Dynamic Vocabulary Content adapted from Anita L. Archer, Ph.D.

Two BIG IDEAS about Vocabulary

If students

can pronounce the words in a passage accurately

and fluently

understand the meaning of critical vocabulary in the

passage,

then their comprehension will be

enhanced.

Importance of Vocabulary Instruction

• Receptive Language– Reading Comprehension (Chall, Jacobs, & Baldwin,

1990; Scarborough, 1998; Stahl & Fairbanks)– Listening Comprehension

• Expressive Language– Writing – Speaking

• Overall Reading Achievement (Stanovich, et.al, 1993)• Overall School Success (Becker, 1977; Anderson & Nagy, 1991)

• Hallmark of an Educated Individual (Beck, McKeown, Kucan, 2002)

Vocabulary Gap

• Children enter school with different levels of vocabulary (Hart & Risley, 1995)

• Cumulative Vocabulary (Age 4)– Children from professional families 1100 words– Children from working class families700 words– Children from families on welfare 500 word

• Linguistically “poor” first graders knew 5,000 words; linguistically “rich” first graders knew 20,000 words. (Moats, 2001)

Vocabulary Gap

• Children who enter school with limited vocabulary knowledge grow more discrepant over time from their peers who have rich vocabulary knowledge (Baker, Simmon, & Kame’enui, 1997)– The number of words students learn varies greatly– 2 vs. 8 words per day– 750 vs. 3,000 words per year

• After the primary grades, the “achievement gap” between socioeconomic groups is a language gap (Hirsch, 2002)

Components of a Vocabulary Program

• High-quality Classroom Language (Dickinson, Cote, & Smith, 1993)

• Explicit Vocabulary Instruction (Becker, Kame’enui, & Simmons, 1998; Baumann, Kame’emui, & Ash, 2003; Beck & McKeown, 1991; Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2002; Biemiller, 2004; Marzano, 2004; Paribakht & Wesche, 1997)

• Word-Learning Strategies ( Buikima & Grave, 1993; Edwards, Font, Baumann, & Boland, 2004; White, Sowell, & Yanagihara, 1989)

• Word-Consciousness (Diamond &Gutlohn, 2006; Scott & Nagy, 2004)

• Wide Independent Reading (Anderson, Nayb, 1992; Cunningham & Stanovich, 1998; Naby, Anderson, & Herman, 1987; Sternberg, 1987)

Rich Language Classroom

High Quality Classroom Language

• Use high-quality vocabulary in the classroom• Ensure understanding

– Tell students the meaning of the word (EXPLICIT)• “Don’t procrastinate on your project. Procrastinate means to put

off doing something– Parallel language - slide in the meaning

• “Let’s analyze this equation. Let’s figure it out”• “What’s the significance of this incident….this event.”

Explicit Vocabulary Instruction

Explicit Instruction

• Teach the meaning of critical, unknown vocabulary words. – Select a limited number of words for robust, explicit

vocabulary instruction.

– Three to ten words per story or section in a chapter would be appropriate .

– Briefly tell students the meaning of other words that are needed for comprehension.

(Beck, et. al)

Explicit Instruction

• Select words that are unknown.• Select words that are critical to passage

understanding.• Select words that students are likely to encounter in

the future and are generally useful. (Stahl, 1986)

– Focus on Tier Two words (Beck & McKeown, 2003)

– Academic Vocabulary • Select difficult words that need interpretation

– Abstract referent, unknown concept, uncommon usage, not defined in context

Explicit Instruction

• Tier One –Basic words– chair, bed, happy, house

• Tier Two –Words in general use, but not common– concentrate, absurd, fortunate, relieved, dignity, convenient– Academic Vocabulary – analyze, facilitate, inherent,

fundamental, supplement, equivalent

• Tier Three –Rare words limited to a specific domain– tundra, igneous rock, weathering – Background Knowledge

(Beck & McKeown, 1985)

You, the

teacher

Reading Level: Eighth Grade Passage: Gift of the MagiSeries: Prentice Hall Words: *Selected from instruction in teacher’s manual > defined in text

discreet* imputation > modest

ravages* parsimony > prudencechaste* flat > (apartment) laboriously

cascade* mendicancy squad >

ecstatic

meretricious* supervising deadline

instigate* Coney Island conception

Before Reading–Vocabulary Instruction Select 8 words for robust, explicit instruction

Explicit Instruction

Step 1. Introduce the word

Step 2. Present a student-friendly explanation OR have students find the

definitionOR teach the word parts

Step 3. Illustrate the word with examples

Step 4. Check students’ understanding

1. Introduce the Word

• Write word on overhead/whiteboard• Teacher reads the word • Students repeat the word• If word is difficult, students repeat the word 3 times

Introduce the word with me:This word is compulsory. What word? compulsory Say it three times. compulsory, compulsory, compulsory

2. Student Friendly Definitions

• Use a dictionary designed for English Language Learners for better definitions

• Example – conglomeration– 1st dictionary: The act of conglomerating– 2nd dictionary: The act or process of conglomerating; am

accumulation of miscellaneous things– Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary: a large group

or mass of different things all gathered together in an untidy or unusual way

When something is required and you must do it, it is compulsory. So, if it is required and you must do it, it is compulsory.

