1. Mechelle Ivy RDG 692 Spring 2013
WILLIAM NAGY
Internationally known expert in vocabulary acquisition
Mechelle Ivy
RDG 692
Spring 2013

2. Education
PhD in Linguistics, University of California, San Diego, 1974
Dissertation title: Figurative patterns and redundancy in the lexicon
BA in German, Michigan State University, 1970
Scholastic Honors: Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi

3. Employment
9/96 - present: Professor of Education, Seattle Pacific University
11/78 - 8/96: Senior Scientist, Center for the Study of Reading, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
1/78 - 5/78: Assistant Professor, German Department, Calvin College
9/76 - 8/77: Research Assistant, Translations Department, American Bible Society
7/75 - 6/76: Assistant Professor, Institut für Sprachwissenschaft der Universität Salzburg
9/74 - 5/75: Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Rochester

4. Major Works Books Teaching Vocabulary to Improve Reading Comprehension
Coauthored with Tom Kovacs
First Published November 1, 1988
Teaching Word Meanings
Coauthored with Steven A. Stahl
Published September 26, 2005

5. Major Works Chapters in Books
Nagy, W., & Herman, P. A. (1987). Breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge: Implications for acquisition and instruction. In M. McKeown & M. Curtis (Eds.), The nature of vocabulary acquisition (pp ). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

6. Major Works Chapters in Books
Nagy, W., & Scott, J. (2000). Vocabulary Processes. In M. Kamil, P. Mosenthal, P. D. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds.), Handbook of Reading Research, Volume III (pp ). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Nagy, W. (2005). Why vocabulary instruction needs to be long-term and comprehensive. In E. Hiebert & M. Kamil (Eds.), Teaching and Learning Vocabulary: Bringing Research to Practice (pp ). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

7. Major Works Chapters in Books
Nagy, W. (2009). Understanding words and word learning: Putting research on vocabulary into classroom practice. In S. Rosenfield & V. Berninger (Eds.), Implementing Evidence-Based Academic Interventions in School Settings (pp ). New York: Oxford University Press.
Nagy, W., & Hiebert, E. (2011). Toward a theory of word selection. In M. L. Kamil, P. D. Pearson, E. B. Moje, & P. P. Afflerbach (Eds.), Handbook of Reading Research, Volume IV (pp ). New York: Routledge.

8. Major Works
Articles
(1984) How many words are there in printed school English?
(1985) Learning words from context
(1987) Learning word meanings from context during normal reading
(1989) Morphological families in the internal lexicon
(1993) The acquisition of morphology: Learning the contribution of suffixes to the meanings of derivatives
(1993) Spanish-English bilingual students' use of cognates in English reading

9. Major Works
Articles
(1997) Linguistic transfer and the use of context by Spanish-English bilinguals
(2003) Relationship of morphology and other language skills to literacy skills in at-risk second grade readers and at-risk fourth grade writers
(2006) Contributions of morphology beyond phonology to literacy outcomes of upper elementary and middle school students
(2012) Words as tools: Learning academic vocabulary as language acquisition

10. Achievements
His extensive research includes the personal observation of first graders in a Chinese classroom and the use of brain imaging with children who have dyslexia as part of an interdisciplinary research team at the University of Washington.
He was honored in Minneapolis at the annual conference of the International Reading Association.
Elected into the Reading Hall of Fame in 2009

11. Who’s Who of the most important contributors to our knowledge about the act of reading.
Established in 1973
Its purpose is to contribute, from the collective experiences of its members, to further improvement in reading instruction.
Requires a minimum of at least twenty-five years of active involvement in work in the area of reading.

12. Can You Comprehend?
Definitions are ubiquitous in educational milieu. Students appear to encounter rudimentary impediments utilizing information provided in elucidations about prevailing syntactic or semantic categories of new words. The utility of elucidations is also called into question by research on the correlation between divergent types of vocabulary instruction and reading comprehension. Vocabulary tutelage can proliferate comprehension, but such an corollary is found only when the tutelage bestows copious experiences with words at a minimum yielding both definitional and contextual information.

13. Is this what you understood?
Definitions are ever-present in educational content. Students appear to run in to basic obstacles using information provided in definitions about general word formations or meanings of new words. The use of definitions is also called into question by research on the link between different types of vocabulary instruction and reading comprehension. Vocabulary instruction can increase comprehension, but such an effect is found only when the instruction provides numerous experiences with words at a minimum, providing both definitional and contextual information.

14. Current Interests
Teaches masters and doctoral-level courses in literacy and research methods.
Researching
how children learn words
how vocabulary can best be taught
what teachers can do to help ELL’s
how students' awareness of language contributes to their reading ability

15. Ideas For Vocabulary Instruction
In authentic contexts
Repeated opportunities to interact with
Opportunities to make it personal
Garner meaning from
Support meanings of surrounding words in text
Treats words as tools rather than as facts to be memorized
Need practice producing academic language

16. The Nations Report Card
NAEP Reading Framework
Defines reading as, “an active, complex process that involves understanding text, developing and interpreting meaning from text and using meaning as appropriate to type of text, purpose, and situation”.

17. The Nations Report Card
2009 & 2011 NAEP Vocabulary
NAEP assessments found a positive correlation between vocabulary knowledge and increased reading comprehension.
Knowledge of individual word meanings and how to place them in context is essential to reading comprehension.
Students must recognize how the selected word contributes to the meaning in the passage they are reading.
Intersection of word knowledge and passage comprehension

18. Why I Teach at Seattle Pacific University
Why I Teach at SPU "I teach because I love to teach, and because it is one of the ways I can most powerfully impact the lives of others for good. I teach at SPU because here I can put all of who I am into my teaching."

19. References
Reading hall of fame. (2013). Retrieved from
Seattle Pacific Universty. (2013). Faculty profile. Retrieved from ww.spu.edu/academics/school-of-education/graduate-programs/graduate-faculty-staff/nagy-william