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

该项目汇集了历史和社会语言学理论，以研究是否以及如何将词源和形态学的明确教学融入识字教育，可以影响儿童使用和理解复杂词汇的能力。在经历了17到21个月的“词汇爆炸”之后，小学生应该继续获得平均每月27.9个新单词（Dale和Fenson 1996）。尽管这种自然的“爆炸”，国家扫盲信托（2018年）的统计数据显示，四分之一的儿童没有达到预期的标准，在阅读或写作的11岁（关键阶段2结束）。这个项目是一个及时的调查如何语言意识和深入的单词知识可以通过他们的学校生涯与孩子一起成长。在阅读、写作、拼写和口语中科普不同程度词汇复杂性的能力不仅是更广泛学术成功的基础，也是理解社会关系和教育后生活中语义细微差别的基础。在最初的词汇量爆炸之后，Mitchell和McMurray（2008：1919）认为，为了继续加速词汇习得，儿童必须广泛阅读，不断接触“困难”的单词，以扩大词汇量。威尔士国家课程词汇表建议让孩子们接触到学术和日常生活成功所需的词汇。然而，社会语言学研究表明，儿童的语言使用与年龄相关的同龄人的互动更密切相关（Nardy et al. 2014）。在上一次GCSE考试期间，只有59.2%的威尔士中学生英语成绩达到A* - C（StatsWales 2019），孩子们应该获得的单词与他们实际获得的单词之间存在差异。这个项目将通过调查儿童在社会语境中使用的词汇的复杂性与政府规定的词汇表有何不同来解决这些不一致。对这些单词表的分析表明，儿童应该知道的大多数单词都是源于拉丁语的术语。然而，威尔士课程没有解决教育工作者应该如何处理教学词义或词汇组成;重点完全是词汇量。过去的研究表明学习拉丁语和提高元语言意识之间的联系（Hill 2006; Hunt et al. 2005; Sparks et al. 1995），但传统上，拉丁语一直是私立和文法学校教育的主题。此外，这些研究调查拉丁美洲作为一个独立的学术科目。他们没有探讨教学多种语言词源和形态（不仅仅是拉丁语）作为英语课程的综合主题的影响。这项研究有可能使每个人都能享受到古典语言教育的好处。因此，本项目将探讨是否为儿童提供形态积木-通过拉丁语，古典希腊语，法语和本地前缀，词根和后缀的明确教学-影响语言意识和能力之间的关系，使用和理解不熟悉的单词在课堂上和社会交往。它质疑单词组成部分的知识是否可以帮助孩子理解构成我们现代语言的复杂的阅读、写作和拼写惯例。因此，这个博士研究项目问：如何将词源学和形态学融入英语教学影响威尔士小学儿童的词汇使用？

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?