HOW TO TEACH VOCABULARY.

HOW TO TEACH VOCABULARY.

students with a diversity of backgrounds and skills are immersed in content area instruction. Yet all students, and particularly those who are struggling, are confronted with vocabulary and concepts that are unfamiliar or misunderstood. Those misunderstandings interfere with comprehension of content area curriculum. Robust vocabulary instruction and comprehension strategy instruction can combine to create depth and breadth in understanding words, concepts, topics, and themes of high school content area materials. Teaching the meaning of vocabulary words prior to reading the text is an effective component of traditional vocabulary instruction.

Knowing the educational jargon of teaching vocabulary within the general framework of a lesson plan is important for understanding the bigger picture: how to support readers to become more independent readers. Attending to the phonological awareness of a word is only part of teaching vocabulary.

Consider these important teaching vocabulary terms your next practical steps for additional ways for practicing vocabulary. The more students recognize and work with the target vocabulary, the easier it will be to also recognize those target words in context.

Presenting New Vocabulary: Exposure, this is the first procedure in a vocabulary lesson plan where students are tuned into those words you want to present. Inductive Ways of Presentation, in order to get to a word, teachers show a picture and talk about it. This works differently from deductive methods (more commonly used with grammar related teaching contexts) where teachers isolate the rule and then follow-up with a number of practice activities. Issues of Fluency and Accuracy, in fluency, the emphasis are placed on meaning whereas accuracy emphasizes form and structure.

Practicing New Vocabulary: Teaching vocabulary in a context. The aim of a context is to establish some kind of frame within one of the following text types such as a rap chant, a song or a picture, a story, etc. The reader is encouraged to understand, interpret, make sense, decode (i.e. what does each phoneme sound like?) and decipher (i.e. putting the parts together in order to solve the information gap between decoding and deciphering).

General Vocabulary Teaching Terms:

1. Automaticity - The ability to read a word effortlessly. Do your students need more practice with phonological and decoding?

2. Gradation - Begin with easy activities and work your way up to more complex activities. This approach works for all levels regardless of their knowledge and ability.

3. Cost Effectiveness - maximum profit for minimum cost. (i.e. Using a vocabulary activity again and again for different purposes) Teaching vocabulary can get boring! It's important however to recycle vocabulary in a number of creative and interesting ways.

4. Inference - a vocabulary teaching term related to the aspect of vocabulary and context.

    * To relate to something beyond the text.

    * "I'm thinking of something". Teachers describe the word and students guess its meaning. Teachers should try to encourage students to use educated guessing based on prior information or, on worldly knowledge.

5. Authenticity - To what extent does the target vocabulary reflect real life situations, communications and interactions?

Finally, don't be afraid to try new and unusual ways to teach vocabulary. Use these vocabulary teaching terms as guidelines. Sometimes the most meaningful vocabulary lessons happen when you are the most spontaneous.