Monday, July 29, 2013

The 30 Million Word Gap

One of the disadvantages of working at a high poverty school is the difference in vocabulary. Research shows that students coming from low income homes are exposed to far less words than their wealthier counterparts. This could be due to many factors: parents working double shifts, or night shifts so not at home; uneducated parents; single parents that have no one else to converse in front of the child; a lack of things to talk about, perhaps due to unemployment; cultural differences, such as being seen, but not heard; priorities other than the children, etc. These reasons, and many other, lead to the child being at a disadvantage with vocabulary.

I have seen this firsthand, obviously. I know that my own children were using words like children and neighborhood by the age of three. They spoke in complete sentences and understood how to have  a conversation with an adult. Whereas my students struggle with relatively basic vocabulary, especially my non-english speaking children. Case in point... this past spring I was teaching the basics of multiplication. Multiplication begins by understanding that it is simply repeated addition: three pairs of socks would be 2 + 2 + 2 = 6. We do many activities such as: how many legs would be on the playground if there were 15 kids? or If there are 24 feet in the pool, how many people are there?

One particular problem was to tell me how many toes there would be on three people. I "ensured" students knew how to complete the problem, then went about helping students with the addition. After a while, it became obvious that two students were struggling. When asked to show me their work, they went about showing me 2 + 2 + 2 = 6. I asked them how many toes they each have. They both pointed to their feet and replied "two." So, basically it wasn't the math that they were struggling with at all, it was the vocabulary. Neither one of them understood what "toes" were. Another student asked later what fingers were. The lesson here is: DON'T ASSUME ANYTHING! My assumption was that all of my students would know their body parts. I was mistaken. Don't make the same mistake I did. 

This is a great article about the thirty million word gap:

I have also included a flyer that you can print and post in your classroom. I think it is valuable. 






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8 comments:

  1. LisaJuly 30, 2013 at 6:49 AM

    I will never forget taking a test from my high school psychology teacher about our intelligence. I failed it miserably and felt entirely ridiculous. Come to find out, she gave us the test they would use in the deep South to test our intelligence. I didn't understand the vocabulary in their context so consequently, my intelligence score was very low. It really is a barrier when we all live in the same country but we don't understand the language! You are so right when you say not to assume anything. We have to dig into their background knowledge in order to reach them the best way we can.

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    1. AnonymousAugust 2, 2013 at 5:29 AM

      That's such a good point that vocabulary is an issue with all, not just those of different "classes." Constant exposure to the new and different may be the only way to attempt to overcome the language barrier.

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  2. Ms.CarlyleJuly 31, 2013 at 11:52 AM

    I am so glad you posted this!! In the other class I am taking now (TESOL: Literacy and Literature) we read The 30 Million Word Gap study and I was literally blown away! I had such an issue with it though, because I desperately wanted more concrete ideas on how to fill the gap, which the study did not provide. Thank you so much for posting those additional resources. If you don't mind, I would like to share them with my TESOL class!

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  3. AnonymousAugust 2, 2013 at 5:26 AM

    Wow that sure is a wake up call to the differences between children of different socio-economic backgrounds. I think parental involvement, presence and speech are so important from such a young age as in the example that you mentioned. It is so hard to overcome that gap as a teacher, especially as your students get older and more entrenched. What would you suggest different teachers do to promote literacy? There might even be an opportunity for older student volunteer work in low income schools as well.

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    1. beccamartinAugust 3, 2013 at 11:14 AM

      I am going to put the vocabulary learning more in the students' hands this year. I think each group will be responsible for a word of the day. They will choose it from their reading material and be able to explain to the class what it means. To make other students accountable, I believe I will be having that group reward others they hear using their word correctly. What do you think?

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  4. BloggerinthemakingAugust 3, 2013 at 9:06 AM

    Becca, this is such a great resource and one that I am printing off as we speak! My gig as a family literacy liaison requires that I have this kind of material to share. Thanks for helping me do my job! Wonderful post this week!

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