2b. Locate the Definition

Should students use:

Dictionary or

Glossary– Glossary will give you the definition for the word as it is

used in the text– IN the book (no other resources needed)– Faster (less transitioning)

Dictionaries with Student friendly Explanations/sentences

• Collins Cobuild American Student Dictionary– http://www.collinslanguage.com

• Longman’s– http://www.ldoceonline.com/

• Heinle’s – http://nhd.heinle.com

• Merriam Webster’s (pronunciation button)– http://learnersdictionary.com

2c. Teach Morphographs in the Word

a. Introduce word in relationship to its “word relatives” (“word families”).

DO NOW: Create a word web using the root struct

b. Analyze parts of wordc. If the students are Spanish speakers, guide students

to use cognates. - A word that is related to English

Word Web

struct

Construct• Construction• constructivist

3. Illustrate Words with examples

• Concrete examples– bring in an object to show– Act it out

• Visual examples– Pictures, artwork, diagrams– Google images– www.taggalaxy.com

• Verbal examples– Discuss when the term might be used and who might use itComing to school as an 8th grader is compulsory.Stopping at a stop sign when driving is compulsory.

4. Check Understanding

• Ask deep processing questions– Why do you think something becomes compulsory?

• Have students discern between examples and non-examples– Is going to school in 9th grade compulsory? Yes– How do you know it is compulsory? It is required– Is going to college when you are 25 compulsory? No– Why is it NOT compulsory? You choose to go to college.

• Have students generate their own examples. – There are many things at this school that are compulsory.

Think of as many as you can. Think/pair/share

Extensions

• Introduce part of speech• Introduce synonyms and antonyms, homographs

(same spelling – different meanings)• Tell students when and where the word is often used• Introduce etymology of the word (history and/or

origin) • Introduce other word in the same “word family”

(derivatives)– Base word vs. root

Word Parts

base word• can stand alone

hopeless

root• Dependent on

something else to make sense

inspect

Polysemous Words

• What does polysemous mean?

Think Pair Share

Poly semous

many sēma – greek; sign= meaning

Teach Polysemous Words

• Words that have multiple meanings • With your partner, define the following words in at

least two different ways:– solution – element– space– run– duck

Teach Idioms

• Phrase or expression different from the literal meaning– Martin seems to have a chip on his shoulder.– The experienced secretary knows the ropes.– Jennifer gave six off the cuff reasons for her decision.

• A natural manner of speaking to a native speaker of the language– What does “knocks spots off” mean?

• to be very much better than someone or something else– There's a vegetarian restaurant in Brighton that knocks spots off any

round here.

Put your money where your mouth is.Teaching tip: Have your students illustrate an idiom

Idiom Websites

• http://www.idiomsite.com/• Definitions, used in a sentence

• http://www.idiomquest.com/– searchable database of American English idioms. It is designed to be

used as a reference site to support the learning interests of English as a Second Language (ESL) students, businesses, and linguists

• http://www.idiomsbykids.com/– Kid illustrations of idioms

• http://www.pride-unlimited.com/probono/idioms1.html– Origins of idioms

In Content Areas

• Content area words– Feudalism, fief, vassal, serfs, chivalry

• Academic Vocabulary– Analyze, analysis, deposit, feature

ADD

Word Learning Strategies

• Semantic Mapping• Vocabulary Logs• Completion activities• Word Pairs• Sentence Substitution• Word Sorts

Let’s try one!

Word Learning Strategies

• Context Clues• Compound Words• Word part meanings• Word Association• Games –

– Vocab words and synonyms/antonyms (Go Fish, Concentration, Old Maid

– Jeopardy, Charades, Pictionary

Word Learning Strategies

Context Clues• Teach students to use context clues to determine the

meaning of unknown vocabulary (Gipe & Arnold, 1979)

• However, if a student 100 unfamiliar words in print, s/he will only learn between 5-15 words (Nagy, Hermann, & Anderson, 1985; Swanborn, & de Glopper, 1999)

Context Clues

1. Read the sentence in which the unknown word occurs for clues as to the word’s meaning

2. Read the surrounding sentences for clues as to the words’ meaning.

3. Look at the parts of the word (prefixes, roots, suffixes)

4. Ask yourself, “What might the word mean?”5. Try the possible meaning in the sentence.6. Ask yourself, “Does that make sense?”

Compound Words

Vocabulary Strategy:Yes-No-Why?

• Pair up 2 vocabulary words and put them into a question format

• Provides opportunity for students to more deeply process the meaning.–Can incidents cause compassion?–Do people always comply with their

obligations?–Can migrants be refugees?

Gradable Antonyms

• Put these words along a continuum–Tiny–Huge–Miniscule–Large–Enormous–Average–Small