Abstract
Ruddell, M.R., &
Shearer, B.A. (2002). “Extraordinary,”
“tremendous,”
“magnificent,”: Middle school at-risk
students become avid word learners
with Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy
(VSS). Journal of Adolescent & Adult
Literacy, 45, 352-363.
Introduction:
Purpose: To increase students' word awareness and strategic abilities for independent learning.
Question: Will Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy (VSS) increase students' word awareness and strategic abilities for independent learning?
Methodology:
Participants: The study involved three classes of middle school students enrolled in an intensive forty-five minute daily reading intervention program. Classes consisted of one group of six students in seventh grade, one group of five students in eighth grade, and one group of six students in eighth grade. All seventeen participants were Caucasian, representative of the predominantly white, middle-class composition of the community. All were reading two to four years below grade level at the beginning of the school year as measured by the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery.
Procedure: Each student selected one word per week (on Mondays) that he or she wanted to study and nominated it for the class list. The students were allowed to select words from any source including content classes, academic or recreational reading, television, conversations, popular music, or anywhere else they encountered a word that was important to them. In the nomination process students told a) where they found their word, b) what they thought it meant and c) why they thought it should be on the class list.
Definitions were refined through discussion and when appropriate, through additional reference to a dictionary or other source.
When final definitions were established, students recorded the words and the definitions in their vocabulary journals. Vocabulary study during the week included discussion, semantic mapping, semantic feature analysis and other interactive word activities. At the end of each week, students were tested on their ability to spell each word, explain its meaning, and write a meaningful sentence using the word. Every three weeks each class devoted a portion of instructional time to reviewing past word lists, and students were tested on five words randomly selected from the weekly lists.
Results:
Analysis of the words students selected revealed a strong influence of content-area subjects on students' choices of words to learn.
Test results for VSS words yielded a 94% correct mean score over the nine week period. This includes the level of correctness students achieved on the tests of randomly selected words from three prior weeks.
Analysis of
69 student journal entries yielded patterns of student response to VSS.
Responses were classified by two researchers working independently using
single-code, forced-choice model; differences were resolved through discussion
and consensus. The six response
categories that emerged- noticing, choosing, using metacognition, valuing
learning and transforming- mark the growing development of these students into
strategic , independent word learners.
A nine- week comparison of means of students' scores on weekly VSS scores and on weekly spelling test scores in language arts class confirmed that students performed statistically better on VSS lists than on lists from the curriculum.
Discussion:
VSS word lists demonstrate that when given the opportunity to select their words, students will consistently choose important, challenging, interesting words to learn.
VSS provides a sturdy framework for teachers to structure vocabulary learning that builds on language interactions and peer talk in classrooms.
The importance of this study appears to be twofold. First, it is yet another piece of evidence in support of social constructivist learning theory and the value of language interactions in classrooms. Second, it contributes to our growing information base regarding the effect of social interactions on word learning.
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