ESL Learning Team #3
Building Academic Vocabulary
January 22, 2013
Allison Balter and Lindsey Mayer
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Why is Teaching Academic
Vocabulary So Important?
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Why is explicit vocabulary instruction so important?
The achievement gap
is a vocabulary gap.
Listeners must know 90-95% of vocabulary to
access meaning.
Readers must know at least 95% of running
words to make meaning.
They must know
95%-98% to learn new words
through reading .
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Why is explicit vocabulary instruction so important?
Be
strategic!
High
leverage
words.
1000 word
families
ELL
4th Grader
1000 word
families
3,000
1000 word
families
1000 word
3
families
Native English
Kindergartener
1000 word
families
1000 word
families
1000 word
families
1000 word
families
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K
6
5
4
2
6th Grader
8,000
1
7,000
ELL
Kindergartener
Teach
word
learning
strategies!
What is Academic Vocabulary and
How Do We Know What to Teach?
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What is academic language?
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Components of Effective Vocabulary Instruction
Explicit
General
Vocabulary
Academic
Instruction
Vocabulary
(interdisciplinary)
- Content-specific
vocabulary
- Tier 2, 3 words
- Specific, technical
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Word
Work
-
Word parts
Word families
Cognates
Idioms
Figurative language
Selecting Vocabulary
What words do I teach?
isotope, peninsula,
amoeba
industrious,
conductor, occur
clock, baby, happy
(Beck, McKeown, and Kucan, 2002)
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Selecting Vocabulary – Content Area
Tier 3
Tier 2
Math
Simplify
Evaluate
Solve
Numerator
Denominator
Variable
divvert-
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Interdisciplinary Academic Words
Specialized, highutility words
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
analysis

