Chapter 13 talks about the number of words expected to be learned at different levels throughout one’s academic career. For example, American L1 students in the USA should know about 40,000 words upon graduating high school. L2 learners, on the other hand should know about 10,000 if they want to understand any academic texts (or go on to university in English).
Does anyone know what the word knowledge would be of an average Taiwanese student graduating high school?
Actually, we could consider this 2 questions: What their word knowledge is and what it is expected to be at (if different).
Question 2
What percentage of class time is typically spent in Taiwanese classrooms on learning and testing vocabulary?
Question 3
Do students here enjoy reading aloud in English? As a group vs individually?
Question 4
The question is asked on p. 312, “…why extensive reading is ignored when it is potentially so important for fluent reading”. There are a number of possible answers such as fluent reading is not the goal of the class or reading curriculum because grammar, vocab, translation, etc is valued more.
What would be the reason most applicable to our case, for the education system here in Taiwan?
Question 5
How much influence do the parents have with regards to their children’s education? For example, some parents here seem to be quite involved and vocal about their children’s learning. How much of what they say affects how or what teachers do in classroom?
Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) is an instructional approach for multilevel classrooms. In the classrooms, students take four strategies which lead them through the before-, during-, and after-reading stages: preview, click and clunk, get the gist, and wrap up. Based on the research, the students could monitor their understanding while they read and the strategies help them understand when they fail to understand. The strategies are taught through role playing or think-alouds. After the strategies could be applied to reading, the students will be performing a specific role in the groups. In the groups, the students take turns to lead a discussion and complete a reading task.
If the context is in an EFL classroom, will the students also be able to be cooperative, independent, and autonomous in learning? Taiwanese students are more passive in learning than western ones; therefore, is it possible to implement CSR in Taiwan?
1.In terms of students’ language ability, when is the appropriate time for teachers to draw students’ attention to building awareness of discourse structure? 2.Many research proposed that vocabulary recognition and reading comprehension are strongly correlated. Is it proper for teachers to suggest students to learn words by looking at wordlist books to enhance their words power? 3.Is there any relationship among students’ reading fluency, reading rate, and comprehension? Can a student with fairly good reading fluency and reading rate comprehend better? Can their syntactic awareness of the target language improve with their good performance on reading fluency and reading rate? 4.Extensive reading allows learners to choose what they like to read. How can we help learners find out reading materials which are appealing to them? 5.Reading a complex and arduous process. Without correct idea of what reading is and what components it is composed of, a good learning outcome is not likely to be expected. How can we working as Ph.D. TESOL program students convey widely-accepted ideas about reading to those teachers who teach reading while lack of related reading knowledge?
In chapter 13, the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension is highlighted (p.266). Therefore, selecting of vocabulary for teaching is a crucial part of teaching. Meanwhile, it’s better to select the most frequent words for L2 learners, so that GSL (General Service List, (West. 1953)) and AWL (Academic Word List) are good references for L2 learners to learn.
According to Tseng (2008)’s study, he compared the textbooks in elementary schools in Taiwan with the GSL and it was about one-fourth of the words are beyond the high-frequency word list. Furthermore, only about 5% of the words are repeated in sufficient numbers for effective vocabulary learning.
However, do GSL or AWL meet students’ real life language usage in Taiwan? Or students should learn vocabulary which is used in Western countries so that they may understand more western culture? GSL was selected in 1953, is that still suitable for Tawniest students to learn nowadays? Base on different culture, ages, fields or other factors, how do we select appropriate words for our students?
On page 278, Grabe talks about strategies for learning vocabulary. He said, “ Many traditional strategies for word learning (e.g., flash cards) are often derided and viewed as ineffective; yet research has shown that, in the right contexts, and used in the right ways, they are effective supports for vocabulary learning.” I wonder what the right ways are for using flash cards when teaching vocabulary. On the other hand, what are the wrong ways for using flash cards to teach vocabulary? We also need to know what the wrong ways are, so that we can avoid making the mistakes. As I know, using flash cards to teach new words is a very common strategy for teachers in elementary schools and kindergartens. For them, how to implement flash cards to teach vocabulary effectively is a good question to consider.
In Taiwan, do they do formal English reading assessment? If “yes” what is the main purpose of the assessment and how is it carried out? Is it done at any specific level in the education system? What are the reasons for assessment at that particular time in the curriculum? Also, how are the results used?
Grabe discusses reading disabilities on p. 385. Are ESL/EFL teachers in Taiwan specifically trained to identify and/or help correct these sorts of learning disabilities?
