1. Jacqueline Ingram & Jacquelyn Rust – Sam Houston State University
Demonstrating the importance of vocabulary engagement to pre-service Content area teachers
Jacqueline Ingram & Jacquelyn Rust – Sam Houston State University
TCTELA 2015

2. How can I convey this to Pre-service Teachers?
Teaching and learning words well involves multiple opportunities to develop word meanings and learn how words are conceptually related within the subject being studied.
Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz, 2011
How was vocabulary presented to you in your Math, Science, and Social Studies classes?
Hands on
Cooperative
Visual
Prior knowledge (structural analysis & morphemes)
Unknown vocabulary
Develop concepts
Concept relationships
Use/apply words in context
Look up
Define
Memorize
Use in a Sentence

3. Challenges faced by Pre-Service Content Teachers in Teaching Vocabulary
Level of knowledge of strategies to teach vocabulary
Level of literacy knowledge within their content area
Time
School, district, and state expectations
“Isn’t teaching vocabulary the ELAR teacher’s job?”
Others?

4. Social Constructivism
Lev Vygotsky (1978)
Learning is social
Activate prior knowledge
Provide supporting structures for learning

5. Research says… Blachowicz & Fisher (2000):
Students should be active in developing their understanding of words and ways to learn them.
Students should personalize word learning.
Students should be immersed in words.
Students should build on multiple sources of information to learn new words through repeated exposure. (p.504)

6. Research says…
Johnson & Johnson (1999) - Cooperative learning outcomes include:
retention
application and transfer of principles and concepts
verbal development
problem-solving
creativity
divergent thinking
productive controversy
awareness and utilization of individual capabilities
the ability to understand and take on others’ perspectives.
Marzano (2009) – Use or create picture associations for concepts and definitions
Nagy (1988) – Concepts are best learned through direct, concrete, and purposeful experiences
Fisher & Frey (2014) – Prefixes, morphology, fluency, prosody, expression, context clues

7. Support for Teaching Content Specific Vocabulary
Receptive Vocabulary-listening and reading
Expressive Vocabulary-speaking and writing
3 Types of Vocabulary
General- words used in everyday language (confirm, miscellaneous, determination)
Content-Specific- specific meaning in content area (foot/math, culture/biology, current/science)
Technical- used only in certain disciplines (iambic pentameter/poetry, dyslexia/reading, isotherm/science)

8. Support for Teaching Content Specific Vocabulary cont’d
“Content area teachers cannot leave development of vocabulary to chance” (Greenwood, 2002; p. 258).
“Students shouldn’t be left to their own devices or subjected to the vagaries of a look up-and-define strategy as their only access to understanding the language of an academic discipline” (Vacca & Vacca, 2011; p. 239)

9. Engaging Pre-Service Teachers
“It’s how someone uses the strategy that determines whether it produces great results, mediocre results, or no results at all”(Marzano, 2009).
Teach pre-service teachers several ways to teach a strategy.
Search and read studies that show a gain in student achievement.
Experiment with the strategies and see how it works in a given setting.
Teach pre-service teachers through activities and strategies.

10. Learning Vocabulary Processes with Legos

11. Vocabulary Development
Debrief
Lego Activity
Word Sort
Visual Representation
Cooperative Interaction
Vocabulary Development
Prior knowledge & Forming concepts
Concept relationships & Context
Applying newly learned vocabulary

12. References
Blachowicz, C. L. Z., & Fisher, P. (2000). Vocabulary processes. In M. L. Kami, P. B. Mosenthal, P. D. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds.). Handbook of reading research (Vol. III, pp ). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Fisher, D. & Frey, N. (2014). Content area vocabulary learning. The Reading Teacher, 67, doi: /trtr.1258
Greenwood, S. C. (2002). Making words matter: Vocabulary study in the content areas. The Clearing House, 75,
Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (1999). Making cooperative learning work. Theory to Practice, 38,
Kane, S. (2011). Literacy and learning in the content areas. Scottsdale, AZ: Holcomb Hathway.
Marzano, R. (2009). Six steps to better vocabulary instruction. Teaching for 21st Century, 67,
Nagy, W. E. (1988). Teaching vocabulary to improve reading comprehension. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
Vacca, R. T., Vacca, J. L., & Mraz, M. (2011). Content area reading: Literacy and learning across the curriculum (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mental development of children and the process of learning. In M. Cole, V. John- Steiner, S. Scribner, & E. Souberman (Eds. and Trans.), Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.