Kevin Flanigan, Ph.D. West Chester University kflanigan@wcupa.edu Moving Beyond the Definitions: Effective Vocabulary Instruction Grades 4-8 Kevin Flanigan, Ph.D. West Chester University kflanigan@wcupa.edu

Agenda Definitions Components of Effective Vocabulary Instruction Word-Specific Instruction (photosynthesis) Generative Vocabulary Instruction (telephoto, photograph, photocopier)

Why teach vocabulary? Every teacher is a teacher of LANGUAGE English, math, social studies, biology – you teach the language of that subject or discipline Vocabulary is a critical part of that language

Vocabulary knowledge IS content knowledge Research reveals that vocabulary knowledge is the single best indicator of students’: Reading ability Comprehension Familiarity with academic discourse (Baumann, Kame’enui, & Ash, 2003; Schleppegrell, 2004; Townsend, Collins, & Filippini, 2009)

Definitions are just the “tip of the iceberg” A first step toward “owning” a word

All definitions are NOT equal Luminous – emitting light, especially self-generated light; lucid, resplendent, incandescent, refulgent Some definitions define an unknown word with OTHER unknown words Student-friendly definitions PLUS CONTEXT

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English LUMINOUS - shining in the dark: luminous paint “Her large dark eyes were almost luminous.” ldoceonline.com - clear definitions written using only 2000 common words

Degrees of Knowing a Word The Dimmer Switch Learning vocabulary is not a one-shot proposition. We learn words in increments, in little steps How many encounters with a vocabulary word? Students need to have 12 encounters with a word to reliably improve their comprehension of a passage containing those words (McKeown, Beck, Omanson, & Pople, 1985)

Vocabulary Fist-to-Five Rating Scale (Patterson, Patterson, & Collins, 2002)

How might you use this in your classroom?

3 General Components of Vocabulary Instruction (Templeton, Bear, Invernizzi, & Johnston, 2009) Overall Context (reading, writing, rich discussion) Direct Vocabulary Instruction Word-specific (teaching specific words) Generative (teaching how words work) Word Consciousness – a positive attitude and disposition toward learning words

Have you ever?/Word Wizard (Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2002) Purpose: to connect new words to known concepts and encourage students to notice examples of words in contexts outside of school (or outside of “formal instruction”) Procedure: Choose Tier Two words and ask students to bring back examples from home (“I saw a radiant sunset last night!”). For each word used, the student, group, or class earns a points toward class competition and/or grade, extra credit.

Principles of Vocabulary Instruction (Blachowicz & Fisher, 2000) The students should: Be ACTIVE and ENGAGED in developing their understanding of words and ways to learn them. PERSONALIZE word learning. Be IMMERSED in words (listening, speaking, reading, writing). REPEATEDLY experience words across a VARIETY OF RICH CONTEXTS. Learn new words/concepts by RELATING them to existing words/concepts. Learn both SPECIFIC WORDS and strategies for INDEPENDENT word learning.

Four Square Concept Map (Eeds & Cockrum, 1985; Stahl & Nagy, 2006)

Vocabulary Map – Tier 2 words

WORD ORIGINAL SENTENCE OTHER FORMS SYNONYM ANTONYM Shades of Meaning PICTURE DEFINITION

Concept of Definition Map Social Studies

The Mental “Junk Drawer”

Roman Numeral Outlining For some students, they are so concerned about the format of the outline, they lose sight of the function – to organize information.

3 ships Fort Jamestown Museum Musket Games Discovery Firing Susan Constant 3 ships Fort Jamestown Church Godspeed Powhatan’s Statue Navigation Tools Museum

3 Ships Fort Jamestown Museum Musket Firing Susan Constant Discovery Godspeed Games Church Jamestown Museum Navigation Tools Powhatan’s Statue

Power Thinking Power 1 – Main Idea = Power 2 – Sub-topic = Power 3 – Detail -

Power Thinking (Santa, Havens, & Valdes, 2004) Purpose: to provide students a framework for organizing information that is hierarchical in nature Main ideas, subtopics, details An alternative to roman numeral outlining

Power Thinking Power 1 – Main Ideas Power 2 – Subtopics Power 3 – Details

Draw a power map of this “scene”

Power Thinking Power Mapping – use with a graphic organizer Power Reading – use in conjunction with reading Power Writing – use as a framework for organizing essays, reports, etc.

You can’t get there . . . ONE WORD AT A TIME

It’s all Greek (and Latin) to me! What percent of English vocabulary words are Latin or Greek derived? Approximately 70% (Nagy & Anderson, 1984; Padak, Newton, Rasinski, & Newton, 2008) What percent of upper-level English vocabulary words (middle and high school, science, law, medicine) are Latin or Greek derived? Over 90% (Green, 2008)

What makes more sense ? Teaching 40,000 separate words? Or, teaching the system (or “meaning code”) that underlies those words?

SPEC, SPECT

Root Web/Tree with “Spec, spect” Create a web with spec, spect at center Generate as many words with spect as you can Try to deduce meaning of root

Generative Vocabulary Instruction: “When you learn 1 word, you learn 10.” Page 17

Questions to Promote Deep Processing of Word Meanings How do these words look alike? (spelling) How are the meanings of these words similar? How is the meaning of the prefix, suffix, or root related to the meaning of the word?

Generative Vocabulary Instruction: “When you learn 1 word, you learn 10.” How many words in English have spec, spect as a root?

Root Webs/Trees Brainstorm known words that contain the root Look for common meanings to find “the route back to the root.” Confirm with “new words.” *Sometimes, the route back to the root is not as straightforward (respect and circumspect)

Root Tree with spect

Key word for spect?

When you learn one word, you learn ten . . . When you learn one root, you learn exponentially more words!!

Morphology Knowledge of the processes of word formation in English – how prefixes, suffixes, base words, and Greek and Latin word roots combine – is the engine that will generate your students’ learning about thousands of words (Templeton, 2004).

Online Resources Dictionary.com – Etymology. Drills down to word parts by prefix, suffix, and root. Etymonline.com Onelook.com – finds words that share a common root Wildcard search - *spect*

Selected Resources Beck, Isabel L., McKeown, Margaret G., and Kucan, Linda. Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction. New York: Guilford, 2002. Nagy, W.E., & Anderson, R.C. (1984). How many words are there in printed school English? Reading Research Quarterly, 19(3), 304– 330. Santa, C.M., Havens, L.T., & Valdes, B.J. (2004). Project CRISS: Creating Independence through student-owned strategies (3rd edition). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt. Templeton, S., Bear, D., Invernizzi, M., & Johnston, F. (2010). Vocabulary their way: Word study with middle and secondary students. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.