Vocabulary: Figuring Out What Words Mean

Essential Question: How can we help students assimilate new words into their vocabulary beyond the classroom?

Traditional Vocabulary Instruction

Beers describes vocabulary instruction as “one of those things we ought to be doing but generally don’t know much about doing” (Beers 176).

As a result, she believes that teachers often revert to the type of vocabulary instruction we experienced in school, which involves memorization and copying of words.

Rethinking Traditions

Beers observed classes and researched vocabulary instruction to try to discover what successful students and teachers do differently to create a meaningful learning experience concerning vocabulary.

Her findings were that a behaviorist approach to vocabulary does not seem to create a meaningful learning experience that students commit to long term memory.

What Else to Do?

Beers defines effective strategies for dependent readers as those that challenge the students to learn the word, use the word, and remember the word over a period of time.

She provides a number of strategies for how to do this in the classroom.

Strategy #1Assign word study, not memorization.

Beers conducted a study in which she asked teachers to learn lists of 20 difficult vocabulary words weekly over five weeks, and she found that even the teachers had difficulty remembering all of them.

She and the teachers in the study determined together that memorization did not work.

Usage of the words and connection to real life experiences were crucial for true learning to occur.

Lesson: Students learn more when we focus on fewer words and use those words in our own speech.

Strategy #2Teach students how to use a context clue.

Beers discusses how she constantly tells students to “use their context clues” to determine the meaning of a word; however, one bright student pointed out to her that oftentimes there is not enough information in the passage to determine the meaning or that the context clues may also be unfamiliar words.

She argues we must teach students how to look for context clues and create meaning through a series of inferences.

Lesson: Teaching students how to use the context as a clue requires that students see relationships among words and can make inferences about the passage.

Strategy #3

Teach word parts.

Beers believes that schools should have a master framework in place that each teacher build upon year to year concerning word parts (suffixes, prefixes, roots).

Show Vocabulary Tree

Lesson: Do some vertical planning with teachers in your school to determine which roots and affixes will be systematically taught in which grades. Use graphic organizers such as vocabulary trees to help students learn roots.

Strategy #4

Turn vocabulary study into a word hunt.

Have students create collections of words they have never heard before.

Show Mark my Words Bookmark

Show Words Across Contexts Activity

Lesson: Take advantage of students’ sense of discovery and play by making use of word puzzles.

Strategy #5

Use graphic organizers.

Show word scrolls.

Organize similar words together to create word families.

Lesson: Use graphic organizers to build word knowledge.

Strategy #6

Use logographic cards.

Show activity of logographic cards.

Lesson: Let students create logographic cards as a tool for remembering words. It’s fun and creative and helps create a meaningful learning experience.

Strategies #7 and #8

Read aloud.

Incorporate reading aloud and sustained silent reading into your instructional program.

Ask the right questions.

Ask students specific questions about their word knowledge and use their answers to help inform your instruction.

Word Recognition: When Kids Can’t Read

the WordsTeach high frequency words.

Teach common syllables.

Assess what your students know about sounds and letters.

Teach rime patterns. (word families)

Teach chunking.

Teach rules about syllables.

Teach the schwa sound.

Teach students to get their mouths ready.

Teach Word Parts

Use instructional level texts

Spelling: From Word Lists to How Words

WorkUnderstand the stages of spelling development.

Emergent, Letter name, Within-Word Pattern, Syllable Juncture, Derivational Constancy

Use Sorting

Teach students to sort words and group them together by words that are spelled differently. Have them take note of exceptions to the rule.

Ex. When to use –able versus –ible.

Spelling in Reading

Point out the spellings of words while reading and discuss the word parts.

Seeing the word used helps connect the spelling of the word to its meaning.

Suggestions for Improving Spelling

Spelling Word Walls

Homonym Lists

Thematic Spelling

School Words

Spelling Rules

Spelling Patterns