Visualizing Vocabulary:
Moving Beyond Lists and
Definitions
Victoria A. Oglan Ph.D.
oglanmon@mailbox.sc.edu
Deidre M. Clary, Ph.D.
clarydm2@mailbox.sc.edu
University of South Carolina
Lists and definitions have
gone the way of the dodo
bird.
~Elin Keene
Vocabulary is a full
contact sport.
~ Sara Holbrook and Michael Salinger
2D Palindromes…
are word squares in which every
row and column reads as a word in
both directions.
The “Nym” Family
Words ending in –nym are often used
to describe different classes of words,
and the relationships between words.
The –nym literally means name, from
the Greek onoma meaning name or
word.
Some of the family members…
acronyms
autonyms
hypernyms
patronyms
synonyms
heteronyms
autoantonyms
paronyms
antonyms
tautonyms
eponyms
contronyms
meronyms
hyperonyms
capitonyms
pseudonyms
aptronyms
homonyms
exonyms
bacronyms
metonyms
hyponyms
oronyms
retronyms
Words in a Word
Vocabulary
WORDS IN A WORD
VOCABULARY
125 WORDS
A
ABA
ABLY
ABY
ABORAL
ACYL
ALA
ALAR
ALARY
ALB
ALBA
AR
ARAB
ARC
AURA
AURAL
AVA
AY
BA
BAA
BAAL
BAR
BAY
BAYOU
BLOC
BLUR
BOA
BOAR
BOLA
BORA
BOY
BOYAR
BRA
BRAVA
BRAVO
BRAY
BUOY
BUR
BURL
BURLY
BURY
BUY
BY
CAB
CABAL
CALORY
CALVARY
CAR
CARBOY
CARL
CAROB
CAROL
CAUL
CAVALRY
CAVY
CAY
CLARO
CLARY
CLAY
CLOY
CLUB
COAL
COB
COBRA
COL
COLA
CORAL
COY
CRAB
CRY
CUB
CUR
CURABLY
CURB
CURL
CURLY
LA
LAB
LABOR
LABOUR
LAC
LACY
LAR
LARVA
LAURA
LAVA
LAVABO
LAY
LO
LOB
LOBAR
LORY
LOUR
OAR
OCULAR
OR
ORA
ORAL
ORB
ORC
ORLY
OUR
OVA
OVAL
OVARY
OVULAR
RACY
RAY
ROB
ROC
ROYAL
RUB
RUBY
VACUA
VACUO
VACUOLAR VALOR
VARA
VARY
VOCABULAR
VOCAL
VOLAR
YAR
YOU
YOUR
Let’s Predict
How many words are there
in the English language?
How many words do you
think you know?
What is the longest word in
the English language?
What word in the English
language has the most
meanings?
Set has 464 definitions in the
Oxford English Dictionary
Run runs a distant second
with 396
Rounding out the top 10 are:








go with 368
take with 343
stand with 334
get with 289
turn with 288
put with 268
fall with 264
strike with 250
How many metaphors do you
use in regular conversation
(free discourse)?
It is now well accepted that the chief
cause of the achievement gap
between socioeconomic groups is a
language gap.
~ Ed Hirsch 2003
 Struggling
readers lack word
knowledge
 Struggling readers do not use
visualization as a strategy
Research also tells us word
knowledge:
 promotes
reading fluency
 boosts reading comprehension
 improves academic achievement
 enhances thinking and
communication
And…
Students learn words through wide reading
 Knowing a word means more than knowing
a definition for the word
 Discussion leads to vocabulary learning
 Students learn words through strategy
instruction

What Doesn’t Work?
 Copying
definitions
 Writing sentences
 Telling students to “use context”
 Memorizing lists of definitions
~Feldman & Kinsella (2003)
Four Principles to Guide Vocabulary
Instruction
 Students
should be active learners in
vocabulary and strategies to enhance
vocabulary
 Students
benefit from personalizing the
learning of words
Four Principles to Guide Vocabulary
Instruction
 Students
 Students
gain from immersion in words
augment their vocabulary
through repeated exposure to words
Comprehensive vocabulary instruction that
includes strategy instruction where students
are provided opportunities to play with words
and language is a necessary part of a plan
for academic success.
Some Strategies to Think About…







Word sorts
Sticky note sentences
Cloze tasks
Word walls
Picture walk (to introduce new words)
Rebus
Word webs






List, group label
Ten important words
Kid-Friendly definitions
Word wonder
ARTiculate the word
Word curiosity
It’s Rebus Time!
What is a Rebus?
JOBINJOB
Search the web
 www.cnn.com/studentnews
 www.funwithwords.com
 www.nytimes.com/pages/education
 www.smithsonian.com
 www.teachingtolerance.org
Become a wordsmith, a lexophile
Make your classroom a place
where students learn to
become language collectors.
Remember…
One forgets words as one forgets
names. One's vocabulary needs
constant fertilizing or it will die.
~Evelyn Waugh
So Now We Are…
Thank You
ROMANIAN
GERMAN
HAWAIIAN
HEBREW
ICELANDIC
FRENCH
SPANISH
SLOVENIAN
JAPANESE
mulţumesc
danke (dahn-kah)
mahalo
toda (toh-dah)
takk
merci (mehr-see)
gracias
hvala
arigatô (ahree-gah-tow)