Effective Strategies for Vocabulary Instruction

By Lindsay Spann, Jacyln Clark, Vivianne Creary, and

Lascelia Dacres

Vocabulary

All the words used known and used by a person (Wikipedia)

The set of words a person is familiar with in a language.

Usually grows and evolves with age

Useful tool in communicating and acquiring knowledge.

Effective Practices of Vocabulary Instruction

Have students link terms with life experiences so that they are more likely to retain the meanings.

Have students paraphrase terms in their own words so they have a better understanding.

Allow students to come up with similes and metaphors

Differentiation of Vocabulary

Create classrooms that maintain high student expectations

Use activities and products based on students’ readiness and interests.

Use “weapons of mass instruction”-a variety of research-based strategies for vocabulary-teaching arsenals.

Differentiation of Vocabulary Continued…

Allow more examples and more time for guided practice and independent work

Allow multiple opportunities for students to encounter the term and use while communicating

Vary the intensity of the word-Ex: multiple meanings, different pronunciations, etc.

Connections to ESOL and ESE Student

Connections with real-life situations

More time spent on teaching it in detail

Fewer terms Group work, guided practice, and

modeling Morphemic analysis-allowing

students to use prefixes and suffixes to come up with their own meanings

Interview Strategies

Knowledge Rating Guide

VIS (Vocabulary Improvement Strategy)

Vocabulary Word Webs

Vocabulary word substitution

Knowledge Rating Guide

1. Prepare a list of words you want students to learn.

2. Next to each word, draw three columns as shown.

Can Define Have seen/heard

Unknown

Glacier

Blizzard

Avalanche

Knowledge Rating Continued

3. Have students check the columns that apply after modeling one word then working on one together.

4. Discuss each word after students are done filling out the chart. Find out which words were least recognized or defined.

5. Make predictions about further meanings of words and how they will be used in the text.

VIS (Vocabulary Improvement Strategy) Chart

Word Illustration Sentence Definition

stall

At another stall, my mother bought dumplings. A stand set up for selling things.

A stand set up for

selling things.

Vocabulary Word Web

Ocean fish

current

waves

Vocabulary Word Substitution

Example: Instead of saying… When my dog died, I became sad. Say… When my dog died, I became heartbroken.

Happy•joyful•merry•radiant•pleased•jubilant•satisfied

Sad•blue•cheerless•dismal•gloomy•miserable•heartbroken

Silly•crazy•cuckoo•goofy•wacky•foolish•ridiculous

Cranky•crabby•cross•grouchy•testy•touchy•ratty

Annotated Bibliography Just Read Now: Vocabulary Strategies

www.justeadnow.com/strategies/vocabulary.htm

Secondary Content Teacher Reading Strategies www.ops.org/reading/secondarystrat1.htm

Lowering the language barriers in middle and secondary school http://www.resourceroom.net/comprehension/lowerbarriers.asp.