I Need to Build My Vocabulary

Description of Learner:
Sarta is a young mother in her late twenties from Bangladesh where she was an accountant before moving to the United States. Sarta appears to have positive family support in her pursuit of a high school diploma, because her husband and young daughter come with her to the door and pick her up at the end of each class session. Sarta scored a reading grade level of 5.3 on the TABE, (Tests of Adult Basic Education: CTB/McGraw-Hill) at the beginning of her first term. After approximately 40 hours of instruction, she reached a 9.9+ reading score.

Challenge:
Sarta's native language is Bengali, and she wants to enlarge her English vocabulary as a way to improve her reading comprehension.

What We Did:
The learning center Sarta attends is small with an average of six learners, so I am able to give Sarta some one-on-one instruction. Routinely, I present readings to the group from pre-GED (General Educational Development Test) books, news magazines, and The Washington Post. Sarta keeps an English language dictionary at her desk, and when she hears or sees a word she doesn't understand, she looks it up. Often in our readings, there are key words pertinent to the issue or topic being read. I ask the group if someone can guess the meaning of these words when they are found in context. I also ask if they see a related word. Both questions elicit correct responses or I will give a brief explanation. Because we don't want to get bogged down with a single word, we generally continue the group reading to keep the momentum going and Sarta looks up these words during a reading or afterward if she is not satisfied with the brief explanations.

Analysis:
Sarta is highly motivated to learn and to understand what she reads. She acts independently to increase her understanding by using the dictionary and asking questions. These behaviors reflect a desire to learn at a level above the other students as well as her strong desire to learn the material well.

What I Learned:
Discussing key terms and dictionary work have helped Sarta comprehend the readings, especially since she practices these approaches when reading at home.

Sarta, Group Discussion:

When the group is reading together and she stops to look up words in the dictionary, does she lose momentum that interferes with her reading comprehension?
Yes. This can happen to many readers. To lessen the problem of new vocabulary interfering with reading flow and comprehension, I often introduce key words prior to reading or during the reading if students demonstrate confusion. I write them separately on the board or overhead transparency, and we have a brief discussion of these words. This discussion begins with brainstorming or guessing the meaning as used within a sentence. If a root word is present, I ask them to think of other words with that main part and see if they can get a clue regarding the word's meaning.

Would the techniques of looking up words work with lower level readers with less education?
Probably not. The obvious difference between lower level readers and Sarta is the longer time limited readers require for looking up words even when the spelling is in front of them. That's why I encourage many learners to look up words during the pre-reading time when they often work independently.

I noticed that Sarta's reading score after 40 hours in the learning center made a startling jump in grades. Is this typical?
No. Sarta has some qualities that make her unique from other learners. She came to the learning center after achieving an advanced level of education in her native language. She received training in accounting and practiced as an accountant before arriving in the U.S. Further, she is an independent learner who is highly motivated to become proficient in English.

Summary:

Director's Comments:

While Sarta could continue with the word study as you describe it, I believe she needs additional challenges and that she would be open to them. Since Sarta is highly motivated, I think she would do well with individual word study such as learning the differences in homonym pairs and triplets such as pain, pane; vein, vane, vain. She and another student may enjoy playing games with word-study cards and keeping track of the words they can define accurately. Also, I believe the addition of a writing component will encourage Sarta to use her new words in compositions. Sarta may choose to play games with her word cards alone or with family members.

The teacher's lesson, therefore, is to move a student to more challenging strategies as soon as she has progressed to the point of using a strategy automatically and/or consistently. Alternative strategies for word study may rejuvenate her determination and move her to even higher levels of learning.