Thinking about Words
1
The Vocabulary Pyramid
Word
(Lubliner & Scott, 2008)
Problem
Solving
Word Consciousness
Wide Reading & Read Alouds
Rich Oral Language
2
Consider…

Words are the building blocks of
communication…
3
Learning New Words
1) to understand them when we are
listening and reading (receptive
vocabulary) and
2) to be able to use them when we are
talking and writing (productive
vocabulary).
4
Such as…
Words tied to specific content:
molecular, settlers,
ecosystems, hypotenuse
or
Words that add richness and depth to
writing:
despicable, vacillate,
translucent, grim
5
Dolch Word List
• The Dolch Word List is a list of
frequently used words compiled by
Edward William Dolch, PhD. The list
was originally published in his book
Problems in Reading in 1948.
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Dolch Word List
a
all
am
an
and
are
at
big
blue
call
can
come
do
down
funny
go
good
he
help
here
I
in
is
it
jump
like
little
as
away
be
black
brown
by
came
did
eat
fall
find
for
get
going
have
her
him
his
if
into
laugh
let
live
may
my
no
old
again
ate
over
but
cold
cut
fast
first
five
fly
four
give
goes
from
got
green
had
has
hot
its
long
made
many
new
not
of
open
about
after
always
around
ask
because
been
before
best
buy
does
far
found
full
gave
grow
hold
how
just
keep
kind
much
must
now
off
once
only
any
better
both
bring
carry
clean
could
done
don’t
draw
drink
eight
every
hurt
know
light
myself
never
own
pick
right
seven
shall
show
their
them
then
look
make
me
out
play
on
one
put
saw
said
please
or
our
pull
read
round
sleep
small
take
tell
there
these
think
those
together
pretty
ran
red
ride
run
see
so
the
to
up
we
you
she
sit
some
stop
three
today
two
was
will
work
yes
yellow
start
say
sing
six
soon
ten
upon
us
who
why
wish
your
thank
that
they
this
too
try
under
walk
well
were
white
with
use
very
want
warm
wash
went
what
when
where
which
would
write
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What are these?
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What are these?
9
What are these?
10
What are these?
11
What are these?
12
hyponyms
antonyms
acronyms
pseudo-synonyms,
or false synonyms
neologisms
phraseologism
hypernyms
UNDERSTANDING
WORDS
quasi-synonyms,
or near-synonyms
Crossreferences
collocation
polysemy
single-concept
principle
tautonyms
synonyms
abbreviations
monosemy
13
Hyponym

a word or phrase whose semantic
range is included within that of another
word. For example,





scarlet,
vermilion,
carmine, and
crimson
are all hyponyms of red, which is, in
turn, a hyponym of colour.
14
Antonym

are words that lie in an inherently
incompatible binary relationship as in
the opposite pairs




male : female,
long : short,
up : down, and
precede : follow.
15
Acronym

abbreviations that are formed using
the initial components in a phrase or
name. For example,





M.P.
S.Q.L.
U.F.O.
S.C.U.B.A.
L.A.S.E.R.
16
Pseudo-Synonym

a term incorrectly used for a given
concept as a result of
misunderstanding correct usage,
confusion between a generic and a
specific, etc. For example:

Y2K virus instead of Y2K bug.
17
Single-Concept Principle

a term should deal with one concept
only, this means that there is no
ambiguity.
18
Neologism

is a word that, although devised relatively
recently in a specific time period, has been
accepted into a mainstream language. The
term "neologism" was coined in 1803.






prequel (1958)
Internet (1974)
“jumping the shark” (late 1970s)
"d'oh"(1989–)
blog (late 1990s)
chav (early 2000s)
19
Quasi-Synonym

a term that designates the same
concept as another, but which is not
interchangeable with the other term in
all contexts as its use is limited to
certain communication situations.
20
Cross-Reference

is an instance within a document which
refers to related or synonymous
information elsewhere, usually within
the same work.
21
Monosemy

having a single meaning (absence of
ambiguity) usually of individual words
or phrases. For example,

Clarity
22
Abbreviation

a shortened form of a word or phrase. For
example,




Interpol for International police
chute for parachute
phone for telephone
should be distinguished from portmanteau
words (a word formed by blending sounds
from two or more distinct words and
combining their meanings e.g. Brunch,
Wikipedia, Billary)
23
Synonym

different words with identical or at least
similar meanings.





baby and infant (noun)
student and pupil (noun)
sick and ill (adjective)
quickly and speedily (adverb)
freedom and liberty (noun)
24
Tautonym

a taxonomic designation, in which the
genus and species names are the
same, commonly used in zoology but
no longer in botany. For example,




Gazella gazella
Gorilla gorilla
Rattus rattus
Vulpes vulpes
25
Polysemy


is a word or phrase with multiple, related
meanings.

