LANGUAGE

DEVELOPMENT
I N C R E A S IN G VO CA B UL A RY T H R O U G H R E A D I N G , W R I T I NG ,
SPEAKING, AND LISTENING

WHAT DOES THE RESEARCH TELL US?

Vocabulary knowledge is a strong predictor of
verbal ability (Sternberg, 1987)
Vocabulary difficulty strongly impacts text
difficulty (Klare, 1984)
Students from impoverished backgrounds may
have limited vocabulary when entering school;
this seriously limits the chances of attaining an
adequate vocabulary for learning (Hart & Risley,
1995)

From Babbling to Books!

Watch the video and discuss the following:

Students from impoverished backgrounds may have

limited vocabulary when entering school. What are the
implications for early instruction?
What factors contribute to a rich language
environment?
Which cues provide an opportunity for educators
to help children develop communication skills and

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Incidental
Instructio
n

Daily Oral Language Activities

Independent Reading
Read-Alouds

Direct
Instructio
n

Individual Word Learning

Levels
Word
Learning Strategies
of Knowledge

VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION
To increase vocabulary acquisition, many
researchers recommend:
Multiple exposures of words in context
Associating images to words
Some direct instruction (especially for general
academic and domain specific terms)
(e.g. Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock, 2001; Beck and McKeown, )

INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES

COMPONENTS OF QUALITY
INSTRUCTION
Wide Reading
Teaching Individual Terms
Word Learning Strategies
Word Consciousness

WIDE READING

WIDE READING

Incidental learning
Repeated exposure to words
Increase quality and quantity of reading
Variety in reading models and genres

TEACHING INDIVIDUAL
WORDS
DIRECT, EXPLICIT INSTRUCTION

TEACHING INDIVIDUAL WORDS

Text vocabulary vs. oral vocabulary

Complex text contains complex vocabulary
Elaborate and Enrich
Direct Instruction and Teachable Moments
Focus explicit instruction on Tier Two Words
Balance

VOCABULARY TIERS
Isabel L. Beck, Margaret G. McKeown, and Linda
Kucan (2002, 2008) have outlined a useful model
for conceptualizing categories of words readers
encounter in texts and for understanding the
instructional and learning challenges that words
in each category present.
They describe three levels, or tiers, of words in
terms of the words commonality (more to less
frequently occurring) and applicability (broader to
narrower).

3 Tiers of
Words

Tier 3: Domain-Specific
Vocabulary

For more
information, refer
to the CCSS for
ELA Appendix A

Tier 2: General
Academic Vocabulary

Tier 1: Common
Vocabulary

Useful
Resourc
e

Academic Word List

Choosing Which Words to Teach

By: Isabel Beck, Margaret McKeown, Linda Kucan

Read the Chapter: Choosing Which Words to

Teach and complete the exercise below.
Choosing Which Words to Teach Exercise

WORD LEARNING
STRATEGIES

CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS
Clues external Semantic cues in
to the
text or text
unfamiliar
features
term

Syntactic and
morphological
Internal clues
cues
Sternberg (1987)

LANGUAGE ENRICHMENT ACTIVITY

OPIN

 Divide students into groups of three.

Distribute practice sentences related to the
content area and include a blank for which
students must select the appropriate term

OPIN
An instructional
strategy for
extending
meaning.

Each student completes the sentence

individually.
Small groups convene and students must
convince other members that his or her word
is the best choice to complete each sentence.
Each choice must be justified with a
reasonable explanation, based on the content
and concepts encountered in the text.

Source: Vacca, R.T.,

Vacca, J.L., & Mraz, M.
(2011)

If the group does not reach consensus, they

may discuss with the class.

SAMPLE TEMPLATE
Sentence
Science: A plants
_____ go into the soil.

Social Studies: The

thought of ____ or
revolution would be
necessary because
property owners
would fight to hold on
to their land.

Word Choice

Justification

roots

We learned on
page____that the
roots job.

LANGUAGE ENRICHMENT ACTIVITY

CHANGE IT UP!

Common
Phrase

Alternate
Phrase

Repeated
Exposure

Elaborate and
Enrich

get ready to
go outside

prepare to
proceed
outdoors

Use the new

phrase often

Students can
apply these
new terms in
writing
exercises and in
other
conversational
contexts

Discuss additional phrases that could be

modified to enrich students understanding of
language.

College Talk
View the video and discuss the following questions:
How does Ms. Kim make vocabulary a natural part
of the classroom?
How does the students' response to this strategy
change over time?

