Improving Vocabulary Instruction  TED 406 Teaching Secondary Reading Jill Aguilar
How many words do students need to know? Early vocabulary researchers:  2,500 to 26,000 words typical grade 1 students 19,000 to 200,000 words college graduate students  (Beck & McKeown, 1991) Current consensus among researchers: students add approximately 2,000 to 3,500 distinct words yearly to their reading vocabularies  (Anderson & Nagy, 1992; Anglin, 1993; Beck & McKeown, 1991; White et al., 1990)
Four-Part Vocabulary Program  Graves, M.F. (2006).  The Vocabulary Book: Learning and Instruction. Providing rich and varied language experiences Teaching individual words Teaching word-learning strategies Fostering word consciousness
Four Essential Classroom Components Specific words  (based on specific criteria) Independent word learning strategies Wide reading Word consciousness
Teaching Specific Words New meanings for known words —synonyms for words that students already know New words representing known concepts —multiple meanings, such as  attention ,  channel , and  practice New words representing new and complex concepts — liberty ,  biome ,  probability
Teaching Independent Word Learning Strategies Morphology Root words Prefixes and suffixes Cognates  Context clues Use of dictionaries and other references
Teaching words well means giving students multiple opportunities to develop word meanings and learn how words are conceptually related to one another in the texts they are studying.   Vacca, R. T., & Vacca, J. L. (2008).   Content Area Reading: Literacy and Learning Across the Curriculum  p. 142 .  Boston: Pearson, Allyn and Bacon.
Selecting Words to Teach  (Graves 2006) Is understanding the word important to understanding the selection in which it appears? Are students able to use context or structural-analysis skills to discover the word’s meaning? Can working with this word be useful in furthering student’s context, structural-analysis, or dictionary skills? How useful is this word outside of the reading selection currently being taught?
Usefulness and Frequency  (Beck 2002) Tier One  - words such as  clock ,  baby , and  happy  whose meanings students are likely to know Tier Two  - words such as  fortunate ,  maintain , and  merchant;  likely to appear frequently in a wide variety of texts and in the written and oral language of mature language users; whose meanings students are less likely to know. Tier Three  - words such as  irksome, pallet,  and  retinue  that appear in text rarely; often unknown to students, appearance in texts limited to one or two occurrences; often specific to particular content, students often can use the context of texts to establish their meaning.
Some Criteria for Identifying Tier Two Words (Beck et al., 2002, p. 19) Importance and Utility:  Words that are characteristic of mature language users and appear frequently across a variety of domains. Instructional Potential:  Words that can be worked with in a variety of ways so that students can build deep knowledge of them and of their connections to other words and concepts. Conceptual Understanding:  Words for which students understand the general concept but provide precision and specificity in describing the concept.
Types of Vocabulary Found in Textbooks General vocabulary  - everyday words with widely acknowledged meanings in common usage Special vocabulary  - words from general vocabulary that take on specialized meanings when adapted to a particular content area Technical vocabulary  - words that have usage and application only in a particular subject area Vacca, R. T., & Vacca, J. L. (2008).   Content Area Reading,  p. 145 .
Which content areas include the terms in the lists below? Vacca, R. T., & Vacca, J. L. (2008).   Content Area Reading,  p. 145 . octogon hemisphere decagon hexagon bisect equilateral quadrilateral pentagon polyunsaturated glycogen monosaccharide hydrogenation enzymes lyzine cellulose metaphor allusion irony paradox symbolism imagery simile prestissimo adagio larghetto presto allegro largo andante tempo nationalism imperialism naturalism instrumentalism isolationist radicalism fundamentalist anarchy
Why Not Teach All Unknown Words in a Text? (Armbruster, Lehr, & Osborn, 2001) The text may have a great many words that are unknown to students – too many for direct instruction. Direct vocabulary instruction can take a lot of class time – time that teachers might better spend having students read. Students may be able to understand a text without knowing the meaning of every word in the text. Students need opportunities to use word-learning strategies to independently learn the meanings of unknown words.
The Academic Word List (AWL) 10 groups of approximately 60 headwords each—intended for high school & college Sublist 1 analyze approach area assess assume authority available benefit concept consist constitute context contract create data define derive distribute economy environment establish estimate evident export factor finance formula function identify income indicate individual interpret involve issue labor legal legislate major method occur percent period policy principle proceed process require research respond role section sector significant similar source specific structure theory vary Coxhead, A. (2000). A new academic word list.  TESOL Quarterly, 34,  213-238.
