Vocabulary Instruction

Vocabulary learning is one of the most important factors in students' literacy. That's why a teacher needs to be able to use the best strategies to teach words to students. The teacher should choose activities the students can use the variety of methods in each text and increase their lexical knowledge. There are numbers of activities instructors can implement in their classrooms to extend the students' vocabulary. Teachers need to be aware of diverse students in the class and do the activities based on their needs and context. And teachers need to be familiar that the nature of the lesson can be different in various conditions, and alter their methodologies accordingly.

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CBE program officer is practicing the spelling of new vocabularies with first-grade CBE students.

Ab-Kamari District, Badghis Province, Afghanistan - November 12, 2020

Instructors can teach the suggested words prior to the reading selection from the base:

1- Brainstorm synonyms

2- List word families as part of spelling instruction.

3- Clarify the meanings of some difficult words in the teacher’s read-aloud at the end of the day.

4- Assess students’ knowledge of key social studies vocabulary.

To guide teachers and teach students better, Camille et al. (2014) conducted research and introduced six strategies for teachers to use to help students learn words faster and better.

1- The effective vocabulary teacher builds a word-rich environment in which students are immersed in words for both incidentals

  • Wide readings

  • Models (Teachers need to be models of word learning)

  • Wordplay (an important part of the word-rich classroom)

2- The effective vocabulary teacher helps students develop as independent word learners.

  • Control of learning (Learners can select words to study and use context, word structure, and word references to get information about important the vocabulary they need to know.)

  • Context (Students need to understand the context and how to use it)

  • Dictionary

3- The effective vocabulary teacher uses instructional strategies that not only teach vocabulary but also model good word-learning behaviors.

  • Graphic organizers

  • Clustering techniques

  • Personalizing learning

  • Mnemonic strategies

4- The effective vocabulary teacher provides explicit instruction for important content and concept vocabulary, drawing on multiple sources of meaning and for relevant high-frequency words. Teachers can assign students to gather information about the following components

  • Definitional information

  • Contextual information

  • Usage examples

5- The effective vocabulary teacher uses assessment that matches the goal of instruction. Following approaches can help teachers to evaluate their students’ progress

  • Assessing vocabulary breadth

  • Assessing vocabulary depth

Typical teacher-made tests are types of recall assessment that involve defining a word by:

a) Choosing a synonym (a diadem is a crown).

b) Choosing a classification (a shrimp is a crustacean).

c) Choosing examples (flowers are things, such as daisies, roses, and mums).

d) Choosing an explanation of how something is used (a shovel is a tool used to dig holes).

e) Choosing an opposite, definition, and picture

f) Choosing a word to complete a context.

6- The effective vocabulary teacher integrates vocabulary instruction across the curriculum.

There are many methods that teachers can use in the classroom to develop their students' skills. These methods are as follows;

  • Students can practice the words taught by the teacher with their classmates.

  • Listen to the story, and read the text and storybooks aloud.

  • Student participation in the discussion, during and after listening to a book

  • Repeated readings, texts, and books also help you learn more words

  • Use word games, puzzles

  • It is useful to search and find clues, focusing on structural analysis

  • Use vocabulary

  • Group words by making maps, graphs, and clusters that show the meaning of the words.

  • The teacher can introduce the website for learning.