Closing the Vocabulary Gap Fiona Oakley fiona.oakley@literacytrust.org.uk T: 020 7587 1842 W: www.literacytrust.org.uk Twitter: @Literacy_Trust Facebook: nationalliteracytrust “Vocabularies are crossing circles and loops. We are defined by the lines we choose to cross or to be confined by.” A.S. Byatt Exposure to a rich vocabulary Heading here “You cannot write it if you cannot say it; you cannot say it if you haven’t heard it.” Pie Corbett, 2005 “Vocabulary is a matter of word-building as well as word-using.” David Crystal www.literacytrust.org.uk 3 The reading Heading hererope www.literacytrust.org.uk Hollis Scarborough (2001) 4 The research Heading here evidence • There is a strong reciprocal relationship between word knowledge and reading comprehension (National Reading Panel 2000) • Students with limited vocabularies read less and thus learn fewer new words. ‘Matthew effect’ (Stanovich 1986) • Learning new words is a cumulative task that takes place gradually over time.(Nagy and Scott 2000) • Children who read more will come across a greater number of words and get more practice at decoding words and have greater opportunities to enhance their knowledge of morphology and spelling than less avid readers. (Cain and Oakhill 2011) www.literacytrust.org.uk 5 Vocabulary in the National Heading here Curriculum • Pupils’ acquisition and command of vocabulary are key to their learning and progress across the whole curriculum. Teachers should therefore develop vocabulary actively, building systematically on pupils’ current knowledge. They should increase pupils’ store of words in general; • In addition, it is vital for pupils’ comprehension that they understand the meanings of words they meet in their reading across all subjects, and older pupils should be taught the meaning of instruction verbs that they may meet in examination questions. It is particularly important to induct pupils into the language which defines each subject in its own right, such as accurate mathematical and scientific language. www.literacytrust.org.uk 6 Ofsted: 2019 Headingvocabulary here • Vocabulary is important because it embodies and communicates concepts… the considerable majority of vocabulary is only really encountered when reading and is not used in everyday speech…If we want to give all children opportunity, a good place to start is through reading to them frequently, introducing new vocabulary and meaning within contexts that stimulate their thinking. Subsequently, it is important to teach them a range of curriculum subjects that will provide a wide vocabulary and a rich understanding of the meaning of the words encountered. School Inspection update: Jan ‘19 7 2018 KS2here reading test Heading www.literacytrust.org.uk 8 Building Heading word here knowledge 1. The plane ………………………….. to the left. 2. It was late so we ……………………….. up the fire and went to bed. 3. I was …………………… on you getting that job finished yesterday. 4. The Wall Street crash led to a run on the …………………… 5. Kingfishers make their nests in river ………………… 6. Austerity had led to increased use of food ………………. 7. The electrician stared at the …………….. of switches in disbelief. www.literacytrust.org.uk 9 Academic vocabulary Heading here survive diminish monitor research project challenge circumstance incident obvious precise intense symbol inspect approximate summary react device www.literacytrust.org.uk 10 3 tier vocabulary model Heading here Low frequency words, often subject specific e.g. evaporation, migration, magma, scripture Tier 3 Tier 2 High Frequency vocabulary in everyday use, e.g. desk, weather, book Medium frequency words for academic language e.g. coincidence, industrious, function. Tier 1 11 Have you heard the word? Word I have never heard the word I have heard the word but can’t remember its meaning I can use the word in the right way when I am talking I can give a definition of this word/phrase or use it correctly in writing. (Write it in a sentence below.) etymology morphology collocation 12 Vocabulary vocabulary Heading here • morpheme • morphology • grapheme • phoneme • etymology www.literacytrust.org.uk • hyponym • antonym • synonym • collocation • orthography 13 Find five Tier 1 Tier 2 show (verb) demonstrate Use in a sentence show (noun) 14 Find five Tier 1 Tier 2 show (verb) demonstrate reveal exhibit denote communicate show (noun) demonstration revelation exhibition production exposition Use in a sentence 15 Consider ‘heart is going faster’ and heart rate would go up’. What other verbs could the student choose? 16 What about ‘made the scene go away’? Can we help this student to be more precise in what he/she is trying to communicate? 17 Effective vocabulary teaching Heading here Indirect instruction • Using wider reading to grow vocabulary ‘naturally’ • Paying attention to context to work out meaning using background knowledge Direct instruction in subject areas • Pre- teaching, orally or through using a dictionary or glossary • Demonstrating morphology and word building knowledge • Checking understanding with active learning tasks www.literacytrust.org.uk 18 A basic teaching sequence 19 Components of word knowledge • 1. Orthography (spelling) • 2. Morphology (word-family relations) • 3. Parts of speech ( suffixes) • 4. Pronunciation ( syllables and stress) • 5. Meanings (range, variant meanings, homophones) • 6. Collocations (what words very commonly go with a word) • 7. Meaning associations (topical links, synonyms, antonyms) • 8. Specific uses (technical, common) • 9. Register (power, politeness, disciplinary domain, formality, slang, dialect form) 20 What is morphology? Heading here A morpheme is defined as the smallest unit of meaning in a word. In a word such as independently, the morphemes are said to be: in - de - pend - ent - ly The morpheme pend is the root (or base) word and the other morphemes are, in this case, affixes (prefixes and suffixes). A prefix comes before the root and a suffix comes after it. Free morphemes – morphemes that can stand alone as meaningful words e.g. form (inform-ed) Bound morphemes – morphemes that can only be attached to another part of a word (cannot stand alone) e.g. struct (in-struct- ed) Affixes are usually bound morphemes. www.literacytrust.org.uk 