Diction Practices in Written Composition Within a Vocabulary-Rich Fifth-Grade Learning Environment

• In Event: Roundtable Session 29
  In Roundtable Session: Developing Early Adolescents’ Identity, Self-Concept, and Skill as Writers

Abstract

The purpose of this interpretive case study investigation was to examine how the vocabulary-rich, social constructivist learning environment of a fifth-grade classroom supported students’ diction practices in written compositions. A four-part approach to comprehensive vocabulary instruction provided structure to interactions around learning and using words. Three focal students of varying literacy performance demonstrated the ability to seek knowledgeable others, to take risks, and to engage in a class-wide phenomenon of learning and using specific “hot words” that bolstered social and academic clout.

Authors

• Christine Ann Mallozzi, University of Kentucky

• James F. Baumann, University of Missouri - Columbia

• Donna B. Ware, Athens-Clarke County Schools