Academic Vocabulary and English Language Learners (ELLs)

50,000 words by high school graduation, that’s a whole lot of words, says the Teaching Channel in an article about academic vocabulary and English language learners. Yet that’s the challenge ELLs face if they want to stay abreast with their native English-speaking peers.

The article “Selecting Vocabulary Words to Teach English Language Learners” states that to truly know a word, a person should know all of its aspects such as the definition, understanding how it should be used, know all of its meanings (if more than one), and how to decode and spell it.

Common Core academic vocabulary words can be broken down into three tiers. According to the handout “Three Tiers of Vocabulary and Education,” Tier One consists of basic words with typically one meaning. These words are early reading terms, adjectives, verbs, nouns and sight words. Examples of Tier One words are orange, dog, run, sad, girl and book.

The handout states that Tier Two is comprised of high frequency words occurring across a variety of domains and are those that often occur in adult conversations and literature. Examples of Tier Two are words like benevolent, measure, industrious, fortunate and masterpiece.  

Tier Three are comprised of low-frequency words that take place within specific topics like weather, technology, occupations, hobbies and school, it says. Examples of Tier Three words are crepe, asphalt, isotope and economics.

Not surprisingly, the bulk of the research says the best way for ELLs to learn as much academic vocabulary as possible is through reading, reading and more reading. To help ensure this, schools should give English language learners lots of reading opportunities in the classroom and at home.

To help encourage reading at home for Latino English language learners through its proven parent involvement programs, The Latino Family Literacy Project has been guiding thousands of families in 19 states (and growing!) across the United States in doing just that.

By first training teachers who then educate Latino parents on establishing an at-home family reading routine, The Latino Family Literacy Project has been playing an integral role in helping Latino English learners to embrace reading, possibly for a lifetime. These age-specific programs offered by The Project often help greatly in improving the vocabulary, literacy and overall language development in English and Spanish for not only ELL students, but parents, too.

For teachers or staff who cannot attend the half-day, in-person training workshop, The Project also offers 1 ½ hour webinars that are grade-level specific for the implementation of programs for the infant/toddler, preschool, elementary, and middle/high school levels. The organization is offering an all-inclusive special offer of two free webinar trainings with the purchase of a program lending library and materials. For more information, please visit The Latino Family Literacy Project.