ENGL 391: Critiques - Instructions for Vocabulary Project

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English Department (Linguistics)
Cal Poly State University San Luis Obispo
Last updated 10/1/11
© 2011 Johanna Rubba

ENGL 391: Topics in Applied Linguistics: Linguistics and Language Arts
Course Project: A Critique of State-Approved Language Arts Teaching Materials

Vocabulary Instruction

**Plagiarism/cheating warning**
NOTE: ALL FORMS OF CHEATING WILL RESULT IN LOWERING OF THE COURSE GRADE (INCLUDING A POSSIBLEGRADE OF F FOR THE COURSE) AND A REPORT TO THE OFFICE OF STUDENT RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES. VISIT THEIR WEBSITE AND STUDY ALL OF ITS PAGES CAREFULLY. SERIOUS CHEATING CAN RESULT IN EXPULSION FROM CAL POLY. READ ALSO MY PLAGIARISM WARNING.

*Print this out and use it as a checklist; take it with you to the library or wherever you look at your materials.*

If at any point you have questions, definitely ask me for help. That's what I'm here for!

> MATERIAL TO EXAMINE:

Permitted grades: 4-8
Examine the Teacher's Annotated Edition (usually with a coil binder) for a Theme or Unit in mid-year (4-6), as well as the associated Practice Book. Look also for materials devoted especially to vocabulary instruction; search the boxes/shelves for your grade thoroughly. There may be cards, books, special practice books, or such like. Your paper will not be complete if you don't examine these.
Permitted publishers: SRA, Harcourt, Houghton-Mifflin (pronounced hoe-ton), Macmillan/McGraw-Hill.

> TASKS:

PART I of your paper will be a short description of the materials you examined (e.g., Teacher's Annotated Edition, Practice Book, special vocabulary book, vocabulary cards). Briefly describe each item and its intended use. This shouldn't take more than a page.

PARTS II-VI will deal with five different vocabulary-expansion strategies. Your task is to compare how these are taught in your teaching materials to the recommendations for sound vocabulary teaching made in class and in the readings. The five strategies are:

Explicit teaching of context-guessing skills
Explicit teaching of derivational morphology (roots and prefixes/suffixes), for both English affixes (such as 'un-', '-ness', etc.) and Latin- or Greek-derived roots and affixes. (Look for 'Latin' or 'Greek' in indexes.) (The phrase "derivational morphology" is not usually used. Look for "Word Analysis", "Structural Analysis" word structure, or "prefixes/suffixes", "root words", "word families," etc.)
Providing model sentences or texts showing how a word is used before students are expected to use it themselves. The models may be in readings or in separate sentences in vocabulary workbooks.
How much emphasis does the program place on using dictionaries to learn the meanings of words (vs. just teaching students how to use a dictionary)?
Organizing lists of vocabulary words using the principles of categorization and association, rather than randomly choosing words just because they appear in a particular reading selection. Browse individual lessons in the TAE; look for index entries such as "classifying", "categorizing", "word webs"; or look in lesson plans or skills traces for items like "military words," "farming words," etc.

For each skill, answer these questions:

Does the treatment of the strategy conform to recommendations for vocabulary instruction that were made in class?

If it does, describe how the lessons or student activities conform. Also, say which particular vocabulary-expansion skills each practice supports. (Examples of vocabulary-expansion skills include being able to use a new word appropriately in a sentence or text; being able to grasp and store a new word rapidly; being able to figure out word meaning independently, so that reading is not interrupted, etc.).
If it doesn't, describe what is missing -- describe what should be there. Also, describe what harm could result from the strategy being lacking: in what way could this inhibit a child's vocabulary acquisition?
BE VERY SPECIFIC in your answers to these questions. It's not enough just to say "this helps children learn new words." How does it help them? Why does it help them? If your paper does not evaluate the package in this way, it will not receive a grade above D.

Include a photocopy of ONE lesson/activity for each topic 1-5. Refer to these samples in your paper; use them to illustrate how the package addresses the various skills. Attach these in the text of the paper after the relevant section, NOT at the end of the paper. THESE DO NOT CONTRIBUTE TO YOUR PAGE COUNT.
In your discussion, you MUST refer to/cite the relevant class lectures/readings to support your judgment. Not doing so will lower your grade considerably.

PART VII A brief conclusion summing up the overall degree to which your publisher's vocabulary program meets linguists' standards.
PART VIII Reference list. List only those works you cited in your paper. You MUST cite our class readings!! Use a recognized format: MLA or APA. If you don't know what this means, many college writing manuals exist which can provide help; online resources include http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/05/ and http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/.

> FORMATTING INSTRUCTIONS IF YOU DO NOT FOLLOW THE FORMATTING INSTRUCTIONS, YOU WILL DEFINITELY LOSE POINTS! If there is something about formatting that you don't know how do, ask a friend, consult your word processors' HELP function, or ask me. I'm a Mac user, but I'll do my best to help PC users.

