Teaching Vocabulary: Practical, Research-based Approaches to Instruction

1. Teaching Vocabulary: Practical, Research-based Approaches to Instruction Developed by Susan Finn Miller, PhD

2. Welcome! • What is your name? • Where do you teach? • How long have you been teaching ESL? • What is your teaching context? • What is one vocabulary word you have taught recently? https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

3. Goals for this workshop You will be able to: • Describe essential components of vocabulary and what it means to know a word • Evaluate approaches to vocabulary instruction • Develop effective vocabulary lessons • Plan ways to support learners to learn vocabulary independently • Reflect on your practice and revise instruction to ensure student learning https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

4. Today’s Agenda • Welcome & Introductions • Paul Nation’s Quiz • Needs Assessment • What is Vocabulary? • Choosing Vocabulary to Teach • Academic Vocabulary • Supporting Students to be Independent Learners of Vocabulary • Applying Learning in Practice • Wrap up & Evaluation https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

5. Compare your answers!Is anything surprising? • D • B • B • B • D 6D 7A 8C 9C 10B Source: Paul Nation’s webpage https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

6. Needs Assessment • One thing I hope to learn from this workshop is … • One vocabulary teaching idea I could contribute is … • I will consider this workshop a success if ….. https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

7. What is vocabulary? Simply put, the words we “know”, but … what does it mean to “know” a word? • Breadth of vocabulary – the number and kinds of word meanings known • Depth of vocabulary – flexibility and precision of word-meaning knowledge https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

8. Vocabulary includes . . . • Single words • Set phrases (i.e., words are not variable) • Variable phrases • Phrasal verbs • Idioms Source: Keith Folse (2004) https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

9. What does it mean to know a word? “Knowing” a word entails… • Polysemy (multiple meanings of a word) • Connotation • Spelling & Pronunciation • Part of Speech • Frequency • Usage • Collocation (i.e., other words commonly used with new word) Source: Keith Folse (2004) https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

10. Your Experience: 2-Minute Chat #1 With one or two partners, generate a list of some of the most common idioms in English https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

11. 15 Most Common Idioms in Spoken English • kind of • sort of • of course • in terms of • in fact • deal with • at all • as well • make sure • go through • come up • look for • find out • go on • as well as Source: Liu (2003) https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

12. The Challenges • Educated adults know about 20,000 words • There are about 54,000 word families in English How can we prioritize the words we teach? https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

13. Your Experience: 2-Minute Chat #2 Talk with one or two partners about how you decide which vocabulary to teach https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

14. Word Tiers Source: Beck et al. (2001) https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

15. Tom Cobb’s Vocab ProfilerTomm Cobb's Vocab Profiler Averil Coxhead’s Academic Word List Averil Coxhead's Academic Word List https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

16. Tom Cobb’s Vocabulary Profiler https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

17. 1st 1000 2nd 1000 Academic Word ListOff list How to keep your mind active and healthy Keep your body active. Exercise is very important to keep a good flow of blood to your brain and can even help create new brain cells. It can also reduce the risk of other problems such as heart conditions or diabetes that make Alzheimer'smore likely. A little exercise can help with many problems. Find out how to improve your fitness number. Keep your life active. Having an active social life will make your brain more relaxed and will give it plenty of new things to process keeping it stronger. Source: excerpt from www.beehive.org https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

18. Effective vocabulary instruction does not rely on definitions Source: Marzano (2004) https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

19. Dutro & Kinsella’s: Vocabulary Teaching Steps • Write the word and pronounce it a few times • Break long words into syllables and tap out syllables, emphasizing the stressed syllable • Lead learners in quick pronunciation practice • Explain the word clearly (not exhaustively) using student-friendly language • Provide a visual representation, if possible • Give two easy to understand examples • Engage learners in structured oral & written tasks https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

20. Example: Student-friendly language Toapproach(verb) • We use the wordapproach when we want to describe something coming near or nearer. • When I walk toward you, I am approaching you. • Summer is approaching; that means summer is coming soon. • What special events or dates are approaching for you? • “A special event that is approaching for me is ____________.” • Students respond and then ask each other the question. https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

21. Brick & Mortar Words • Brick Words are content specific words (Tier 3) • Mortar Words are general utility words that are needed to construct sentences (Tiers 1 & 2) Source: Dutro & Kinsella (2010) https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

