3:2 - Coalesce

When & Where:  I read coalesce in a book I am reviewing called Adolescent Literacy in the Era of the Common Core (Ippolito, Lawrence, & Zaller, eds., 2013). The sentence was: Using "definition-focused instructional practice ... is a good strategy for coalescing understanding of a new word, but not as effective as establishing an initial understanding of it" (Lawrence, Maher, & Snow, 2013, p. 63).

Level of Familiarity:  I have definitely heard this word before, but for some reason I always thought of it as meaning "bring together."  That doesn't seem to be what it means here.  In context, coalescing seems juxtaposed to the word "established." This indicates to me that coalesce means something like "begins" or "initiates."

What it Means:  Dictionary.com defines coalesce as "to blend or come together."

Reflective Commentary:  My initial assumption was correct; however, I now am having difficulty seeing this word as the most appropriate to use in this sentence.  Namely, how does receiving a definition of a word coalesce understandings?  Instead, I would think that coalescing of understandings could only happen when students have multiple exposures to a given word, a definition, opportunities to use it, etc.  I now question whether or not the authors used the word correctly here.  I think what they intended to say was that providing definitions establishes an initial understanding but does not coalesce understandings.