Teaching Independent Word Learning Strategies Morphology Root words Prefixes and suffixes Cognates  Context clues Use of dictionaries and other references
Examples of morphologically rich families* create   created  creates  creating  creation  creations  creative  creatively  creativity  creator  creators  recreate  recreated  recreates  recreating  interpret  interpretation  interpretations   interpretative  interpreted  interpreting  interpretive  interprets  misinterpret  misinterpretation  misinterpretations  misinterpreted  misinterpreting  misinterprets  reinterpret  reinterpreted  reinterprets  reinterpreting  reinterpretation  reinterpretations   *Coxhead, A. (2000).  A new academic word list.  TESOL  Quarterly,  34, 213-238.
Examples of “strong” cognates:  1st Sub-List of the Academic Word List analyze   analizar benefit   beneficio define   definir distribute   distribuir identify   identificar indicate   indicar individual    individual
Characteristics of Effective Vocabulary Instruction  Marzano, R.J.   (2004).  Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement. Effective vocabulary instruction does not rely on definitions. Students must represent their knowledge of words in linguistic and nonlinguistic ways. Effective vocabulary instruction involves the gradual shaping of word meanings through multiple exposures.
Characteristics of Effective Vocabulary Instruction  Marzano, R.J.   (2004).  Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement. Teaching word parts enhances students’ understanding of terms. Different types of words require different types of instruction. Students should discuss the terms they are learning.
Characteristics of Effective Vocabulary Instruction  Marzano, R.J.   (2004).  Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement. Students should play with words.  Instruction should focus on terms that have a high probability of enhancing academic success.
Six Steps to Effective Vocabulary Instruction  Marzano, R.J.   (2004).  Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement. The teacher provides a description, explanation, or example of the new term. Students restate the explanation of the new term in their own words. Students create a nonlinguistic representation of the term.
Six Steps to Effective Vocabulary Instruction  Marzano, R.J.   (2004).  Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement. Students periodically do activities that help them add to their knowledge of vocabulary terms. Periodically students are asked to discuss the terms with one another. Periodically students are involved in games that allow them to play with the terms.

Vocab

  • 1.
    Improving Vocabulary Instruction TED 406 Teaching Secondary Reading Jill Aguilar
  • 2.
    How many wordsdo students need to know? Early vocabulary researchers: 2,500 to 26,000 words typical grade 1 students 19,000 to 200,000 words college graduate students (Beck & McKeown, 1991) Current consensus among researchers: students add approximately 2,000 to 3,500 distinct words yearly to their reading vocabularies (Anderson & Nagy, 1992; Anglin, 1993; Beck & McKeown, 1991; White et al., 1990)
  • 3.
    Four-Part Vocabulary Program Graves, M.F. (2006). The Vocabulary Book: Learning and Instruction. Providing rich and varied language experiences Teaching individual words Teaching word-learning strategies Fostering word consciousness
  • 4.
    Four Essential ClassroomComponents Specific words (based on specific criteria) Independent word learning strategies Wide reading Word consciousness
  • 5.
    Teaching Specific WordsNew meanings for known words —synonyms for words that students already know New words representing known concepts —multiple meanings, such as attention , channel , and practice New words representing new and complex concepts — liberty , biome , probability
  • 6.
    Teaching Independent WordLearning Strategies Morphology Root words Prefixes and suffixes Cognates Context clues Use of dictionaries and other references
  • 7.
    Teaching words wellmeans giving students multiple opportunities to develop word meanings and learn how words are conceptually related to one another in the texts they are studying. Vacca, R. T., & Vacca, J. L. (2008). Content Area Reading: Literacy and Learning Across the Curriculum p. 142 . Boston: Pearson, Allyn and Bacon.
  • 8.
    Selecting Words toTeach (Graves 2006) Is understanding the word important to understanding the selection in which it appears? Are students able to use context or structural-analysis skills to discover the word’s meaning? Can working with this word be useful in furthering student’s context, structural-analysis, or dictionary skills? How useful is this word outside of the reading selection currently being taught?
  • 9.
    Usefulness and Frequency (Beck 2002) Tier One - words such as clock , baby , and happy whose meanings students are likely to know Tier Two - words such as fortunate , maintain , and merchant; likely to appear frequently in a wide variety of texts and in the written and oral language of mature language users; whose meanings students are less likely to know. Tier Three - words such as irksome, pallet, and retinue that appear in text rarely; often unknown to students, appearance in texts limited to one or two occurrences; often specific to particular content, students often can use the context of texts to establish their meaning.
  • 10.
    Some Criteria forIdentifying Tier Two Words (Beck et al., 2002, p. 19) Importance and Utility: Words that are characteristic of mature language users and appear frequently across a variety of domains. Instructional Potential: Words that can be worked with in a variety of ways so that students can build deep knowledge of them and of their connections to other words and concepts. Conceptual Understanding: Words for which students understand the general concept but provide precision and specificity in describing the concept.
