From LiteracyTentWiki

Adults plateau at GE 2 or 3 because of a lack of vocabulary

Add your insights to support or refute this hypothesis.

---

In the previous discussion Jane Meyer said:

From: meyer_j@ccsdistrict.org
Subject: [NIFL-777] Re: Grade Level and Adult Learners
Date: November 24, 2004 1:00:10 PM EST

A question asked if adults beginning readers can plateau at the 2nd or 3rd grade level.

One thing we noticed in our Even Start moms was that their vocabulary often plateaus about a 4th grade level and since vocabulary is a big part of reading this reading plateau makes sense. In studying the reading research we noticed that around 4th grade children begin reading to learn instead of learning to read. So, if they haven't learned to read they can't really read to learn, so their vocabulary and background knowledge growth does not progress. We gave our Even Start moms the Peabody Picture Vocabulary test and sure enough several scored around a 4th grade level. This provides a great opportunity for us to share with the moms why they not only need to improve their own vocabulary, but also need to expose their children to rich vocabulary and for the moms to see that increasing their own vocabulary will help their children.

Jane Meyer
Canton City Schools Even Start
meyer_j@ccsdistrict.org

---

go to main page http://wiki.literacytent.org