When students are learning new words, teachers teach students both the definition of the word, as well as provide a variety of opportunities for students to use the word and locate the word in numerous contexts. Teachers may teach synonyms and antonyms, as well as examples and non-examples of the words. Lessons can develop students’ vocabulary by focusing on words from a story and pairing those words with opposites. Ideal lessons start by using words that the students encounter in everyday life and then making connections to vocabulary words from the story.
The text talk strategy was developed to take advantage of the benefits of read alouds. The strategy has two main goals: enhancing vocabulary development and increasing comprehension. Comprehension is increased by interspersing open questions during the read aloud to engage students in thinking about the ideas in the story, talking about them, and making connections among the ideas as the story is read.
To use this strategy, teachers should select a children's picture book with a well-told story and an abundance of rich language. Choose approximately three Tier Two words to introduce and teach explicitly. Read and discuss the story with students. If the meaning of the targeted word is needed during the story in order to comprehend the story, stop while reading and share a brief, student-friendly definition of the word.
|After wrapping up the discussion of the story, introduce the targeted words one at a time. Contextualize the meaning of the word in the story.||After reading and discussing Corduroy with students, the teacher could say, "In this story, Lisa was reluctant to leave the laundromat without Corduroy."|
|Ask students to repeat the word.||"Say the word with me, reluctant."|
|Introduce a student-friendly definition.||"Reluctant means you are not sure you want to do something."|
|Share examples of the word in contexts that are different from the context in the story.||"Someone might be reluctant to eat food they have never had before. Or, someone might be reluctant to go in a haunted house because it seems too scary."|
|Engage students in thinking about and using the meaning of the word. Note that young children have a very strong tendency to limit a word's use to the context in which it was initially presented. Assist young children and struggling students to use the word in a new context.||"Tell me about something you would be reluctant to do. Try to use reluctant when you tell me. You can start by saying, 'I would be reluctant to _________.'"|
|Ask students to repeat the word again to reinforce its phonological representation.||"What's the word we've been talking about?"|
|Create activities (e.g., using all words, making choices) where students are required to interact with the targeted words.||"We've talked about three words. Let's think about them some more."|
(Beck & McKeown, 2001; McKeown & Beck, in press)
The idea is that it's not enough to know how a word is defined in a dictionary sense. Consider what happens with the following word that many 9th graders reading To Kill a Mockingbird may not have encountered before:
"of or related to a church"
Example of Appropriate Use in a Sentence:
The minister's ecclesiastical robes danced in echo to his wild gestures from the pulpit.
Example of Sentence Written by a Student:
Church members are reminded to park in the ecclesiastical parking lot, rather than in the shopping center across the street.
Besides the fact that "ecclesiastical" is probably not central to students' understanding of the themes of To Kill a Mockingbird, it remains that the definition they were given is too one-dimensional. They have not experienced its richness of meaning, nor the shades of meaning that help us distinguish words more precisely from one another. The best way for students to comprehend a new vocabulary term is for them to experience it. A concept of definition map helps broaden their experience of new words. [Schwartz & Raphael, 1985]
How Do They Work?
Concept of Definition maps consider words in light of three properties or attributes:
- category - What Is It?
- properties - What Is It Like?
- illustrations - What Are Some Examples?
Help Me Visualize A CD Map.
Got a good graphic for me?
Image and excerpt from Reading Quest.
A simplified version of a Concept of Definition Map, students fold a piece of paper into four sections. They write the vocabulary word in the upper-left section of their paper. Students will write what the word is like in the upper-right section. Examples of the word are written in the lower-left section, while non-examples are written in the lower-right section (Stahl, 1999). See the framework of a four-square vocabulary map below.
The Frayer Model is another version of a Concept of Definition Map. Students will activate their prior knowledge of a topic, organize knowledge into categories, and apply their new knowledge to this structure. See how a Frayer Model is structured below.
Semantic feature analysis works best for words that are included within a single class of words (e.g., tulips, roses, pansies, carnations). Some of the words should be already known by the students so that they can make connections and compare/contrast. The words are used to label the rows, while the columns are labeled with "semantic features" that are shared by some words and help to identify features that distinguish the words. See the example below.
|Cold temperatures||Repeat bloomer||Thorns|
(Santa, Havens, & Maycumber, 1996)
Linear arrays are visual representations of degree. The graphic organizer depicts gradations between two related words (more or fewer intervening cells may be used). An activity like this helps students expand their vocabulary and notice subtle distinctions in words.
- Pick a focus word (e.g., run) and write it on a card.
- Have students list as many other words as they can think of that mean almost the same thing as your focus word. Write each word on a separate card.
- Have students continue adding words during shared and guided reading.
- Have students think of a word that means the opposite of the focus word.
- Have students list as many other words as they can think of that mean the same thing as the antonym. Have students collect additional words during shared and guided reading to add to the list.
- Work with students to organize the words in descending order.
(Santa, Havens, & Maycumber, 1996)
Semantic mapping encourages active discussion and visually depicts the connections between words. Semantic mapping and similar techniques assist students in integrating new information with familiar information (an essential component of effective vocabulary instruction). Semantic mapping provides powerful support for students as it introduces related words along with the target words.
Begin by having students think of words that go with the topic. Integrate to-be-learned words into the conversation about the topic. Words are recorded on the board as they are discussed. Next, draw a circle with the topic listed in the middle. Work with students to generate categories for the words. Make a circle for each category and show how it is connected to the central topic. Have students read the selection and discuss the topics on the map that were included in the text. Ask students to identify other words or categories that need to be added to the topic map.
