Dr P's website and the impact of vocabulary

Kim Cooney (kimcooney who-is-at hotmail.com)
Sat, 28 Nov 1998 22:28:59 PST

Hello Pedro
and all those who put their 'hands up' and to those who didn't too!

I posted a personal reply to Dr Pedro Portes posting was delighted to=20
receive from him the webpage address of the outline of his new book.

http://www.louisville.edu/~prport01

I read his web page with great interest. His book addresses childrens'=20
intelligence and ways of learning. =20

This prompted me to think about an issue for me in my work on students=20
with severe learning difficulties and the use of the Internet to=20
motivate them to read and to develop reading and writing strategies. =20

One of the issues I have been thinking about during my own work is the=20
relationship of the child's known and 'useable' vocabulary; their=20
formally assessed intelligence, and their reading ability (writing too=20
but reading is my main focus). I 100% agree with Pedro's statement=20
below re the child's learning contexts:

<It presents a holistic approach that challenges many popular views.=20
Intelligence is not a fixed trait within the child but grows out of the=20
social and cultural contexts in which parents raise their children on a=20
day to day basis.>

My dilemma is for children with severe reading/learning difficulties.=20
Taking his statement just that little but further.....

........One of the ways that children learn vocabulary relating to=20
ideas, concepts, objects etc. is through reading and also in the whole=20
class setting. =20

Children with learning difficulties or disabilities e.g. language=20
processing or perhaps ADD etc. face the problem of perhaps not being=20
able to access as much of the social/cultural (or 'ecosocial' Lemke 1996=20
)environment as others. This can be said also for children who come=20
from intellectually unstimulating home situations. For those with=20
reading difficulties this can form a vicious circle as they try to learn=20
through reading at the same time as trying to learn to read.

For some children the problem of vocabulary development is intensified=20
due to a disability as well as a limiting home 'habitus' (the concept I=20
use in my work, borrowed from Marcel Mauss (1934). =20

This early anthropologist/psychologist proposed a 'triple viewpoint' for=20
understanding how children learn in any one 'habitus' or cultural=20
setting ie. 'the social, physical, and psychological'. He discussed how=20
they learn 'techniques' through training involving those 3 elements. =20
His term 'prestigious imitation' is interesting when considered in light=20
of Vygotsky's (1978) ideas of zpd, 'apprenticeship' and more 'expert=20
others'. =20

These children need the teaching to be adapted and presented to them in=20
forms and ways that make their learning possible. For example practical=20
real life activities such as going to the zoo to 'see' mammals and talk=20
about them and THEN read and write about them rather than just hearing a=20
teacher tell 30 students about them, reading the chapter in the text=20
book, and then filling out a worksheet. =20

I get the feeling that Dr. Portes' book will provide important=20
information for educators and parents of these as well as chidren who=20
learn quickly through regular 'schooling' in the 'habitus' of the=20
classroom in a corporate world.

(Hope I've sufficienty checked subject and cc lines - good advise thanks=20
Eva!)

Regards from 'Down Under'
Kim
____________________________________________________

Kim Cooney
Brisbane, Australia
Griffith University - http://www.edn.gu.edu.au/
School of Cognition Language and Special Education: =20
Email: K.Cooney who-is-at edn.gu.edu.au
or
KimCooney who-is-at bigpond.com or kimcooney@hotmail.com
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HABIT

Curious things, habits. People themselves never knew they had them.

Agatha Christie (1891-1976) British detective-story writer. Witness for=20
the Prosecution

=A9 1994 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. All rights reserved.
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