Adolescent Learning of Academic Vocabulary in Iceland

Abstract

Since 2000, there has been a steady decline in the reading comprehension performance on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) (OECD, 2017) for Icelandic adolescents (Directorate of Education, 2017; Ólafsdóttir & Sigurðsson, 2017). No participating country has demonstrated a sharper drop in mean scores on this measurement. Icelandic educators are concerned that the large number of adolescents who demonstrate poor performance are not mastering advanced Icelandic vocabulary, as that is a key variable that explains their low achievement (Birgisdóttir, 2016). Consistently, Icelandic vocabulary has emerged as a strong influencing factor on the rate of growth in reading comprehension over the middle school years among pupils with Icelandic as a first and as a second language (Ólafsdóttir, Birgisdóttir, Ragnarsdóttir, & Skúlason, 2016). Our goal was to provide high school pupils opportunities to enrich their academic vocabularies. Few research projects have focused on high school (versus younger) students' learning of vocabulary. We hope that the global context of this research will be of interest to many practitioners and scholars. This project, a collaboration among teachers and teacher educators, was initiated by Icelandic educators. The focus was to advance the pedagogy of high school teachers with the aim of advancing the vocabulary and reading comprehension of their students. We offered specific literacy professional development with Icelandic teachers from multiple disciplines. Research on effective professional development (PD) for teachers of reading (Laster & Finkelstein, 2016; Sailors, 2009) framed this project.

Development of Multilingual Thematic Picture Dictionary: A Support for Literacy

“…It is believed that developing literacy skill should be started at early age. This idea was supported by experts that see the benefit of developing literacy skill as early as possible (Ólafsdóttir & Stefánsson, 2020;Taylor & Leung, 2020;Trainin & Vadasy, 2017). Teaching literacy in the early age should focus on concrete concept, meaningful, interesting, functional and engaging (Huh & Suh, 2017;Ratminingsih & Budasi, 2018).…”

Productive language development in classroom activities in Poland and Iceland: The diversity of language context in the digital world

“…For example, in her study with Icelandic sixth and eighth graders, Ólafsdóttir (2015) found that proficient writers, who were able to organize their texts and present and give support for their arguments in a convincing way, used a higher number of Icelandic academic words compared to less proficient writers. However, while subject-specific words are normally taught explicitly within the corresponding discipline, teachers are often not cognizant of the importance of academic words that are used across a wider subject area (Beck et al, 2013;Ólafsdóttir et al, 2020;Roessingh 2016).…”

The Effects of a Peer Teaching Approach on Urban Community College Students’ Vocabulary Development Using Vocabulary Theatre

“…Effective vocabulary instruction for all students is paramount as studies have shown that vocabulary knowledge is correlated with more enhanced reading comprehension (Beck, Perfetti, & McKeown, 1982;Blachowicz & Fisher, 2004;Cromley & Azevedo, 2007;Cunningham & Stanovich, 1997;Nagy & Scott, 2004;Olafsdottir, Laster, & Stefansoon, 2020;Stahl & Fairbanks, 1986). Additionally, students with larger vocabularies have shown increased stamina while reading (Stahl, 1999).…”