Geoffrey G Pinchbeck | Carleton University (original) (raw)
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Papers by Geoffrey G Pinchbeck
Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 2021
In response to our State-of-the-Scholarship critical commentary (Stoeckel et al., 2021), Stuart W... more In response to our State-of-the-Scholarship critical commentary (Stoeckel et al., 2021), Stuart Webb (2021) asserts that there is no research supporting our suggestions for improving tests of written receptive vocabulary knowledge by (a) using meaning-recall items, (b) making fewer presumptions about learner knowledge of word families, and (c) using appropriate test lengths. As we will show, this is not the case.
Here, we report on a study of teachers' evolving awareness of how they work with patterns of ... more Here, we report on a study of teachers' evolving awareness of how they work with patterns of variation to structure and teach mathematics lessons. We identify a number of critical features regarding teachers' awareness of variation.
Transforming the classroom environment into a space of expanding possibilities requires learning ... more Transforming the classroom environment into a space of expanding possibilities requires learning experiences that challenge and expand learners' understandings. Building on Metz et al's. (2015) suggestion to structure mathematical variation in a responsive manner that keeps all students intrinsically engaged in deepening their mathematical understanding, this paper describes different forms of bonus questions generated by students, and how they were implemented.
Providing mathematical extensions (i.e. bonus questions) intended to evoke deep mathematical thin... more Providing mathematical extensions (i.e. bonus questions) intended to evoke deep mathematical thinking after students complete assigned tasks is challenging for teachers. In this paper, we use the Variation Theory of Learning to challenge a common misconception that mathematical extensions should include many interrelated elements and impose a high cognitive load to promote deeper thinking. We present an analysis of observed extensions and provide alternative routes. Pedagogical implications for the design of mathematical extensions are presented.
TESL Canada Journal, 2012
Immigrants and the children of immigrants who have completed their schooling in Canadian school s... more Immigrants and the children of immigrants who have completed their schooling in Canadian school settings, commonly referred to as Generation 1.5, are increasingly identified in the research literature as academically at risk due to inadequately developed academic language proficiency and learning strategies. This article describes the design, development, and implementation of a curriculum that targets the academic needs of these students as they transition from high school to university. A thematically integrated design is adopted for the purposes of contextualizing the academic demands of science and engineering, business, and social sciences and humanities. Preliminary insights from a prototype iteration of the curriculum are presented.
Here, we report on a study of teachers’ evolving awareness of how they work with patterns of vari... more Here, we report on a study of teachers’ evolving awareness of how they work with patterns of variation to structure and teach mathematics lessons. We identify a number of critical features regarding teachers’ awareness of variation.
The Canadian Modern Language Review / La revue canadienne des langues vivantes, 2016
Language Assessment Quarterly
Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 2021
In response to our State-of-the-Scholarship critical commentary (Stoeckel et al., 2021), Stuart W... more In response to our State-of-the-Scholarship critical commentary (Stoeckel et al., 2021), Stuart Webb (2021) asserts that there is no research supporting our suggestions for improving tests of written receptive vocabulary knowledge by (a) using meaning-recall items, (b) making fewer presumptions about learner knowledge of word families, and (c) using appropriate test lengths. As we will show, this is not the case.
Transforming the classroom environment into a space of expanding possibilities requires learning ... more Transforming the classroom environment into a space of expanding possibilities requires learning experiences that challenge and expand learners' understandings. Building on Metz et al's. (2015) suggestion to structure mathematical variation in a responsive manner that keeps all students intrinsically engaged in deepening their mathematical understanding, this paper describes different forms of bonus questions generated by students, and how they were implemented.
