Effective
Vocabulary Instruction
HQT - ELA
Presented by
TPS Reading Academy
TPS Reading Academy
1
Learning Targets
After participating in this professional
development, the teachers will be able to:
• use the Instructional Sequence for introducing
•
•
vocabulary
choose effective strategies to provide guided
practice of new vocabulary
choose additional activities for interaction with
newly learned vocabulary words
TPS Reading Academy
2
What Do We Mean by “Vocabulary
Instruction” ?



Teaching the meaning of new words.
It is not learning to “read”, “recognize”, or
“decode” the written version of words
whose meanings students already know
from oral language.
It is adding the meanings of unfamiliar
words to your “mental dictionary”.
TPS Reading Academy
3
Word Knowledge
“…knowing a word is not an all-ornothing proposition: it is not the case
that one either knows or does not
know a word. Rather, knowledge of a
word should be viewed in terms of the
extent or degree of knowledge that
people can possess.”
Beck & McKeown,
1991
TPS Reading Academy
4
Word Knowledge Continuum
Rate your own word
knowledge on the given
words.
TPS Reading Academy
5
Word Knowledge Chart
Put a check under the appropriate category to show your knowledge of each word.
Word
Know the
word well
and can
explain its
meaning as
well as use
it
Familiar with
the word
and can
give an
example or
use it in a
situation
Have seen
or heard of
Do not know
the word but the word
have
difficulty
giving
specific and
clear
meaning
perturb
pique
ewe
regale
receptive
ER&D BRI [Manual For Trainers, Part II]
dubiety
TPS Reading Academy
6
Research Findings

Vocabulary knowledge in 1st grade predicts
reading comprehension in High School
(Cunningham & Stanovich, 1997)

Socio-economic status accounts for
differences in the quantity and quality of words
students possess. (Hart & Risley, 1995)

Schools have shown little effectiveness in
closing the gap (Biemiller, 1999; Blachowicz, et
al, 2006)
TPS Reading Academy
7
The Good News…
…Effective
vocabulary
instruction does lead to
gains in
comprehension.
National Reading Panel, 2000
TPS Reading Academy
8
A Word about Pre-assessment…
 With
so many words to teach,
word selection is crucial.
 Instruction
time is limited. Preassessing word knowledge keeps
you from wasting valuable time.
TPS Reading Academy
9
Selecting Words for
Direct Instruction
 How
generally useful is the word?
 How does the word relate to other
words and/or to ideas that
students know or have been
learning?
 What does the word bring to a text
or situation?
TPS Reading Academy
10
Vocabulary:
Spotlight on Morphology

Phonological form (sounds, syllables)

Morphological form (meaningful parts)

Spelling patterns (orthographic form)

Meanings and meaning networks

Linguistic history (etymological features)
TPS Reading Academy
11
Morphemic (Word-part) Analysis

All words contain one or more morphemes,
the smallest meaningful units/word-parts that
have both sound and meaning.

Teaching morphemic analysis = teaching the
meanings of word parts + how to break up
words into word parts + how to reassemble the
parts to find the meaning
TPS Reading Academy
12
12
Free Morphemes

Root or base words cannot be divided into smaller
word-parts:
fly
dog
bird

butter
water
fall
light
flower
book
school
house
pot
Two free morphemes can often be combined to form
a compound word
TPS Reading Academy
13
13
Compound Words
What do these words mean?
weekend
backyard
schoolhouse footprint
outdoors
headquarters
outside
horsepower
TPS Reading Academy
14
14
Activity:
Defining Compound Words
What do these compound words mean?
backbone
railroad
passport
grasshopper
pacemaker
brainwash
TPS Reading Academy
15
Root Words and Word Families

