Subject Specific Literacy

• “Students’ comprehension will increase by 33 percentile points when vocabulary instruction focuses on specific words important to the content they are reading”

(Robert Merzano, 2004).

Some possible strategies:

• Words banks/glossary of key terms – available to students at the commencement of the unit (available on students’ home page)

• Word Wall – ongoing, organised display of key words that provide visual reference for students throughout a unit of study or a term

• Graphic association – colour coded, eye catching, size, graphic/picture SST with definition

• SST show bag• ABC Brainstorm – effective as a pre-test• Post-it notes (informal assessment)• Wordle• Flash cards/match the word to the definition (ask

3 before me) or look up definition on computer• ‘Word Storm’ (use of white board/collaborative

brainstorm)• Battleship/Bingo/Hang

Man/Scrabble/Pictionary/Acrostic SST association

• Word of the day (how many times can it be used in the lesson – written/verbal)

• Paragraph writing/sentences Underline/highlight SST or write it in a different colour (Teacher could specify words to be included)

• 30 second madness

• Find-a-word, cloze passage, crosswords

• SST page with spaces to add new terms/sophisticated (tier 3) vocabulary • Tier 1: Everyday words • Tier 2: SST • Tier 3: Sophisticated vocabulary (www.visuwords.com)

• Write on the reading:• In blue underline key facts in an article• In red circle SST and write their

definition in the margin• In black write any questions that arise

from what you have read (this can be about content or the meaning of words)

• Coding strategy when reading a text: 

* I already know this

+ New information

! Wow

? Don’t understand

_ What’s this word?

• Promoting Thinking with Terminology (revision strategy):• 3 minutes to list as many SST as possible• 3 minutes ‘shopping time’ (time to ‘buy’

terms from peers to add to own list. Cost is 3 terms = 1 mintie)

• Person with the most comprehensive and accurate list of SST is the winner