Vocabulary Instruction

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Vocabulary Instruction in support of New Hanover
Countys Problem Solving Model April
2008 Presenter Chris Gordon
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• Vocabulary knowledge encompasses all the words we
  must know to
• Access our background knowledge
• Express our ideas and communicate
• Learn about new concepts

• Word knowledge is linked strongly to academic
  success
• Students with large vocabularies can understand
  new ideas and concepts more quickly

Word knowledge significantly affects comprehension
Sedita, Keys to Literacy 2008
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Predictive Power Of Early Vocabulary

• Best kindergarten predictors of 1st and 2nd
  Grades reading achievement
• Phoneme Awareness
• Alphabet Knowledge
• Best kindergarten predictor of Grades 3 up
  reading achievement
• Oral Vocabulary

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The Effects of Weaknesses in Oral Language on
Reading Growth (Hirsch, 1996)
16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5
High Oral Language in Kindergarten
5.2 years difference
Reading Age Level
Low Oral Language in Kindergarten
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16
Chronological Age
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Oral Vocabulary Differences For Disadvantaged
Children

• Total Oral Vocabulary
• 2700 words middle SES 1st graders
• 1800 words low SES 1st graders
• New Words Per Year Primary Grades
• 3000 words/year middle SES
• 1000 words/year low SES
• Top high school seniors know 4 times as many
  words as lower-performing classmates.

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How Many Words????

• 18 month needs to learn avg. of ___ new words a
  day to have avg. vocab. of approx. ______ words
  by the time he or she is 6 years old (Senechal
  Cornell, 1993)
• Children typically learn _________ words a year
  (over 8 words a day) between 3rd and 12th grades
  (Nagy Anderson, 1984)

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8,000
3,000

• To go from 8,000 to 40,000 in 12 years, a child
  needs to learn 32,000 words or ____ words a day.

7-8

• Avg. high school graduate knows approx. ______
  words

40,000

• (Nagy Herman, 1985)

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Vocabulary Used in a Variety of Sources
Avg. of Rare Words (per 1,000)
Newspapers
68.3
52.7
Adult books
53.5
Comic books
Childrens books
30.9
20.2
Childrens TV
22.7
Adult TV
2.0
Mr. Rogers
Hayes and Ahrens (1988)
30.8
Cartoon shows
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Variation In Amount Of Independent Reading
Min/day Books
Min/day Text
Words/Yr Books
Words/Yr Text
Percentile
Words Read Per year
Minutes of Reading per Day
Percentile Rank
Text
Books
Text
Books
51,000
10
.1
1.0
8,000
8,000
0
0
0
2
51,000
8,000
1.0
.1
10
134,000
21,000
2.4
.7
20
30
251,000
106,000
4.3
1.8
50
4.6
9.2
282,000
601,000
421,000
200,000
6.2
3.2
40
601,000
282,000
9.2
4.6
50
722,000
432,000
13.1
6.5
60
1,168,000
622,000
16.9
9.6
70
1,697,000
1,146,000
24.6
14.2
80
90
21.2
33.4
1,823,000
2,357,000
2,357,000
1,823,000
33.4
21.2
90
4,733,000
4,358,000
67.3
65.0
98
Percentile rank on each measure separately.
Books, magazines and newspapers. Adapted from
Growth in Reading and How Children Spend Their
Time Outside of School (1988) by R.C. Anderson,
P.T. Wilson, and L.G. Fielding, Reading Research
Quarterly 23 (3), p. 292. (5th graders)
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The Vocabulary - Comprehension Connection

• 90-95
• To fully understand text, students need
• to have an established level of
• knowledge for most,
• but not all of the words they read.

Sedita, Keys to Literacy 2008
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80 Accuracy

• Just then the ___ line came ___ under his foot,
  where he had kept a ___ of the line, and he
  dropped his ___ and felt the ___ of the small ___
  ___ pull as he held the line ___ and ___ to ___it
  in.
• The ___ ___ as he pulled in and he could see the
  blue back of the fish in the ___ and the ___ of
  his sides before he ___ him over the side and
  into the boat.
• He ___ in the ___ in the sun, ___ and bullet ___,
  his big, ___ eyes ___ as he thumped his life out
  against the ___ of the boat with the quick ___
  ___ of his neat, fast-moving tail

Sedita, Keys to Literacy 2008
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100 Accuracy

• Just then the stern line came taut under his
  foot, where he had kept a loop of the line, and
  he dropped his oars and felt the weight of the
  small tunas shivering pull as he held the line
  firm and commenced to haul it in.
• The shivering increased as he pulled in and he
  could see the blue back of the fish in the water
  and the gold of his sides before he swung him
  over the side and into the boat.
• He lay in the stern in the sun, compact and
  bullet shaped, his big, unintelligent eyes
  staring as he thumped his life out against the
  planking of the boat with the quick shivering
  strokes of his neat, fast-moving tail
• Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

Sedita, Keys to Literacy 2008
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What is it to know a word

• Eight separate facets of knowledge for a word
• Knowledge of words spoken form
• Written form
• How it behaves in sentences
• Words commonly found near the word
• Frequency in oral and written language
• Conceptual meaning
• How and when it is commonly used
• Association with other words

