Bringing Words to Life:
ROBUST Vocabulary
Instruction
Beck, I.L., McKeown, M.G., Kucan, L.
Chapter 1: Rationale
• 30 million word gap between children from different socio-economic groups.
• Offers a three tier framework:
-Tier 1: Everyday words most commonly heard in speech, e.g. ‘but’, ‘door’, ‘open’, etc.
-Tier 2: More complex/sophisticated words found in books, but not ordinary speech, e.g. ‘retrospect’,
‘ostensibly’, etc.
-Tier 3: Subject specific vocabulary with precise usage, e.g. ‘photosynthesis’, ‘oxymoron’.
• We can learn new vocabulary from contexts. Offers four different contexts: misdirective, nondirective, general, directive. (see next slide for diagram)
• Learning new vocabulary happens in stages: no knowledge, having a general sense of the word’s
meaning, having narrow, context-bound knowledge of the word’s usage, and rich,
decontextualised knowledge of the word’s meaning and it’s relationship to other words, and its
extension to metaphorical uses.
• Want to encourage curiosity with vocabulary- want pupils to have an appetite for new words, and
to feel as if they ‘own’ them when they do learn them, i.e. they feel confident using them in other
contexts.
• Word Wizard strategy: When a child learns a new word they are given it on a card. Carry it around
in a wizards hat. If a teacher sees the child, chooses a word from the hat and asks kid to explain
meaning. Can we use vocabulary books to do this in a more secondary friendly way? Lunchtime
discussion? See notes on chapter 3 for ways to allow pupils to practice using vocabulary.
• The greater the amount of semantic connections in a person’s network, the more rich and flexible
their understanding. Similar to idea of knowledge schema.
Chapter 1 appendix: Learning new
vocabulary in context
Context
Meaning
Example
Misdirective
Incorrect understanding of word formed through a bad ‘The concert was dire’. Might
guess.
guess that dire= good. Therefore,
the concert was good.
Non-directive
Cannot infer exact meaning as context could suppose a ‘He heard the lumbering
number of different meanings. Usually leads to
footsteps’ Could mean any
omission of word.
number of things: light footsteps,
heavy, loud, etc.
General
Get a sense of the general category to which a word
belongs, but may not be able to reapply it accurately.
Directive
Learn meaning thanks to clues in the description and
“As the noise and confusion
a definitional phrase that uses language already known mounted, Mother shouted
to the reader.
‘What’s the commotion?’”- ‘noise
and confusion’ is a definitional
phrase to describe ‘commotion’
leading to accurate understanding
of word.
“He enjoyed parties and was
gregarious” – word to describe a
person who enjoys parties. Still
unsure of precise meaning.
Chapter 2: Choosing words to teach
1. How generally useful is the word? Is it likely to be reused
often? Is it useful for describing pupils’ own experiences?
2. How does it relate to other words? Does it offer a more
nuanced or precise way of expressing oneself? E.g.
instead of ‘silly’ say ‘absurd’.
3. Will the word help to enrich a pupils’ understanding of
literature? What role does the word play in
communicating the meaning of the context in which it is
used?
There is no formula for selecting age appropriate vocabulary,
but words need to be connected to other words already
known.
Chapter 3: Introducing words to teach
• Typical responses to new vocabulary dependent on how introduced:
1.Lost: wrong definition. Base definition on a vague, often incorrect memory.
E.g. ‘covet’ means ‘covet operations, like on NCIS!’
2.Ball-park: Not enough particular info- can’t differentiate new word from
other similar words. E.g. ‘covet’ means something you want.
3.Got it: Precise understanding of meaning- knows how to use it in context.
E.g. ‘When I saw my cousin’s new bike I coveted it: I wanted it really bad!’
• When to introduce new vocabulary: when it is encountered in the text,
rather than upfront. Introducing new words up front overloads working
memory.
• Give brief explanations of new vocabulary when reading a text, then give a
more detailed definition after. In the midst of a text, the focus should be
on comprehension, not vocabulary acquisition: that can come later.
• Best to introduce 6-10 new words over 5-9 days. But use each word in
lots of different contexts.
Chapter 3: Introducing words to teach
•
•
1.
2.
3.
4.
Traditional definitions not an effective vehicle for learning word meanings. E.g.
looking up words in a dictionary: Dictionary conventions designed by
lexicographers who have brevity in mind, not vocabulary acquisition. Words often
defined with other, more complex words, rendering them meaningless to a
language learner.
Four characteristic definitions that get in the way of understanding word
meanings:
Weak differentiation: unclear how this word is different from other words- e.g.
conspicuous/visible.
