Teaching Word Meaning: Methods Teaching Word Meaning: Methods that Really Workthat Really Work

Deborah F. Knight, Ph.D.International Dyslexia Association

Georgia BranchFebruary 11, 2006

WhatWhat’’s Hots Hot

• The IRA says vocabulary is hot and should be hot.

Workshop OutlineWorkshop Outline

• What do we know about vocabulary?• Why is vocabulary important?• What does it mean to know a word?• How do we select the words to be learned?• How do we teach the words?

What do we know about vocabulary?

Thank you, William the Thank you, William the ConquerorConqueror

• The truth is that if borrowing words could destroy a language, English would be dead (Old Norse), deceased (French), defunct (Latin), kaput (German). When it comes to borrowing, English excels (Latin), surpasses (French), eclipses (Greek) any other language.

» (Clairborne, 1983)

How many words are there?How many words are there?

• Oxford English Dictionary has 616,500 words

• German = 184,000• French and Russian = < 100,000

How many words do people How many words do people know?know?

• Estimates of adult vocabulary size (college graduates) range from 19,000 to 200,000 (others guessstimate average adult ranges of 30,000; 45,000; 80,000; and 100,000 respectively).

– Baumann, Kameenui, & Ash, 2003

• Average students add 2,000-3,000 words a year to their reading vocabularies.

• If we taught 10 words a week, students would be taught 400 words per year and probably learn about 75% of those.

– Stahl & Nagy, 2006

A Dilemma and ChallengeA Dilemma and Challenge

• The children from advantaged homes knew five times more words than the children from the homes with the lowest incomes.

• The difference starts out with the children from advantaged homes knowing about twice as many words, and the gap widens over time.

– Hart & Risley, 1995

Why is vocabulary important?Why is vocabulary important?

• Best single predictor of school success.• The correlation between vocabulary scores

and reading comprehension scores is consistently high across studies.

• Vocabulary is closely associated with intelligence and knowledge.

• A rich knowledge of words results in more elaborated understanding of concepts.

What does it mean to know a What does it mean to know a word?word?

Run

• The Oxford English Dictionary lists 396 different meanings for the word run. Can you name them all?

What does it mean to know a What does it mean to know a word?word?

blithely• Do you know this word well enough to

define it?• Have you heard of the word?• Try writing a definition.• Try using it in a sentence.

What does it mean to know a What does it mean to know a word?word?

• belligerent• contentious • pugnacious • quarrelsome • bellicose• What do these words have in common?• With a partner, put them in order of the

most aggressive to the least aggressive.

Continuum of Word KnowledgeContinuum of Word Knowledge

• No knowledge• General sense, for example, knowing that

belligerent has a negative connotation.• Narrow, context-bound knowledge, for example,

knowing that sensitive in She was so sensitive that the telling her that her answer was incorrect caused her to burst into tears, but not understanding The sensitive defense data was considered classified.

• Having knowledge of a word, but not being able to recall it readily enough to use it in appropriate situations.

• Rich, decontextualized knowledge of a word’s meaning, its relationship to other words, and its extension to metaphorical uses such as She devoured the book.

You try itYou try it

Word Know it well, can explain it, use it

Know something about it, can relate it to a situation

Have seen or heard the word

Do not know the word

galumph

tyrannysurreptitious

dubious

Choosing wordsChoosing words

• Basic high frequency words (Tier 1)– Baby, run, happy

• Specialized knowledge (Tier 3)– Domain-specific (photosynthesis)– Best learned within the content

• High-utility, sophisticated words (Tier 2 words)– Ordinary words for mature language learners– Within the child’s conceptual grasp

(surreptitious vs. dubious)

Tier 2 WordsTier 2 Words

• Sophisticated– generous vs. nice

• High utility– Useful across many contexts– hurled vs. threw

• Conceptually appropriate– surreptitious vs. dubious

How many words?How many words?

• Beck, McKeown, and Kucan (2002) taught 400 per year.

• Students need to learn about 7,000 unique words.

• What do you think is reasonable and possible?

