Middle School and High School

Vocabulary Instruction

1. Include multiple repetitions of the same target word. We can’t just have students hear a word once and pair it with a definition or synonym and expect it to stick. We need to give our students lots of practice hearing and using the word.

2. Incorporate a variety of language skills and modalities. Our students need to practice the word by speaking it, reading it, and writing it.

3. Increase a student’s word consciousness, meaning students demonstrate increased metacognitive and metalinguistic knowledge about words. Students need the ability to think about language and what they know.

4. Allow students to read, see, and use words in different contexts. This is why I’ve included so many multiple meaning words in our exercises. There is a huge emphasis on understanding how words can mean different things in different contexts, and how meanings can change based on word beginnings or endings.

What vocabulary instruction IS NOT is drill and kill. Vocabulary instruction IS NOT learning large lists of word definitions. Vocabulary instruction IS NOT quizzing your students by having them name synonyms for a list of 10 words.

“Vocabulary instruction should support students as independent learners by helping them develop strategies for learning words that can be applied in any context and as they move through their educational careers. Instruction should include the following aspects of words and language usage:

1. Word families

2. Affixes (prefixes, suffixes), derivational affixes (affix changes part of speech e.g. joy-joyful), inflectional affixes (-s noun plural, -‘s noun possessive, -s verb present tense third person singular, -ing verb present participle/gerund, -ed verb simple past tense, -en verb past perfect participle, -er adjective comparative, -est adjective superlative)

3. Synonyms and antonyms

4. Cognates (words that have similar origins) including Greek and Latin roots

5. Multiple meanings

6. Idioms and figurative speech”

We are doing ourselves a HUGE disservice to focus soley on synonyms, antonyms, and maybe word definitions. We need to be teaching SO much more to start seeing increased progress and carryover.

Below are three of vocabulary related research articles/resources that relate to intervention.

Speechmusing.com

Research:

Schmitt, N. (2000). Vocabulary in language teaching. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Marzano, R. (2004). Building background knowledge for academic achievement. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

A Review of the Current Research on Vocabulary Instruction