The house is at the foot of the mountains

One of his shoes felt too tight for his foot
'Foot' here refers to the bottom part of the
mountains in the first sentence and the
bottom part of the leg in the second.
26
Collocation

a sequence of words or terms which
co-occur more often than would be
expected by chance. For example,


'bank' are: central, river, account,
manager, merchant, money, deposits,
lending, society.
High collocates with probability, but not
with chance: a high probability but a good
chance
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Hypernym

a word, usually somewhat vague and
broad in meaning, that other more
specific words fall under or are fairly
encompassed by. For example,

vehicle denotes all the things that are
separately denoted by the words train,
chariot, dogsled, airplane, and
automobile
28
Phraseologism

a term together with a word or words
with which the term commonly occurs
in specialized discourse. For example,


“kicking the bucket”
“as white as a sheet”
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Searching the Web
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hyponyms
antonyms
acronyms
pseudo-synonyms,
or false synonyms
neologisms
phraseologism
hypernyms
PROBLEMS WITH USING
A SEARCH ENGINE AS
THE SOLE SOURCE OF
INFORMATION
quasi-synonyms,
or near-synonyms
Crossreferences
collocation
polysemy
single-concept
principle
tautonyms
synonyms
abbreviations
monosemy
37
Finding Research online




Effective Searching
Let us consider searching for information
relating to 'Project-Based Learning'
The Hyphen
The first thing to note is the hyphen between
the words 'Project' and 'Based', will every
web-page relating to this subject have the
hyphen in it, or will some just leave it out. If
you just leave it out the search engines will
find the phrase with or without the hyphen.
38
Finding Research online

So the first search to try is


if this returns 10,000 links then try




"Project Based Learning"
"Project Based Learning" "PhD Thesis"
"Project Based Learning" "Masters Thesis“
“Project Based Learning” “Masters Thesis”
Declaration
this may return PhD or Masters thesis on the
subject you require information on.
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Finding Research online

To find other 'good' pages relating to
your subject matter, try

"Project Based Learning Link*"


"Project Based Learning Portal*"


for "PBL Portal" or "PBL Portal Page"
"Project Based Learning Webring*"


for "PBL Links" or "PBL Link Page"
for "PBL Webring" or "PBL Webrings"
"Project Based Learning FAQ*"

for "PBL FAQ"or "PBL FAQs" or "PBL FAQL"or "PBL
FAQLs"
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Finding Research online

If you are looking for papers relating to "Project
Based Learning", try






"Project Based Learning" Bibliography
"Project Based Learning" Literature Review
"Project Based Learning" Literature Survey
"Project Based Learning" Overview
"Project Based Learning" “A Roadmap”
Unlike the previous section where we were looking for 'good'
pages and put the entire phrase in double quotes, in this
section we are only putting the subject matter we are
investigating in quotes and the rest of the terms are free text, in
this way we can find pages which may not be titled, for
example, "Project Based Learning Bibliography", but may be a
bibliography which contain references to Project Based
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Learning.
Finding Research online

If you are looking for a more specific topic, for
example, "The Impact of the Web on Project Based
Learning", try





"Impact of the Web on Project Based Learning" (unlikely)
"Project Based Learning" overview web
"Project Based Learning" survey web
"Project Based Learning" review web
"Project Based Learning" assessment web
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Finding Research online







Also consider web-sites which will be using the
acronym for "Project Based Learning"
so try
"PBL"
"P.B.L."
Consider the acronym for "Virtual Learning
Environments", it could be "VLE"or "VLEs"or
"V.L.E."or "V.L.E.s"or "V.L.Es", so try
"VLE*"
"V.L.E*"
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