This presentation will examine the relationship between vocabulary use in writing and academic su... more This presentation will examine the relationship between vocabulary use in writing and academic success in mainstream, grade-12 English Language Arts (ELA) classes. There have been recent calls for academic language to be given a more explicit and prominent role in mainstream public educational planning across the curricula in the U.S. and Canada; however, the lack of a general model of adolescent academic (first and second) language development impedes attempts to assess and strategically promote vocabulary development of all learners: monolinguals, bilinguals and minority-language ELLs: the construct of academic language learned by adolescents requires operationalization. Working towards the development of an academic lexical syllabus component within the mainstream K-12 secondary curricular framework, we have compiled a >1,500,000-word, grade-12-student written corpus from a representative sample of government-administered ELA final exam essays. Indexes of lexical sophistication (LS) and diversity (LD) of each essay were calculated and aligned with academic success as follows: averages of student marks in courses that depend heavily on language proficiency (ELA and Social Studies) were regressed on 1) LS, 2) LD, 3) student ESL coding history data, and 4) Mathematics scores. Subsequent lexical frequency profile analysis allowed the identification of a domain of mid-frequency vocabulary that explains significant and unique variance of both essay quality and academic success in language-heavy grade-12 courses. Finally, by conducting Spearman correlations of word family frequency ranking, we found that vocabulary use of high-performing students (GPA >80%) was most similar to a grade-12 course material corpus, whereas that of low-performing students (GPA <53%) was most similar to materials developed for grades 8-9. We will explore these results and present how this research might be used to further operationalize academic language, to develop tools to monitor English academic literacy development for diagnostic purposes, and to inform a strategic K-12 academic language pedagogy.
Excellence in language, settlement, and refugee programs; National standards for professional cer... more Excellence in language, settlement, and refugee programs; National standards for professional certification and teacher training program recognition; Working together with provincial and territorial associations on common goals; Promoting ongoing professional development; Research and scholarship in the field of teaching and learning ESL; Linguistic rights for individuals and communities; Equality of employment opportunity for qualified non-native Englishspeaking and native English-speaking teachers; Assisting with English language development while still protecting Ancestral languages for speakers of Indigenous first languages
Conference Presentations by Geoffrey G Pinchbeck
This presentation will provide insights into how detailed developmental scales of English lexis f... more This presentation will provide insights into how detailed developmental scales of English lexis for school-aged (K-12) learners might be developed and employed for research and pedagogical purposes. This work is part of a larger project prompted by recent calls for academic language to be given a more explicit and prominent role in mainstream public educational planning across the curricula in the U.S. and Canada, and recognizes that the lack of a general model of academic (first and second) language development impedes attempts to assess and strategically promote vocabulary development of all learners: majority-language-monolinguals, bilinguals and minority-language ELLs. With the goal of developing a lexical scale appropriate for K-12 contexts, we compared corpora frequency/dispersion rank-data (20,000+ items) with norm-referenced vocabulary-test word-item-difficulty rank-data (400 items) for three commercially-available vocabulary tests widely used by K-12 psychologists and/or ELL-placement specialists in North America. Corpora-derived ranked word-lists were generated from frequency and dispersion (range) data from 1) major sub-corpora of large general-corpora (e.g. COCA, BNC, Subtlex-US/UK), 2) child speech (CHILDES), and 3) K-12 school-approved texts (Educator's-Word-Frequency-Guide). Using Spearman-rank-correlations and Hotelling-Williams significance test of correlation differences, the optimal definition of "word" was first found to depend on the age/grade of the test takers: word-lists using word-derivational-family-groupings resulted in significantly higher correlations with item-difficulty-rankings of older learners (grades 9,12), but lemma-grouping-wordlists showed higher correlations with word ranks derived from younger test-taker data (≤grade 6), reflecting known derivational-morphology developmental differences. Furthermore, genre and modality also showed significant effects: briefly, lists derived from corpora of spontaneous speech, TV/movies for younger-viewers, and narrative-written-texts consistently showed higher correlations with test-item-difficulty-ranks than those derived from scripted-speech or any non-fiction-written-text genres. These results suggest that the prevailing trend to compile mega-corpora from easily-available electronic written-texts may not be ideal for the creation of either general-service-lists or developmental scales of academic English lexis.
Book Reviews by Geoffrey G Pinchbeck
[Book Review] (2016). Canadian Modern Language Review. 72(3): 383-385
Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 2021
In response to our State-of-the-Scholarship critical commentary (Stoeckel et al., 2021), Stuart W... more In response to our State-of-the-Scholarship critical commentary (Stoeckel et al., 2021), Stuart Webb (2021) asserts that there is no research supporting our suggestions for improving tests of written receptive vocabulary knowledge by (a) using meaning-recall items, (b) making fewer presumptions about learner knowledge of word families, and (c) using appropriate test lengths. As we will show, this is not the case.