Nation (1990) from Words and Meanings see
resource slide
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National Reading Panel Findings On Vocabulary
Instruction

• Vocabulary should be taught
• both directly and indirectly
• with repetition and exposure to words in multiple
  contexts
• by presenting words in rich contexts
• by using task restructuring
• with active student engagement
• with multiple methods including computer
  technology

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Teaching Vocabulary

• Give both definitional and contextual information
• Involve children more actively in word learning
• Provide them with opportunities to process
  information and make connections
• Number of instructional encounters
• between ___ and ____ are necessary for students
  to have ownership of instructed words

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12
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Effective Vocabulary Instruction
Effective instruction does not rely on
definitions
Copying from the dictionary is not instruction
When first learning words, students understand
them better through descriptions and
explanations.
Marzano 2005
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Students must represent their knowledge of words
in linguistic and nonlinguistic ways.
Students should use image/symbol-based strategies
to learn new words.
Students should describe new words in their own
language
Marzano 2005
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Effective instruction involves the gradual
shaping of word meanings through multiple
exposures.
Understanding deepens as students encounter and
use the term multiple times.
Students need to manipulate new words 7-12 times.
Students need to experience new words
Marzano 2005
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Teaching word parts enhances student
understanding of terms
Teaching common affixes and root words enhances
vocabulary development.
Affixes
Root words
More roots
Marzano 2005
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Different types of words require different types
of instruction.
Using different strategies and activities to
teach different types of words enhances
understanding.
Math, Science, and Social Studies vocabulary
words need to be strategically taught
Marzano 2005
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Students should discuss the terms they are
learning
Cooperative learning strategies should be used so
that students can discuss and share what they
have learned.
Marzano 2005
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Students should play with words
Through games, students experience vocabulary
words in a new context and with a different
perspective
Marzano 2005
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Selecting Words For Vocabulary

• The word is unfamiliar to children, but the
  concept represented by the word is one they can
  understand and use in conversation.
• Examples curious, mischief, impress, nuisance,
  clever, weary, persistent, dazzling, cross

Beck, McKeown Kucan, 2002, p. 50
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Selecting Words For Vocabulary From Books Read to
or by Students
Tier 1 Words
Tier 2 Words
Tier 3 Words
easy words, high
words for mature
not used often
frequency,
language users
special to certain
meaning known
useful in a variety of
content subjects
by everyone
situations
benevolent,
catch,
isotope, lathe,
sinister,
when, believe
tsunami
essential, endure
Beck, McKeown Kucan, 2002
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High-Frequency Words Which ones?

• Words necessary for comprehension of selected
  text - tier 2 words
• 2300 root words derived from Dale-Chall list of
  3000 words commonly known by grade 4 (Found in
  appendix A Language and Reading Success by
  Andrew Biemiller published by Brookline Books)
• Coxheads (2000)Academic Word List
• http//www.vuw.ac.nz/lals/research/awl

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Framework for Text Talk to teach vocabulary

• Provide definitional information through a
  friendly explanation
• 2. Contextualize the word within the text just
  read
• 3. Provide an example beyond the text context so
  students can immediately begin to decontextualize
  the word
• 4. Present a way for students to interact with
  the word to initiate building connections to
  their own experiences (Beck McKeown, 2006)

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How Do I Write Child-Friendly Definitions?

• Dictionary definition
• persistent persevering obstinately insistently
  repetitive or continuous
• Provide an explanation in easily understood terms
• Use high-frequency words that are familiar to
  students

• Child-friendly definition
• persistent If you are persistent, you keep on
  trying to do something even when it is hard you
  dont give up.

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Write A Child-Friendly Definition For One Of
These Words

• Dictionary definitions
• concentrate to direct ones thoughts or
  attention.
• patience the quality of being patient capacity
  of calm endurance
• timid shrinking from dangerous or difficult
  circumstances
• hero a man noted for feats of courage or
  nobility of purpose

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Text Talk example with morsel from Dr. DeSoto
(Steig, 1982)

• A morsel is a small piece of food, no bigger than
  a bite
• 2. In the story, the fox began thinking about Dr.
  DeSoto as a tasty morsel. That means he thought
  of him as a little something to eat.
• 3. If you had one little piece of your sandwich
  left and your friend wants you to go out to the
  playground, you might say, Let me finish this
  one last morsel.
• 4. When might someone only want a morsel of food?
  Beck McKeown, 2006

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Decontextualize Vocabulary Questions, Reasons,
And Examples

• If you are walking around a dark room, you need
  to do it cautiously. Why? What are some other
  things that need to be done cautiously?
• What is something you can do to impress your
  teacher? Why? What is something that you might do
  to impress your mother?
• Which of these things might be extraordinary? Why
  or why not?
• A shirt that was comfortable, or a shirt that
  washed itself?

