Major Factors That Affects Reading Vocabulary Levels

“The more you read, the more things you know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” This is how Dr. Seuss thought of reading, and I think of it in much the same way. Literacy is everywhere and influences us every day, therefore, it plays a major part in each of our lives. I believe that reading is an interactive activity in which learning happens, or as Clay (2001) defines it, “…a message-getting, problem-solving activity” (p. 1). Reading is the process through which one reads information and from doing so, constructs meaning about the material. The more exposure and practice one has with reading, the more knowledge one gains. In this paper, I will begin by discussing my own personal educational philosophy, then continue by stating and explaining four of my beliefs about the reading process and the research that is found to support each of them before sharing the remaining questions I have about literacy. I am an existentialist, and a strong supporter of a balanced literacy approach. My beliefs about literacy come from these foundations and perspectives that I embrace. For students to be successful in their literacy development, I believe that identity acceptance in the classroom is crucial, instruction for all students must be differentiated, direct and explicit instruction is at times necessary, and vocabulary is a significant component in the ‘Big Five’ of children’s literacy development.

he most fundamental responsibility of schools is teaching students to read. Indeed, the future success of all students hinges upon their ability to become proficient readers. Recent scientific studies have allowed us to understand more than ever before how literacy develops, why some children have difficulty, and what constitutes best instructional practice. Scientists now estimate that fully 95 percent of all children can be taught to read. Yet, in spite of all our knowledge, statistics reveal an alarming prevalence of struggling and poor readers that is not limited to any one segment of society:

Learning to read is beginning to develop earlier in elementary grades. Students are expected to be emergent readers by the time he or she leaves kindergarten and enters first grade. If a child is not, he or she is labeled as being behind. According to Hughes (2007) emergent readers are using early reading strategies in consistently, read easy patterned text, retell text with simple storyline, and respond to text at a literal level. Hughes (2007) also says literacy develops in young children through play, daily conversation and interactions with text of all kinds. Many children come with emergent literacy skills; can recognize signs and labels, scribble letters, retell stories by pointing at pictures and talking about them, and some have varying degrees of phonemic and phonological awareness. This essay will define and explain implication for each theory in learning to read.

The importance of decreasing this test score gap is essential because the No Child Left Behind legislation mandates that all students make annual progress toward reaching mastery in the core subjects of reading, math, science and social studies. Additionally in Texas, schools are rated based partially on the annual progress of subpopulations on campus. In the absence of a socio-economic disparity, more study needs to be done on ways that African-American students can become more successful at increasingly elevating their level of performance on state mandated tests. Explicit instruction is an important part of vocabulary acquisition. According to Harmon (1998) directly teaching vocabulary can assist with reading comprehension when students are taught to integrate new words with their

Social class also brings other resources to children besides extracurricular activities. One being a higher quality in education. In the article, “Before a Test, Poverty of Words”, Ginia Bellafante discusses the correlation of class to education. Bellafante interviewed Steven F. Wilson, who states that these children in his institutions were “word deficit” (Bellafante, 34). Meanwhile, Bellafante supports Wilson 's comment with her own previous experience when she witnessed a boy around the age of three who was being immersed into a “continuous receipt of dictation” (Bellafante, 34) by his “affluent, ambitious parent” (Bellafante, 34). This experience also proved accurate as Bellfante 's article comments that “children of professionals were, on average, exposed to approximately 1,500 more words hourly than children growing up in poverty” (Bellfante, 34). Being deficient in vocabulary can affect a child 's ability to attend a top tier educational institution as they will be less prepared for

Studies confirm a high correlation of 0.6 to 0.8 between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension (Baumann & Kame’enui as cited in Dalton and Grisham, 2011 p. 307). However, the rate at which individual children develop vocabulary knowledge is enormously varied. At 5 years old there is already a 30 million word exposure gap (Hart & Risley as cited in Dalton and Grisham, 2011 p. 307). Linguistic morphology, the study of words and word origins, is a significant component of vocabulary learning programs. Children should be actively supplied with multiple exposures to words and exposures in varying contexts. Walbank and Bisby (2016, p. 11) describe how building adjective vocabulary adds dramatically more interest, accuracy and detail to students oral and written language. To encourage this development, students can work in small groups to brainstorm alternative, more interesting words, for commonly used adjectives. For example, replacing the word ‘good’ with ‘magnificent’, ‘superlative’ or ‘exceptional’. This direct vocabulary instruction is essential, but having only explicit teaching is insufficient. Beck et al (2008) estimate that educators can only actively teach 300-400 words per year (as cited in Dalton and Grisham, 2011 p. 307). Also, research indicates that children learn a far greater number of words indirectly through reading, than from instruction (Cunningham & Stanovich as

The use of formal and informal reading assessments provide important data that allow educators to identify at risk students (Tompkins, 2010). The data collected from the assessments address any factors that may prohibit the development of students’ reading and writing skills. In addition to the assessments, the more an educator can learn about students’ backgrounds and their past reading, language development, and writing experiences the more instructional strategies can be designed to specifically meet the needs of diverse learners in the classroom.

