Second Language Acquisition

 A principle goal of any secondary language learning class is to improve oral skills of the students in the target language. When instruction is given, students often feel challenged or confused. The result is a slower acquisition of the target language; this often results in the student resorting to the native language.  The development of secondary language vocabulary acquisition is crucial to improving the overall language skills. The goal of this study is to employ successful strategies focusing on the expansion of vocabulary.

Second Language Acquisition- Vocabulary

 Vocabulary words were used from the first grade word wall list. The following slides reflect the pre-assessment and post- assessment results.

Pre-Assessment of Vocabulary Words Mean Score – 5.76 Title One School Non –Title One School

Pre- Assessment - Disaggregation of Boys and girls Mean score - boys – 5.0, girls 6.66

Pre- assessment - disaggregation by Language Mean score –Spanish 5.12, other 6.8 Spanish Others

Pre- and post assessment - disaggregation by Language Mean score pre – Sp. 5.12, post 9.5, other pre – 6.0, post -8.6 Spanish Other

Results of study to improve vocabulary retention in French class « Il faut prendre le taureau par les cornes. »

 Vocabulary quizzes:  Students evaluated regularly: 1-2 times per week  Not retaining words and failing quizzes  Research:  MacQuarrie, L., Tucker, J., & Burns, M. (2002). Comparison of Retention Rates Using Traditional, Drill Sandwich, and Incremental Rehearsal Flash Card Methods. The School Psychology Review, 31(4), Retrieved September 29, 2009, from Education Full Text database.  Intervention:  Provide note cards and class time to make flash cards  Due day before the quiz  Explain incremental rehearsal and provide 15 minutes of class time to practice vocabulary words in groups.

Results of using vocabulary introduction in the Urdu language

Student Identification Age (years) Grade levelgender ZI139F IshI117M IsmI61M HI4Pre-KF  Demographic Information  Parents:  Native Language: English  2nd Language: Urdu

Vocab. WordsStudent: ZIStudent: IshIStudent: IsmIStudent: HI Ceiling & RoofX**X WindowXXXX Wall***X Door*XXX Floor & ground**XX Bed**XX Desk & TableX*** Chair***X CurtainXXXX PillowXXXX Drawer**XX Light**** KitchenXXXX Bathroom*XXX room**** RESULTS9/15 6/153/15 Ages 3 to 6Ages 11+ % Correct (average)30%60% MaleFemale % Correct (average) 50%40% Age/Grade LevelGender

 First Step - Teach vocabulary:  Taught orally by physically seeing the actual places (used an audio and visual learning technique). Introduced the terms twice at an interval of three weeks.  Second Step - Test the Vocabulary Retention:  see chart below for results Vocab. WordsStudent: ZIStudent: IshIStudent: IsmIStudent: HI Ceiling & Roof******* Window***X*X* Wall*****X* Door*****XX Floor & ground*****X* Bed*****X* Desk & Table******* Chair*****X* Curtain*XXXXX* Pillow**** pl-X X* Drawer***XX** Light******* Kitchen*X*XXXX Bathroom***XXXX room******* RESULTS15/1513/1514/1510/1511/155/1512/15 Test 1 – indicated in yellow cellsTest 2 – indicated in orange cells

Student ID# Words CorrectTotal WordsPercentage ZI91560% IshI91560% IsmI61540% HI31520% Student ID# Words CorrectTotal WordsPercentage ZI15 100% IshI131586% IsmI101566% HI51533% Student ID# Words CorrectTotal WordsPercentage ZIn/a IshI141593% IsmI111573% HI121580% Pre-test Test 1 Test 2

Using nursery rimes to improve language skills

Nursery rhymes help young students develop oral language skills. Additionally, nursery rhymes can be used to teach vocabulary and rhyming words. Students in kindergarten and Pre K struggled to learn the rhymes through traditional recitation methods.

 35 students total  Gender: 12 boys, 23 girls  ESOL Status: 20 ESOL students, 15 non-ESOL students  Language Spoken at Home: 21 speak Spanish, 3 speak Amharic, 7 speak English, 3 speak another language

3 Able to fully sing or recite nursery rhyme with use of visual aids 2 Able to sing or recite nursery rhyme with use of visual aids, making a few errors or pauses 1 Little or no response

Post-Intervention Scores All 35 Students

 Continue to expose students to high frequency words from the word wall list using the same skills in order to increase their vocabulary.  Continue to use class time for vocabulary review and search for new pedagogical strategies to help with retention:   Share with other ESOL teachers and explore other ways to incorporate music into other subjects (beyond vocabulary)

 Helman, L., & Burns, M. (2008). What does oral language have to do with it? Helping young English-Language Learners acquire a sight word vocabulary. The Reading Teacher, 62(1),  MacQuarrie, L., Tucker, J., & Burns, M. (2002). Comparison of Retention Rates Using Traditional, Drill Sandwich, and Incremental Rehearsal Flash Card Methods. The School Psychology Review, 31(4), Retrieved September 29, 2009, from Education Full Text database.  Fisher, D. (2001). Early language learning with and without music. Reading Horizons, 42(1),