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Teaching Vocabulary to English LanguageLearners by Michael F. Graves, DianeAugust, & Jeannette Mancilla-MartinezJuan Araujoa, Natalia Kovalyovaa, Marco Shappecka & CynthiaRodrigueza

a Department of Teacher Education and Administration, University ofNorth Texas at DallasPublished online: 17 Jun 2014.

To cite this article: Juan Araujo, Natalia Kovalyova, Marco Shappeck & Cynthia Rodriguez(2014) Teaching Vocabulary to English Language Learners by Michael F. Graves, Diane August,& Jeannette Mancilla-Martinez, Journal of Latinos and Education, 13:3, 235-237, DOI:10.1080/15348431.2013.849603

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15348431.2013.849603

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Journal of Latinos and Education, 13: 235–237, 2014Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLCISSN: 1534-8431 print / 1532-771X onlineDOI: 10.1080/15348431.2013.849603

Teaching Vocabulary to English Language Learners. Michael F. Graves, Diane August, &Jeannette Mancilla-Martinez, New York, NY: Teachers College Press, 2012, 176 pages, $23.95(paperback).

Juan Araujo, Natalia Kovalyova, Marco Shappeck, and Cynthia RodriguezDepartment of Teacher Education and Administration

University of North Texas at Dallas

Learning about new ways to deliberately and explicitly expand the vocabulary knowledge ofEnglish learners is of interest to teachers regardless of content area. Until now, however, teacher-friendly publications that consolidate a fresh review of the literature, effective programs, and theimportance of this endeavor and provide clear vocabulary strategies and examples of their use thatteachers can replicate in classroom settings have been absent. Teachers are realizing that vocabu-lary instruction for English language learners is different in its complexity compared to teachingto native English language learners. Teachers need to think about the role of the student’s firstlanguage, culture, the context in which they teach, and the available resources at their disposal.The implementation of Common Core standards that prominently feature the use of morenarrative and informational texts and the gap in academic vocabulary knowledge have promptedteachers to search for ways to build on the words knowledge of their English language learners.

The compact, language-friendly text Teaching Vocabulary to English Language Learners byMichael F. Graves, Diane August, and Jeannette Mancilla-Martinez argues that word instructionis different for English language learners because of their smaller initial vocabulary, curricularmoves away from direct vocabulary instruction, and limited rich vocabulary opportunities forstudents. This book, which is part of the acclaimed Language and Literacy Series, outlines thedifferences in learning new words for English language learners, provides daily lesson ideas, andhighlights four programs from across the United States. Chapter 1 provides the reader with anintroduction and an outline of the book. Chapter 2 discusses the learner’s task, what constituteseffective instruction, and how contexts influence the development of words. Chapter 4 is a briefintroduction to the importance of vocabulary instruction for the very young (K–2). Chapter 5includes lessons for using word parts and context clues that teachers can implement across allgrades. Chapter 6 invites teachers to teach vocabulary through an effective environment, wordplay, investigations, and self-reflections. Chapter 7 presents four effective empirically validatedvocabulary programs: Vocabulary Improvement and Oral Language Enrichment Through Stories(VIOLETS) Program, Acquisition of Vocabulary in English (AVE) Program, Word Generation(WG) Program, and The Quality English and Science Teaching (QuEST) Project. These providestudents with purposeful activities in authentic contexts. The authors include an overview andprogram components. The book concludes with references and an author index section.

The welcome features of Teaching Vocabulary are its brief chapters, fresh review of the liter-ature and citations that invite further reading, consistent form and layout, teacher-friendly prose,and lesson ideas that can be replicated in elementary classroom settings. The authors provide awealth of information on the current state of knowledge, pedagogical strategies, and classroom

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techniques to foster “word consciousness in all students . . . in a variety of contexts” (p. 104).Their consistent attention to both learning and teaching serves both parties to the process well.In Chapter 5, the authors demonstrate the use of the balanced strategies approach, a combina-tion of the direct explanation of strategies (Duke & Pearson, 2002; Duke, Pearson, Strachan,& Billman, 2011) and transactional instructional strategies (Graves, Ruda, Sales, & Baumann,2012; Pressley, Harris, & Marks, 1992). Through this approach (direct teaching in combinationwith constructivist thinking) the authors provide the reader with lesson ideas, strategies, and waysto informally assess progress. The classroom activities are suitable for learners of a broad rangeof language proficiency as well as for mixed-ability groups, and teachers who seek to diversifytheir instructional toolkit will find a host of helpful tips. Teachers of writing, for instance, willfind numerous suggestions for activities that develop awareness of figurative language, developawareness of word parts, and encourage the smart use of dictionaries.

Teaching Vocabulary leaves the reader wanting more. This is the case in Chapter 3 (“ProvidingRich and Varied Language Experiences”), in which the authors write about promoting the fourlanguage domains of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. In addition, the book elaboratesless on the vocabulary work called for in the productive skills, such as writing and speaking,than it does for reading. For instance, discussing strategies to promote word consciousness,Chapter 5 devotes only a short 2-page section to writing. Although the authors recognize theamount of extensive and intensive vocabulary work needed to help students discover variousshades of meaning, they nevertheless restrict their discussion of writing to a mere mention of theneed to talk with students about “the word choices they make, why they make those choices, andhow adroit use of words makes our speech and writing more precise, more memorable, and moreinteresting” (p. 113). Missing from this advice is the awareness of the audience—readers andlisteners—whose judgment renders our speech and writing precise, memorable, and interesting.

To help students see the difference between effective and ineffective word choice and to helpthem select the appropriate degree of formality and use wordplay requires a careful fosteringof rhetorical sensitivity. Unfortunately, the authors seem to suggest that such a quality grows inwriters naturally and that “awareness of words . . . improve[s] [a] student’s writing, even withoutexplicit writing instruction” (p. 114). This advice carries a worrisome implication that the qualityof writing takes care of itself once the learner invests in vocabulary work.

In addition, writing teachers would benefit from suggestions for developing activities thatintegrate vocabulary work and demonstrate to students how they can accomplish a larger task(such as writing a better story, crafting a stronger argument, understanding the motives of thecharacters) by attending to words.

On the whole, Teaching Vocabulary is an easy read. Both preservice and in-service teacherswhose focus is English language arts (or any content area) will walk away with something newafter reading this book. It is a timely, welcome addition to the libraries of educators working withLatino second language learners.

REFERENCES

Duke, N. K., & Pearson, D. (2002). Effective practices for developing reading comprehension. In A. E. Farstrup & S. J.Samuels (Eds.), What research has to say about reading instruction (3rd ed., pp. 205–242). Newark, DE: InternationalReading Association.

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Duke, N. K., Pearson, P. D., Strachan, S. L., & Billman, A. K. (2011). Essential elements of fostering and teaching readingcomprehension. In S. J. Samuels & A. E. Farstrup (Eds.), What research has to say about reading instruction (4th ed.,pp. 51–93). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Graves, M. F., Ruda, M. A., Sales, G. C., & Baumann, J. E. (2012). Teaching prefixes: Making strong instruction evenstronger. In E. B. Kame’enui & J. F. Baumann (Eds.), Vocabulary instruction: Research to practice (2nd ed., pp.95–115). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Pressley, M., Harris, K. R., & Marks, M. B. (1992). But good strategy instructors are constructivists! EducationalPsychology Review, 4, 3–31.

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