Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction (#1)

September 12, 2017 Shelby Chollett

"The word context is prevalent in both research and practice. In the vocabulary instructional world, context can mean one of two conditions. There are instructional contexts, which are intentionally written to support figuring out an unfamiliar word's likely meaning. The other notion of context is connected to learning new words in the course of reading naturally occurring text. From at least the beginning of the 20th century, educational researchers no less prominent than Thorndike associated learning from context via "wide reading" as the way that vocabulary was learned. The importance of wide reading to vocabulary development is supported by more current researchers with the logical follow-up that vocabulary instruction should focus on students learning words from context. Few would disagree that wide reading is a major way people learn words, nor would they argue against the need for schools to support wide reading"

Beck et al., 2013, p. 4

I have been struggling with being told to teach vocabulary words in isolation to my 8th graders. As a department, we were asked to teach our learners Greek and Latin roots, and have them cut and paste pictures into the notebooks, along with cutting and pasting the definition into the notebook. I tried doing this last year, but found that it held no authenticity, nor any retention whatsoever. It was a chore for my learners. This year, I have felt uncomfortable beginning to go on this path again. I believe the words learned should be taught in context. In wide reading! My learners using their Personal Thesauruses, having discussions regarding vocabulary found in text, and working through these words together has been much more meaningful. Due to being asked to do these Greek and Latin notebooks, I am going to change it up a bit. I do not want my 8th graders to be cutting and pasting definitions and pictures into notebooks. I am thinking I might have them do weekly mind maps that are all individualized to them. They have the ability to create, innovate, share, and collaborate throughout this process. All the while, I hope they are able to make connections in some way with the roots.

"The reason behind introducing words before reading is to make unfamiliar words available for students when they encounter them as they read. This makes sense as a way to alleviate comprehension difficulties, particularly if students are reading a text independently. But if reading is done together with a group, the best time to introduce meaning of an unfamiliar word is right when it is encountered in the context. So, if the text says, for example, 'The whole thing was turning into a calamity,' just pause briefly and say 'a calamity - that meant it's a disaster.' No need for any further information or additional examples at this point, because in the midst of a text, the focus should be on understanding text ideas, not learning vocabulary. Word meaning is introduced at this point only to further the main comprehension goal. Keeping the comprehension goal in mind should also influence the number of words introduced either before or during reading. It should be few- only those words that might have the potential to disrupt comprehension of major ideas. If too many words are introduced before reading, students are unlikely to recall the meanings accurately as they meet the words in text. If too many words are introduced during reading, the flow of building comprehension is interrupted"

Beck et al., 2013, pp. 41-42

This whole chapter was amazing. This year I am working with some pretty low level readers. I have been working with them on fluency and vocabulary, inching them closer and closer to better comprehension. I have often wondered if the introduction of new words has a better approach. I will definitely be taking this into consideration! They will also be getting into literature circles soon, and one of their jobs is to identify words they may not know or not hear a lot. I'm excited!

I am also starting to work with a group of 15 of my learners during a study time in my day as their interventionist. I am quite blessed to have gone through a great reading endorsement program, as I feel more confident and better fit for this job. In my group of learners, I have identified that they average a reading level of 5th grade, and lack fluency. Just knowing this information will give me a great idea of how to begin this intervention and hopefully help them through their struggles in the 4 to 6-week timeframe that I have them. These kids deserve this designated time to learn to enjoy reading. To feel safe being at the level of reading that they are at. To not feel threatened or stressed out about being left behind their counterparts. Rather, this is a time for them to get extra practice, to gain confidence, and to see literacy in a more positive way.

Beck, I., McKeown, M., & Kucan, L. (2013). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction. (2nd ed.). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.