Vocabulary: A Powerful Connection to Comprehension

Vocabulary: A Powerful Connection to Comprehension Tamara Konrade tamarak@essdack.org

4 Types of Vocabulary

Why Vocabulary is Important…

The Vocabulary Gap *Anglin 1993; Biemiller and Slonim 2001; Biemiller 2005

Research shows that average students learn approximately 7 words per day (Miller, 1978). • At-risk students are learning less than 1-2 words per day or none at all.

How Vocabulary is Learned • Indirectly: Children learn the meanings of most words through everyday experiences: • having conversations with adults and peers • hearing stories • reading extensively • Directly: Children learn vocabulary when they are explicitly taught both individual words and word-learning strategies: • morphemic analysis • contextual analysis

Variation in Amount of Independent Reading Anderson, R. C. (1992)

Common and Uncommon Words Frequent words = percentage of text from most frequent 1,000 words Rare words = number of rare words (not in most common 10,000) per 1,000 tokens Source: Hayes and Ahrens 1988

Selecting Words Target vocabulary should include: • Words that are important for understanding the text or content (and that are not explained within the text). • Words that students will encounter often, functionally important words. ~Based on Beck et al. 2002

Selecting Words to Teach (Beck, McKeown, Kucan, 2002)

Demands of Text • Narrative • Unnecessary to know all the word--gist of the story. • Learning new words often involves learning a new term for a known concept. • Words are usually unrelated to each other. • Expository • Word meanings are closely tied to major topic. • New vocabulary is rarely associated with familiar concepts. • Words are often related to each other (e.g., metamorphosis, pupa, and larvae).

B3: Vocabulary Tested Indicators ▲Context Clues (3-HS) definitions, restatements, examples, descriptions, comparison-contrast, clue words, cause-effect ▲Structural Analysis (3-HS) roots, prefixes, suffixes ▲Figurative Language (6-HS) similes, metaphors, analogies, hyperbole, onomatopoeia, personification, idioms, imagery, and symbolism

Contextual Analysis “Clue instruction appears to be more effective than other instruction types or just practice.” Analysis by Fukkink and de Glopper (1998)

Context Clues

Contextual Analysis Strategy • Look for Context Clues in the words, phrases, and sentences surrounding the unfamiliar word. Determine: • Signal Words or Punctuation • Type of Context Clue Highlight different context clues you find in the article.

Facts about Prefixes • Twenty prefixes account for 97 percent of the prefixed words in school reading materials. • Four prefixes (un-, re-, in-, and dis-) account for 58 percent of all prefixed words.

Structural Analysis Highlight your grade level prefixes and suffixes.

Structural Analysis Strategy • Look for the Root Word. What does it mean? • Look for a Prefix. What does it mean? • Look for a Suffix. What does it mean? • Put the Meanings of the Word Parts Together. What is the meaning of the whole word?

Vocabulary Activities • Kansas Parent Information Resource Center:http://www.kpirc.org

Attributes: Roll the Dice Start with the stack of reading standards vocabulary cards. Choose a vocabulary card and roll the dice. Give attributes or something you’ve learned for each vocabulary word you draw (roll a 3 = 3 attributes).

Alphaboxes • At your table, write one word that relates to the state reading assessment.

Word Sorts Sort the words relating to reading standards into categories.

Graphic Organizers

Pictures / Objects / Videos

Vocabulary: A Powerful Connection to Comprehension