Academic Vocabulary as a Measure of School Readiness
Melina L. Knabe (University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA), Emma Lazaroff (University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA), and Haley A. Vlach (University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA)
Copyright: © 2022
|Pages: 29
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-8649-5.ch006
Abstract
Researchers have historically focused on characterizing vocabulary development in infants and toddlers. However, less is known about the vocabulary composition of children entering formal schooling. The authors propose that a critical next step in understanding school readiness is to characterize the academic vocabulary of children entering kindergarten. These assessments should identify knowledge of words used in general academic discourse and specific domains (e.g., science). This chapter outlines initial steps taken by the authors to identify children's science vocabulary around the age of school entry. Furthermore, the complexity of vocabulary assessment is illustrated via a discussion of vocabulary development in dual-language learners. Understanding the words that children can produce at various stages of development will help determine whether children are ready for school and inform interventions that target word knowledge. Indeed, focusing on children's vocabulary presents an exciting new opportunity to integrate developmental science with real-world educational settings.
TopOverview Of Research On Vocabulary Development
Word learning has historically been described as a seemingly impossible task (Quine, 1960). To successfully learn a word, children must segment sentences, identify words, map words to objects, and retrieve these words in the future. Children largely accomplish this task with ease, resulting in an astounding growth in vocabulary by around 24 months of age (Goldfield & Reznick, 1990). Nonetheless, children vary considerably in the number of words they know (i.e., receptive vocabulary) and can say (i.e., productive vocabulary) (e.g., Duff & Brydon, 2020). Researchers have therefore been interested in understanding the trajectory and determinants of vocabulary development. Accordingly, two central research questions dominate the literature: (1) How do children learn words? and (2) How many words do children know? Researchers have generated a large body of work to answer these central questions. We briefly review common methods and findings in vocabulary development research before discussing their value for assessing school readiness.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Productive Vocabulary: Words that individuals can produce in speech or writing.
Linguistic Transfer: Using knowledge of one language and applying it to another language.
Dual-Language Learners: Children between the ages of 0 to 5 years who are learning two languages at the same time.
Conceptual Scoring: A type of vocabulary assessment for dual-language learners that assesses the total number of concepts for which children have a word in at least one language.
Science Vocabulary: Specialized words that are related to science and are used in the science classroom.
Storybook Interventions: Using storybooks to support typically and non-typically developing children’s emergent language and literacy skills.
Academic Vocabulary: Words that are commonly used in academic discourse and text, as well as in the classroom.
Vocabulary Assessment: Tools that measure children’s vocabulary knowledge.
Cognates: Words in two languages that are related, and have a similar spelling and/or meaning.