more of a “you’re on your own, here’s the vocab” kind of structure. I felt so lost half of the time and I made things up to help me associate words.
As a teacher I have to really remember those helpless situations sometimes and use those to make sure that I always remain patient and empathetic to someone’s needs who is learning English.
Also, as a theatre teacher, we have a unique position where we have the ability not to use words to communicate but rather through our bodies which could create a visual connection between a word and maybe that will help some new words stick!
Melanie,
I couldn’t agree with you more. I understand where you are coming from with the use of big words and the negative connotations you’d receive from your peers. It took a long time for me to understand the difference between social and academic language because I loved to read all the time and watch movies that were not appropriate for my age. And you are right! Theatre has such a broad range of different types of texts from different time frames from different parts of the world. The question is how as teachers of theatre (or English) decide on which texts are appropriate for the classroom? Can we as teachers help ELLs understand or connect with in some way to what the text is trying to convey to them? Would performing the play in a different language allow them to enhance this level of understanding?
In elementary, the only reason why we as kids would question something that we are reading is because we don’t understand, and the people we would ask would just give us a surface answer as to the goings-on of the story. In high school, I was part of the school play and it was a commedia dell’arte genre. Before we even read the script outloud our teacher explained the importance of the history of the play and where the language comes from and why it was so absurd. This definitely helped me understand the character I was going to be and where he was coming from in the play.