Venn diagrams are a graphics organization tool used to comparing two or more things. Shared characteristics are listed in the overlapping sections allowing for easy identification of which characteristics are shared and which aren't. String or colored yarn can be used to make circles on the floor to increase interactivity. Pictures can be used with struggling students or students with pre-reading skills.
Note taking strategies like three or four column notes allow students to analyze words by writing them, defining them, using them in a sentence and creating a visual picture to use as a word association device.
|Word Page Paragraph||Predict meaning from text or morphology (Or, students can copy text sentence)||Definition: Text, glossary, dictionary class discussion||Picture or Mnemonic device|
Science text page 128
To hunt other animals
The tiger is a predator that hunts alone crushing the zebra in its powerful jaws.
Animal (carnivore) that is hunts other animals for food. Tigers, sharks, owls, etc…
Word sort is a powerful reading strategy that is appropriate to both narrative selections and expository text. It is often an effective strategy choice for readings that contain information that is critical for student comprehension and retention of key concepts and big ideas.
Word sorts allow students to build on their prior knowledge to develop a more complete understanding of words. Students might have a file box organized to include Tier Two words and Tier Three content-area words (read about Tier Words). Students are directed to group words with similar meanings or shared features, and to explain how the words are related. Both open and closed word sorts can easily be adapted to any content area or vocabulary review.
- Open sort: Students create their own categories for sorting words. Open sorts engage students in inductive reasoning.
- Closed sort: Students are given the categories into which the words are to be sorted. This process engages students in classifying known words.
Word sorts allow students to build on their prior knowledge to develop a more refined understanding of words. Word sorts are motivating in that they require student involvement and conversation about words.
Two Types of Word Sorts
|OPEN WORD SORTS||CLOSED WORD SORTS|
|Students are given only the words to be categorized and they determine the ways in which the words can be grouped.||Students are given words to sort AND categories for sorting the words are predetermined by the teacher.|
Both require high levels of thinking and discussion about words.
|Open Sort List||Closed Sort List|
See Handout in Tools Section: "How to Conduct Word Sorts"
(Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, & Johnston, 2000)
The Three Tiers of words for vocabulary study
Tier Three words
Content specific low frequency words, typically limited to specific domains and probably best learned with explicit instruction when needed in a content area. Examples include: isotope, lathe, peninsula
Tier Three Words: usually need explicit instruction tend to be specific to a content area students have had little exposure to the word
Tier Two Words
High frequency words that help students become mature readers. Instruction in these words can add productively to an individual’s language ability. These words are likely to appear frequently in a wide variety of texts and in the written and oral language of mature language users. Examples include: coincidence, absurd, industrious.
Tier Two Words: may need explicit instruction if they appear frequently, are useful across a variety of domains, are familiar concepts but provide greater precision and specificity for language use have instructional potential so that students can build rich representations of the words and are able to connect them to other words and concepts
Tier One Words
High Frequency words. The most basic words rarely requiring instruction in school. Examples include: clock, baby, happy
Tier One Words: rarely require explicit instruction
Beck, McKeown, & Kucan (2002) Bringing Words to Life
A Process for Selecting Words for Explicit Instruction
Step 1: Determine what you want your students to learn as a result of reading and studying the content.
Step 2: Identify general words that are not necessarily central to the unit of study but are high frequency, “mature language user” words that lend themselves to various independent word-learning strategies .
Step 3: Identify key terms that are related to the unit of study (Tier Two & Three words).
Explicit instruction in structured analysis of words, including roots, prefixes, and suffixes provides the necessary tools for this strategy. Students analyze the unfamiliar word and attempt to determine whether a known root, suffix, or prefix can help them determine the meaning.
Prefix or suffix is written in the center. Students add words to form a web that is made of given word part. See the sample word web below.
A Word Wall is a classroom space devoted to organizing and posting words that have been studied. Words can be organized thematically (e.g., words from units of study) or alphabetically (e.g., words collected and studied during read alouds, shared reading, and guided reading). Encourage students to use the Word Wall to support their writing.
- Select only words students will frequently read, write, or speak.
- Encourage students to identify words they want on the Word Wall. Often students will discover words for the wall during the daily news, shared and guided reading, journal writing, and modeled and shared writing.
- Use pictures and objects to introduce words and then group them in a systematic way (theme, content, alphabetical, patterns, etc.).
- Interact daily with the words until students have a deep understanding of the meaning of each word. Study different features of the words, such as sounds, letters, and meanings.
- Occasionally refresh the Word Wall by removing the words the students can read and write to create room for other words.
Some strategies for actively engaging students with the words on the Word Wall are suggested below.
|Leave a blank in a sentence; students fill in the blank with a word from Word Wall that makes sense in the context.
Judging from the chaos, the lieutenant had no control over the soldiers.
|Students act out words from the Word Wall.
|Find a word on the Word Wall that fits the blank.
Yellow is to banana as _____________ is to apple.
|Better Word Exercise|
|Replace the word written in capitals in each sentence, by finding a word on the Word Wall that fits the sentence.
Sally could not TRANSPORT the heavy load.
|Find one word on the Word Wall that correctly fills in the blank for each pair of sentences (treasure).
I found money in the __________ chest.
|Find a word on the Word Wall that is an antonym of the word printed in capital letters.
It was dark so we turned the lights OFF.
|Find a word on the Word Wall that is a synonym of the word printed in capital letters.
The dog TROTTED down the street.