Through this week learning resources, I have learned that there are evidences that demonstrate that when a child has limited experiences he or she is more likely to have difficult comprehending what is read. It is why early childhood professionals affirm that oral language is the foundation for literacy development. Everything that children learn about speaking and listening they use for writing and reading and what they learn from writing and reading they use in listening and speaking. In other words, oral language and literacy develop simultaneously. When parents provide rich language and literacy reinforcement at home, children do better in school than those who do not. It is also known for early childhood professionals that for a child with limited experiences is more difficult comprehending what is read. For example, a child who has being exposed to many environments like a farm or like a museum will have more mentally engagement in classrooms activities about things he or she already know that children who have not had experience in those environments. Many researches showed that children that have not have a literacy development or an oral language development years before formal schooling, are less likely to be successful beginning readers, opening an achievement lag that might last through the primary grades. Some of the reasons why parents are not actively involved into their children’s educations are their socioeconomic or legal status. For example, in an immigrant family sometimes both parents have to work and sometimes they have to work two shifts. I have known families where children are the whole day in school and with nannies. Those children do not develop any skills that help them to succeed at the time of attending forming school.

Families are often encouraged to provide a variety of reading material for their children, especially at an early age, to give children plenty of options when learning how to read. When children are provided with a variety of reading material at home, they see that a high value is placed on reading. If parents value reading at home, children tend to value it also, and the more a child is encouraged to read at home, the more they will want to engage in reading in general. By being involved in their child’s reading development, parents can give their children a firm foundation to reading prior to entering grade school which will lead to a lifetime of reading enjoyment and

Reading is a skill often taken for granted but it is essential in order to progress in life. For a child being able to read well helps them learn new things, give ideas and enables use of imagination. National literacy trust (2015) suggests that children’s early language skills can have a major impact on a child’s development of literacy skills. Five-year olds with poor language and literacy have a higher risk of underachieving at age seven and beyond. Reading skills encourage more opportunities in life and it can affect a child’s wellbeing if they do not achieve this effectively (Finnegan,2015).

Constructive early language and literacy development can be an ally to opening a child’s (ren) imagination; this will enhance and empower their potential to become successful readers. As the children grow (birth to 3 yrs. old) their brain goes through an extradinary developmental process and they begin to think, learn, communicate and rationalize things. When this early developmental stage is not being nourished the child will feel the affects of it in the long run. Children that come from low-income families that are enrolled in schools are affected the most. Educators and parents can assist these children by giving them the support (early-on) that they need to sustain a healthy learning environment. As educators it is our duty to create an environment that will help in this process.

Reading – the ability to represent the sounds of language by written symbols has existed for approximately 4000 to 5000 years and is inarguably one of the most fundamental and wonderful technique humans have ever developed. However, despite much effort and funding dedicating to wide literacy development, even now in America for instance, 50% of adults cannot read a book written at an eighth grade level (National Center for Learning Disabilities). In order for the entire population of today’s society to have proper reading skills, scholars and educators around the world realize that literacy movements need to focus on much earlier stages of human development. Researchers in the education field have reached a consensus that reading is crucial in childhood by revealing supporting evidence from studies focused on children aged 0-6 years, 6-12, and young adolescents. Many interesting findings also include that reading proficiency of children is critical because it can reflect society’s criminal and economical status. Moreover, modern studies show that the importance of childhood reading cannot be fully explained without mentioning the environment where children are raised, as the environment greatly affects children’s reading proficiency.

When students enter into the kindergarten classroom, they are greeted with a plethora of new knowledge that they may have previously not had exposure, such as phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary. Within these, vocabulary is often a major struggle for many children in kindergarten. Young children are often exposed to vocabulary through conversations, but not in a manner of teaching it explicitly. Through this literature review it was my goal as a researcher to find primary studies that focused on high quality instruction in the field of emergent vocabulary, especially in the kindergarten classroom. This topic came into fruition through wanting to understand literacy practices in kindergarten classrooms, since the implementation of Common Core State Standards.

As children interact with their environment and the people around them, their linguistic, cognitive, social, and emotional abilities develop further. Through these interactions, children construct knowledge by organizing and classifying the new knowledge based on prior learning experiences (Brown, & Lee, 2012). Vygotsky believed social interactions influence both intellectual and language development, and he identified social interactions as the key method in developing new understandings. Therefore, providing books and reading experiences which include social interactions will enhance literacy development (Traverse, & Traverse, 2008). The purpose of this paper is to explain the importance of possessing knowledge of child developmental theory when selecting appropriate children’s books, and explain why considering language development, social and emotional response, and cognitive ability are important. The paper will conclude with issues and insights regarding Reading Readiness and the impact of gender on book choice.

When data from students who had average accuracy and fluency scores, but lower comprehension scores were compared to data from those with similar accuracy and fluency but average comprehension, the consistent differences were found to be lower oral language and vocabulary skills in the poor comprehenders upon entry into formal schooling. (Nation, Cocksey, Taylor & Bishop) Thousands of dollars each year are spent on intervention, trying to improve the reading of children that show delays. When one reads, the clear goal is comprehension of what is read. Without communication of ideas between the author and reader, decoding texts is pointless. Most intervention programs are focused on phonics and word decoding. Oral language interventions concurrent with vocabulary and comprehension tasks at age eight have been shown to lead to significant improvements in reading comprehension. (Nation, et al., 2010). Reading comprehension is not merely a product of being able to decode words and sentences. How we teach children to process and integrate the ideas found in text can have a large impact on their ability to function in a world of ever expanding knowledge and information.