  • 11.
    Types of VocabularyFound in Textbooks General vocabulary - everyday words with widely acknowledged meanings in common usage Special vocabulary - words from general vocabulary that take on specialized meanings when adapted to a particular content area Technical vocabulary - words that have usage and application only in a particular subject area Vacca, R. T., & Vacca, J. L. (2008). Content Area Reading, p. 145 .
  • 12.
    Which content areasinclude the terms in the lists below? Vacca, R. T., & Vacca, J. L. (2008). Content Area Reading, p. 145 . octogon hemisphere decagon hexagon bisect equilateral quadrilateral pentagon polyunsaturated glycogen monosaccharide hydrogenation enzymes lyzine cellulose metaphor allusion irony paradox symbolism imagery simile prestissimo adagio larghetto presto allegro largo andante tempo nationalism imperialism naturalism instrumentalism isolationist radicalism fundamentalist anarchy
  • 13.
    Why Not TeachAll Unknown Words in a Text? (Armbruster, Lehr, & Osborn, 2001) The text may have a great many words that are unknown to students – too many for direct instruction. Direct vocabulary instruction can take a lot of class time – time that teachers might better spend having students read. Students may be able to understand a text without knowing the meaning of every word in the text. Students need opportunities to use word-learning strategies to independently learn the meanings of unknown words.
  • 14.
    The Academic WordList (AWL) 10 groups of approximately 60 headwords each—intended for high school & college Sublist 1 analyze approach area assess assume authority available benefit concept consist constitute context contract create data define derive distribute economy environment establish estimate evident export factor finance formula function identify income indicate individual interpret involve issue labor legal legislate major method occur percent period policy principle proceed process require research respond role section sector significant similar source specific structure theory vary Coxhead, A. (2000). A new academic word list. TESOL Quarterly, 34, 213-238.
  • 15.
    Teaching Independent WordLearning Strategies Morphology Root words Prefixes and suffixes Cognates Context clues Use of dictionaries and other references
  • 16.
    Examples of morphologicallyrich families* create created creates creating creation creations creative creatively creativity creator creators recreate recreated recreates recreating interpret interpretation interpretations  interpretative interpreted interpreting interpretive interprets misinterpret misinterpretation misinterpretations misinterpreted misinterpreting misinterprets reinterpret reinterpreted reinterprets reinterpreting reinterpretation reinterpretations *Coxhead, A. (2000). A new academic word list. TESOL Quarterly, 34, 213-238.
  • 17.
    Examples of “strong”cognates: 1st Sub-List of the Academic Word List analyze analizar benefit beneficio define definir distribute distribuir identify identificar indicate indicar individual   individual
  • 18.
    Characteristics of EffectiveVocabulary Instruction Marzano, R.J. (2004). Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement. Effective vocabulary instruction does not rely on definitions. Students must represent their knowledge of words in linguistic and nonlinguistic ways. Effective vocabulary instruction involves the gradual shaping of word meanings through multiple exposures.
  • 19.
    Characteristics of EffectiveVocabulary Instruction Marzano, R.J. (2004). Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement. Teaching word parts enhances students’ understanding of terms. Different types of words require different types of instruction. Students should discuss the terms they are learning.
  • 20.
    Characteristics of EffectiveVocabulary Instruction Marzano, R.J. (2004). Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement. Students should play with words. Instruction should focus on terms that have a high probability of enhancing academic success.
  • 21.
    Six Steps toEffective Vocabulary Instruction Marzano, R.J. (2004). Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement. The teacher provides a description, explanation, or example of the new term. Students restate the explanation of the new term in their own words. Students create a nonlinguistic representation of the term.
  • 22.
    Six Steps toEffective Vocabulary Instruction Marzano, R.J. (2004). Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement. Students periodically do activities that help them add to their knowledge of vocabulary terms. Periodically students are asked to discuss the terms with one another. Periodically students are involved in games that allow them to play with the terms.

Editor's Notes

  • #2 Introductions Good morning. I’m (name and title) with the Communications department and today we’d like to tell you about our organization and what we do. First I’d like to introduce my colleague(s) . . . I’d also like to go around the room and have each of you introduce yourselves and let us know your position and department here at the Chancellor’s Office. Brand Exercise As the creative arm of the organization, we’re going to start off by getting you up and on your feet. I’d like to have everyone stand up. Now, close your eyes. I want you to take a moment to think about a brand. It can be anything, whatever comes right to the top of your mind. Got it? Now, open your eyes and you can be seated. Here’s the quiz: by a show of hands, how many of you thought of the CSU? Anyone? Any winners of our grand prize? (CSU padfolio) (Assuming no one chose the CSU) That is why we’re here today and why we’ve titled our presentation: (go to first slide)