10. Dr. Tanya Wright -- Vocabulary Development, Knowledge Building, and Comprehension
04/24/23 • 36 min
Today’s guest is Dr. Tanya Wright whose research and writing focus on vocabulary and knowledge-building, and comprehension. She’ll help us think about how to infuse vocabulary instruction into before, during, and after reading activities to move from passive word learning such as just parroting back a dictionary definition, to active processing where readers really engage with words to understand them more deeply. We’ll talk about what research says about explicitly teaching word meanings, and what research has shown about effective strategy instruction for vocabulary development. Later, I’m joined by my colleague Macie Kerbs for a discussion of how we can bring this research to the classroom.
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To learn more about this podcast, see the first season's guests, read full transcripts and blog responses from listeners, and read more about Jennifer Serravallo and her work, visit www.jenniferserravallo.com/podcast
Check out Dr. Wright's most recent professional book for teachers about vocabulary instruction here.
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About this episode’s guest:
Tanya S. Wright is an associate professor of Language and Literacy at Michigan State University. Wright is a former kindergarten teacher whose research and teaching focus on curriculum and instruction in language and literacy during the early childhood and elementary years. Her research examines instructional practices that promote oral language, vocabulary, and knowledge development for young children. Wright is co-author of several books for teachers and parents. Her work has been published in many scholarly journals, has been funded by the multiple foundations. In 2012 she was the winner of ILA’s Outstanding Dissertation Award in 2012, and is now the Senior Editor of The Reading Teacher. She’s the lead author of the open access SOLID start curriculum and the leader of 55 open access PD videos at literacyessentials.org.
Special thanks to Scotty Sanders for audio editing this episode. https://www.scottysandersmedia.com/
Today’s guest is Dr. Tanya Wright whose research and writing focus on vocabulary and knowledge-building, and comprehension. She’ll help us think about how to infuse vocabulary instruction into before, during, and after reading activities to move from passive word learning such as just parroting back a dictionary definition, to active processing where readers really engage with words to understand them more deeply. We’ll talk about what research says about explicitly teaching word meanings, and what research has shown about effective strategy instruction for vocabulary development. Later, I’m joined by my colleague Macie Kerbs for a discussion of how we can bring this research to the classroom.
**
To learn more about this podcast, see the first season's guests, read full transcripts and blog responses from listeners, and read more about Jennifer Serravallo and her work, visit www.jenniferserravallo.com/podcast
Check out Dr. Wright's most recent professional book for teachers about vocabulary instruction here.
**
About this episode’s guest:
Tanya S. Wright is an associate professor of Language and Literacy at Michigan State University. Wright is a former kindergarten teacher whose research and teaching focus on curriculum and instruction in language and literacy during the early childhood and elementary years. Her research examines instructional practices that promote oral language, vocabulary, and knowledge development for young children. Wright is co-author of several books for teachers and parents. Her work has been published in many scholarly journals, has been funded by the multiple foundations. In 2012 she was the winner of ILA’s Outstanding Dissertation Award in 2012, and is now the Senior Editor of The Reading Teacher. She’s the lead author of the open access SOLID start curriculum and the leader of 55 open access PD videos at literacyessentials.org.
Special thanks to Scotty Sanders for audio editing this episode. https://www.scottysandersmedia.com/
Previous Episode
9. Dr. Rachael Gabriel -- Teacher Quality, High Quality Instructional Materials, and What Research Shows Makes the Biggest Difference in Supporting Early Literacy Growth
Today’s guest is Dr. Rachael Gabriel. We’ll talk about the newly published book, How Education Policy Shapes Literacy Instruction, which includes chapters she authored and co-authored and which she edited. Specifically, we’ll explore the history of studies relating to teacher quality and instructional materials, and what research shows makes the biggest difference in supporting early literacy growth. Later, I’m joined by my colleagues Macie Kerbs and Molly Wood for a conversation about practical takeaways.
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To learn more about this podcast, see the first season's guests, read full transcripts and blog responses from listeners, and read more about Jennifer Serravallo and her work, visit www.jenniferserravallo.com/podcast
More information on How Education Policy Shapes Literacy Instruction
Read the Annenberg report about considerations for high quality professional learning (link to actual studies can be found within this report).
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About this episode’s guest:
Rachael Gabriel is Professor of Literacy Education at the University of Connecticut. She is author of more than fifty refereed articles, and author or editor of six books for literacy teachers, leaders and education researchers, including the newly published How Education Policy Shapes Literacy Instruction which we'll be talking about today. Rachael currently teaches courses for educators and doctoral students pursuing specialization in literacy. She serves on the editorial boards of journals focused on literacy, education research and education policy, and has served on the boards of the International Literacy Association and Reading Recovery Council of North America. In addition to experience as a classroom teacher and reading specialist, Rachael holds graduate certificates in both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Rachael’s research is focused on: literacy instruction, leadership and intervention, as well as policies related to teacher development and evaluation. Her current projects investigate: supports for adolescent literacy, state literacy policies and discipline-specific literacy instruction.
Special thanks to Scotty Sanders for audio editing this episode. https://www.scottysandersmedia.com/
Next Episode
11. Dr. HyeJin Hwang -- Bidirectional Relationship of Knowledge and Comprehension in Mono and Multilingual Learners
Today I welcome Dr. HyeJin Hwang to talk about her recently published study on the bidirectional relationship of knowledge and comprehension in monolingual and multilingual readers. In this conversation we talk about different types of knowledge, ways to support knowledge building, the use of informational and narrative texts in the classroom, and frameworks that can help us think about comprehension. Later, I’m joined by my colleague Gina Dignon about practical takeaways.
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To learn more about this podcast, see the first season's guests, read full transcripts and blog responses from listeners, and read more about Jennifer Serravallo and her work, visit www.jenniferserravallo.com/podcast
Links to articles mentioned in this episode:
Hwang, Cabell, & Joyner (2022): https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10888438.2021.195400
Hwang, Lupo, Cabell, & Wang (2021): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ytBxun1Uew_QRvNnWWdJkISL_HSm-5tG/view
Hwang (2019): https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1041608019301189
Reading Research Quarterly article:
https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/rrq.481
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About this episode’s guest:
HyeJin Hwang is a President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Educational Psychology at University of Minnesota. She is known for her work in the area of literacy development in K-12 settings, particularly in multilingual students. Specifically she focused on developmental processes of comprehension and content knowledge and instructional approaches to support comprehension and content knowledge. She has authored or co-authored publications that appear in peer-reviewed journals such as Reading Research Quarterly, Scientific Studies of Reading, Learning and Individual Differences, and AERA Open. Her work has been funded by organizations such as American Educational Research Association and American Psychological Association Division 15 Educational Psychology. She received Ph.D. in Literacy, Language, and Culture from University of Michigan.
Special thanks to Scotty Sanders for audio editing this episode. https://www.scottysandersmedia.com/
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