A common and very appropriate accommodation for students who are deaf and hard of hearing is pre-teaching vocabulary. The goal of pre-teaching is to provide the students with equitable access to the curriculum. We want them to apply their vocabulary knowledge to the subject content and subsequent classroom activities and discussion.
What does pre-teaching mean? It might involve pronunciation of the word itself (articulation). It might involve spelling and print identification (reading/writing). It should include matching the word to a given definition (receptive vocabulary). It should include reciting a definition to a given word (expressive vocabulary).
Often, this is where it stops. A child can recognize a word and recite a definition; therefore, they have been “pre-taught” the vocabulary. However, that is not where it should stop.
The progression of vocabulary development is to first match the word to a definition, state the definition for a word, answer a question about the word and then be able to fluently utilize the word during a discussion. What started out “just” as a vocabulary word becomes a concept.
Imagine a science class learning about the water cycle. The vocabulary list could include the words condensation and evaporation. It is not enough for a student to be able to say the word and match the definition. They must apply it to classroom activities, such as experiments. When the teacher asks what is happening, the student is expected to understand the deeper and more abstract meaning of those words. The (liquid) water is evaporating and becoming (gas) vapor.
Semantics and Syntax Considerations
If the definition itself isn’t within the student’s language skill level, he will not be able to carry it over into a classroom discussion. Rote memorization of a definition does not equal comprehension of the word’s meaning. For a student to comprehend the meaning of a word, the language used must be accessible to him. For that to happen, we might need to adapt the definition. We must also look for words within the definition the student may not know.
Example: Evaporation
- Textbook definition: Evaporation is the physical process where a liquid turns into gaseous water vapor.
- Adapted definition: Evaporation is when liquid turns into gas.
- Additional definitions: liquid, gas
If the concepts include grammatical structures a student does not have facility with, we want to pre-teach that as well. In the water cycle, the conjunction when will be utilized. When water freezes, it becomes ice. When ice melts, it becomes water. When water evaporates, it becomes a gas. A gas becomes liquid when it condenses. If the student does not receptively and expressive have this conjunction, accessing the science concepts will be difficult. By pulling out when and teaching the syntax outside of the content, the student should be able to apply it within the unit/transfer it to the academics.
What does pre-teaching actually mean?
- Choosing words the student will not already know or be able to pick up through the unit introduction
- Amending the definition to meet the student’s language skill level
- Looking for words within the definition the student will need to know
- Consider the syntax the student needs to know to apply knowledge within the classroom activities
What is the goal?
- Match a word to the definition
- Match a definition to the word
- Answer questions about vocabulary
- Apply vocabulary knowledge to academic activities and discussion
Abby Zoia is currently serving as the Director of the Emerson Center for Professional Development at CID – Central Institute for the Deaf. Ms. Zoia holds a Missouri teacher of the deaf certificate (K-12), professional certification from the national Council of Education of the Deaf, as well as Listening and Spoken Language Specialist certification from the AG Bell Academy. She has served as a teacher at various age-levels for more than 16 years and was recently the Coordinator of the Virginia J. Browning Primary School at CID. In addition to presenting at numerous CID workshops, Ms. Zoia has presented at the international conventions of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