21 Morphemes Prefix •dis •ab •un •ex Base/root •port •duc(t) •rupt •truth Suffix •ed •tion •ing •ful 22 Morphology word web POLYGON polynomial polysyllabic polyanthus polyglot polythene polyhedron octopus octahedron octave October pentagon hexagon heptagon octagon 23 Numeric prefixes Heading here Meaning Greek Latin 1 mono uni 2 di bi, duo dioxide, binoculars, bicycle, duet 3 tri tri triangle, tricycle, triplicate, tripod 4 tetra quad (quart) tetrahedron, quadrilateral, quarter 5 pent quint pentagon, quintuplets, quintet 6 8 hex octo sext octo 10 deca deci hexagon, sextet octopus, October, octagon, octave decade, decagon, decimal, December, 100 (hecto) cent century, centurion, cents, percentage 1000 kilo mille kilometre, kilobyte, millennium, millilitre half hemi semi hemisphere, semicolon, semicircle many poly multi polygon, monopoly, multiply, www.literacytrust.org.uk Examples monotone, monoxide, unicorn, unicycle 24 Collocations Heading here Words that go together Salt and ….. A round of ….. He broke my ….. From dawn till ….. A ….. cup of tea Teacher…..! Often depends on cultural knowledge www.literacytrust.org.uk 25 Word associations Heading here The chill finally gets to me. I return to the tent to endure the smoke and loud chatter as the traders gamble through the night. No one spares me the slightest glance as I crawl under my rug and finally sleep. The faintest touch at my neck wakes me. I am paralysed, wondering if I am going to be murdered in my bed. Fingers, lighter than feathers, extricate the fake diamond pendant from the pouch round my neck. I lie rigid, immobile, fearing my throat will be cut if I seem to waken. It must be the Musulman. I knew it. I knew he couldn’t be trusted. I want to run away. But that would be suicide. Where could I go? My brain teems with possibilities – but all seem useless. Consider the words pouch, Musulman, glance, pendant. • Which word might go with religion? Why? • Which word might go with observe. Why? • Which word might go with kangaroo? Why? • Which word might go with jewellery? Why? 26 Review, review, review… 1) Have You Ever? Choose three target tier 2 words and ask pupils to … • Describe a time when you may have exacerbated a situation? • Describe the most significant person in your life at the moment. • Describe a time when you had to implement change in your life. 2) Would You Rather ...? Form questions around target tier 2 words: Would you rather reside in the desert or the artic? Why? Would you rather participate in a football match or a tennis match? Why? Would you rather facilitate change in society or maintain the accepted norm? Why? 27 Words inhere context Heading The Hodgeheg by Dick King-Smith Max could hardly wait for the next dawn. Something inside him said that today he would at last be successful in his quest, and outside him every one of his five thousand spines tingled with excitement. The more he thought of his conversation with Uncle B, the more he felt convinced that the answer to the problem lay with the small humans. Their crossing place must be the safest. Follow them and he would find it. www.literacytrust.org.uk 28 Using four square vocabulary Heading here Pupils take paper and fold into 4 squares 1. Top left: teacher dictates the word to be taught, describes the word and models in context 2. Top right: pupils discuss & define 3. Bottom right: pupils think of synonyms or draw an image/diagram 4. Bottom left: pupils use word in a sentence convince The Ofsted inspector convinced me that… to make someone believe something is true or certain persuade win over assure 29 Making Headinglinks here pharaoh hieroglyphics tomb papyrus worship pyramid scribe temple embalming www.literacytrust.org.uk 30 Vocabulary washing line bookish educated cultivated 31 Shades of meaning Heading here Occasionally, the tourists’ spaceships will land on the moon. When they do, Bob gives them a guided tour, and a speech. He tells them lots of facts, such as how many craters the moon has, or how long it takes to walk around it on stilts. Sometimes people ask him about aliens, and Bob explains……………………that there aren’t any. How might this have been said? What difference would it make to the meaning? www.literacytrust.org.uk 32 Shades of meaning Heading here quietly firmly sharply wearily calmly patiently abruptly hastily Where would you place the words on this continuum? Least appropriate Most appropriate 33 Zone of relevance Heading here display blazing dazzling ignited whirling fizzled flared cascading somersaulted exploding glimmered ablaze spectacle revolved hurling 34 Exposure to a rich vocabulary Heading here ‘Words should wander and meander. They should fly like owls and flicker like bats and slip like cats. They should murmur and scream and dance and sing.’ My Name is Mina by David Almond www.literacytrust.org.uk 35 Closing vocabulary gap Headingthe here • Children with language difficulties at age 5 are four times more likely to have reading difficulties in adulthood, three times as likely to have mental health problems, and twice as likely to be unemployed. (Law et al 2017) • Students with limited vocabularies read less and thus learn fewer new words. ‘Matthew effect’ (Stanovich 1986) ‘Put simply, the word rich get richer, but the word poor get poorer.’ ‘By explicitly teaching a mere 300 to 400 words a year we can foster an annual growth of around 3000 to 4000 words.’ ‘With a bigger, harder curriculum, in any subject, we begin with the words.’ ‘Vocabulary teaching can be incidental, disorganised and limited, when it needs to be organised, cumulative and rich.’ (Quigley 2018) www.literacytrust.org.uk 36 Further reading and resources • https://www.etymonline.com/ • http://www.amathsdictionaryforkids.co m/ • https://www.lextutor.ca/tests/ • http://www.biologyjunction.com/prefixe s%20and%20suffixes.pdf 37 Thank you All text © National Literacy Trust 2017 T: 020 7587 1842 W: www.literacytrust.org.uk Twitter: @Literacy_Trust Facebook: nationalliteracytrust The National Literacy Trust is a registered charity no. 1116260 and a company limited by guarantee no. 5836486 registered in England and Wales and a registered charity in Scotland no. SC042944. Registered address: 68 South Lambeth Road, London SW8 1RL.
