Developing student lexicon* to increase comprehension of spoken and written language happens naturally and purposively. The environment that an individual lives in naturally develops their lexicon. For example if you live on a farm, you obsorb the knowledge/language of farm culture. The degree of farm language that you learn depends on the components of the farm that you are exposed to, and your degree of participation in the those components. The learned and stored information about farm life may be relevant in other cultures or life-styles. For example you may learn about record keeping that is applicable in every business. Or you may learn about the components of healthy food consumption that applicable to human development in any culture.
Where I was raised it was natural for most individuals to learn about fresh water fish, it was part of the community culture. It was natural to learn about the salmon run, where in a community near the ocean it may be more natural to learn about sea turtles or tide pools. The habitats, life-cycle, and behaviors of different types of fish have many similarities. Within a purposeful learning environment the study of fish usually gives the opportunity to introduce different cultures, geographical areas, bodies of water, etc. of where the fish reside. The similarities and differences help students to increase their lexicon to comprehend both seen and unseen language related to fish and their habitat. The new learned information about fish is then available to make new conclusions.
In the book How Lincoln Learned to Read,Wolff describes how 12 individuals were educated through their the culture or life-style. This is a non-fiction book that discusses individuals that made notable contributions to America. Some of individuals had great disabilities, some had wealth, and some were very poor. The book includes people and events that influenced their learning. Reading How Lincoln Learned to Read helps the reader to paint a picture of how individuals are educated inside and outside of the classroom and how a person gathers information to understand written and spoken language. The book also helps the reader to understand how early childhood education can influence adult choices.
One chapter of the book describes the education of Belle born to slaves. She was educated by her parents to function effectively within the institution of slavery. This was not the slavery of the plantation South, but of the Northern Dutch who had smaller farms. She had to learn that she was commodity and that staying with her parents could end at a very young age. The chapter also describes how her life evolved into a free woman and how she used prior knowledge to move her forward. Another chapter of the book describes how a girl named, Rachel was raised in hills without the conveniences of modern day technology. The chapter goes on to describe how she lost her father at age 11, forcing the family to move closer to her mother’s family. Where she was able gain a formal education through a private school. The chapter goes on to describe how she used the knowledge that she gained as a child her writing. Some of her writings about nature, the hills, set the stage for present science education. The book also describes individuals such as Abraham Lincoln, Henry Ford, and Benjamin Franklin.
*Students store spoken and written words in their lexicon or mental dictionary. Students increase their mental dictionary through their environment. Student lexicon is always adding new words, pictures, gestures, etc that may help them to better comprehend language. This development begins at birth. Their brain begins attaching meaning(s) to individual tones of sound. Students adjust their stored information as they are introduced to new sounds and their meaning(s). Students also adjust their stored information as new meaning(s) or connections are introduced to the stored information. For example, if you know that dogs shakes when it gets wet, but do not know that dogs may smell when they get wet. Then you experience the a bad odor of a wet dog. Your mental dictionary will adjust your stored information to be dogs shake and may smell when they get wet. The stored information may look similar to a spider web as the
information is added and adjusted. Students transfer the stored meaning(s) of tones (voice) to symbols (print) as they learn how to read and write. Student lexicon also helps students to infer or conclude the unwritten or unspoken meaning of a conversation or writing.
Reference
Wolff, Daniel (2009). How Linclon Learned to Read. New York: Bloomsbury USA.