Several classmates have stated that they are currently English reading teachers. Can anyone explain what are the current and future MOE English reading policies in Taiwan?
Chapter 13 discusses vocabulary and reading comprehension. One issue is addressing “ how many words should and L2 learner know.” In my understanding, at element schools here in Taiwan, the children need to learn approximately 500 English vocabulary. At junior high level, students need to possess 2000 words before they graduate. However, when students are in senior high schools, they need to know 7500 before they participant in University Entrance Test. Why do we assume our students can success in mastering those words from 500 words to 7500 words? How these words were accounted? by whom?
If students already have the background knowledge of a certain news report in their L1, will it be appropriate for teachers to introduce the same news in their L2? Isn’t it true that as long as our students have the background knowledge of a certain topic in their L1, it will be easier for them to understand the text in their L2, especially after your instruction on those unknown vocabulary? What will be the problem(s) if students still think the text is too difficult for them to read? What will be some possible solutions in this case?
After taking advantage of limited time constraints to quickly skimming but carefully scanning and reading the remaining six scheduled chapters, I totally agree that Grabe mentions in the beginning of Chapter 15, saying that “No other set of reading activities or reading practice can substitute for reading a longer text with reasonable comfort and without needing to stop constantly, and without feeling fatigued or overwhelmed” (p. 311). Such an argument is also emphasized especially when we reading teachers constantly facilitate our slow readers to “continue reading on their own” (p. 236) and carry out extensive reading with the inclusions of SSR, USSR, or DEAR (pp. 326-327), in L2 settings in “reading classes, reading labs, or at home” (p. 327). My first question begins on page 273, tending to know how currently less sufficient teaching hours can ideally support the strategy of adopting additional, multiple, and extensive exposure (pp. 273-274, 280) although it seems I soon get the probable answer on page 278, arguing the importance of focusing on learning key words. Successively, here is my second question, i.e., how do we define key words in contexts? My third concern after reading No. 4 on Table 13.3 or “Direct instruction that promotes vocabulary learning” on page 277, wondering whether “Learning key words before reading” implies that the traditional way of learning vocabulary is still adopted”. Again, a plausible explanation seems soon to be read on the bottom of the same page. Fourth, please define the term morpho-syntactic complexity (p. 303) and its function in promoting “global L2 proficiency effects” (p. 119). Question 5, due to time pressure, I’d still want to know the meaning of book floods (p. 305) or book-flood programs (p. 312) and its benefits on extensive reading. On page 309, the experiment that Fry (2000) implemented seems to emphasize the importance of using lower-level instructional texts to inculcate sight words to slower readers. Does it also fit the learner on the tertiary level? Question 7, how do L2 readers eventually achieve extensive abilities? (p. 311) Question 8, the idea of “reading can be done for homework” (p. 313) by teachers and administrators appears to highlight the necessity of “preview” and “review”. Is that so, especially under our current educational contexts? Last but not least, question 9 found after reading the texts on page 365 I’d argue is in terms of peer support, I’m wondering the effect of inviting the whole class to correct what each of their partners has just taken in the quiz, so that they may somewhat redo their answers. Again, in order to attain the goal of learning to read by reading an reading a lot (p. xv, 287, 328, 389), except for what have been mentioned above, further topics for explorations also need more research found on pages 268 and 275 in Chapter 13; 289, 292, 294 (2), 301, 305, 309 in Chapter 14; 369, 372, and 375 in Chapter 17, and 378, 385, and 386 (3) in Chapter 18.
1. I am interested in National Reading Panel, t'cause I've heard about it several times already, still lack full knowledge about it.However, NRP does not really support the effecacy of ER. 2. Table 15.1(p327) helpful for our instruction 3. It found ER similar to whole language in that both promote positive attitude and literacy, as well as meaningful and fluency reading. Both has to do with philosophy with life and education, according to text on P324. 4. Prefetti (2007) may answer part of Willson's questions. lexical quality of words benefits from consolidation of phonological, morphological and semantic components of word knowledge. Perfetti (2007) also notes "More reading leads, statistically, to more frequent and more recent encounters and both may have this nonlinear effect on word-reading efficiency.
Question 1
ReplyDeleteChapter 13 talks about the number of words expected to be learned at different levels throughout one’s academic career. For example, American L1 students in the USA should know about 40,000 words upon graduating high school. L2 learners, on the other hand should know about 10,000 if they want to understand any academic texts (or go on to university in English).