Some words that share the same base word make up a
word family.
act
react

action
tractor
actor
Knowing the meaning of the root or
base word can be a bridge to knowing the
meaning of words in the same word family – even if the
words are pronounced differently.
TPS Reading Academy
16
16
Same Base = Related Meaning (But Different Pronunciation)
wild
judge
define
wise
please
wilderness
judicial
definition
wisdom
pleasant
finite
infinity
= in the wild
= by a judge
= act of defining
= act of being wise
= in a way that
pleases
= something
without an end
TPS Reading Academy
17
17
Bridging Meaning,
Making Connections
AGREE (think alike)
agreement
disagree
disagreement
disagreeable
BAT (to beat)
battle
battalion
batter
combat
debate
battering ram
EQUI (equal)
equal
equation
equator
equivalent
equal rights
equity
equidistant
HOPE (want & believe)
hopeful
hopeless
hopelessness
TPS Reading Academy
18
18
Activity: Making Connections
With a partner, brainstorm all the words you
can relating to the following base words:
cover
(to place something upon, in front of)
appear (to come into view)
direct (to take charge, to move towards a
goal)
TPS Reading Academy
19
Bound Morphemes

Inflections (endings): ed, ing, s, es, er, est

Prefixes: word-parts added in front of another
word-part

Suffixes: word-parts added at the end of
another word-part

Bound roots: Greek or Latin word-parts
TPS Reading Academy
20
20
Prefix Practice

Brainstorm some prefixes.

In groups, generate words for your prefix.

Figure out the meaning of the prefix based on the
words you generated and tell how it changed the root
word.

Group share-outs
TPS Reading Academy
21
21
Prefixes

Students benefit from learning the most
common prefixes.

20 prefixes account for 97% of the prefixed
words in school reading materials!

Four prefixes (un-, re-, in-, and dis-) account
for 58% of all prefixed words.
TPS Reading Academy
22
22
20 Most Common Prefixes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
antifreeze
derail
*distrust
enlighten
embrace
forewarn
*inedible, immobile,
illegal, irresponsible
interview
midterm
misguide
nonsense
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
overlook
prefix
*remake
semigloss
submarine
superman
17.
18.
19.
20.
transport
*unable
underwater
inside, implant
TPS Reading Academy
23
23
Suffixes

Bound morpheme added to the end of roots or
base/root words

Two types:
• Inflectional:
-ing –ed; -s/-es; -er/-est; -a/-ae/-i; -s
• Derivational
TPS Reading Academy
24
Derivational Suffixes

Added to the end of root words
Kind + ness = kindness

Hope + ful = hopeful
TPS Reading Academy
25
25
Most Common Suffixes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
comfortable, edible 12. activity, bitty
professional, filial 13. wooden
jumped*
14. neatest
formative, plaintive, 15. homeless
active
rapidly*
16. amazement
worker, actor
17. happiness
stronger
18. joyous, gaseous
hopeful
19. books, boxes*
artistic
20. salty
singing*
motion, occasion
adoration, rendition
TPS Reading Academy
26
26
Putting It All Together –
by Taking It Apart

What’s the root and what does it mean?

Is it free or bound?

Is there a prefix? What does it mean?

Is there a suffix? What does it mean?

Put the word-parts together. What does the
word mean?
TPS Reading Academy
27
27
Unplayful

Root = play

Prefix = un (which means “not”)

Suffix = ful (which means “full of”)

Unplayful = not full of play; not playing
Replacement
TPS Reading Academy
28
28
Linguistic Historical Overview of American
English

Anglo-Saxon/Germanic (1%)

Latin (55%)

Greek (10%)

