STRATEGIES TO HELP VOCABULARY
AND WORD FINDING DIFFICULTIES
11-19 years
VOCABULARY:
 Target support to ensure that students are taught key words central to their
understanding of a specific subject.
 Pre-teaching key words/core vocabulary. See the activities sheet for more information
on pre-teaching.
 Key words should be regularly recapped, checked and reinforced, for example at the
beginning of each lesson, at the end of the topic, prior to a test.
 Key words should remain in view/in a constant place within the classroom, throughout
the topic, for example a special ‘key word’ zone on the white board.
 Encourage students to highlight vocabulary they have not understood.
 Encourage students seek clarification/ask for meanings of words they have not
understood.
 Encourage students to use and update a word bank or vocabulary book and relate to
specific subjects and topics.
 Provide other opportunities to learn new vocabulary, for example in Learning Support
classes or at home, if appropriate.
 Teach the words using a combination of strategies, e.g. explaining the meaning,
categorising them, using the words in sentences, matching word/picture/meaning. It is
also important to link any new vocabulary with known vocabulary. Make sure students
know category names as well as the relationships between words.
 Abstract vocabulary often needs a more contextual approach supported by formal
teaching. As new words arise in the curriculum, reinforce and develop related
vocabulary.
 Many words in the secondary curriculum are subject specific or technical terms that are
used differently in everyday usage e.g. table, column. Discuss with the students their
prior experience of a word and how it is used in your subject area.
 Encourage the creation of mind maps, word trees, etc, using written words and
pictures. These can be curriculum topic specific or more general school vocabulary.
 Create “word maps” to encourage “over-learning” of new topic vocabulary. See ‘Word
Map’ document for more information.
 Encourage students to use a dictionary or thesaurus to become more independent in
their choice of words.
October 2012
VWF08
WORD FINDING:
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If you know the word the student is trying to recall it may help to give them a clue. This
is better than telling them the whole word as they are more likely to remember it when
they have to think of the answer themselves. And practise the skill of defining words.
The different clues/prompts you can give are:
o Category = Group word
o Function = What is it used for?
o Location = Where do you find it?
o Details = What else can you tell me about it?
o Sound = Say the first sound of a word
o Synonym = A word with similar meaning e.g. noisy – loud; plunge – dive
o Antonym = Words with opposite meaning e.g. noisy – quiet; wet – dry;
The student’s own use of these prompts (above) will facilitate their independence in
developing strategies to help with word retrieval. These are good ways of reducing the
level frustration if messages do not get across straight away.
Try to reduce the demands on the student's weak word retrieval skills. Strategies
could include:
o giving them a multiple choice, e.g. ‘Is it a solid, liquid or gas?’
o giving them a true-false question instead of eliciting the actual word.
Encourage the student to talk around the word using the clues above as a guide. It is
important that the goal is successful communication, rather than finding the precise
words. Inability to find precise words results in unfinished sentences, disrupted flow of
thought and frustration. Let the student know that, as long as s/he can get his/her
message across, it doesn’t matter which words are used. We, as listeners, provide
positive feedback to the student who says “You know that place in between two
mountains” when they can’t recall a word. We can then say “Oh yes, a valley” and
recap/check if they remember the word later on.
Prior to starting the main lesson/written tasks, it might be helpful to revisit
work/reintroduce vocabulary as a short revision task.
Encourage the creation of mind maps, word trees, etc, using written words and
pictures. These can be curriculum topic specific or more general relating to school
vocabulary etc.
Create word maps to encourage over-learning of new topic vocabulary. See ‘Word
Map’ document for more information.
October 2012
VWF08