Vocabulary Strategies
Building student vocabularies in content reading is one of the greatest ways to help students improve reading proficiency. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, "vocabulary is a sum or stock of words employed by a language, group, individual, or work or in a field of knowledge." Students need large vocabularies in order to strengthen their reading comprehension and fluency. According to page 4 of Dr. Mimi Miller and Nancy Veatch in their 2011 book entitled Literacy in Context (LinC): Choosing Instructional Strategies to Teach Reading in Content Areas for Students Grades 5-12, in order for students to "succeed with content area text, adolescents need to build their vocabularies as they build conceptual understanding." There are many ways in which to build students vocabularies and listed below are links to multiple strategies teachers can use to help students increase their vocabulary. |
Concept of Definition Map
According to page 15 of Dr. Mimi Miller and Nancy Veatch in their 2011 book entitled Literacy in Context (LinC): Choosing Instructional Strategies to Teach Reading in Content Areas for Students Grades 5-12, "studies suggest that an effective way to build conceptual understanding is to combine words with visual images." Two great ways to help students expand their vocabulary in context is through Semantic Mapping or using a Frayer Model.
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Semantic Feature Analysis
According to page 18 of Dr. Mimi Miller and Nancy Veatch in their 2011 book entitled Literacy in Context (LinC): Choosing Instructional Strategies to Teach Reading in Content Areas for Students Grades 5-12, Semantic Feature Analysis is another strategy for students to build their vocabulary by focusing on the relationships between terms. This type of analysis is useful in helping students actively understand the semantic features, or differences among the meanings of words, concepts, events, and processes.
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Pre-Teaching Vocabulary
Pre-Teaching Vocabulary is another way to build student vocabularies by previewing terms or concepts before they begin reading the text. When teachers pre-teach vocabulary (Feldman & Kinsella, 2003), they introduce unfamiliar terms to students before they begin to read the text, and students have a heightened awareness of the vocabulary that they will encounter while reading. According to page 19 of Dr. Mimi Miller and Nancy Veatch in their 2011 book entitled Literacy in Context (LinC): Choosing Instructional Strategies to Teach Reading in Content Areas for Students Grades 5-12, pre-teaching selected vocabulary allows students to see that some words have academic definitions that are different from their everyday meanings. This focus on multiple meanings is especially important for English learners or students who need extra support with academic language.
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Vocabulary Rating Guide
With the Vocabulary Rating Guide, students rate their level of understanding of vocabulary terms before, during, and after reading. According to page 19 of Dr. Mimi Miller and Nancy Veatch in their 2011 book entitled Literacy in Context (LinC): Choosing Instructional Strategies to Teach Reading in Content Areas for Students Grades 5-12, as students are exposed to content text, students reflect upon their vocabulary knowledge and note their developing understanding.
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List-Group-label
List-Group-Label is a pre-reading strategy in which students group a list of vocabulary words and gives that group of words a label. According to page 25 of Dr. Mimi Miller and Nancy Veatch in their 2011 book entitled Literacy in Context (LinC): Choosing Instructional Strategies to Teach Reading in Content Areas for Students Grades 5-12, "as students sort words into categories, they connect familiar words with the new words, expanding their conceptual understanding of vocabulary. Then, during and after reading, they revisit their categories to expand and make changes."
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Resources
Feldman, K., & Kinsella, K. (2003). Narrowing the language gap: Strategies for vocabulary development. Retrieved from http://www.fcoe.net/ela/pdf/Vocabulary/Narrowing%20Vocab%20Gap%20KK%20KF%201.pdf.
Miller, M., & Veatch, N. (2011). Literacy in context (LinC): Choosing instructional strategies to teach reading in content areas for students grades 5-12. Boston: Pearson.
Vocabulary. Definition of vocabulary by Merriam-Webster. (2015). In Dictionary and Thesaurus Merriam-Webster. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vocabulary
Feldman, K., & Kinsella, K. (2003). Narrowing the language gap: Strategies for vocabulary development. Retrieved from http://www.fcoe.net/ela/pdf/Vocabulary/Narrowing%20Vocab%20Gap%20KK%20KF%201.pdf.
Miller, M., & Veatch, N. (2011). Literacy in context (LinC): Choosing instructional strategies to teach reading in content areas for students grades 5-12. Boston: Pearson.
Vocabulary. Definition of vocabulary by Merriam-Webster. (2015). In Dictionary and Thesaurus Merriam-Webster. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vocabulary