Here, we report on a study of teachers' evolving awareness of how they work with patterns of ... more Here, we report on a study of teachers' evolving awareness of how they work with patterns of variation to structure and teach mathematics lessons. We identify a number of critical features regarding teachers' awareness of variation.
Transforming the classroom environment into a space of expanding possibilities requires learning ... more Transforming the classroom environment into a space of expanding possibilities requires learning experiences that challenge and expand learners' understandings. Building on Metz et al's. (2015) suggestion to structure mathematical variation in a responsive manner that keeps all students intrinsically engaged in deepening their mathematical understanding, this paper describes different forms of bonus questions generated by students, and how they were implemented.
Providing mathematical extensions (i.e. bonus questions) intended to evoke deep mathematical thin... more Providing mathematical extensions (i.e. bonus questions) intended to evoke deep mathematical thinking after students complete assigned tasks is challenging for teachers. In this paper, we use the Variation Theory of Learning to challenge a common misconception that mathematical extensions should include many interrelated elements and impose a high cognitive load to promote deeper thinking. We present an analysis of observed extensions and provide alternative routes. Pedagogical implications for the design of mathematical extensions are presented.
TESL Canada Journal, 2012
Immigrants and the children of immigrants who have completed their schooling in Canadian school s... more Immigrants and the children of immigrants who have completed their schooling in Canadian school settings, commonly referred to as Generation 1.5, are increasingly identified in the research literature as academically at risk due to inadequately developed academic language proficiency and learning strategies. This article describes the design, development, and implementation of a curriculum that targets the academic needs of these students as they transition from high school to university. A thematically integrated design is adopted for the purposes of contextualizing the academic demands of science and engineering, business, and social sciences and humanities. Preliminary insights from a prototype iteration of the curriculum are presented.
Here, we report on a study of teachers’ evolving awareness of how they work with patterns of vari... more Here, we report on a study of teachers’ evolving awareness of how they work with patterns of variation to structure and teach mathematics lessons. We identify a number of critical features regarding teachers’ awareness of variation.
The Canadian Modern Language Review / La revue canadienne des langues vivantes, 2016
Language Assessment Quarterly
Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 2021
In response to our State-of-the-Scholarship critical commentary (Stoeckel et al., 2021), Stuart W... more In response to our State-of-the-Scholarship critical commentary (Stoeckel et al., 2021), Stuart Webb (2021) asserts that there is no research supporting our suggestions for improving tests of written receptive vocabulary knowledge by (a) using meaning-recall items, (b) making fewer presumptions about learner knowledge of word families, and (c) using appropriate test lengths. As we will show, this is not the case.
Transforming the classroom environment into a space of expanding possibilities requires learning ... more Transforming the classroom environment into a space of expanding possibilities requires learning experiences that challenge and expand learners' understandings. Building on Metz et al's. (2015) suggestion to structure mathematical variation in a responsive manner that keeps all students intrinsically engaged in deepening their mathematical understanding, this paper describes different forms of bonus questions generated by students, and how they were implemented.
This presentation will examine the relationship between vocabulary use in writing and academic su... more This presentation will examine the relationship between vocabulary use in writing and academic success in mainstream, grade-12 English Language Arts (ELA) classes. There have been recent calls for academic language to be given a more explicit and prominent role in mainstream public educational planning across the curricula in the U.S. and Canada; however, the lack of a general model of adolescent academic (first and second) language development impedes attempts to assess and strategically promote vocabulary development of all learners: monolinguals, bilinguals and minority-language ELLs: the construct of academic language learned by adolescents requires operationalization. Working towards the development of an academic lexical syllabus component within the mainstream K-12 secondary curricular framework, we have compiled a >1,500,000-word, grade-12-student written corpus from a representative sample of government-administered ELA final exam essays. Indexes of lexical sophistication (LS) and diversity (LD) of each essay were calculated and aligned with academic success as follows: averages of student marks in courses that depend heavily on language proficiency (ELA and Social Studies) were regressed on 1) LS, 2) LD, 3) student ESL coding history data, and 4) Mathematics scores. Subsequent lexical frequency profile analysis allowed the identification of a domain of mid-frequency vocabulary that explains significant and unique variance of both essay quality and academic success in language-heavy grade-12 courses. Finally, by conducting Spearman correlations of word family frequency ranking, we found that vocabulary use of high-performing students (GPA >80%) was most similar to a grade-12 course material corpus, whereas that of low-performing students (GPA <53%) was most similar to materials developed for grades 8-9. We will explore these results and present how this research might be used to further operationalize academic language, to develop tools to monitor English academic literacy development for diagnostic purposes, and to inform a strategic K-12 academic language pedagogy.