You Try ItYou Try It

• Despite their superstitious natures, the men and boys enjoyed spinning tall tales about ghosts and playing ghostly tricks on other workers by pretending to be the spirit of someone who had died. Once, two boys smuggled a goat into the mines. They strapped a brightly lit candle between the goat's horns, then turned it loose in the gangway. The eerie bobbing of the candle petrified a group of mine workers.

– From Growing Up in Coal Country by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Choosing Tier 2 WordsChoosing Tier 2 Words

• Choose 6 words you think 4th students might not know.

• Decide whether they are tier 2 or 3 words.• Select 3 to teach.• Decide whether to explain or teach the

others.

Identifying Tier 2 WordsIdentifying Tier 2 Words

Word Tier DecisionTier 2 Tier 3 Explain Teach Ignore

Identifying Tier 2 WordsIdentifying Tier 2 Words

Word Tier DecisionTier

2Tier

3Explain Teach Ignore

superstitious x xspinning x xsmuggled x xgangway x xeerie x xpetrified x x

How should we teach vocabulary?

Introducing WordsIntroducing Words

• Dictionary definition– disrupt—to break up; split

• Her boyfriend disrupted her.

• Student-friendly definition– Disrupt—to cause problems that stop

something from continuing easily or peacefully• The protestors disrupted the political rally.

Dictionary DefinitionsDictionary Definitions

• Brief—economy of words• Weak differentiation: conspicuous—easily

seen• Vague: typical—of a type• Misconstrued interpretation: Her boyfriend

disrupted her.• Multiple pieces of information that are not

integrated: exotic—foreign, strange, not native (because something is from another place)

You try itYou try it

• Write a student-friendly, elaborated definition for – morbid—not healthy or normal

– I need to stay home from school today because I am morbid.

What should a vocabulary program What should a vocabulary program include?include?

4 components of teaching vocabulary• Teaching individual words• Teaching strategies of word learning• Fostering word consciousness• Providing frequent, extensive, and varied

opportunities for reading.» Graves (2000)

Learning WordsLearning Words

• Frequency—12 exposures to make the word one’s own

• Richness and elaboration• Use of words outside of

classroom

Developing Vocabulary in Young Developing Vocabulary in Young ChildrenChildren

• Read the story.• Contextualize the word within the story.• Have the children say the word.• Provide a student-friendly definition of the word.• Present examples of the word in different contexts.• Engage in activities that get children to interact

with words.• Have the children repeat the word.Note: Teach words after and during read alouds.

How do we teach vocabulary?

Activities for Developing Vocabulary

Teaching individual words

Questions, reasons, and examplesQuestions, reasons, and examples

• What is something you could do to impress your teacher?

• Which of these is extraordinary? – A shirt that is comfortable or a shirt that washes itself– A person who has a library card or a person who has

read all the books in the library• If you are walking in a dark room, you must do it

cautiously? Why? What else do you have to do cautiously?

• What is the most incredible sight you can imagine?

Making choicesMaking choices

• If any of the things I say would make someone look radiant, say “You’d be radiant.” If not, don’t say anything.– Winning a million dollars– Getting a hug from a favorite movie star– Walking to a post office– Cleaning your room– Winning first prize for a picture you painted

More making choicesMore making choices

• If a dog is menacing, do you want to pet it or get away from it?

• If a man is agitated, would he be pacing or sitting?

• Is grumpy a way you might feel or a way you might move?

Relating wordsRelating words

• Show us how your mother might look if she insisted that you do your homework.

• Show us how you would look if you were reluctant to take your little sister to the park.

• Show us how you would look if you were in your favorite chair and became drowsy.

Elaborating with examplesElaborating with examples

• We all have emotions.• How would you feel if

– your pet guinea pig died, how would you feel?– the power goes out and you are all alone?– you get your favorite toy for your birthday?

• Sad, afraid, and happy are all what? (emotions)

More elaboration with examplesMore elaboration with examples

• Describe how someone acts that shows they are diligent.

• Tell me about a time you were perplexed.

Facets of word meaningsFacets of word meanings

• banter– A husband and wife argue about what to have

for dinner– A husband and wife kid each other about who

ate more for dinner.• berate

– A police officer yells at a driver whose care is blocking traffic.

– A police officer calls a tow truck to move a car blocking traffic.

