Gwyneth Dean-Fastnacht

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47133/tegc_ch45  

ABSTRACT

Knowing and understanding vocabulary is key to communication. The more words that students know, the better they can understand both spoken and written text. As English teachers, we recognize the delicate balance between direct vocabulary instruction and the natural language learning that occurs during meaning-making activities. Given the importance of vocabulary in overall comprehension and academic success, the task of teaching vocabulary can be daunting and elusive. Through the explicit and intentional teaching of vocabulary, teachers can support English learners with building word knowledge while studying new content. In this chapter, you will learn several vocabulary teaching strategies so that you can better support English learners with building their vocabulary and thus improving their communication skills. 

Keywords: vocabulary strategies, teaching vocabulary, English learners, making meaning, comprehension, building word knowledge, connotations

Dean-Fastnacht, G. (2023). Strategies to Teach Vocabulary. In V. Canese & S. Spezzini (Eds.), Teaching English in Global Contexts, Language, Learners and Learning (pp. 553-561). Editorial Facultad de Filosofía, UNA. https://doi.org/10.47133/tegc_ch45

INTRODUCTION

Words are used to convey emotions, share ideas, learn information, and ask questions. To communicate such meanings, English learners (ELs) face the crucial task of learning and using new words and building their vocabulary (August et al., 2005). The more vocabulary that ELs know, the easier they can make connections, communicate, and learn. Yet, the lexical knowledge needed by ELs is so vast that teachers have a daunting task in helping them build vocabulary as efficiently as possible. The key is knowing how to teach vocabulary. This chapter provides strategies for teaching vocabulary to ELs so that they can build their lexical repertoire, be able to learn more efficiently and effectively and, most importantly, be able to communicate.

BACKGROUND

Human communication is a complex, nuanced system in which participants produce and receive language. The meanings of words used in communication are not isolated but rather impacted by participants and their situational context (Freeman & Freeman, 2014). A speaker’s word choice is influenced by the field (subject matter), tenor (relationship between participants), and mode (spoken versus written; formal versus informal). Subtle meaning differences are filtered by participants’ identities and by the purpose for their specific communication act.

Vocabulary knowledge represents the building blocks of communication. Houses are built by bricks that are pieced together with mortar to form walls, and this completes the building for its intended use. Communication is built by words that are pieced together with lexical rules to form grammar structures, and this completes the communication act for its intended meaning. Hence, the more words and word forms that our ELs know, the greater their ability to convey meaning clearly—in different ways and for different purposes. 

To support ELs in learning vocabulary, teachers need to know about English words and their functions. Knowing a word is much more complex than knowing its literal meaning. Knowing a word means knowing its connotations, grammatical variations, and connections to other words such as synonyms (angry/mad) and antonyms (sad/happy). Knowing a word means knowing its sounds and letter combinations. Knowing a word also means knowing word parts such as prefixes (un-happy) and suffixes (happi-ness), as well as how these word parts combine to create technical words in specific disciplines, such as “cardiogram” in science and “demographic” in social studies. Each word part impacts the overall meaning in subtle ways (Avery, 2018).

MAJOR DIMENSIONS

As English teachers, we know that when our ELs have a robust vocabulary, this supports their understanding of new and difficult texts, reinforces their reading comprehension, and develops their ability to communicate. Hence, by building a strong, vivid vocabulary, ELs can improve their literacy development and enhance their communication skills (August et al., 2005). After increasing your own understanding about vocabulary issues and related challenges facing ELs, help your ELs effectively build their vocabulary by providing them with language learning experiences to engage with new words in meaningful ways such as those explained here.

Vocabulary Tiers 

Vocabulary tiers are a mechanism for grouping words based on frequency and importance. As such, vocabulary tiers are crucial for ELs in building vocabulary and developing academic language. Through this tiered focus on vocabulary, you can support your ELs with language acquisition and promote a strong literacy foundation across grade levels and content areas (Calderon & Soto, 2017). To help ELs build their communication skills, design your vocabulary instruction based on these three tiers:

• Tier One consists of basic nouns, verbs, and adjectives such as book, girl, sad, run, dog, and orange. These Tier One words represent about 8,000 word-families that are usually learned through social interaction. 

• Tier Two consists of words across a variety of content domains. These words are general academic terms such as measure, table, believe, explain, and complex. They are usually of high frequency and facilitate learning across content areas. However, Tier Two words with different meanings across disciplines (e.g., table) can be challenging for ELs. 

• Tier Three consists of low-frequency words that belong to a single content area and are often used for just one topic. For example, “iambic pentameter” belongs to literature, “economics” to social studies, and “integer” to mathematics. Other examples of Tier Three words are numerator, circumference, and asphalt. 

