About

The rationale behind this website

This website is intended to help teachers find effective technological resources to implement with English learners at different levels, and to facilitate vocabulary learning to English learners through the use of online (monolingual, bilingual, and learner’s) dictionaries, as well as vocabulary games. The resources are aimed to review the theory behind the use of the dictionary. Also, this website displays engaging and appealing vocabulary word-related strategies, and effective techniques to use the dictionary in order to augment English learners’ lexicon at the school level (elementary, middle, and high school). In addition, teachers can find lesson plans oriented to teach vocabulary, and useful links to online dictionaries and vocabulary games.

Considering English learners in the academic context, it is very common to see how some English learners communicate confidently at school in everyday casual conversations with their peers, while at recess or on the bus. They exchange basic information using verbal and non-verbal language such as gestures and signs in order to interact. However, some English learners usually struggle to communicate in class when they are asked to answer a question (orally or written) (Herrera & Murry, 2016). In other words, when comparing academic language success between English learners and native-English speakers, the former have a tendency to perform below expectations (Souza, 2011). In consequence, Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) (Cummins, 1981) refers to formal academic learning which includes the relationship between the four skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) and the knowledge of content area materials. This level of language learning is crucial for students to be successful in school and more demanding in comparison to Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) (Cummins, 1981), because the academic language tasks are context reduced (Cummins, 1981).

Additionally, in order for English learners to achieve communicative competence, they need to develop proficiency in four areas of language (linguistic, sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic) (Canale, 1983; Parrish, 2004). Furthermore, Cummins (1981) declared that English learners need from five to seven years to achieve language proficiency in academic English. For example, most learners struggle when they work on math problems and deal with unknown words such as divisor, quotient, or remainder. In a similar way, ELs have to learn new scientific terms like those found in science class. Moreover, most ELs must use specific words to locate the coordinates of certain places when using a map. These low-frequency vocabulary words can create confusion and/or frustration. Mostly, English learners lack academic language that is essential for them to achieve school success. (Mora-Flores, 2011).

For the reasons mentioned above, this website is aimed to help ESL teachers and engage English learners to expand their academic language through the use of online monolingual, bilingual, and learner’s dictionaries. Due to the fact that there is little research done on the use of the dictionary, a section of the theory behind the use of the dictionary is included. The purpose of this theory is to provide teachers with the precise information about dictionary use. Another, important feature of the website is the inclusion of lesson plans intended for elementary, middle, and high school English learners at different proficiency levels. One more component that teachers can find in the website is a section with vocabulary learning strategies to implement in the classroom, and teaching tips to help ELs augment their lexicon. Finally, a series of links to online dictionaries and vocabulary games is found in this website. All these resources are intended to assist both ESL teachers and English learners in order to help the latter to increase their vocabulary in the academic context.

Indeed, English learners tend to communicate easily when they are exposed to context-embedded settings in order to participate in face-to-face casual interactions. Also, they develop survival vocabulary while they use illustrations to understand texts and begin to write. Conversely, English learners are more likely to try hard and require more time to adopt and use academic vocabulary words related to subject areas such as math, science, and social studies in context-reduced settings while they achieve English proficiency. Under those circumstances, it is pertinent for English learners to build up their lexicon and it is important for ESL teachers to implement educational tools that enable learners to succeed in school. Those educational tools that might be beneficial for English learners range from interactive educational websites and the use of the dictionary; particularly, the use of online dictionaries.

Definitely, vocabulary knowledge is essential for communication and the development of the four skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) in the ESL setting. In order to understand information through the receptive skills (reading and listening) it is important for English learners to learn the meaning of the words so they are able to succeed using their productive skills (speaking and writing). Thus, the use of online dictionaries in the ESL classroom might benefit ELs who must attain academic language proficiency.

References

Canale, M. (1983). From communicative competence to communicative language pedagogy. In J. Richards and Schmidt (Eds.), Language and communication. New York, NY: Longman.

Cummins, J. (1981). The role of primary language development in promoting educational success for language minority students. In C. F. Leyba (Ed.), Schooling and language minority students: A theoretical framework. Los Angeles, CA: Evaluation, Dissemination, and Assessment Center.

Herrera, S. G., & Murry, K. G. (2016). Mastering ESL/EFL methods: Differentiated instruction for culturally and diverse (CLD) students. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Mora-Flores, E. (2011). Connecting content and language for English language learners. Huntington Beach, CA: Shell Education.

Parrish, B. (2004). Teaching adult ESL: A practical introduction. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill ESL/ELT.

Sousa, D. (2011). How the ELL brain learns. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.