Does anyone know what the word knowledge would be of an average Taiwanese student graduating high school?
Actually, we could consider this 2 questions: What their word knowledge is and what it is expected to be at (if different).
Question 2
What percentage of class time is typically spent in Taiwanese classrooms on learning and testing vocabulary?
Question 3
Do students here enjoy reading aloud in English? As a group vs individually?
Question 4
The question is asked on p. 312, “…why extensive reading is ignored when it is potentially so important for fluent reading”. There are a number of possible answers such as fluent reading is not the goal of the class or reading curriculum because grammar, vocab, translation, etc is valued more.
What would be the reason most applicable to our case, for the education system here in Taiwan?
Question 5
How much influence do the parents have with regards to their children’s education? For example, some parents here seem to be quite involved and vocal about their children’s learning. How much of what they say affects how or what teachers do in classroom?
By the way, I like the quote on page 326.
Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) is an instructional approach for multilevel classrooms. In the classrooms, students take four strategies which lead them through the before-, during-, and after-reading stages: preview, click and clunk, get the gist, and wrap up. Based on the research, the students could monitor their understanding while they read and the strategies help them understand when they fail to understand. The strategies are taught through role playing or think-alouds. After the strategies could be applied to reading, the students will be performing a specific role in the groups. In the groups, the students take turns to lead a discussion and complete a reading task.
ReplyDeleteIf the context is in an EFL classroom, will the students also be able to be cooperative, independent, and autonomous in learning? Taiwanese students are more passive in learning than western ones; therefore, is it possible to implement CSR in Taiwan?
1.In terms of students’ language ability, when is the appropriate time for teachers to draw students’ attention to building awareness of discourse structure?
ReplyDelete2.Many research proposed that vocabulary recognition and reading comprehension are strongly correlated. Is it proper for teachers to suggest students to learn words by looking at wordlist books to enhance their words power?
3.Is there any relationship among students’ reading fluency, reading rate, and comprehension? Can a student with fairly good reading fluency and reading rate comprehend better? Can their syntactic awareness of the target language improve with their good performance on reading fluency and reading rate?
4.Extensive reading allows learners to choose what they like to read. How can we help learners find out reading materials which are appealing to them?
5.Reading a complex and arduous process. Without correct idea of what reading is and what components it is composed of, a good learning outcome is not likely to be expected. How can we working as Ph.D. TESOL program students convey widely-accepted ideas about reading to those teachers who teach reading while lack of related reading knowledge?
In chapter 13, the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension is highlighted (p.266). Therefore, selecting of vocabulary for teaching is a crucial part of teaching. Meanwhile, it’s better to select the most frequent words for L2 learners, so that GSL (General Service List, (West. 1953)) and AWL (Academic Word List) are good references for L2 learners to learn.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Tseng (2008)’s study, he compared the textbooks in elementary schools in Taiwan with the GSL and it was about one-fourth of the words are beyond the high-frequency word list. Furthermore, only about 5% of the words are repeated in sufficient numbers for effective vocabulary learning.
However, do GSL or AWL meet students’ real life language usage in Taiwan? Or students should learn vocabulary which is used in Western countries so that they may understand more western culture? GSL was selected in 1953, is that still suitable for Tawniest students to learn nowadays? Base on different culture, ages, fields or other factors, how do we select appropriate words for our students?
On page 278, Grabe talks about strategies for learning vocabulary. He said, “ Many traditional strategies for word learning (e.g., flash cards) are often derided and viewed as ineffective; yet research has shown that, in the right contexts, and used in the right ways, they are effective supports for vocabulary learning.” I wonder what the right ways are for using flash cards when teaching vocabulary. On the other hand, what are the wrong ways for using flash cards to teach vocabulary? We also need to know what the wrong ways are, so that we can avoid making the mistakes. As I know, using flash cards to teach new words is a very common strategy for teachers in elementary schools and kindergartens. For them, how to implement flash cards to teach vocabulary effectively is a good question to consider.
ReplyDeleteIn Taiwan, do they do formal English reading assessment? If “yes” what is the main purpose of the assessment and how is it carried out? Is it done at any specific level in the education system? What are the reasons for assessment at that particular time in the curriculum? Also, how are the results used?
ReplyDeleteGrabe discusses reading disabilities on p. 385. Are ESL/EFL teachers in Taiwan specifically trained to identify and/or help correct these sorts of learning disabilities?