Content Words and Function Words

Content words and function words are important aspects to consider when helping students build vocabulary (Freeman & Freeman, 2014). Content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs) carry the main meaning of a phrase. Function words (pronouns, prepositions, determiners, intensifiers, connectors) create grammatical structures that unite sentence elements in patterns. For example, this sentence has content words in bold and function words in italics: The English teacher, who had twenty-five years of experience, retired last week from our school and became a university professor. The content words (English, teacher, had, twenty-five, years, experience, retired, last, week, school, became, university, professor) provide the meaning. The function words (the, who, of, from our, a, and) provide patterns for deciphering the intended message. 

Prefixes and Suffixes

Prefixes and suffixes help ELs learn English words that consist of two or more parts. By knowing how words are formed, ELs increase their ability to understand unknown words, which, in turn, enhances their self-perception related to vocabulary building (Graves & Avery, 1997). About 50% of English words have Greek or Latin roots that also exist in Spanish and other languages. By knowing word forms shared between English and their first language, ELs are better able to increase morphological knowledge, become empowered at unlocking new vocabulary, and interact more easily with challenging texts. For example, if ELs know that bio- means “life,” they might see a relationship in biology, biosphere, biography, and biome. Such word knowledge also helps ELs use vivid vocabulary when speaking and writing (Freeman & Freeman, 2014). 

Cognates

Cognates are words in two languages that have a shared origin and similar meanings. Examples of English-Spanish cognates are calendar-calendario, calculate-calcular, interesting-interesante. With over 30% of English words related to Spanish words, cognate awareness enables Spanish-speaking ELs be more efficient at learning English vocabulary. ELs from other first languages can also use cognates to build English vocabulary and improve text comprehension (Cardenas-Hagan, 2020). Nonetheless, ELs are often challenged by false cognates, which are words with a shared origin but with different meanings. For example, the English word “embarrassed” means avergonzada in Spanish, and the Spanish word embarazada means “pregnant” in English.

Multiple-Meaning Words

Multiple-meaning words have different meanings when used in different contexts. For example, “table” is a multiple-meaning word because it has a different meaning in each of these contexts.

• Is dinner on the “table”? (a piece of furniture) 

• Let’s “table” this discussion for a future meeting. (defer consideration of topic)

• Read the “table” in the book and find the country with the highest population. (graph, chart) 

Of these three contexts with distinct meanings for “table,” one is common usage and two are school subjects—social studies and mathematics. Although ELs probably know the common meaning of “table,” they may not know its meaning in school-related disciplines. To decrease ELs’ frustration with multiple-meaning words and increase their confidence, pre-teach new meanings of words like “table” before having ELs read discipline-specific texts that include “table” with a new meaning. By doing so, you can prevent confusion stemming from this word’s multiple meanings. When teaching multiple-meaning words in different content areas, focus on words initially assumed by learners as having just one meaning (Calderon & Soto, 2017).

Multiple-meaning words from Tier One are relatively easy. For example, both meanings of “bat” are common objects: “In baseball, we use a bat to hit the ball” and “Bats are nocturnal animals and fly at night.” Use pictures and other visuals to help ELs learn multiple meanings of “bat.” However, most multiple-meaning words are in Tier Two and Tier Three and, as such, have subtle meaning variations based on the content area. For example, a “solution” in mathematics may refer to solving a problem. However, a “solution” in science may refer to a liquid mixture. The word “rate” is more difficult because both meanings are abstract: “That movie is rated high,” and “At this rate, we will never finish.” For this type of multiple-meaning words, guide ELs in using context clues to learn the distinct meanings of a given word.

Homophones

Homophones are words that sound alike but have different meanings and spellings (Freeman & Freeman, 2014). Examples of homophone sets are “it’s-its,” “to-too-two,” “they’re-there-their.” To minimize ELs’ confusion with homophones, use these teaching tips:

• Teach homophones in sets and use pictures to introduce words and meanings. 

• Teach the color “blue” and verb “blew” in the same lesson to help learners differentiate. 

• Teach homophones by playing games like tic-tac-toe, concentration, and charades. Here, students will repeatedly use target words and enact their meanings. By doing this, they remember better because of playing with words rather than worrying about mistakes.

Nominalizations

Nominalization is the process of a verb or adjective becoming a noun such as the relationship between “prepare” and “preparation.” Nominalizations are typically found in academic language. Make ELs aware of this nominalization process to help them learn the meaning of related words. For example, after ELs learn the meaning of “perform,” which forms part of the longer word “performance,” they will have a basis for defining this longer word. By recognizing nominalizations, ELs strengthen their ability to decipher the meaning of related words.

