Vocabulary Development

“Vocabulary knowledge is fundamental to reading comprehension; one cannot understand text without knowing what most of the words mean.” (Nagy, 1988) Vocabulary development is a major focus in many classrooms because the words students use while speaking, reading, and writing will influence their success in any academic area. In order to understand vocabulary words it is important for the learner to construct meaning from many experiences. Therefore, it is important to:

Provide students with direct or indirect experiences for new words through classroom discussions, activities, or personal examples, from your experience, with the word. Have students describe (rather than define) the new word in terms of their experiences. Ask students to form a mental image of the new word using the information generated in Steps 1 and 2.

Compare related words through hierarchical arrays and linear arrays to develop sensitivity to word meanings. Develop a semantic feature analysis matrix. Provide synonyms, relationships, approximations, or categories for content words.

Keeping a Vocabulary Notebook

Initial Encounter with Word (or Phrase) Write word and date first encountered. Describe context of initial encounter. Explore, discuss, and begin to formulate a definition related to that context. List examples generated from personal experiences and prior knowledge. List nonexamples generated from personal experiences and prior knowledge to show what the word is not or how it differs from other closely related words. Write a definition in your own words; compare with dictionary or glossary. Develop appropriate graphic organizers, such as word maps, attribute charts, and comparison diagrams. Create visual association drawings, if appropriate.

Additional Encounters with Word (or Phrase) Write additional date(s) encountered. Describe context of new encounter and compare with previous contexts. Explore, discuss, and begin to formulate a definition in new context(s) and relate to previous definition(s). Add to and revise work done in Steps 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 listed under Initial Encounter.

A Self-Evaluation Checklist
for Teaching Reading
in the Content Areas

Beginning of the Lesson - - Do you: state clearly what strategy is to be learned? show when and where the strategy is applicable to real reading? list the sequence of steps in the strategy? model the mental process for applying the strategy? think out loud as technique for modeling? make clear that there may be alternative strategies? Middle of the Lesson - - Do you: have an adequate number of suitable examples? restate the goal throughout the lesson? use techniques to focus students' attention on the features of the mental processing? gradually ask students to do more and more of the processing without any help?

respond with assistance when students' misconceptions or restructuring lead to confusion? reward students for awareness of the process rather than right answers? give each student an opportunity to verbalize the entire strategy? make frequent reference to the mental processing being employed? Close of the Lesson - - Do you: have students summarize the lesson? show when and where the strategy is applicable in real reading? provide or allow alternative strategies when appropriate? provide for student practice? guide students in using the strategy when reading real text (in the basal, the content-area text, etc.)?

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