Excellence in language, settlement, and refugee programs; National standards for professional cer... more Excellence in language, settlement, and refugee programs; National standards for professional certification and teacher training program recognition; Working together with provincial and territorial associations on common goals; Promoting ongoing professional development; Research and scholarship in the field of teaching and learning ESL; Linguistic rights for individuals and communities; Equality of employment opportunity for qualified non-native Englishspeaking and native English-speaking teachers; Assisting with English language development while still protecting Ancestral languages for speakers of Indigenous first languages
This presentation will provide insights into how detailed developmental scales of English lexis f... more This presentation will provide insights into how detailed developmental scales of English lexis for school-aged (K-12) learners might be developed and employed for research and pedagogical purposes. This work is part of a larger project prompted by recent calls for academic language to be given a more explicit and prominent role in mainstream public educational planning across the curricula in the U.S. and Canada, and recognizes that the lack of a general model of academic (first and second) language development impedes attempts to assess and strategically promote vocabulary development of all learners: majority-language-monolinguals, bilinguals and minority-language ELLs. With the goal of developing a lexical scale appropriate for K-12 contexts, we compared corpora frequency/dispersion rank-data (20,000+ items) with norm-referenced vocabulary-test word-item-difficulty rank-data (400 items) for three commercially-available vocabulary tests widely used by K-12 psychologists and/or ELL-placement specialists in North America. Corpora-derived ranked word-lists were generated from frequency and dispersion (range) data from 1) major sub-corpora of large general-corpora (e.g. COCA, BNC, Subtlex-US/UK), 2) child speech (CHILDES), and 3) K-12 school-approved texts (Educator's-Word-Frequency-Guide). Using Spearman-rank-correlations and Hotelling-Williams significance test of correlation differences, the optimal definition of "word" was first found to depend on the age/grade of the test takers: word-lists using word-derivational-family-groupings resulted in significantly higher correlations with item-difficulty-rankings of older learners (grades 9,12), but lemma-grouping-wordlists showed higher correlations with word ranks derived from younger test-taker data (≤grade 6), reflecting known derivational-morphology developmental differences. Furthermore, genre and modality also showed significant effects: briefly, lists derived from corpora of spontaneous speech, TV/movies for younger-viewers, and narrative-written-texts consistently showed higher correlations with test-item-difficulty-ranks than those derived from scripted-speech or any non-fiction-written-text genres. These results suggest that the prevailing trend to compile mega-corpora from easily-available electronic written-texts may not be ideal for the creation of either general-service-lists or developmental scales of academic English lexis.
[Book Review] (2016). Canadian Modern Language Review. 72(3): 383-385
System, 2022
While word-frequency lists have been commonly used as indexes of word usefulness, their role as a... more While word-frequency lists have been commonly used as indexes of word usefulness, their role as a proxy for learner word knowledge is unclear. Word knowledge in a structured sample (N = 625) of Japanese university-level EFL learners, operationalized using dichotomous Rasch modeling of test-item data, was used as an external reference criterion to investigate two issues germane to the development of word lists representing learner knowledge in EFL contexts: 1) the definition of word and 2) the choice of reference corpus. On the former, corpus-derived, word-frequency lists based on either word orthographic forms, flemmas, or word families were generated from 18 different corpora. Word-frequency lists using flemma-based word groupings resulted in higher correlations with learner population word knowledge as compared with those using word-family-based groupings across all 18 sets of word lists tested. On the latter, lists derived from corpora of spontaneous speech, fictional TV/movies for younger viewers, and narrative written texts consistently showed higher correlations with word knowledge than those derived from non-conversational speech, or any non-fiction written text genre. These results suggest that mega-corpora compiled from conveniently available electronic written texts may not be ideal as scales for diagnostic vocabulary testing or as indexes used in readability formulae.