29.077 - Words for Schools: A Research Project Designed to Identify the Vocabulary That Students Need to Know and Educators Need to Ensure They Learn

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

The importance of vocabulary is widely recognized, but the profession currently has little information on just which words need to be taught. This symposium will describe a long term research project designed to identify the words U.S. students encounter in the materials they read. More specifically, this presentation will describe (1) the project and its goals, (2) the results of a study examining the vocabulary of core elementary reading programs and those of a study examining the vocabulary of elementary science, social studies, and mathematics textbooks, and (3) some practical challenges and solutions encountered in conducting automated corpus-based analyses needed to deal with large corpora. The seminar will conclude with critiques by two vocabulary scholars.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Research in Reading and Literacy

Chair

• Elfrieda H. Hiebert, TextProject

Papers

• A Research Project Designed to Identify the Vocabulary That Students Need to Know and the Words and Phrases Educators Need to Teach - Michael F. Graves, University of Minnesota

• The Vocabulary of Elementary Core Reading Programs - Kimberly C. Bowen, MetaMetrics; Heather Hughes Koons, MetaMetrics; Eleanor E. Sanford-Moore, MetaMetrics

• The Vocabulary of Disciplinary Texts for First Through Fifth Grade - Jill Fitzgerald, UNC at Chapel Hill and MetaMetrics

• Practical Challenges and Some Solutions for Conducting Automated Corpus-Based Analysis of Vocabulary - Jeffrey Elmore, MetaMetrics

Discussants

• William E. Nagy, Seattle Pacific University

• P. David Pearson, University of California - Berkeley