PRINT THIS OUT AND USE IT AS A CHECKLIST:

_____ No cover page or report cover. IDENTIFY the publisher, GRADE LEVEL, and title of the materials AT THE CENTER TOP OF THE FIRST PAGE. This can be your paper title. Your name, major, our course number, and the date you hand the paper in should be in the upper left-hand corner of page 1. It's OK to number page 1.
_____ Black ink.
_____ Length: 10-12 pages, excluding photocopies.
Format: The paper must be
- _____ typed
- _____ double-spaced (not 1.5; check your line spacing)
- _____ you MUST number typed pages, and not by hand (photocopies may be left numberless)
- _____ The only font I will accept is a 12-pt. Times font: Times, Times Roman or Times New Roman. If your paper is in a different font, I will hand it back to you to change the font and you will lose points.
- _____ 1" or 1.25" margins all around.
- If you do not know how to change these settings in your word processor, FIND OUT. Your paper will lose points if you do not conform to these requirements. Word processing programs such as Microsoft Word come with a Help manual that gives decent instructions for most basic operations, such as setting margins, finding and replacing text, breaking to a new page, etc. Take advantage of these.
_____ Sections: Divide your paper into sections according to each part I-V above; do not make it one continuous essay. Put your subtitles in boldface; set them at the left margin (not centered). Skip ONE line (hit Return twice, then type) above and below the heading.
_____ Do not skip a line between paragraphs within a section; indent paragraphs. Word processing programs allow you to set an indent for a single paragraph. It will continue to use that indent unless you format a paragraph in a different way (for instance, centering a long quotation). If you want to return to your normal indent, you have to once again format the next paragraph you start.
_____ Watch out for very long paragraphs. A single paragraph should not take up half or more of a page. Break to a new paragraph and indent the new paragraph.
_____ Avoid starting a new section at the very bottom of the page; if you have room only for a subtitle, break to a new page. Use the "Insert Page Break" command. Use your print preview feature (under "File" or "Print") to check pagination before you print out your final draft. In a word processor, a "manual page break" is one that you command the program to put in, instead of letting it decide where to break to a new page. Your print feature should also have a "preview" option that you can use to see exactly what the printed document will look like.
_____ If you give examples of words in your discussion, italicize them, for example: "This activity directs students to build a word web of words that relate to the sea, such as fish, wave, current, ocean, seaweed, voyage, etc."

> PROOFREADING AND EDITING At whatever level you eventually teach or write in your career, you will be expected to conform to the current standards for formal grammar, spelling, punctuation, paragraph formatting, etc. Expectations are particularly high for language arts and English teachers. College professors vary a great deal in their expectations in this regard, but the state standards for both teachers and schoolchildren expect full compliance. I also expect full compliance.

Use the spell-check function of your word processor. However, do not follow its instructions regarding hyphens ( - ). If you are unsure of a hyphen, check a dictionary. Do not use the grammar checker; 50% of its recommendations are likely to be wrong.
Consult my Editing Tips page for help with typical grammar, word choice, and punctuation problems. If I find the problems described on the Editing Tips page in your papers, you will definitely lose points. Concentrate on the following:
- Hyphen vs. dash
- Punctuation around citations of works you are referring to.
- Punctuation around however.
- Use of colon (:), not semicolon (;) before a list.
- Overuse of the words within and prevalent. In 9 out of 10 cases, in serves the purpose; synonyms for prevalent include common, frequent, (is/are) found throughout ... , widespread, etc.
- APOSTROPHES. Use them correctly.
- The by problem: see the first item under "Grammar Snafus."
- (Not on Editing Tips page yet) Commas and quotation marks. You DO NOT NEED a comma every time you use quotation marks. Commas are needed ONLY when the quotation follows a quoting verb, such as say, write. Even in the case of these verbs, if they are followed by that, no comma is needed after that. For example: On p. 62, Rubba writes that "correcting young children's language is, nine times out of ten, a waste of time."
- GET STARTED LOOKING AT THESE AND PRACTICING THEM NOW. Your Reading Question responses are a great practice opportunity; you will notice that I make corrections on them (these don't count against your grade for the assignment, however).
More guidance is available in usage guides such as the MLA style manual and numerous college writing manuals, and the Purdue sites listed above. You can also come to me or send a short e-mail if you have a question.
Take advantage of our WRITING LAB, Bldg. 10 room 130, 756-6032. Tutors are there to help you remedy problems (NOT edit or proofread your paper). If you want their help, make an appointment, and go there with a draft with enough time to make revisions they recommend. The Writing Lab is there to help you and you will be welcome there! Their web address is http://www.calpoly.edu/~wrtskils/writlab/. Tutors from the Writing Lab are now holding hours in the Library, room 202B, Monday - Thursday - 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. Your Reading Question responses give you a great opportunity to look over a short text with a tutor.

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