Learning Words: Large Group Time as a Vocabulary Development Opportunity

Abstract

This study examines the role of curriculum as a vocabulary learning environment by comparing teacher's Large Group Time instruction in two curricula-Creative Curriculum (Dodge, Colker, & Heroman, 2000) and the Doors to Discovery program (2002). Discourse samples were retrieved from the video data of the Large Group Time activity in five Head Start classrooms. The following discourse features were compared in the two curricula: teachers' and children's amount of meaningful talk, vocabulary diversity, teachers' use of root words and rare words, and vocabulary instruction strategies. The data were analyzed with the CHILDES (Child Language Data Exchange System) and qualitative analysis with analytic induction. The results revealed differences in the children's amount of meaningful talk and in the frequency trends of teachers' use of rare words and vocabulary instructional strategies in favor of the Doors to Discovery program. No significant differences were found in the teacher's amount of meaningful talk, root words, and vocabulary diversity. Limitations of, and suggestions for, using the CHILDES system as a discourse analysis are provided.