Authentic Low-Stakes Practice to Make Meaning Lasting for ELLs: Creating Vocabulary Chants and Songs to Enhance the Word Generation Curriculum

Author

Lori CohenFollow

Date of Award

Spring 4-14-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Curriculum and Instruction (MAE)

First Committee Member

Bethany Vosburg-Bluem

Advisor

Bethany Vosburg-Bluem

Second Committee Member

Diane Ross

Third Committee Member

Eric Aho

Keywords

ELLs, Vocabulary Instruction, Songs, Chants, Curriculum, Academic Language

Subject Categories

Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education | Curriculum and Instruction | Higher Education | Junior High, Intermediate, Middle School Education and Teaching | Language and Literacy Education | Other Education | Secondary Education and Teaching

Abstract

This curriculum creation is designed to supplement the Word Generation (WordGen) vocabulary program for middle school students. It adds songs and chants of the weekly focus words for use as a mnemonic device to remember and synthesize word meaning. The WordGen curriculum is heavily based on reading and writing and English Language Learners (ELLs) are at a disadvantage when tasked with learning and understanding academic vocabulary due to the short length of time for mastery (Cummins, 1999; Collier, 1987; Thompson, 2017). This curriculum is inspired by the desire to appeal to ELLs who would respond favorably to music or kinesthetic modalities in the language classroom. Using music to teach language is found to be a positive way to engage students and facilitate a low-stakes method to learning and practicing language (Bialls, et al., 2021; Chen, 2020l; Landesman Scheckel, 2020; Li & Brand, 2009; Rukholm, 2015). The first two chapters of WordGen have been supplemented with songs and chants/raps for use in ELL and general content classrooms.

Licensing Permission

Copyright, some rights reserved. Attribution – Noncommercial – Share Alike

Recommended Citation

Cohen, Lori, "Authentic Low-Stakes Practice to Make Meaning Lasting for ELLs: Creating Vocabulary Chants and Songs to Enhance the Word Generation Curriculum" (2022). Masters Theses/Capstone Projects. 101.
https://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/stu_master/101