Vague language. E.g. ‘typical’ means ‘of a type’.
The context offers a more likely interpretation of the word. E.g. Sentence ‘the
boy was devious on his bike’- definition of devious states ‘straying from the right
cause’- reader may suspect the boy is not riding in a straight line.
Multiple pieces of information given but little guidance as to how they are
integrated. E.g. definition of ‘exotic’: foreign, strange, not native. Reader may
wonder whether something can be exotic and not strange, or exotic and native,
etc.
Chapter 3: Introducing words to teach
• Developing student friendly explanations.
1. Capture the essence of the word. What is it that
makes the word special or different to other words?
E.g. ‘A controversy is a strong disagreement about
something that often involves a lot of angry feelings’
2. Explain in everyday language.
E.g. ‘Covert describes something that is done in a hidden
or secret way.’
Show in the definition how the word is applied.
Chapter 3: Introducing words to teach
• Multiple meanings:
E.g. ‘fast’ (quickly/refrain from eating)
• Better to point out likeness explicitly. Talk about the idea that
language changes and has lots of interesting quirks. Whenever
come across an example like this, remind pupils that language has
its strange nuances, and remind them of a simple example, such as
the multiple meaning of ‘fast’.
• As far as possible, try to convey a core meaning between the two
words. E.g. the word ‘distinction’ meaning a high exam grade, or
how something is different from something else. Show that the
word ‘distinction’ therefore denotes a big difference- to get a
distinction in an exam means that you have performed so highly
that what you did was very different to what others did.
• Ultimately, it is better to show how a word is used and give
examples of the word in use than to define it.
Chapter 3: Introducing words to teach
• Possible activities to use when introducing new
vocabulary:
-Word association. Why are these words
associated?
-Have you ever? E.g. ‘have you ever coveted
something?’
-Applause. Clap if you would like to be described as
these things: exuberant, morose, etc.
-Which would you rather be? Exasperated or
elated? Truculent or radiant? Etc.
Chapter 4: Instructional Sequences
• Once 10 words for the week have been selected,
ensure they are each the focus of attention at least 10
times during the week.
• Day 1: introduce new words found in text, pausing
briefly when reading text to explain their meaning for
the purpose of comprehension only.
• Days 2-4: carry out activities that show meaning of
word and allow practice using words in different
contexts. E.g. (See example activities on next slide)
• Day 5: Assessment (See example assessment questions
on next slide)
Example Activities: Days 2-4
• Basic: Choose from examples/non examples.
• Basic: Word association (which word is associated with x?)
• Intermediate: What might make someone say ‘I am so
exasperated!’, ‘I am incredulous’, etc.
• Intermediate: Write sentences using stems: e.g. The dog
absconded with…. The citizens were incredulous when…
• Advanced: How might two target words be related, e.g.
‘incredulous/admire- someone might do something so
admirable that others might be incredulous when they
heard about it.’
• Advanced: Go back to the story. Find an example of a time
when a character was incredulous/did something
admirable/absconded, etc.
Example assessment questions: Day 5
• Cloze text questions. Fill in the correct words in
the blanks.
• Situations: Would you admire someone who did
x? Would you be incredulous when a friend did y?
(yes or no and explain why)
• Opposites: people condemn villains, but they
_____ heroes (choose from bank of target words)
How can we build these ideas into MCQs? Can we
make them more robust/challenging?
Chapter 6: Assessing and maintaining
new vocabulary
• What does it mean to know a word? Problems and
difficulties with assessing vocabulary:
-May be able to supply synonym but may not understand
meaning of word.
-Understand context but unable to explain meaning.
-Be able to state definition but not know how to use it in
context.
• To mitigate these problems, we need to use a multipronged approach, building in different question types
to ensure rigour.
• With MCQs, robustness determined by foils.
Chapter 6: Assessing and Maintaining
new vocabulary
• Scott, Vevea and Flinspach (2010)- progression of knowledge about each word.
Stage 1: knowledge of semantic field of word (e.g. Is ‘Pyramid’ to do with farms or
maths?)
Stage 2: Able to choose correct definition from list of definition.
• Still not enough. Also need to use true/false questions. ‘Pyramid’ means lake- true
or false. Easier to guess but reduces strain on working memory. Can overcome this
by writing clusters of four lots of true/false questions: e.g.
1. If you are a whizz at puzzles, you are clever: T or F?
2. If you can’t remember your phone number, you are not clever: T or F?
3. Clever means trying hard: T or F?
4. Clever means being good at things: T or F?
Remember the vital importance of frequent encounters of words in different
contexts, plus the need to regular retrieval/recall.
