Vocabulary: the building block
for success
Jane van der Zeyden
Learning Media
June 10 2010
There are connections between….
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oral language
vocabulary knowledge
reading comprehension
writing skill
academic achievement
life chances
“A learner’s vocabulary knowledge
strongly influences their ability to
comprehend what they read and to write
effectively”
Effective Literacy Strategies, MOE, 2004
“…students who have a wide vocabulary
generally show greater proficiency in
learning than those with more limited
vocabularies.”
Effective Literacy Strategies, MOE, 2004
Using language, symbols and
texts is one of the five Key
competencies.
“Each learning area has its own language or
languages. By learning to use them, students
become able to think in different ways,
access new areas of knowledge, and see
their world from new perspectives”
(NZ Curriculum, p.16)
Teachers and students need to
understand that ‘learning” or
“knowing” a word involves:
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Knowing how the word sounds
Saying the word with correct pronunciation
Spelling it accurately
Recognising it in print
Understanding what it means in context
Knowing its most commonly used meaning
Understanding other meanings in different
contexts e.g. bank,
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Knowing what part of speech it is
Knowing whether the word is technical
or general vocabulary
Knowing whether it is being used
literally, metaphorically or idiomatically
Understanding whether the word should
be used in informal or formal contexts
English language Learning Progressions, 2008 , MOE
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Some students learn seven or eight new
words in a day - other students may not
learn any
Gaps in vocabulary knowledge increase
continuously throughout schooling
What words do we use?
2,000 high frequency words = about 87%
800 academic words = about 8%
1,000 - 2,000 subject specific vocab = about 3%
123,000 low frequency vocab = about 2%
Four vocabulary modes
P. Nation, Victoria University
High
frequency
words
Technical &
subject specific
words
Academic words
Low frequency
words
Four vocabulary modes
P. Nation, Victoria University
High
frequency
words
Academic words
e.g. is, an, he,
goes
e.g explain, report
Technical &
subject specific
words
Low frequency
words
e.g volcano, erupts,
magma
e.g Krakatoa,
Vesuvius, Mt St
Helens
What is involved with knowing a
word?
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Form
Meaning
Use
Reference:
Teaching Vocabulary:Strategies and Techniques,
(2008) Paul Nation
Vocabulary building may include…
classifying
Brainstorming
Sensory webs
Sayings and idiomatic language
related to the topic e.g raining cats
and dogs, cat on a hot tin roof
Processes for remembering
words:
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Learners need to notice the word or be
aware of it
Retrieval - if a word is retrieved either
receptively or productively in a familiar task
then the memory of that word will be
strengthened.
Generation - may be either receptive or
productive. Involves using the vocabulary in
new contexts
Introducing key words
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Plan appropriate activities and tasks to teach and
test these key words
Simple explanation may be all that is required
Teach other related forms and words e.g. digestion
leads to digest, ingest, digestive, food, nutrient
Limit the number of new words
Get students to predict possible meanings
Avoid introducing pairs of words that have similar
meanings or are opposite in meaning.
Definitions
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Students use context clues
Develop their own definition first opportunity for rich discussion
Check their own definition against
context
Check against dictionary/thesaurus if
necessary
Dictionaries
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Traditionally given the most weight
May confuse rather than clarify e.g. 57
meanings for point
Thesauruses may be more useful
“…directly teaching children dictionary definitions for words did not
enhance their comprehension of a passage of text containing
those vocabulary words.”
Stahl and Fairbanks, 1998
Engagement with vocabulary
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Support students into use e.g. cloze,
true/false statements, questions and supplied
answers, text reconstruction
Students use vocabulary in discussion
Students use in written sentences
Expectation that new vocabulary transfers to
written work
Develop class/personal definitions/glossaries
Explicit teaching - spelling
vocabulary
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Syllables
Vowel sounds and blends
Consonant sounds and blends
Prefixes and suffixes
Chunks
Silent letters
Explicit teaching - morphemic analysis
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Disassemble words into roots and affixes
cyclists = cycle + ist + s
Understand the roots and affixes
cycle = bike, ist = a person, s = more than one
Reassemble the parts to derive meaning
cyclists = people who cycle
Develop word families
cycle, cycles, cycling, cycled, cyclist, monocycle,
bicycle, tricycle
“For every word a child learns, we estimate that there are an average of
one to three additional related words that should also be
understandable to the child.”
Nagy and Anderson (1984)
Vocabulary development requires multiple
opportunities to first of all notice and then use
new vocabulary
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Rich conversation
Attention to pronunciation
Reading to students
Experiences
Wide independent reading
Reading with students -shared and guided
Media/gaming/play
Word Play
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Matching games (e.g words and
definition/roots and affixes/word halves/words
and pictures/words and synonyms or
antonyms)
Games e.g. word dominoes, Memory,
wordfinds, crosswords, Bingo
Grouping and labeling
Drawing and labeling
clining
Engagement - word play
Bingo game
lava
flow
volcano
erupt
vent
crust
steam
lava bomb
dormant
ash
erupted
steamed
Greyish powder left after something has
been burnt
No longer active, but not extinct