John J. Pikulski, Ph.D.

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Colorado Council of the International Reading
Association February 5, 6, 2009
Effective Vocabulary Instruction through
Stories and other Texts!
John J. Pikulski, Ph.D. Professor, University of
Delaware Author, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publishers Sponsored by Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt Publishers Dana Gares, Sales
Representative Dana.Gares_at_hmhpub.com
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Major Sources of Vocabulary(A. Cunningham
Stanovich, 1998)
Rare Words,1,000
I. Printed Texts Abstracts of Scientific
Articles Newspapers Adult Books Childrens
Books Preschool Books II. Oral Texts Prime-time
Adult Shows Prime-time Childrens shows Expert
Witness Testimony College Graduates, Friends,
Spouses
128.0
68.3
52.7
30.9
16.3
22.7
20.2
28.4
17.3
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• Which two of the following four factors are the
  best predictors of beginning reading achievement?
  
• A) oral language/vocabulary
• B)concepts of print
• C) letter familiarity
• D) phonological awareness?

Correlations studies have identified PA and
letter knowledge as the two best school-entry
predictors of how well children will learn to
read during the first 2 years of instruction.
Report of the National Reading Panel p.7.
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• Which of the following 4 factors is the most
  associated with high levels of reading
  achievement beyond the early stages of learning
  to read?
• a) oral language/vocabulary
• b)concepts of print
• c) letter familiarity
• d) phonological awareness?

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While we have encouraging results for younger
children, our nation's recent education report
card has shown no progress for high school
students in 30 years. So, it's time to focus on
improving high schools. Margaret Spellings,
National Press Club Address, Sept. 21, 2005
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VOCABULARY
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Only words can free a thought From its prison
behind your eyes.
ONeill, Mary. (1956). Words, words, words.
Doubleday.
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Average Rate of Meaning vocabulary Growth in the
Elementary Grades
Rate words per year
2,500 3,000
About 15
Rate words per school day
Rate words every day of the year
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Cited in Snow, C .et al. (1998). Preventing
reading difficulties in young children.
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There is growing consensus that a challenging,
but realistic goal is to teach children, through
direct, explicit instruction, about 400 words a
year (400/180 2.2 per day or 11 per week)
however, should the goal be that children learn
400 words that are explicitly taught?
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4 Major Elements of A comprehensive program of
Vocabulary Development

• Provide a rich, stimulating language/vocabulary
  environment.
• Encourage wide reading.
• Use frequent instructional read aloud events.
• Integrate content and reading instruction.
• Teach, model,and encourage the application of
  independent word learning strategies such as
  use of morphological units (e.g. prefixes,
  suffixes, root words) reference works (e.g.
  dictionary, thesaurus) sentence and passage
  context and their integration.

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A comprehensive program of Vocabulary Development
(continued)

• Provide systematic, explicit instruction in the
  meanings words and clusters of words.
• Create a keen awareness of and a deep interest in
  language and words (Word Consciousness.)

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Instructional Read Aloud Activities
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Conclusions from Juel et al Study(continued)

• While substantial amounts of time were devoted to
  oral language activities, neither reading aloud
  to children, discussion of these readings nor
  mentioning of oral vocabulary seemed to affect
  vocabulary growth.
• As suggested by other researchers, it appears
  that incidental instruction is not substantive
  enough. Growth in oral language was predicted,
  instead, by the amount of time spent on more
  direct vocabulary development.

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Research Based Read Aloud Recommendations

• Carefully select books based on difficulty,
  interest, and instructional value.
• Build Background and Vocabulary before, during,
  and after reading.
• Choose instructional vocabulary carefully.
• Look for Goldilocks Words.
• Do both whole class and small group
  interactive/instructional read alouds.
• Review/reinforce target vocabulary.
• Use at least 50 informational texts.