Shades of Meaning

Shades of meaning are subtle differences and nuances in words that have similar meanings. As such, shades of meaning offer a useful way to expand a student’s vocabulary. These subtle meaning differences often exist among apparent synonyms such as happy, pleased, cheerful, ecstatic, and exuberant. By understanding and recognizing shades of meaning, ELs can increase their understanding of English words and expand their vocabulary-building skills. By doing so, they are able to develop word family relationships, better comprehend intended messages when listening, and express themselves more succinctly when speaking and writing (Graves, 2016). In your lessons, consider incorporating pictures, roleplaying, and other interactive techniques to help ELs learn the shades of meaning within word families.

PEDAGOGICAL APPLICATIONS

Through well-planned lessons, teachers can meet the needs of diverse learners and ensure high-quality learning (Cardenas-Hagan, 2020). Choose instructional strategies that are adaptable to all ages, student needs, content areas, and language proficiency levels (Marzano et al., 2001). 

Select age-appropriate activities for building knowledge and developing vocabulary skills. Young learners are innately curious and love learning the names of things in their world. Songs, hands-on activities, and visuals are effective for introducing and teaching vocabulary to young learners. Teens love their music, television shows, and social media. They become engaged when learning words that help them express themselves and their developing independence. Adult learners often rely on others (e.g., teachers) to help them learn common words and phrases to improve their social communication skills (Siegel, 2021) and, also, to communicate in specific professional contexts. 

The learners’ language levels usually guide vocabulary instruction (Cardenas-Hagan, 2020). Beginner-level ELs learn common vocabulary in short phrases and sentences. Intermediate-level ELs learn content vocabulary and connectors (e.g., although, since) to link ideas and relationships. Advanced-level ELs learn academic vocabulary to use in complex sentences for a variety of purposes. 

Vocabulary learning opportunities are more effective when planned according to the following design principles for vocabulary instruction (Cardenas-Hagan, 2020):

Design Principle 1 

Plan vocabulary instruction with several sequenced lessons that integrate content and language. Strategically intertwine what students already know about content and language with what they are expected to learn (Echevarria et al., 2017). When ELs see this connection between the “known” and “unknown,” they are better able to recognize and learn targeted concepts, vocabulary, and language forms. To further support this connection between “known” and “unknown,” focus classroom conversations on your learners’ shared knowledge created during recent class activities such as a read-aloud or field trip. 

Design Principle 2 

Create multiple opportunities for using new vocabulary across several days. Implement various instructional activities to integrate connections between concepts and student experiences. For example, when planning a social studies unit on water scarcity, have students read a non-fiction text about farmers facing water shortages (Cardenas-Hagan, 2020). During a class discussion, guide students with using new vocabulary: advantage, disadvantage, problem, solution, and effectiveness. Have students identify cognates shared by English and their first language. Then have students illustrate these cognates by making visuals and placing them on a word wall. Finally, encourage students to work with partners to research this water-scarcity problem and identify solutions. Design content activities as a vehicle for ELs to use new vocabulary frequently and thus master target concepts. 

Design Principle 3

Provide intentional opportunities for students to integrate new vocabulary with interactions and then continue with activities for them to learn both content and language. When planning, identify tasks and prepare questions to elicit higher order thinking responses (Hill & Flynn, 2008). Include questions that gradually become more challenging. Such questions start with basic comprehension (who, when, where, what) and end with higher order thinking (why, how, what if). Foster higher order thinking about new content by using prompts that ask students to compare-contrast, give opinion with evidence, and describe with details. Such prompts are opportunities for ELs to use vocabulary in increasingly more complex ways. Facilitate frequent academic interactions like these to develop content and vocabulary. 

In this chapter, you explored major dimensions for teaching vocabulary to ELs. You learned about visuals, hands-on activities, language-rich classrooms, and cooperative learning. You also learned to apply your new knowledge about vocabulary instruction for the implementation of highly effective strategies to help ELs build their vocabulary.

Here are several points to remember for helping ELs build vocabulary:

• People communicate ideas through language and choose words to convey desired meanings. 

• Teachers need to know about vocabulary and effective ways to teach vocabulary for positively influencing student success.

• Knowing words means knowing their sounds and letter combinations, their morphological and grammatical features, and their relationship to the context. 

• Vocabulary learning is supported by frequent meaningful interactions about learners’ backgrounds, interests, and shared experiences.

• When planning vocabulary lessons,

  • • select target vocabulary,

    • address the three instructional design principles,

    • incorporate different strategies throughout, and

    • choose activities and techniques to create engaging experiences and multiple opportunities for students to understand, practice, and use new vocabulary.

