Investigating sociolinguistic and historical linguistic approaches to vocabulary teaching and learning in the English language classrooms of Wales

调查威尔士英语课堂中词汇教学的社会语言学和历史语言学方法

• 批准号: 2268566
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2268566
• 关键词: Investigating; sociolinguistic; historical; linguistic; approaches

This project draws together historical and socio-linguistic theories to examine if and how integrating explicit teaching of word etymology and morphology into literacy education could impact children's ability to use and comprehend complex vocabulary. Having experienced a 'vocabulary explosion' between seventeen to twenty-one months of age, primary school children should continue gaining an average of 27.9 new words every month thereafter (Dale and Fenson 1996). Despite this natural 'explosion', National Literacy Trust (2018) statistics show that 1 in 4 children do not reach the expected standard in reading or writing by the age of eleven (end of Key Stage 2). This project is a timely investigation into how linguistic awareness and in-depth word knowledge can grow with a child through their school career. The ability to cope with different levels of lexical complexity when reading, writing, spelling and speaking is not only fundamental to broader academic success, but to understanding semantic nuances in social relationships and life post-education. Following the initial vocabulary explosion, Mitchell and McMurray (2008:1919) suggest that for word-acquisition acceleration to continue, children must read widely to be consistently exposed to 'difficult' words to expand vocabulary sizes. The Welsh National Curriculum word-lists propose to expose children to words required for both academic and everyday-life success. However, socio-linguistic studies have revealed that a child's linguistic usage is more closely related to interactions with age-related peers (Nardy et al. 2014). With just 59.2% of Welsh secondary school children achieving A* - C in English Language in the last GCSE examination period (StatsWales 2019), there is a discrepancy between the words children shouldhave acquired and what they have actuallyacquired. This project will address these inconsistencies by investigating how the complexity of the words children use in social contexts differs from the government-prescribed word-lists. Analysis of these word-lists shows the majority of words children are supposed to know comprise terms rooted in the Latin language. However, the Welsh Curriculum does not address how educators should approach teaching word-meaning or lexical composition; the focus is entirely on vocabulary size. Past studies have shown a connection between learning Latin and increased metalinguistic awareness (Hill 2006; Hunt et al. 2005; Sparks et al. 1995), but traditionally, Latin has been a subject reserved for private and grammar school education. Furthermore, these studies investigate Latin as a standalone academic subject. They do not explore the impact of teaching multiple language etymologies and morphologies (not just Latin) as integrated topics in the English Language curriculum. This research has scope to make the proven benefits of classical language education accessible to everyone. This project, therefore, will explore whether providing children with morphological building blocks-through explicit teaching of Latinate, Classical Greek, French and native prefixes, root words and suffixes-impacts the relationship between linguistic awareness and ability to use and comprehend unfamiliar words in the classroom and social interactions. It questions whether knowledge of word components could help children understand the complex reading, writing and spelling conventions that comprise our modern language. As such, this doctoral research project asks: How does integrating word etymology and morphology into English Language teaching impact Welsh primary school children's vocabulary usage?

该项目将历史和社会语言理论汇总在一起，以研究单词词源和形态学中的明确教学与扫盲教育的明确教学是否会影响儿童使用和理解复杂词汇的能力。在经历了17至21个月大的“词汇爆炸”之后，小学生应每月平均获得27.9个新单词（Dale and Fenson 1996）。尽管存在这种自然的“爆炸”，但国家扫盲信托基金（National Linacy Trust）（2018年）表明，四分之一的儿童未达到11岁时的阅读或写作标准（关键阶段2结束）。该项目及时研究了语言意识和深入的单词知识如何在孩子的职业生涯中与孩子一起增长。在阅读，写作，拼写和说话时，能够应对不同级别的词汇复杂性的能力不仅是更广泛的学术成功的基础，而且是理解社会关系和教育后生活的语义细微差别。在最初的词汇爆炸之后，Mitchell and McMurray（2008：1919）建议，要继续进行单词收购加速，必须广泛阅读以始终如一地接触“困难”的单词以扩大词汇大小。威尔士国家课程词者列表提议使儿童接触到学术和日常生活成功所需的词语。然而，社会语言研究表明，儿童的语言用法与与年龄相关的同龄人的相互作用密切相关（Nardy等人，2014年）。在上一个GCSE考试期间，只有59.2％的威尔士中学儿童以英语获得A* - C（Statswales 2019），孩子们应该获得这些单词，应该获得的单词与他们实际获得的东西之间存在差异。该项目将通过调查儿童在社会环境中使用的单词的复杂性与政府规定的单词列表的不同之处来解决这些不一致之处。对这些单词名单的分析表明，大多数孩子都应该知道的单词包括植根于拉丁语的术语。但是，威尔士课程并未解决教育工作者应如何处理词语或词汇组成；重点完全放在词汇尺寸上。过去的研究表明，学习拉丁语与增加的元语言意识之间存在联系（Hill 2006； Hunt等，2005； Sparks等，1995），但传统上，拉丁语一直是用于私立和语法学校教育的主题。此外，这些研究将拉丁语视为独立的学术学科。他们没有探索多种语言词源和形态学（不仅是拉丁语）作为英语课程中的综合主题的影响。这项研究的范围是使每个人都可以接受的古典语言教育带来了可靠的好处。因此，该项目将探讨为孩子提供延迟，古典希腊语，法语和本地前缀，词根和后缀的明确教学是否能够为语言意识与使用和理解在课堂和社交互动中使用和理解不熟悉的单词的能力之间的关系。它质疑单词组件的知识是否可以帮助孩子理解构成我们现代语言的复杂阅读，写作和拼写惯例。因此，这个博士研究项目询问：将单词词源和形态整合到英语教学中如何影响威尔士小学儿童的词汇用法？