Diane+August

Submitted by Stacy Iles_Micale

Diane August is currently a Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Applied Linguistics. She is an educational consultant located in Washington, D.C. She is the Principle Investigator at this center on a number of federally funded studies; one is an investigation in the development of literacy in second-language learners, another is focused on the development of a measure of reading comprehension, a further study looks into a randomized evaluation of English immersion and transitional bilingual programs. In addition, she is the Co-Principle Investigator at the National Research and Development Center on English-language Learners. She was the Staff Director for the National Literacy Panel on Language Minority Children and Youth and has been a Senior Program Officer at the National Academy of Sciences where she was Study Director for the Committee on Developing a Research Agenda on the Education of Limited English Proficient and Bilingual Students. Dr. August has also worked for many years as an educational consultant in the areas of literacy, program improvement, evaluation and testing, and federal and state education policy. Working in a number of other positions, she was a public school teacher for ten years, and a school administrator in California specializing in literacy programs for language minority children in kindergarten through eighth grades. Afterward, she served as the Legislative Assistant in the area of education for a Californian U.S. Congressman, worked as a Grants Officer for the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and was the Director of Education for the Children’s Defense Fund. In 1981 she received her Ph.D. in education from Stanford University and in 1982 completed a postdoctoral fellowship in psychology also at Stanford. Dr. August is widely published in journals and books. Some of her published journal articles include; Assessing Reading Comprehension in Bilinguals, (Nov., 2006), Native Spanish-Speaking Children Reading in English: Toward a Model of Comprehension, (May, 2005), Literacy Development in Elementary School Second-Language Learners, (Oct.-Dec., 2006), and The Critical Role of Vocabulary Development for English Language Learners, (Feb., 2005). The latter study, The Critical Role of Vocabulary Development for English Language Learners, “highlights the need for sustained attention to the vocabulary development of English language learners (ELLs), reviews the research on means to develop the vocabulary knowledge of ELLs, presents lessons learned from the research, and describes several important issues that should be considered in the development of practices to build vocabulary knowledge in this group of students” (August, Carlo, Dressler, and Snow, 2005). Many studies were cited that researched the lack of vocabulary knowledge of ELLs as compared to English only (EO) students. It was shown that ELLs have a limited breadth of vocabulary, and indicate a lack of depth of vocabulary as well. In the review of the research on building vocabulary in ELLs, it was found that for native Spanish speakers learning English, cognate pairs of words, those are words that are similar both orthographically and semantically, offered the possibility for transfer to occur for a meaningful number of words. However, it was also found that the ability to recognize the cognate pairs of words develops with age and depends on the degree to which the cognates overlap semantically, orthographically, and phonologically. In the review of effective of vocabulary instruction, August, et al. stated that there was little research to review in this area for ELLs but a plethora of effective vocabulary instruction for native English speakers (p. 52). Of the few experimental and quasi-experimental research studies that were reviewed it was found that, “active processing of word meanings leads to greater recall and understanding of word meanings” (p.53). In a review of the research, the authors present lessons that were learned in order to provide ELLs with thorough vocabulary instruction. These strategies are similar to the instructional practices that are used with English Only students and include, “providing definitional and contextual information about each word’s meaning; actively involving students in word learning through talking about, comparing, analyzing, and using the target words; providing multiple exposures to meaningful information about each word; as well as teaching word analysis” (p. 54). In addition to these strategies, ELLs would also benefit from the use of cognate pairs in English from their native language. Also, it was pointed out that ELLs learn the meaning of basic words that EOs already know. Theses words are the Tier 1 words as described by Beck and colleagues (2002). These are the basic words such as clock, baby, happy, etc. that do not require instruction in school. Lastly, ELLs can benefit from review and practice of the vocabulary. August et al. suggest reviewing the vocabulary through read alouds (p. 55). One of the biggest challenges in vocabulary instruction for ELLs is the selection of target words according to August et al. (2005). “In the United States, there is no reliable estimates of the breadth of vocabulary of Spanish-speaking ELLs upon school entry or of the magnitude of their vocabulary growth over a school year (p. 55). The only research available for understanding which types of words children are likely to know, need to know and are able to learn is on English monolinguals. It was pointed out that more research needs to be conducted with ELLs to determine the selection of words for instruction. Focus needs to be put on words that ELLs will encounter frequently in texts and in their normal conversations with peers and adults. Because of the lack of experimental or quasi-experimental research in this area, August et al. conclude that there is a definite need for further research on vocabulary instruction for ELLs (p. 56). More information about Dr. Diane August can be viewed at the following websites: http://www.schoolsmovingup.net/cs/wested/view/e/2447?x-t=e_bio.view&user=15736 http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/authors/august.htm