Systematic Vocabulary Development
Effect Size: .67
Definition:
What it is: Direct, clear, concise, repetitive instruction presenting meaning and contextual examples through multiple exposures.
What it is not: The traditional procedure of having students copy a list of words, looks the words in the glossary, copy the definitions, and study the definitions.
Rationale (Why):
Explicit vocabulary instruction is beneficial in developing reading skills and comprehension.
- Students receiving explicit, engaging vocabulary instruction experience growth in vocabulary (Tomesen & Aarnoutse, 1998; White, Graves, & Slater, 1990).
- When students receive intentional teaching of target words, their comprehension of text containing the target words improve (McKeown, Beck, Omanson, & Pople, 1985; Stahl & Fairbanks, 1986).
- Explicit vocabulary instruction is particularly critical for struggling readers, who do not read extensively and have more difficultly using contextual cues to determine words meanings (Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2002).
Strategies
Effective vocabulary/academic language instruction comes down to:
Connection: new to the known, building that "semantic network" in the mind/brain
Use: academic speaking and writing as we construct and apply knowledge (not simply memorize or match, multiple choice, etc...)
Before Teaching: carefully select vocabulary words based on essential concepts.
Select terms that are:
- unknown,
- critical to the content,
- useful in the future,
- and difficult to obtain independently (Archer & Hughes, 2011)
The Three Tiers of Vocabulary
Tier 1: commonly used everyday words
Tier 2: high utility, general academic words. These are words that students may encounter frequently in their reading and should be able to use in their writing such as: conglomeration, contentious, immigration, retaliate
Tier 3: specialized academic content specific; there are words that refer to a new and difficult concept that is important for students to learn.
Basic Instructional Protocol
- Introduce the word
- Introduce the meaning of the word (provide a student-friendly explanation)
- Illustrate with examples
- Check students' understanding
- Deepen students' understanding
- Check students' understanding
- Review and coach use (possible extensions)
Articles
Bringing Literacy Strategies into Content Instruction
Vocabulary Instruction in Elementary and Middle Classrooms and the Common Core
Teacher Examples
Presentations