USING CONTEXT CLUES TO DERIVE MEANING IN NOVEL WORDS Presentation by Dr. Dea Conrad-Curry Your Partner in Education Visit my blog and website

Vocabulary Acquisition Stages of word knowledge (Dale 1965) Never saw it before Heard it—no knowledge of meaning Recognizes in context Knows it well: uses in conversation and or writing 2 © 2012 Partner in Education

3 NAME ______________________ TEXT ______________________ PAGES _______ DATE _______ Word Never Heard Heard or Seen ConnotationHow I define this word I use this word! How Well Do I Know These Words? Thinking about words before learning them makes connections that will help me remember. © 2012 Partner in Education

4 How do Context Clues Help Build Word Meaning? Thinking about my thinking about words. © 2012 Partner in Education

5 1.Definition or explanation clue The periphery or outer region, of the river was littered with container trash from the nearby factories. 2.Example clue Like road banks along an interstate highway, the periphery of the river was littered with container trash from the nearby factories. 3.Restatement or synonym clue The periphery or bank of the river was littered with container trash from the nearby factories. 4.Contrast or antonym clue The periphery of the river, unlike the water that flowed within its banks, was littered with container trash from the nearby factories. 5.Inference through general context clue The periphery of the river was littered with container trash from the nearby factories while the fast moving water appeared clear of debris. 6.Punctuation and syntax clues: word order, dashes, quotations, parenthesis The periphery—the perimeter—of the river was littered with container trash from the nearby factories. 6-Types of External Context Clues

6 1.The periphery of the river was littered with container trash from the nearby factories while the water that rushed downstream was clear. 2.The family history was a gallimaufry of personalities: liars and thieves, business tycoons and entrepreneurs, musicians and actors. 3.The river was full of noxious materials such as cleaning agents from factories and pesticides from the nearby farms. 4.This third grade was full of precocious children, youngsters who were advanced beyond their years. 5.When going to an office party you should behave with professional decorum; dress conservatively, eat and drink moderately, and thank the host before you leave. 6.Some may not approve of the governor’s unethical behavior, but to describe him as nefarious is to go a bit far. 7.Some credit her advancement at the university to an erudition beyond all others; all acknowledge that ignorance does not go far in higher education. Teacher Created Context Sentences How does context help build word meaning? © 2012 Partner in Education

7 Resources Common Core Standards. (2010). National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. ACT, Inc. (2007). Preparing all students for college and work. Crisis at the Core. ACT, Inc. (2006). Reading between the lines: What ACT reveals about college readiness and reading. Brusnighan, S. M., & Folk, J. R. (2012). Combining contextual and morphemic clues is beneficial during incidental vocabulary acquisition: Semantic transparency in novel compound word processing. Reading Research Quarterly, 47(2), p Graves, M. F. The Vocabulary Book: Learning & Instruction. (2006). New York: NCTE Harvey, G. (1999). Adapted from The Academic Essay: A Brief Anatomy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP. Harvey, S. & Goudvis, A. (2000). Strategies that Work. Portland, Maine: Stenhouse. International Center for Leadership in Education, Inc. Retrieved from Jenkins, J. E., Johnson, E. & Hileman, J. (2004). When is reading also writing: Sources of individual difference on the new reading performance assessments. Scientific Studies of Reading 8(2), Marzano, R., Pickering, D. & Pollock, J. (2001). Classroom Instruction that Works. New Jersey: Pearson. Nagy, W. (1988). Teaching Vocabulary to Improve Reading Comprehension. NCTE. PARCC. (2011, October). Model Content Frameworks for ELA/Literacy, Grades Retrieved from Raphael, T., Highfield, K. & Au, K. (2006). QAR Now. NY: Scholastic. © 2012 Partner in Education