WORD CONSCIOUSNESS
W O R D P L AY , M O D E L I N G , I N T E G RAT I O N

Rich, Decontextualized Knowledge

Understands but difficult application

Vague, Context Bound
Meaning

Levels of
Word
Knowledg
e

Knowing the
word but not
the meaning
No
kn
owl
ed
ge
Based on Dale (1965)

40 Encounters to
truly OWN the word

WORD CONSCIOUSNESS
Awareness and interest
Cognitive and Affective Stance
Metacognition and Motivation
Informal and Formal Instruction

THE COMPLEXITY OF WORD

KNOWLEDGE

Multi-dimensionality
Interrelatedness
Heterogeneity
Polysemy
Incrementality

MODELING
Teacher modeling in reading, writing, and
discussion
Attitude toward learning new words
Exposure and Experience

 Look at Lesson 1 for the term

Listen. How does this framework for
teaching a word help students develop
a deeper understanding of language?

E4

Choose a term from one of the sources

on the left. Use the E4 framework to
help students understand this term by
addressing synonyms, multiple
Choosing Which Wor
meanings, figurative language, idioms,
ds to Teach
common phrases, and morphological
Academic Word List
considerations.

WORD OF THE DAY

IN C RE A SE A STUDE N T S W ORD W ORL D

WORD OF THE DAY

Teacher selected student selected
Definitional + contextual information
Explain why it is meaningful to learning
Allow students ask questions and have
discussions
Record word sightings

WORD PLAY
Morphological and syntactic awareness
Homophones and Homographs
Figurative language, idioms, puns

Word Families

View the video and discuss the following questions:

What scaffolds does Ms. Wessling put into place to
get her students using new vocabulary?
How could you use paint chips in your classroom?
Create one or two examples using paint chips. Share
with your PLC members.

FUN WITH WORDS

Summit, ______, spinning toy
Hole, ______, fruit stone
Nation, _____, rural area

From Lederers Get Thee to a Punnery

WORD PLAY BOOKS

Pun and Games (1996) by Richard Lederer

Get Thee to a Punnery (1988) by Richard Lederer
Animalia (1986) by Graeme Base
The Alphabet from Z to A (With Much Confusion
Along the Way) by Judith Viorst
Doube Trouble in Walla Walla
The King Who Rained by Fred Gwynne
The Phantom Tolebooth by Norton Juster
Holes by Louis Sachar

INTEGRATION
Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking connections
Incorporate vocabulary instruction across the
domains
Borrow and Elaborate an authors word choice
A great potato of a woman
A long string bean of a man

BALANCED INSTRUCTION
Oral Language
Word-Level
Knowledge
Conceptual
Knowledge
Text-Level
Knowledge
Developmental
Context

Vocabulary & grammar

Phonemic Awareness
and Decoding
Comprehension & idea
generation
Genre and text
structure
Motivation, purpose
and attention

RESOURCES
Reading Rockets

http://textproject.org/

Edutopia Blog

REFERENCES
Anderson, R.E. & Nagy, W.E. (1992). The vocabulary conundrum. American Educator,
(16)14-18, 44-47.
Beck, Isabel L. McKeown, M., & Kucan, L. (2002). Choosing Words to Teach. In
Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction (15-30). New York, NY: Guilford
Press.
Beck, I.L., McKeown, M.G., Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing words to life: robust vocabulary
instruction. New York: Guilford Press.
Graves, M. & Watts Taffe, S.M. (2002). The place of word consciousness in a research
based vocabulary program. In Farstrup, A.E. & Samuels, S.J.(Eds.) What Research has
to say about reading instruction. Newark: IRA
Hart, B., & Risley, T.R. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experiences of
young American children. Baltimore: Paul H. Brooks.
Klare, G.R. (1984). Readability. In P.D. Pearson, R. Barr, M.L. Kamil, & P. Mosenthal
(Eds.), Handbook of reading research(pp. 681-794).
McKeown, M.G (1985). The acquisition of word meaning from context by children of
high and low ability. Reading Research Quarterly (20) 482-496.
Pressley, M. (2006). Reading Instruction that works: the case for balanced teaching.
Sternberg (1987) Most vocabulary is learned from context. In M.G. McKeown & M.E.
Curtis (Eds.) The nature of vocabulary acquisition. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Vacca, R.T., Vacca, J.L., & Mraz, M. (2011) Content Area Reading: Literacy and
Learning Across the Curriculum. Boston: Pearson