I N C R E A S I N G V O C A B U L A R Y T H R O U G H R E A D I N G , W R I T I N G , S P E A K I N G , A N D L I S T E N I N G

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

WHAT DOES THE RESEARCH TELL US?

• Vocabulary knowledge is a strong predictor of verbal ability (Sternberg, 1987)

• Vocabulary difficulty strongly impacts text difficulty (Klare, 1984)

• Students from impoverished backgrounds may have limited vocabulary when entering school; this seriously limits the chances of attaining an adequate vocabulary for learning (Hart & Risley, 1995)

From Babbling to Books!

Watch the video and discuss the following:

Students from impoverished backgrounds may have limited vocabulary when entering school. What are the implications for early instruction?

What factors contribute to a rich language environment?

Which cues provide an opportunity for educators to help children develop communication skills and vocabulary?

Levels of Knowledge

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Incidental Instructio

n

• Daily Oral Language Activities• Independent Reading• Read-Alouds

Direct Instructio

n• Individual Word Learning• Word Learning Strategies

VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION

To increase vocabulary acquisition, many researchers recommend:

Multiple exposures of words in context

Associating images to words

Some direct instruction (especially for general academic and domain specific terms)

(e.g. Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock, 2001; Beck and McKeown, )

INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES

COMPONENTS OF QUALITY INSTRUCTION

• Wide Reading

• Teaching Individual Terms

• Word Learning Strategies

• Word Consciousness

WIDE READING

WIDE READING

• Incidental learning

• Repeated exposure to words

• Increase quality and quantity of reading

• Variety in reading models and genres

TEACHING INDIVIDUAL WORDS

DIRECT, EXPLICIT INSTRUCTION

TEACHING INDIVIDUAL WORDS

• Text vocabulary vs. oral vocabulary• Complex text contains complex vocabulary • Elaborate and Enrich • Direct Instruction and “Teachable Moments”• Focus explicit instruction on Tier Two Words• Balance

VOCABULARY TIERS

• Isabel L. Beck, Margaret G. McKeown, and Linda Kucan (2002, 2008) have outlined a useful model for conceptualizing categories of words readers encounter in texts and for understanding the instructional and learning challenges that words in each category present. • They describe three levels, or tiers, of words in

terms of the words’ commonality (more to less frequently occurring) and applicability (broader to narrower).

3 Ti

ers o

f W

ords

Tier 3: Domain-Specific Vocabulary

Tier 2: General Academic Vocabulary

Tier 1: Common Vocabulary

For more information, refer to the CCSS for

ELA Appendix A

Academic Word ListUsefulResourc

e

Choosing Which Words to Teach

Read the Chapter: Choosing Which Words to Teach and complete the exercise below.

Choosing Which Words to Teach Exercise

By: Isabel Beck, Margaret McKeown, Linda Kucan

WORD LEARNING STRATEGIES

CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS

• Semantic cues in text or text features

Clues external to

the unfamiliar

term

• Syntactic and morphological cuesInternal clues

Sternberg (1987)

O P I N

LANGUAGE ENRICHMENT ACTIVITY

• Divide students into groups of three.

• Distribute practice sentences related to the content area and include a blank for which students must select the appropriate term

• Each student completes the sentence individually.

• Small groups convene and students must convince other members that his or her word is the best choice to complete each sentence.

• Each choice must be justified with a reasonable explanation, based on the content and concepts encountered in the text.

• If the group does not reach consensus, they may discuss with the class.

An instructional strategy for extending meaning.

OPIN

Source: Vacca, R.T., Vacca, J.L., & Mraz, M. (2011)

SAMPLE TEMPLATE

Sentence Word Choice JustificationScience: A plant’s _____ go into the soil.

roots We learned on page____that the roots’ job….

Social Studies: The thought of ____ or revolution would be necessary because property owners would fight to hold on to their land.

C H A N G E I T U P !

LANGUAGE ENRICHMENT ACTIVITY

Common Phrase

Alternate Phrase

Repeated Exposure

Elaborate and Enrich

“get ready to go outside”

“prepare to proceed outdoors”

Use the new phrase often

Students can apply these new terms in writing exercises and in other conversational contexts

Discuss additional phrases that could be modified to enrich students’ understanding of language.

View the video and discuss the following questions:

• How does Ms. Kim make vocabulary a natural part of the classroom? • How does the students' response to this strategy

change over time?