Other Languages

American English
TPS Reading Academy
29
Greek and Latin Roots

Are bound morphemes, so they cannot stand
alone

Greek roots usually combine with one another

Latin roots usually combine with one or more
prefixes or suffixes
TPS Reading Academy
30
30
Common Greek & Latin Roots
Root
astro
aud
dict
geo
graph
meter
mit, miss
ology
ped
phon
port
spect
struct
tele
Example
astronaut
audio
dictator
geography
biography
thermometer
transmit
study of
pedometer
telephone
import
inspector
construction
television
Meaning
star
hear
say, tell
earth
write
measure
send
biology
foot
sound
carry
see
build
from afar
TPS Reading Academy
31
31
Common Spanish-English Cognates
Root
astro
auto
struct
port
scribe
graph
dict
ped
aud
Spanish
English
astronomo
astronomy
autografo
autograph
construccion construction
deportar
deport
describir
describe
autografo
autograph
dictador
dictator
pedal
pedal
auditorio
auditorium
TPS Reading Academy
32
32
Activity -- Match the Cognates
Sort the cognates by language into pairs, tell
what the pairs have in common, and then define
the words.
family
radio
centro
mission
magic
dictar
portatil
desierto
gorilla
dictate
clase
magia
familia
gorila
portable
center
radio
class
mision
desert
TPS Reading Academy
33
rupture
ruptured
ruptures
interrupting
interruption
bankrupt
abrupt
interrupt
bankruptcy
abruptly
interrupts
bankruptcies abruptness
interrupt interrupted
corrupt
corrupts
“to
Corrupted
corrupting
corruptible
corruptiveness
corruption
interruption
rupt
break or burst”
disrupt
disrupts
disrupting
disruption
TPS Reading Academy
erupt
erupts
erupted
erupting
eruption
34
34
Activity – Moving from the Root
See how many words you can make from this root.
scend-, scen(to climb, to mount)
TPS Reading Academy
35
Try This!
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
TPS Reading Academy
36
36
Selecting Words To Target:
Beck’s Three-Tier Model
From Beck, I. L.,
McKeown, M. G., &
Kucan, L. (2002).
Bringing words to life:
Robust vocabulary
instruction. New York:
The Guilford Press.
Low-frequency,
technical words
High-frequency,
high-utility words
Known,
common words
TPS Reading Academy
Tier 3
Tier 2
Tier 1
37
Three Tiers of Words
Tier One- the most basic words.
(clock, happy, baby, walk)
 Tier Two- words that are high frequency
and found across a variety of domains.
(coincidence, absurd, maintain)
 Tier Three- words whose frequency is
quite low and limited to specific domains.
(isotope, lathe, peninsula, piano)

TPS Reading Academy
38
Introducing Vocabulary

Effective vocabulary instruction must go
beyond simply getting students to
associate words with their definitions.

Definitions should be shared in StudentFriendly terms.
TPS Reading Academy
39
Student-Friendly
Definitions/ Explanations
 Characterize
the word and how it is
typically used
 Explain
the meaning of the word in
everyday language, so students
grasp the entire explanation
TPS Reading Academy
40
Student-Friendly Definitions/
Explanations Examples
Notice that the student-friendly definitions often
include the words: YOU, SOMETHING, SOMEONE
Eavesdropping
Listening
carefully to a
conversation
If you are
eavesdropping, you
are listening to what
other people are
saying without them
knowing you are
doing so.
Attention
Thoughtful care
or kindness
If someone is getting
attention, they are
being well taken care
of.
TPS Reading Academy
41
From Dictionary Definitions to
Student-Friendly Explanations

Consider these dictionary
definitions:
• Covert- kept from sight; secret; hidden
• Melodious- tuneful; containing to a
•
•
pleasing succession of sounds
Dismantle- to strip of furnishings or
equipment; to take apart; tear down
Disparage- to belittle; slight; to reduce in
esteem
TPS Reading Academy
42
From Dictionary Definitions to
Student-Friendly Explanations




If something is covert, it is an activity or situation
that is kept hidden or secret.
If something is melodious, several pleasing
sounds can be heard in a row.
If you dismantle a machine or structure, you take it
apart carefully.
If you disparage someone or something, you
speak about them in a way which shows that you
do not have a good opinion of them.
TPS Reading Academy
43
Another Consideration for
Introducing Vocabulary

