Bill,

My point was that kids _already know_ how most words are pronounced, and 
if they know the word, they also know which part of speech it is. The 
dictionary will even disagree with them sometimes, and they are going to 
be right most of the time ("very", for instance, is not an adverb).

We waste a valuable resource when we lead kids to believe that they 
don't know anything about their language, and that they have to rely on 
external resources to "get it right". Dictionaries are descriptions; 
they are derived from usage, not vice-versa.

Dictionaries are also strange and rather unhelpful in figuring out what 
a word means. A good article to read on this is Miller & Gildea's "How 
children learn words". When asked to look up a new word and use it in a 
sentence, children will skim through the definition until they see a 
word they know, then assume it is a synonym. Results:

"Grandma stimulated the soup."  (stirred up)
"Our family erodes a lot." (eat out)
"I facilitated my brother to change the tire." (help)
"Someone usurped my bicycle." (stole)

Children learn about 5,000 words a year. They are not learning them by 
looking them up in dictionaries. They learn by deducing the meaning from 
context. Hence, reading widely is the best strategy for vocabulary 
develpment: children see words over and over in a variety of contexts. 
Coaching them in using the context to deduce word meanings is also 
highly recommended.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanna Rubba   Associate Professor, Linguistics
English Department, California Polytechnic State University
One Grand Avenue  • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Tel. (805)-756-2184  •  Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone.  756-2596
• E-mail: [log in to unmask] •      Home page: 
http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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