I think many students assume that someone who loves words is their stereotype of a "smart nerd." Just like people's assumption of a Francophile, there is a specific set of characteristics that people assume are needed to love something. I am a Francophile who doesn't know much about Paris and has a comparatively deep knowledge base about other Francophone parts of the world. Similarly, students wouldn't necessarily think of Jay-Z as a typical logophile, when in reality the first step of becoming a rapper is being vocabulary-obsessed.
I hope you'll excuse my extended metaphor, and I hope it helps to elucidate my belief that helping students learn to love words is really about helping them see themselves as word-lovers, despite their preconceived notion of a logophile. The goal of Graves' "balanced strategies" approach to vocabulary instruction is that students “receive detailed knowledge
about the [learning] strategies, they learn how to actually use them, and they learn when
to use them” (Graves 2006, p. 93). But even more importantly, students need the space to develop a curiosity about words and how they work. Once the motivation is in place, a balanced strategies approach can help them stick with word learning and even make it fun. I think Graves would refer to this as adopting a personal approach to reading unknown words -- the experience of choosing a strategy to learn a new word, and learning it yourself (Graves 2006, p. 92).
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| The logophile himself. Image from |
In reading our assignments for this topic, I was especially interested to think about the concept of "adopting a personal approach" when applied to the challenge of teaching ESL students unknown words. For ESL learners, a new word is a completely new concept without an attached label to guide their understanding (Graves 2006, p. 83). It's even easier for ESL learners to "tune out" from new vocabulary if they aren't able to make a personal connection to the classroom learning that is occurring. Graves outlines his idea that for ESL learners, word strategies are even more pertinent and vital to vocabulary acquisition. Using class time to focus on strategies so that students can engage themselves in the learning of unknown words gives them the ability to foster their own future learning, and ultimately to feel excited about trying new vocabulary because they know they have the tools to acquire it.
Source:
Graves, Michael. (2006) The Vocabulary Book: Learning and Instruction. New York, New York: Teachers College Press.
I thought it was so interesting the way you called out the perception of word-lovers being the nerdy librarians hunched over a stack of books, when really the beautiful way some rappers can weave rhymes in and out makes them the less obvious, but perfect choice for the logophile image. I tutored a family of three children for many years, and vividly remember that youngest one, who I had been religiously reading with for thirty minutes each night to boost his reading level, timidly approaching me after I had caught him reading a book on his own one night, and saying, “Heidi, please don’t tell my sister you saw me reading, she’ll make fun of me.”
ReplyDeleteHere was a kid who was in fourth grade, reading at a first grade level when I first began teaming with his classroom teacher to improve his reading skills, reading a chapter book for two hours on his own for pure enjoyment, and feeling ashamed about it. It definitely opened my eyes to the stigma that some kids feel for owning up to their love of language. I believe that reading is one of the most important ways to improve vocabulary, but I also believe it will be just one more of the many struggles we face as teachers to rebrand the “coolness” of reading and love of words, and if we have to use Jay-Z or Eminem to do it, so be it!
Hi Julia,
ReplyDeleteGreat post this week, I was interested within the first sentence and you even taught me two words this week, "logophile" and "francophile!" I, too loved how you made the connection between logophiles and rappers. I think so often students aren't interested in what they're learning because it's "boring" or doesn't pertain to their life. Hip-Hop/Rap is a popular genre for adolescents and bringing music into the classroom would be a great way to get your students engaged and interested. I still remember a lesson I learned in 7th grade because my teacher incorporated Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" into the lesson. Led Zeppelin has been one of my favorite bands since I can remember and that class used to be incredibly boring to me before that day. After we analyzed the lyrics to the song I was able to understand what we were learning about and I remembered it for a long time. This is just one example of how music can make your lesson memorable for your students.
Students can think about what the message of a song is and gain more appreciation for their favorite artists. I liked how you pointed out that especially ESL students can tend to "tune out" in class because the lesson doesn't pertain to them but music is such a universal thing that I'm sure they could find songs in their own culture to relate to. This would also be a great way to see all the different cultures in your classroom and compare/contrast what different countries listen to. Overall I thought your post was very thought-provoking and I look forward to reading more. See you in class tomorrow!