Teachers must decide when to teach the
words.
• It depends on your goal for vocabulary
instruction…
• Story comprehension
• Developing vocabulary repertoire
TPS Reading Academy
44
Introducing Vocabulary

Before Reading
• Students are reading text independently
• Attention given to words should be brief
• Only words important to story
comprehension
TPS Reading Academy
45
Introducing Vocabulary

During Reading
• Clarification of words necessary for
comprehension done at the point of use
• Explanation of word should be simply
folded into the text being read.
• Only an “explain-quickly-and-go-onreading” approach is needed.
TPS Reading Academy
46
Introducing Vocabulary

After Reading
• More elaborate work with previously
introduced words
• Other Tier 2 words that add richness to the
story and have long-term benefit to
students’ vocabulary development
• Robust instruction that is actively engaging.
TPS Reading Academy
47
Introducing Vocabulary –
Sequence for Robust Instruction
Day 1 – Introduce words using set of
pictures that illustrate each word
• Teacher questions students about each picture to
•
•
•
elicit the meaning elements for the words
Present SFE based on those elements
Students write definitions in vocabulary notebooks
Review words by having students identify word
represented by each picture
TPS Reading Academy
48
frail
a frail person is
thin and weak
TPS Reading Academy
49
barren
barren describes something empty, plain, or bare
TPS Reading Academy
50
Guided Practice for Vocabulary
– Instructional Sequence
Days 2 – 4 Sentence completion activity
• Done together as a class to ensure that
•
•
vocabulary notebook has a good example
sentence with strong context.
Students offer suggestions to complete a
sentence stem and class as a whole decides on
best idea.
Students write agreed-upon sentence in
vocabulary notebook.
TPS Reading Academy
51
Sentence Completion Activity

It was obvious the
old woman was frail
when…

The poor man’s
barren one-room
apartment reminded
me of…
TPS Reading Academy
52
Guided Practice for Vocabulary
– Instructional Sequence
Days 2 – 4 Choose between word pairs


Students choose between pairs of target words in
response to a question.
May be done as a game. Teacher randomly writes
pairs of words, one word under each team’s name.
The teams the applaud if the correct word (that
answers the question) is posted unter their name.
TPS Reading Academy
53
Vocabulary Pick One

Which word describes a leafless maple
tree in mid-winter?
Why?
frail
barren
TPS Reading Academy
54
Guided Practice for Vocabulary
– Instructional Sequence
Days 2 – 4 Cloze sentences

Students select target word that fits in the sentence.

Sentence must be rich in context
TPS Reading Academy
55
Cloze Sentences

Touched by sunlight, _____________
winter treetops glowed in the distance.

The newborn’s ______________ heart
was barely beating as the doctors and
nurses examined him.
TPS Reading Academy
56
Guided Practice for Vocabulary
– Instructional Sequence
Days 2 – 4 Same/Different



Focus on how pairs of words are both alike and
different.
Students choose two words that fit descriptions.
Once they complete the activity independently or in
pairs, the class should review the answers together.
TPS Reading Academy
57
Same/Different

Both of these words describe something
that is weak. One is used to describe
poor health and the other describes
something that is easily broken.
fragile
frail
TPS Reading Academy
58
Guided Practice for Vocabulary
– Instructional Sequence
Days 2 – 4 Ready, Set, Go!





Timed matching activity
Teacher creates 4 activity sheets which students
complete as a partner times them. (4 laps)
Each sheet lists the words on one side and
definitions on the other. Students match by drawing
lines.
The order of the words are different on each sheet
and definitions are slightly altered.
Goal is to see if student can get faster across laps.
TPS Reading Academy
59
Assessment – Day 5


May be assessed through multiplechoice.
Deeper understanding can be assessed
through…
• writing
• questioning that requires application to a
particular context.
TPS Reading Academy
60
Other Activities

Graphic Organizers

Foldables
TPS Reading Academy
61