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Six strategies1. Read the

description of the practice you were given. Think of one way you might use it in your classroom.

2. Meet with colleagues who have the same practice description. Discuss ways it might be used.

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Six strategies-continued3.  Form a new

group—each person must have a description of a different practice. Decide which ONE would be the most useful in unlocking content.

 4.  When cued, return to your original group. Discuss which practice –if any— was selected most often as the most useful? Why?

VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT

Research and Practice

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Vocabulary Development Objectives Complete a jigsaw activity related to 6

more frequently recommended practices and evaluate usefulness in acquiring content and skills.

Examine research and practice related to vocabulary development.

Read a recent article and evaluate usefulness of the information for acquiring content and skills.

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Sources Classroom Instruction That Works

McREL, 2001, pp. 123-129 Ed Leadership, ASCD, 4/04, pp. 66-69 Improving Reading, Kendall-Hunt, 1997,

pp 178-197 Teaching Reading in the Content Areas,

McREL, 1998, pp. 70-89 The Pikes Peak Literacy Strategies Project

February, 2005; pp 30-36 http://www.wpsdk12.org/pplsp/

http://www.nifl.gov/ The National Institute for Literacy

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Vocabulary: the words we must know to communicate effectively.

Oral Vocabulary: Words we use in speaking or recognize in listening.

Reading Vocabulary:

Words we recognize or use in print.

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Vocabulary can be developed

Indirect InstructionStudents … engage in oral

language, listen to adults

and read extensively

on their own

Direct InstructionStudents … are taught

individual words Are taught word

learning strategies

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Research says: (McREL, p.292 ff)

To learn a new word in context (without instruction), students need to be exposed to the word at least 6 times before they have enough experience with the word to ascertain and remember its meaning.

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Instruction makes a differenceStudents who had

prior instruction on words were about 33% more likely to understand new words encountered during reading than did students who had no instruction.

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Use an image

Studies support the powerful effects of associating mental images or symbolic representations with words being learned.

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Research says:

Direct instruction enhances achievement.

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More on direct instruction…

Effects of Instruction are even more powerful when the words selected are those students will likely encounter when learning new content.

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Classroom practice… Identify terms

and phrases that are critical to a topic.

Limit the number of critical terms and phrases for any given topic.

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One process for teaching

Step 1: Present students with brief explanation/description.

Example: laissez-faire

A “hands off” policy; the government does not interfere with business.

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Step 2 Present students with a non-

linguistic representation.

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Steps 3 and 4 Ask students to generate their own

explanations or descriptions of the term or phrase.

Ask students to create their own non-linguistic representation of the term or phrase.

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Step 5 Periodically ask students to review

the accuracy of their explanation/ description and representation.

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3 minute pause

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What research says…

• Multiple exposures to new words in various contexts facilitate a deep understanding and use of new vocabulary.(McKeown, Beck, Omanson, & Pople, 1985).

• Student initiated conversations about words heard and read in context strongly support new vocabulary learning (Dickinson & Smith, 1994).

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What research says…

• On average, children can acquire and retain 2-3 new words a day when taught in context and followed with explanations (Biemiller, 2001).

• Providing contextualized sample sentences with new words bolsters understanding (Scott Nagy, 1997).

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What research says…

• Pre-teaching of target words in context facilitates acquisition and comprehension. (Brett, Rothlein, & Hurley, 1996).

• Pre-teaching vocabulary in the content areas increases comprehension (Carney, Anderson, Blackburn, & Blessing, 1984).

• Mixing a definition and contextual approach works better than using either approach exclusively (Kolich, 1991).

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What research says…• Computer assisted instruction has positive results on

vocabulary acquisition (Reinking &Rickman, 1990).

• Factors that affect the acquisition of new vocabulary words are utility, application, and memory load (Bruland, 1974).

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Best Practices in Instruction:

Expose students to new vocabulary indirectly by: 1) reading aloud to all ages and pointing out special words found in the text, 2) encouraging students to read extensively on their own, and 3) encouraging rich classroom discussions and applications of old and new concepts.

Include two types of direct instruction in vocabulary: 1) definitions of specific words, and 2) information about word parts (roots, bases, and affixes).

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Best Practices in Instruction:

• Pre-teach unfamiliar vocabulary before asking students to interact with text independently.

• Enable extended use of new words through engagement in a variety of activities utilizing the new words.

• For strategic readers, teach how to attend to text structure clues. This can enable readers to access word meaning from the text structure.

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Best Practices in Instruction:

• Choose words that have a meaningful application for the students.

• Teach the applications of practical Latin and Greek affixes to older students to support vocabulary in the content areas.

• Use a variety of instructional activities to promote participation and enthusiasm.

• Provide frequent review applications to facilitate retention through repeated exposure.

• Develop teacher-made assessments that are specific to the new vocabulary in context.

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Best Practices in Instruction:

Encourage “deep” processing through:

- relating explanations to personal experience

- classifying and relating words

- connecting words to prior knowledge

- developing graphic representations of concepts words represent

- using words in various contexts and contents across the curriculum

- finding synonyms and antonyms.

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Vocab is important because…

Beginning readers use their oral vocabulary to make sense of the words they see in print.

Readers must know what most of the words mean before they can understand what they are reading.

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Final words…

There is a strong relationship between vocabulary and:

Intelligence One’s ability to comprehend new

info One’s level of income