Chapter 6: Assessing and maintaining
new vocabulary
• Possible ways to maintain new vocabulary:
1. Create class word bank that pupils are invited to draw
from in their writing.
2. Use in conversation: “Did you have a sufficient
breakfast today?”
3. Give out merits for using new vocabulary in context.
4. Word Wizard. Number of points relate to level of
‘word wizardry’- lowest level- highest: Word watcher,
worker, winner, whirlwind, wildcat, wizard.
5. Ask pupils to find something in the news/in the text
that could be described as ‘whimsical’.
Chapter 7: Working with instructional
and natural contexts
• Instructional: Intentionally designed to
support understanding of new words.
• Naturally occurring contexts: reading/hearing
a word. Understand from context.
• Importance of context clues. Natural context
can be problematic/misleading for poor
readers, e.g. ‘dire’ in ‘the play was dire’ could
mean that the play was great.
Chapter 7: Working with instructional
and natural contexts
• Instructional contexts: must define target words, either with
definitional phrase or sequence of examples, or both (best).
• Carefully crafted story version 1.
• Needs to be clear, explicit.
• Explain process out loud to pupils- how you derived meaning from
the context given: ‘You/I figured out that ‘dire’ means ‘terrible’
because the boy looked sad and it makes it sound as if her didn’t
enjoy the play.’ (Then need to delve deeper to show what makes
that word unique, and how it differs from other words in similar
semantic field, etc.)
• Importance of teaching the reasoning process of determining a
word’s meaning from naturally occurring contexts. Even adults can
only reliably gain information from directive contexts, but still have
strategies for dealing with new words, and have broader vocabulary
and knowledge reservoirs to infer meaning from.
Chapter 7: Working with instructional
and natural contexts
• Instructional sequence:
-Read/paraphrase sentence with target word.
-Establish meaning of context.
-Initial identification/rationale. “It could mean x
because y”
-Consider further possibilities. “why else do we
think it means x?”
Chapter 8: Vocabulary and Writing
• Characteristics of good writing:
-Word choice
-Precision of word use
-Breadth of word knowledge
• Fitzgerald and Shanaton- four types of knowledge.
1. Metaknowledge of written language.
2. Linguistic features
3. Procedural
4. Domain knowledge- shared between reading and
writing. Necessary for both.
Chapter 8: Vocabulary and writing
•
1.
2.
3.
•
1.
Mezynski (1983) 3 features of good writing instruction:
Practice
Knowledge
Active use of processes taught
Stahl and Fairbanks (1986) 3 different features:
Definitional and contextual information provided about
word.
2. Multiple exposures to words.
3. Deeper processing.
In essence: to affect the quality of pupils’ use of vocabulary in
writing, the initial instruction must be robust.
Chapter 9: Differentiating Vocabulary
instruction (EAL)
• Difficult to determine which words to teach EAL pupils.
• Cummins (1994) describes a ‘lexical bar’ that all children need to cross
before they can learn more words. Can take between 5-7 years.
• When EAL pupils can manage everyday conversation, they should then
receive lots of instruction in tier 2 words.
• If they understand what the word means in their own language, they will
know it in English once they have learnt the new English label.
• If it’s not a word they would know in their home language, teach in the
same way you would teach a native speaker. High challenge, high support.
• Elaborated contexts provided in robust instruction will help EAL pupils
anyway. Key is getting them to conversational/daily level.
• Ensure they are fluent in procedures of the school- academic language and
terms.
• Can begin to use their home language (particularly if romance language)
to enhance their understanding of both by introducing cognates.
Chapter 10: Energizing the verbal
environment.
• Classrooms should be places where words are
celebrated, constantly being noticed, investigated
and savored.
• Use mature language as much as possible. Say a
kid is ‘industrious’ or ‘diligent’ instead of ‘hard
working’.
• Use of poetry to show that language can surprise
and delight.
• Get them to understand the power of words and
love language.
Robust Vocabulary Instruction: 7
habits
1. Teach vocabulary in directive contexts to ensure precise meaning of
words.
2. Choose words according to how generally useful they are, and
whether they will enrich/deepen self-expression and understanding
of good literature.
3. Definitions must capture the essence of the word and show how it
is used in context through several examples.
4. Instructional sequences will introduce words, allow lots of practice
across contexts, and assess using robust assessment tools.
5. Assessments must measure: definition, context, application.
6. EAL pupils will learn the basics before using the same robust model
that native speakers will receive.
7. Teachers must use mature, academic language as much as possible.