Bridging the Gap-Comparing Academic Vocabulary Practices in Theory and Action

Bridging the Gap-Comparing Academic Vocabulary Practices in Theory and Action

Practices I Have Observed in a Practicum Setting

During my interaction with preschool students, we often incorporate effective practices that help to boost their academic vocabulary skills. Within the classrooms are word walls where key vocabularies are pinned, which act as visual aids to help the student remember the words. Educators often refer to the words during class activities to encourage students to understand their meaning. Word mapping is another practice that builds students’ academic vocabulary skills and increases their competency with the new words. Word mapping involves visual representation of academic vocabularies by pairing them together based on common features, such as similar alphabets (Qomariyah & Nafisah, 2020). To follow this, teachers also engage in explicit learning, teaching students words’ meaning and usage. Similar to the academic vocabulary video, the practices align with what the class does. The classroom has a word wall where new words are pinned in alphabetic order. The teacher also incorporates explicit instructions, teaching the students new words and usage by constructing sentences. Later, she invites the students to make sentences using the new vocabulary (REL Southeast, 2016).

What I Would Do Differently

In addition to what different teachers have demonstrated and engaged in their teaching to enhance students’ academic language skills, I will encourage group work where students can interact freely with their colleagues and share their understanding of the new words and their use under my guidelines. To address each student’s academic language skill development needs, I will give them pre-tests to assess their level of understanding of the information rendered in the classroom, which would help me implement effective strategies that increase their skills, such as setting aside extra time to address their needs.

References

Qomariyah, S. S. A., & Nafisah, B. Z. (2020). Word Mapping in Students’ Vocabulary Mastery. Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teaching) Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa & Seni Prodi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP, 7(1), 31-40.

REL Southeast, (Director). (2016). Academic vocabulary in the text [Motion Picture]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

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Respond to the following:

Identify practices you have observed in a practicum setting that focused on building academic vocabulary skills, and describe how the observed practices are similar to or different from those reflected in the academic language videos.

Describe what you would do differently in your own future classroom to build academic language skills. If you did not observe instruction that focused on academic vocabulary, explain how you could have incorporated the practices for students in need of more support in developing these skills.

I am an assistant teacher for a preschool classroom, so reflection from a pre-k classroom.