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Decontexualize Vocabulary Making Choices

• If any of the things I say might be examples of
  people clutching something, say Clutching. If
  not, dont say anything.
• Holding on tightly to a purse
• Holding a fistful of money
• Softly petting a cats fur
• Holding on to branches when climbing a tree
• Blowing bubbles and trying to catch them

• p. 56, Bringing Words to Life by Beck, McKeown,
  Kucan 2002

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Working With New Words In Depth

• Use all the words together with one of the
  following activities
• Sentences
• Choices
• One context
• Same format
• Children create examples

Beck, McKeown Kucan, 2002
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Decontextualize Vocabulary Sentences

• Sometimes more than one of the instructed words
  can be used in a sentence. For example, in the
  case of prefer, ferocious, and budge, we could
  develop the following question
• Would you prefer to budge a sleeping lamb or
  a ferocious lion? Why?

p. 56, Bringing Words to Life by Beck, McKeown,
Kucan 2002
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Decontextualize VocabularyChoices

• In the case of pounce, sensible and raucous, we
  could ask children to choose between two words
• If you get your clothes ready to wear to
  school before you go to sleep, would that be
  sensible or raucous?
• If you and your friends were watching a funny
  TV show together and began to laugh a lot, would
  you sound pounce or raucous?

p. 56, Bringing Words to Life by Beck, McKeown,
Kucan 2002
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One Context For All The Words

• If difficult to find relationships between
  the target words, use a single context. For
  immense, miserable and leisurely
• What might an immense plate of spaghetti look
  like?
• Why might you feel miserable after eating all
  of that spaghetti?
• What would it look like to eat spaghetti in a
  leisurely way?

p. 56, Bringing Words to Life by Beck, McKeown,
Kucan 2002
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Same Format

• Use the same format for all 3 words
• If you satisfy your curiosity, do you need to
  find out more or have you found about all that
  you need? Why?
• If a dog was acting menacing, would you want
  to pet it or move away? Why?
• If you wanted to see something exquisite,
  would you go to a museum or a grocery store? Why?

p. 56, Bringing Words to Life by Beck, McKeown,
Kucan 2002
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Children Create Examples

• In previous format the child was making and
  explaining the choice. Another format is to have
  child create examples
• If there was an emergency at an amusement
  park, what might have happened?
• If you had a friend who watched TV all the
  time, how might you coax him into getting some
  exercise?

p. 56, Bringing Words to Life by Beck, McKeown,
Kucan 2002
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Decontextualize one of the words that you have
just defined

• Use questions
• Ask for reasons
• Give choices
• Ask for explanations
• Place words in different contexts

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Marzanos Six Step Process for Teaching Vocabulary
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•        Provide a description, explanation or
  example of the new word
• Introduce direct experiences
• Tell a story
• Use video or computer images
• Use current events
• Describe your own mental image
• Find or create pictures

Adapted from Marzano,R Pickering,D. Building
Academic Vocabulary. Alexandria Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development,2005
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• Students restate the description, explanation, or
  example in their own words
• Students must construct their own meaning
• Pair and Share strategies
• Self Talk

Adapted from Marzano,R Pickering,D. Building
Academic Vocabulary. Alexandria Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development,2005
42

• Students construct a picture, symbol, or graphic
  representing the term or phrase
• Model possible representations
• Provide rough examples
• Use magazines, internet, other media for ideas
• Students draw pictures of word meanings

Adapted from Marzano,R Pickering,D. Building
Academic Vocabulary. Alexandria Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development,2005
43

• Engage students periodically in activities that
  help them add to their knowledge
• Decontexualize new words
• Highlight a prefix or suffix
• Identify synonyms or antonyms
• Draw a different picture
• List related words
• Create metaphors and analogies
• Compare, contrast, classify

Marzano,R Pickering,D. Building Academic
Vocabulary. Alexandria Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development,2005
44

• Students discuss the term with one another
• Think-Pair-Share
• Compare descriptions
• Describe pictures
• Identify areas of disagreement or confusion

Adapted from Marzano,R Pickering,D. Building
Academic Vocabulary. Alexandria Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development,2005
45

• Students play games with terms
• Pictionary
• Tribond
• Charades
• Jeopardy
• Scrabble
• LINCS

Adapted from Marzano,R Pickering,D. Building
Academic Vocabulary. Alexandria Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development,2005
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Humor

• Puns and jokes are motivating and provide a way
  for vocabulary to be repeated
• Clever word play
• Flu a deceased fly
• Hink Pinks
• What do you call an identical smile? (a twin
  grin)
• Homographs
• We polish the Polish furniture
• The soldier decided to desert in the desert
• Puns can be based on multi-meanings or sound
  alikes.
• A bicycle cant stand alone because it is
  two-tired
• In democracy its your vote that counts in
  feudalism its your count that votes

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Word Consciousness the goal!

• Word consciousness is a complex process
  involving
• A feel for how written language works
• Sensitivity to syntax
• Awareness of word parts (morphology)
• In-depth knowledge of specific words

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What It Is/What It Is Not
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Vocabulary Map
Category
What is it like?
Properties
Synonym
word
Examples or Non-examples
V-3
?Project CRISSSM 2004
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Teaching individual words, exposure to rich oral
language, generative word knowledge
Vocabulary
Volume of Reading
Reading Comprehension
Time to read, fluency, motivation, matching kids
with texts
Comprehension strategies, building background
knowledge, decoding accuracy fluency