College Talk

WORD CONSCIOUSNESSWORD PLAY, MODELING, INTEGRATION

Rich, Decontextualized Knowledge

Understands but difficult application

Vague, Context Bound Meaning

Knowing the word but not the meaningNo

knowledge

Levels of Word Knowledge

40 Encounters to truly “OWN” the word

Based on Dale (1965)

WORD CONSCIOUSNESS

• Awareness and interest

• Cognitive and Affective Stance

• Metacognition and Motivation

• Informal and Formal Instruction

THE COMPLEXITY OF WORD KNOWLEDGE

IncrementalityMulti-dimensionalityInterrelatednessPolysemyHeterogeneity

MODELING

• Teacher modeling in reading, writing, and discussion

• Attitude toward learning new words

• Exposure and Experience

• Look at Lesson 1 for the term “Listen”. How does this framework for teaching a word help students develop a deeper understanding of language?

• Choose a term from one of the sources on the left. Use the E4 framework to help students understand this term by addressing synonyms, multiple meanings, figurative language, idioms, common phrases, and morphological considerations.

E4

Academic Word List

Choosing Which Words to Teach

I N C R E A SE A S T U D E N T ’ S “ W O R D W O R L D”

WORD OF THE DAY

WORD OF THE DAY

• Teacher selected student selected • Definitional + contextual information• Explain why it is meaningful to learning• Allow students ask questions and have

discussions• Record word “sightings”

WORD PLAY

• Morphological and syntactic awareness

• Homophones and Homographs

• Figurative language, idioms, puns

View the video and discuss the following questions:

• What scaffolds does Ms. Wessling put into place to get her students using new vocabulary? • How could you use paint chips in your classroom?

Create one or two examples using paint chips. Share with your PLC members.

Word Families

FUN WITH WORDS

• Summit, ______, spinning toy• Hole, ______, fruit stone• Nation, _____, rural area

From Lederer’s Get Thee to a Punnery

WORD PLAY BOOKS

• Pun and Games (1996) by Richard Lederer• Get Thee to a Punnery (1988) by Richard Lederer• Animalia (1986) by Graeme Base • The Alphabet from Z to A (With Much Confusion

Along the Way) by Judith Viorst• Doube Trouble in Walla Walla• The King Who Rained by Fred Gwynne• The Phantom Tolebooth by Norton Juster• Holes by Louis Sachar

INTEGRATION

• Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking connections• Incorporate vocabulary instruction across the

domains• Borrow and Elaborate an author’s word choice • “A great potato of a woman” • “A long string bean of a man”

BALANCED INSTRUCTION

• Oral Language• Word-Level

Knowledge• Conceptual

Knowledge• Text-Level

Knowledge• Developmental

Context

• Vocabulary & grammar• Phonemic Awareness

and Decoding• Comprehension & idea

generation• Genre and text

structure• Motivation, purpose

and attention

RESOURCES

Reading Rockets

http://textproject.org/

Edutopia Blog

REFERENCES• Anderson, R.E. & Nagy, W.E. (1992). The vocabulary conundrum. American

Educator, (16)14-18, 44-47.• Beck, Isabel L. McKeown, M., & Kucan, L. (2002). Choosing Words to Teach. In

Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction (15-30). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

• Beck, I.L., McKeown, M.G., Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing words to life: robust vocabulary instruction. New York: Guilford Press.

• Graves, M. & Watts Taffe, S.M. (2002). The place of word consciousness in a research based vocabulary program. In Farstrup, A.E. & Samuels, S.J.(Eds.) What Research has to say about reading instruction. Newark: IRA

• Hart, B., & Risley, T.R. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experiences of young American children. Baltimore: Paul H. Brooks.

• Klare, G.R. (1984). Readability. In P.D. Pearson, R. Barr, M.L. Kamil, & P. Mosenthal (Eds.), Handbook of reading research(pp. 681-794).

• McKeown, M.G (1985). The acquisition of word meaning from context by children of high and low ability. Reading Research Quarterly (20) 482-496.

• Pressley, M. (2006). Reading Instruction that works: the case for balanced teaching. • Sternberg (1987) Most vocabulary is learned from context. In M.G. McKeown & M.E.

Curtis (Eds.) The nature of vocabulary acquisition. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.• Vacca, R.T., Vacca, J.L., & Mraz, M. (2011) Content Area Reading: Literacy and

Learning Across the Curriculum. Boston: Pearson