22. Mortar Words • Connecting words:because, then, but therefore, sometimes, however, etc. • Prepositions:on, in, under, next to, etc. • Basic verbs:leave, live, eat, use, etc. • Pronouns:she, his, us, each other, etc. • General (Tier 2) academic vocabulary:approach, create, benefit, require https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

23. Sentence Frames Writing Task: Sending email is more ___________ than ______ (verb+ing) friends because ________. My Sentence: Source: Dutro & Kinsella (2010) https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

24. Professor Paul Nation “Deliberately teaching vocabulary is one of the least efficient ways of developing learners’ vocabulary knowledge, but … it is an important part of a well-balanced vocabulary program.” (p. 97, 2008). https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

25. Your Experience: 2-Minute Chat #3 Talk with one or two partners about some effective ways to support students in learning vocabulary on their own https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

26. “Deliberate Learning” vs. “Deliberate Teaching” • Guessing Words from Context • Word Cards • Word Parts • Dictionary Skills Source: Nation (2008) https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

27. Teaching Word Parts • 20 prefixes account for 97% of all prefixes • 6suffixes account for 78% of all suffixes • s & es • ed • ing • ly • er & or • ion & tion Source: Promoting Vocabulary Development / TX Reading Initiative http://www.education.sfasu.edu/ele/classes/abel/affixes.html https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

28. Applying Our Learning: Plan Practice Reflect https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

29. A Few Vocabulary Teaching Resources Online • Averil Coxhead’s Academic Word Listhttp://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/resources/academicwordlist/ • Tom Cobb’s Vocabulary Profilerhttp://www.lextutor.ca/vp/ • Flash Cards App for iPhonehttp://orangeorapple.com/Flashcards/Default.aspx • Paul Nation’s webpagehttp://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/staff/paul-nation.aspx • Oxford Collocations Dictionary For Android and iPhone • Quizlet for creating word cards with pictures and audio onlinehttp://quizlet.com/ • Jeff Zwiers’ websitehttp://www.jeffzwiers.com/ https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

30. Another great new online resource • New American Horizons teacher training videos http://www.newamericanhorizons.org/training-videos/titles-in-the-series • Lesson Planning for Life Skills • Building Literacy with Adult Emergent Readers • Growing Vocabulary with Beginners • Working with a Multi-level Class • Developing Listening Skills with High-Intermediate Learners • Teaching Grammar in Real-life Contexts • Cultivating Writing Skills at the Intermediate Level https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

31. Revisit goals for this workshop Are you able to … • Describe essential components of vocabulary and what it means to know a word? • Evaluate approaches to vocabulary instruction? • Develop effective vocabulary lessons? • Plan ways to support learners to learn vocabulary independently? • Reflect on your practice and revise instruction to ensure student learning? https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

32. Peer Dictation • Choose a partner • Decide who will be the reader and who will be the writer. You can change roles halfway. • The reader . . . • goes to the wall, reads the text, and reports to the writer • can visit the wall as many times as necessary and should not shout across the room (!) • should offer corrections but cannot touch the pen • The goal is to reproduce the text perfectly including spelling, punctuation, etc. https://courses.lincs.ed.gov/

33. Why Should You Visit LINCS Regularly? LINCS provides you with the information, resources, activities, and network you need to enhance your practice in order to provide your students with high-quality learning opportunities. http://lincs.ed.gov/ LINCS is funded by the U.S. Department of Education - Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education. It is comprised of the Resource Collection, managed by Kratos Learning, the Regional Professional Development Centers, and the Technical Contractor, Quotient, Inc.

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36. Evaluation and Contact Information • Please complete the LINCS Survey:tinyurl.com/vocabsurveyok • Eric Beecher, OK City Community College - eric.p.beecher@occc.edu • Haley Ticer, Union Public Schools - ticer.haley@unionps.org • Sondra Reeder, Union Public Schools - reeder.sondra@unionps.org • KayTee Niquette, OK Dept. of Career Tech - kaytee.niquette@careertech.ok.gov Diana Satin, LINCS Trainer - dianarsatin@gmail.com Kaye Beall, LINCS Professional Development Center Director - kaye_beall@worlded.org LINCS Website: http://lincs.ed.gov/ LINCS Help: info@lincs.ed.gov