Alternative definitionsAlternative definitions

• Present definitions with altered wording:– Stern

• Being very strict about how you look and what you do

• Very demanding about how you and others behave

Timed activitiesTimed activities

• True or false– Shrill sounds can hurt your ears.– Gregarious people would rather be alone.– It might be hard to have a conversation when

there is a commotion.

– 14 items in 90 seconds.

Sentence CompletionSentence Completion

• The party ended in turmoil because ______.• His job was in jeopardy because ________.• There were so many people on the deck,

that it collapsed. The party ended in _________.

• The manager found that 20 dollars was missing at the end of night. Jake feared his job was in ________.

More alike or differentMore alike or different

• create…..make• hope……expect• entire……part• recent……old• explain….demand

Using content to extend Using content to extend vocabularyvocabulary

• Name an organ that is not vital to the human body.

• What events in the world could cause turmoil in the Middle East?

Words on a continuumWords on a continuum

• Insert as many words as you can between the antonyms.– Elated--------------------------------------depressed– Scalding-------------------------------------freezing

How are these words alike and How are these words alike and different?different?

• pugnacious and contentious• exotic and unique• acquaintance and ally

Evaluating the nuances of Evaluating the nuances of wordswords

• How much energy does it take to…1. meander down the hall?2. vault over a car?3. banter with your best friend for an hour?4. stalk a turtle?5. be a spectator at a concert?Least energy_________________Most energy

Context interpretationContext interpretation

• Anita thought that Dawn was ridiculing her when she said that the cake she made was beautiful. How do you think Anita thought her cake looked?

Teaching strategies of word learning

• Strategies for teaching words are especially important in content area classes.

• Vocabulary is closely tied to concepts being taught.

• Use strategies to teach the words that represent big ideas in your discipline.

“I pledge allegiance to the flag…”

Four SquareFour Square

word Examples of the Concept

definition (in students’own words preferably)

Nonexamples

Four SquareFour Square

allegiance

The UGA BulldogsThe United States

My dog to meMy friend

loyaltyfaithfulness

Benedict ArnoldSomeone who steals

from a companySomeone who burns

the flag

Word MapWord Map

Word Nonexamples

What is it?

Examples

What is it like?

Word MapWord Map

Allegiance Arnold

Not always clear

Loyalty

Bulldogs

Thinking & Writing about WordsThinking & Writing about Words

• Rewrite the Pledge of Allegiance in words that a first grader understands.

• Can someone who burns the American flag have allegiance to the United States?

• Do you always love the people and things to which you have allegiance?

Semantic MappingSemantic Mapping

• Brainstorm and discuss to identify what students already know about the word/concept. The teacher can add words.

• Map the ideas by identifying categories and supporting details.

• Read, observe, study.• Revise and expand the map using new

information learned.

Brainstorming VolcanoesBrainstorming Volcanoes

• Mountains that explode• The lava explodes from the volcano.• Can be extinct• Some ooze lava• Hawaii• Islands can be made from volcanoes.• Destroy everything in the path of the lava.• Mt. St. Helens• Pompeii• Change weather far away• Lots of ash

Semantic MappingSemantic Mapping

Volcanoes

Property Effect

Examples

Ooze lava Change weather

Mt. St. Helens

Compare and ContrastCompare and Contrast

fish amphibians

Body w/scalesFinsGills

Body w/ thin skinLegsLungs

TailH2O repro

Enriching the Verbal Enriching the Verbal EnvironmentEnvironment

• Using mature vocabulary– Incarceration

• The Word Wizard/The Word Bird– Points are awarded to students using and/or

finding target words outside of the classroom.• The Vocabulary Group

– Word t-shirts

BibliographyBibliography

Allen, J. (1999). Words, Words, Words: Teaching Vocabulary in Grades 4-12. York, ME: Stenhouse.

Beck, I.L., McKeown, M.G., & Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing Words to Life. New York: Guilford.

Stahl, S.A. & Nagy, W.E. (2006). Teaching Word Meanings. Mahwah, N.J.: Erlbaum.

Contact InformationContact Information

Deborah Knight, Ph.D. Coordinator

Rollins Center for Language and Learninga professional development program of the

Atlanta Speech School404-233-5332

www.atlantaspeechschool.org/rollins