1. 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

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

3. 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

4. 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)

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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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)

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

10. How might you use this in your classroom?

11. 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

12. 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.

13. 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.

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

15. Vocabulary Map – Tier 2 words

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

18. Concept of Definition Map Social Studies

19. The Mental “Junk Drawer”

20. 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.

21. 3 ships Fort Jamestown Museum Musket Games Discovery Firing Susan
Constant
3 ships
Fort
Jamestown
Church
Godspeed
Powhatan’s
Statue
Navigation
Tools
Museum

22. 3 Ships Fort Jamestown Museum Musket Firing Susan Constant Discovery
Godspeed
Games
Church
Jamestown
Museum
Navigation Tools
Powhatan’s Statue

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

24. 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

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

26. Draw a power map of this “scene”

27. 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.

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

29. 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)

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

31. SPEC, SPECT

32. 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

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

34. 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?

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

36. 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)

37. Root Tree with spect

38. Key word for spect?

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

40. 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).

41. 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*

42. 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.