approach

Frames
areaISentence
predict that ___
because _____. 
assessment
assume


authority

available

benefit
Vocabulary, grammar & syntax
necessary to competently
discuss a topic
 environment
concept
 established
consistent
 estimate
constitutional
ACADEMIC
WORD WALL!
 evidence
context
 export
contract
Encourage “smart” words:
 financial
create
delighted instead of happy
illustrate instead of draw
 formula
data
 function
definition
http://language.massey.ac.nz/staff/awl/awlinfo.shtml
(Academic Word Lists)
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Choosing Words to Teach from a Text
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“The Family of Little Feet”
from House on Mango Street
There was a family. All were little. Their arms were
little, and their hands were little, and their height was not
tall, and their feet very small.
The grandpa slept on the living room couch and
snored through his teeth. His feet were fat and doughy
like thick tamales, and these he powdered and stuffed
into white socks and brown leather shoes.
The grandma’s feet were lovely as pink pearls and
dressed in velvety high heels that made her walk with a
wobble, but she wore them anyway because they were
pretty.
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Tier 1
Note: you wouldn’t teach all at once, but focus on the thematic unit
There was a family. All were little. Their arms were little, and
their hands were little, and their height was not tall, and their feet
very small.
The grandpa slept on the living room couch and snored
through his teeth. His feet were fat and doughy like thick tamales,
and these he powdered and stuffed into white socks and brown
leather shoes.
The grandma’s feet were lovely as pink pearls and dressed in
velvety high heels that made her walk with a wobble, but she wore
them anyway because they were pretty.
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Tier 2
Used across contexts; multiple meanings
There was a family. All were little. Their arms were little, and
their hands were little, and their height was not tall, and their feet
very small.
The grandpa slept on the living room couch and snored
through his teeth. His feet were fat and doughy like thick tamales,
and these he powdered and stuffed into white socks and brown
leather shoes.
The grandma’s feet were lovely as pink pearls and dressed in
velvety high heels that made her walk with a wobble, but she wore
them anyway because they were pretty.
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Selecting Words: Guided Practice
Directions:
• Finish “The Family of Little Feet” (partner or independent)
• Select key vocabulary (5-8 words)
– Tier 1: what thematic words would you need to know to
understand?
– Tier 2: what words can be applied to other contexts?
10 minutes
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Work Time:
Use your own text and select 5-8
words that you will teach explicitly.
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What are effective instructional
strategies and routines for teaching
academic vocabulary?
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Effective Vocabulary Instruction – What it is NOT!
Vocabulary Casserole
Ingredients Needed:
20 words no one has ever heard before in his life
1 dictionary with very confusing definitions
1 matching test to be distributed by Friday
1 teacher who wants students to be quiet on Mondays copying words
Put 20 words on chalkboard. Have students copy then look up in
dictionary. Make students write all the definitions. For a little
spice, require that students write words in sentences. Leave alone
all week. Top with a boring test on Friday.
Perishable. This casserole will be forgotten by Saturday afternoon.
Serves: No one.
Adapted from When Kids Can’t Read,What
Teachers Can Do by Kylene Beers
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Effective Vocabulary Instruction – What it IS!
Vocabulary Treat
Ingredients Needed:
5-10 great words that you really could use
1 thesaurus
Markers and chart paper
1 game like Jeopardy or BINGO
1 teacher who thinks learning is supposed to be fun
Mix 5 to 10 words into the classroom. Have students test
each word for flavor. Toss with a thesaurus to find
other words that mean the same. Write definitions on
chart paper and let us draw pictures of words to
remind us what they mean. Stir all week by a teacher
who thinks learning is supposed to be fun. Top with a
cool game on Fridays like jeopardy or BINGO to see
who remembers the most.
Serves: Many
Adapted from When Kids Can’t Read,What
Teachers Can Do by Kylene Beers
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Effective Vocabulary Instruction
Some vocabulary practices…
Unreliable Practices
Research-based Practices
 Asking students, “Does
 Teacher directed, explicit
anyone know what _____
instruction
means?”
 Provide
Researchers concur that
to "own" amany opportunities
 Numerous independent
new word for the longto
term,
the
practice
using words
activities withoutlearner
guidance
must see and use the word
 Teach word meanings
or immediate feedback
at least 8 times in several contexts.
explicitly and systematically
 Directing students to “look it
 Teach independent word
up” then use it in a sentence
learning strategies (i.e.,
 Relying on context based
contextual strategies &
guessing as a primary
morphemic analysis
strategy
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Instructional Routine for Introducing Vocabulary
 Introduce the word.
 Do a student self-assessment
 Say the word, have students repeat it
 Introduce the meaning of the word with a student friendly explanation.
 Illustrate the word with examples and non-examples.
 Check for student understanding.
Repeated
Exposure!
 Reinforcement and practice:
 Attach a gesture to it!
 Associate with a picture
 Incorporate games and other activities throughout the week
Introducing Vocabulary Video
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Instructional Routine for Teaching Vocabulary
Frayer Model
Definition in your own words
Examples
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Facts/characteristics
Word
Nonexamples
Reinforcing and Practicing Vocabulary
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Self-assessment
Student-friendly definition
Connecting word with action
Simon Says
Charades
Taboo
HOT questions
Other games: Pictionary, Races
Extension sentences
Word Wall
Student-created dictionaries
Don’t just introduce words and forget about them until an end-of-week
assessment! Integrate brief,
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daily opportunities to interact with the words.
Word Learning Strategies
• Utilizing morphemic analysis
• Prefixes (re- , un-, mis-)
• Suffixes (-ed, -tion, -est)
• Roots (-scrib-)
• Teaching the word families:
• -ace (race, face, place, lace, pace)
• -en (hen, pen, men, ten)
Students need
the tools to
become
independent
word learners
and lovers of
language!
• Have fun with words – figurative language, puns, idioms
(Amelia Bedelia books!)
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Word Learning Strategies
Teaching cognate awareness
• Words that look, sound, and mean the same thing in
two languages (e.g. problem  problema)
• Great for beginners who speak Spanish or another
language that shares cognates with English
• Build student ownership – teach them the strategy
and allow them to find and track their own lists of
cognates
• False cognates (e.g. embarrassed  embarazada)
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Work Time:
Using the text you brought and
thinking about the words you
selected, create an instructional
plan for the week.
Use the template in your packet!
We will give/get feedback from colleagues on
these plans.
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Partner Feedback:
Exchange plans with a partner.
1) Are the words strategic?
2) Is there sufficient practice?
3) Are the activities scaffolded in
rigor? Does the sequence make
sense?
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Wrap-up and Exit Ticket
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