Vocabulary
Vocabulary refers to the words we must know to communicate effectively. In school terms, it can be described as oral vocabulary or reading vocabulary. This section provides information about effective vocabulary instruction and the relationship between vocabulary and comprehension.
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Linking The Language: A Cross-Disciplinary Vocabulary Approach
In theory, it should be relatively easy for educators to link the language by introducing vocabulary in related clusters of words that cross content domains. This approach should help diverse learners, including English-minority students, make important vocabulary connections and transfer core ideas across content.
Questions About Vocabulary Instruction
This article answers four common questions teachers have about vocabulary instruction, including what words to teach and how well students should know vocabulary words.
Some Obstacles to Vocabulary Development
A strong vocabulary, both written and spoken, requires more than a dictionary. In fact, it requires an educational commitment to overcoming four obstacles: the size of the task (the number of words students need to learn is exceedingly large), the differences between spoken and written English, the limitations of information sources including dictionaries, and the complexity of word knowledge (simple memorization is not enough). Learn more about these challenges to acquiring the 2,500 words a student needs to add each year to their reading vocabulary.
Teaching Word Meanings as Concepts
The most effective vocabulary instruction teaches word meanings as concepts; it connects the words being taught with their context and with the students' prior knowledge. Six techniques have proven especially effective: Concept Definition Maps, Semantic Mapping, Semantic Feature Mapping, Possible Sentences, Comparing and Contrasting, and Teaching Word Parts.
The Clarifying Routine: Elaborating Vocabulary Instruction
The more a new vocabulary word is associated with ideas from students' own experience, the more likely the word will become well 'networked' and a permanent part of memory. Making these links involves elaborating definitions of new terms. This article offers teachers several ways to facilitate elaboration.
The Components of Effective Vocabulary Instruction
Effective vocabulary instruction begins with diverse opportunities for word learning: wide reading, high-quality oral language, word consciousness, explicit instruction of specific words, and independent word-learning strategies. This article explains how these opportunities can be created in the classroom.
Use and Teach Content Vocabulary Daily
Copying definitions from the dictionary and memorizing words for tests is not sufficient work for students to master and retain new vocabulary. This article helps teachers choose which words are most important to teach, and suggests ways to teach those words that will bring them to life for students.
What Works in Comprehension Instruction
Comprehension is critically important to the development of children's reading skills and therefore to the ability to obtain an education. Indeed, reading comprehension has come to be the "essence of reading" (Durkin, 1993), essential not only to academic learning in all subject areas but to lifelong learning as well.