Several classmates have stated that they are currently English reading teachers. Can anyone explain what are the current and future MOE English reading policies in Taiwan?
Chapter 13 discusses vocabulary and reading comprehension. One issue is addressing “ how many words should and L2 learner know.” In my understanding, at element schools here in Taiwan, the children need to learn approximately 500 English vocabulary. At junior high level, students need to possess 2000 words before they graduate. However, when students are in senior high schools, they need to know 7500 before they participant in University Entrance Test. Why do we assume our students can success in mastering those words from 500 words to 7500 words? How these words were accounted? by whom?
ReplyDeleteI'm interested to know how many words we need to "fluently" reading our ER journal papers...
ReplyDeleteHowever, I find it smart to do mapping (p285), helps with understanding materials and recalling, especially for journal papers.
ReplyDeleteIf students already have the background knowledge of a certain news report in their L1, will it be appropriate for teachers to introduce the same news in their L2? Isn’t it true that as long as our students have the background knowledge of a certain topic in their L1, it will be easier for them to understand the text in their L2, especially after your instruction on those unknown vocabulary? What will be the problem(s) if students still think the text is too difficult for them to read? What will be some possible solutions in this case?
ReplyDeleteAfter taking advantage of limited time constraints to quickly skimming but carefully scanning and reading the remaining six scheduled chapters, I totally agree that Grabe mentions in the beginning of Chapter 15, saying that “No other set of reading activities or reading practice can substitute for reading a longer text with reasonable comfort and without needing to stop constantly, and without feeling fatigued or overwhelmed” (p. 311). Such an argument is also emphasized especially when we reading teachers constantly facilitate our slow readers to “continue reading on their own” (p. 236) and carry out extensive reading with the inclusions of SSR, USSR, or DEAR (pp. 326-327), in L2 settings in “reading classes, reading labs, or at home” (p. 327).
ReplyDeleteMy first question begins on page 273, tending to know how currently less sufficient teaching hours can ideally support the strategy of adopting additional, multiple, and extensive exposure (pp. 273-274, 280) although it seems I soon get the probable answer on page 278, arguing the importance of focusing on learning key words. Successively, here is my second question, i.e., how do we define key words in contexts?
My third concern after reading No. 4 on Table 13.3 or “Direct instruction that promotes vocabulary learning” on page 277, wondering whether “Learning key words before reading” implies that the traditional way of learning vocabulary is still adopted”. Again, a plausible explanation seems soon to be read on the bottom of the same page.
Fourth, please define the term morpho-syntactic complexity (p. 303) and its function in promoting “global L2 proficiency effects” (p. 119).
Question 5, due to time pressure, I’d still want to know the meaning of book floods (p. 305) or book-flood programs (p. 312) and its benefits on extensive reading.
On page 309, the experiment that Fry (2000) implemented seems to emphasize the importance of using lower-level instructional texts to inculcate sight words to slower readers. Does it also fit the learner on the tertiary level?
Question 7, how do L2 readers eventually achieve extensive abilities? (p. 311)
Question 8, the idea of “reading can be done for homework” (p. 313) by teachers and administrators appears to highlight the necessity of “preview” and “review”. Is that so, especially under our current educational contexts?
Last but not least, question 9 found after reading the texts on page 365 I’d argue is in terms of peer support, I’m wondering the effect of inviting the whole class to correct what each of their partners has just taken in the quiz, so that they may somewhat redo their answers.
Again, in order to attain the goal of learning to read by reading an reading a lot (p. xv, 287, 328, 389), except for what have been mentioned above, further topics for explorations also need more research found on pages 268 and 275 in Chapter 13; 289, 292, 294 (2), 301, 305, 309 in Chapter 14; 369, 372, and 375 in Chapter 17, and 378, 385, and 386 (3) in Chapter 18.
1. I am interested in National Reading Panel, t'cause I've heard about it several times already, still lack full knowledge about it.However, NRP does not really support the effecacy of ER.
ReplyDelete2. Table 15.1(p327) helpful for our instruction
3. It found ER similar to whole language in that both promote positive attitude and literacy, as well as meaningful and fluency reading. Both has to do with philosophy with life and education, according to text on P324.
4. Prefetti (2007) may answer part of Willson's questions. lexical quality of words benefits from consolidation of phonological, morphological and semantic components of word knowledge. Perfetti (2007) also notes "More reading leads, statistically, to more frequent and more recent encounters and both may have this nonlinear effect on word-reading efficiency.
OVER :)