Should a book contain words that are challenging to readers?
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Should a book contain words that are challenging to readers?
What's your opinion? Should a book contain words that are challenging to young readers or should it be kept simple? Why?
What about books for adults? Do you like reading books that contain challenging words? Why?
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Great question @amigine
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Overall, children (and adults) need to be challenged, not to the point of frustration, but enough to keep the reader engaged and learning. So, I loved that the author incorporated just enough new words, but not too much that a child could become easily frustrated.
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Thank youMarisaRose wrote:This is a really thoughtful question, I love it! I definitely think adding challenging words to books is a positive. As a young child, I remember I learned so much of my vocabulary from reading challenging books. Especially for children, the use of challenging words helps them develop skills to infer meaning through context. As an adult, I still learn a lot from challenging vocabulary in books! As long as children have access to an adult who can help them with challenging words, or know how to use a dictionary (or other similar tools), the use of challenging vocabulary can be really helpful in growing young readers minds.
Great question @amigine
-- 10 May 2017, 19:45 --
You're welcomehsimone wrote:Thank you for the shout-out, Amagine! When teaching, I used to do Running Records to understand my students' reading level and therefore suggest appropriate independent-reading books. Usually, in order to keep the reader engaged, you need a certain number of new/potentially unfamiliar words - this is their independent/learning level. If there are too many new words, then it becomes a bit too challenging and/or frustrating for the child (needs to be avoided). If the text is too simple, then you risk the child becoming bored.
Overall, children (and adults) need to be challenged, not to the point of frustration, but enough to keep the reader engaged and learning. So, I loved that the author incorporated just enough new words, but not too much that a child could become easily frustrated.
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I also feel that if the author does a good job at it, then children can use context clues to try and 'guess' the definition before confirming. I loved doing this as a teacher, and I love doing this as an adult! For my previous students, I used to present it as a game (sometimes; you don't want to overdo it either). They had to be a skillful detective and use clues to figure out unknown words' definitions. As they got older, it was less of a game and more of a useful reading skill. It helped them comprehend the story more when they were diving deeper into the text than just reading the words.
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I agree, in this instance, it might be a bit much having a young child look up the word in a dictionary. Perhaps the teacher can look up the word after the kids guess what the word might mean. Or, the classroom can make their own "dictionary" (or individual "dictionaries") after reading and conversing. The new words here could be included with a picture attached to the word, since many preschoolers don't write cohesive sentences.kandscreeley wrote:If no one was ever challenged, we would never learn. I think it's great as long as someone is there to explain the words to the child. At that age, I'm not sure they can be expected to know how to use a dictionary. Also, I think it's a great way to learn new words if the author makes it clear through the pictures or the context what the meaning is.
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