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ANIMAL BABIES in ponds and rivers. (2004). A
KINGFISHER Book houghtonmifflinbooks.com
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Motivate students to Read Widely.
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Principle of Reciprocal Causation
(Matthew Effects)
Cause
Extensive Independent Reading

• Larger vocabulary
• Broader Background Knowledge

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Major Sources of Vocabulary(A. Cunningham
Stanovich, 1998)
Rare Words,1,000
I. Printed Texts Abstracts of Scientific
Articles Newspapers Adult Books Childrens
Books Preschool Books II. Oral Texts Prime-time
Adult Shows Prime-time Childrens shows Expert
Witness Testimony College Graduates, Friends,
Spouses
128.0
68.3
52.7
30.9
16.3
22.7
20.2
28.4
17.3
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Teach an IndependentWord Learning Strategy
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Why TEACHING students how to independently derive
word meanings is important

• Studies suggest that students arrive at a
  reasonable understanding of less than 5 of the
  new words they encounter in their reading
• Studies suggest that we can raise their chances
  to about 15 if we actively teach and model how
  to independently derive word meanings

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Most Frequently Occurring Prefixes
Material read by school age children contains
about 3,000 different prefixed words.
The four most frequent prefixes account for
about 60 of these words.
The 16 most common prefixes account for about
90 of these words.
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Most Frequently Occurring Prefixes
Words with the Prefix
Prefix
un- re- in-,im-,ir-,il- (not) dis- en,em non- in-,
im-, (in or into) over- (too much) mis sub- pre-
782 401 313 216 132 126 105 98 83 80 79
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Most Frequently Occurring Prefixes
Words with the Prefix
Prefix
77 76 71 47 43 39 33 33 25 100 (estimated) Total
2,2959
inter- fore- de- trans- super- semi- anti- mid- un
der- (too little) ALL OTHERS
White, 1989 in Graves, M.F. et. Essentials of
Elementary Reading, 1994, Allyn Bacon.
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Deriving Word Meanings Strategy
Carefully look at the word decide how to
pronounce it
Look around the word - Within the sentence
-Reread previous sentences - Read ahead for
more clues
Look in the word - Affixes - Base words
-Root words
Make your best guess at the words meaning
If you think you have figured out the meaning of
the word or if the word doesnt seem important
Keep reading
If you dont know the meaning and if the
word seems important use a dictionary or glossary
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Pronounce
Predict
pellucid
\puh-LOO-sid\,
In her scrupulous and pellucid prose, she
appears to distance herself from the optimistic
Californian light. -Cynthia Ozick, "What Writer's
Writers Write.", New York Times Magazine, Jan 2,
2000
The prevailing atmosphere as one cruises the
busy strip where most of Cancun's 122 hotels are
clustered, is like that of an Orlando or a Las
Vegas dropped intact next to pellucid Caribbean
waters. -- Larry Rohter, "What's Doing in
Cancun.", New York Times, March 8, 1998
1. Transparent clear not opaque. 2. Easily
understandable.
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Pronounce
Predict
potboiler
POT-boi-lur
The critics were unanimous that the new work by
Lavazza is a potboiler!
A usually inferior literary or artistic work,
produced quickly for the purpose of making money.
Potboiler comes from the phrase "boil the pot,"
meaning "to provide one's livelihood."
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Stages of Knowing a Word

• Stage 1 I have never seen or heard it before.
• Stage 2 I know it is a word Ive seen or heard
  it before I dont know its meaning.
• Stage3 I know something about the word, like its
  part of speech, its positive or negative
  connotations, or the general context in which it
  is used, but I cant give its meaning.
• Stage 4 I know the word.

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Teach words, not individually, but
inMorphological and Semantic Clusters, going
beyond the words in the story.
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BODIES OF WATER
Pond
River
Puddle
Lake
Semantic Clusters
Ocean
Pool
Stream
Creek
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TelePrompTer Telegraph Telegram Telepathy Telethon
Telekinesis Telecommute
Telescopic Telescopy
Horoscope Kaleidoscope Microscope Periscope Stetho
scope
Telescope
Endoscope
Astronomer Astronomical
Semantic/Morphological Clusters
Star Words
Galaxy
Astronomy
Astrology Astronaut Astrodome Astroturf
Galactic Intergalactic
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Become excited about word learning and
communicate that Enthusiasm to your
students
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m-w.com
wordsmith.org
Dictionary.com