From what you have learned about vocabulary, answer these questions:

1. When learning a new language, what helped you learn vocabulary? Which strategies or activities used by teachers helped you learn vocabulary? Which did not? 

2. Why is vocabulary acquisition essential for ELs? 

3. Which instructional principles, strategies, and activities have been shown to be effective for vocabulary development? 

4. How did this chapter confirm your previous teaching knowledge? Which ideas have stretched your thinking or have added to your techniques for teaching vocabulary?

By using what you have learned about teaching vocabulary, do the following:

1. Explore and build knowledge for each vocabulary aspect described in this chapter.

2. Identify vocabulary strategies and activities used during lessons in which you were a student or a teacher. Which aspects from this chapter were addressed? How could these lessons be improved to support vocabulary development? 

3. As you design your next lesson, consider including a new vocabulary strategy or activity. Reflect on how that activity can support students with learning new vocabulary. 

4. As you incorporate new vocabulary strategies, follow the process of try, reflect, and refine.

To expand your knowledge about teaching vocabulary, visit these websites:

• Cognates to help Spanish-speaking ELs build English vocabulary. https://www.readingrockets.org/article/using-cognates-develop-comprehension#:~:text=Cognates%20are%20words%20in%20two,a%20related%20word%20in%20Spanish. 

• Interaction with vocabulary-building activities. https://www.ride.ri.gov/Portals/0/Uploads/Documents/Students-and-Families-Great-Schools/English-Language-Learners/go-to-strategies.pdf 

Vocabulary strategies have also been addressed by the following chapters in this book: 

Chapter 10 Building Language Awareness by H. Lalwani

Chapter 14 Promoting Thinking Skills to Enhance Language Learning by K. Sandi

Chapter 15 Exploring Meaning Through Translanguaging Practices by K. Liu and J. Choi

Chapter 22 Strengthening Communication Through Classroom Discourse by K. Buckley-Ess

Chapter 38 A Socio-Cultural Approach to Teaching Grammar by C. Davies, J. Prado, and J. Austin

Chapter 41 Strategies to Teach Reading by E. Kryukova and M. Harrison  

August, D., Carlo, M., Dressler, C., & Snow, C. (2005). The critical role of vocabulary development for English language learners. Learning Disabilities: Research and Practice, 20(1), 50-57. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5826.2005.00120.x

Avery, J. (2018). The effects of using morphemic analysis on comprehension of unknown academic vocabulary [Doctoral dissertation, Hamline University]. Bush Memorial Library Digital Commons. https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/hse_all/4408/ 

Calderon, M., & Soto, I. (2017). Academic language mastery: Vocabulary in context. SAGE. https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781506338293

Cardenas-Hagan, E. (Ed.). (2020). Literacy foundations for English learners: A comprehensive guide to evidence-based instruction. Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company. 

Echevarria, J., Vogt, M. E., & Short, D. J. (2017). Making content comprehensible for English learners: The SIOP model (5th ed.). Pearson.

Freeman, D. E., & Freeman, Y. S. (2014). Essential linguistics: What teachers need to know to teach ESL, reading, spelling, grammar (2nd ed.). Heinemann. 

Graves, M. F. (2016). The vocabulary book: Learning and instruction. The Teachers College. http://lccn.loc.gov/2016011905 

Graves, M. F., & Avery, P. G. (1997). Scaffolding students’ reading of history. The Social Studies, 88(3), 134-138. https://doi.org/10.1080/00377999709603760

Hill, J. D., & Flynn, K. (2008). Asking the right questions: Teachers’ questions can build students’ English language skills. National Staff Development Council, 29(1), 46–52. https://my-ecoach.com/online/resources/3865/ELL_-_Asking_Right_Questions1.pdf 

Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D. J., & Pollock, J. E. (2001). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. 

Siegel, L. (2021, September 18). How to teach ESL vocabulary. Bridge Universe. https://bridge.edu/tefl/blog/teach-esl-vocabulary/ 

Gwyneth Dean-Fastnacht is an ESL instructional specialist and has worked extensively with culturally and linguistically diverse students in K-12 educational systems in South Dakota (USA) and, also, in Bolivia, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, and China. Gwyneth coordinates South Dakota’s State-Wide Title III and Migrant Consortia and teaches at Dakota Wesleyan University. She has a bachelor’s degree in child development from South Dakota State University, a master’s degree in educational leadership and administration from Northern State University in South Dakota, and an Education Specialist degree with emphasis in teaching English to speakers of other languages from the University of Alabama in Birmingham (USA).

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-5352-1551 

Email for correspondence regarding this chapter: gwyneth.fastnacht@k12.sd.us

Cover Photo by Jelleke Vanooteghem on Unsplash