By Dr. Grant - GMU

1. VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT
R. Grant
Lexical competence is a central part
of communicative competence”
(DeCarrico, 2001, p. 285)

2. Questions to ponder about
vocabulary
 What does it mean to “know a
word”?
 What are the basic components of
word knowledge?
 How can we address use, meaning,
and function in L2 vocabulary
instruction?

3. Facts About Vocabulary
Knowledge
 Students’ vocabularies grow at an
astonishing rate
 About 3,000 words per year, or roughly
7 to 10 new words per day
 By the time students graduate from
high school, their vocabularies may
reach 25,000 words or more

4. Questions to ponder:
 How many vocabularies do you
have?
 What role does identity play in
vocabulary utilization?
 How do school, family, and
community factors influence
vocabulary development?

5. Research:Facts about
Vocabulary
 Vocabulary reflects prior knowledge
and concepts in a particular area
 There is a strong relationship
between the knowledge of word
meanings (vocabulary) and reading
comprehension

6. More Research:Facts about
Vocabulary
 How do children acquire vocabulary?
 Through wide reading
 From context (but need instruction)
 With the aid of external resources such
as the dictionary
 From direct instruction in vocabulary

7. ELL & English vocabulary
 Learning English vocabulary is a
challenge for ELL students because
they are often learning the oral and
written forms of a word at the same
time.

8. ELL & English vocabulary
 Students’ lack of English vocabulary
often adversely affects their reading
development in English.

9. Vocabulary Instruction:
The debate
 Deep processing
 Incidental learning

10. Aspects about words
In order to really “know” or “own” a
word, students must
 Recognize it,
 Know its meaning, and
 Understand its function

11. How and when to use direct
instruction
 Teacher only a few
words central to
the content
 Teach in
meaningful
contexts
 Integrate with
activation and
development of
prior knowledge

12. How and when to use direct
instruction
 Teach words
thoroughly by
offering rich &
varied information
about them
 Expose words in
many ways
 Actively involve
students in the
process of learning

13. Elements of vocabulary
development
 Awareness of words (self-awareness
and motivation to learn words)
 Wide reading and extensive writing
(self-selected reading and writing)
 Independent strategies that lead to
vocabulary learning (direct
instruction and independent use)

14. Condition 1: Unfamiliar
words
 Sight words. Students know the
word and what it means when they
hear someone say it, and can use it
orally, but they don’t recognize its
written form.

15. Condition: 2 Unfamiliar
word
 New word. Students have a concept
related to the word, but they are not
familiar with the word itself, either
orally or in written form.

16. Condition 3: Unfamiliar
word
 New concept. Students have little or
no background knowledge about the
concept underlying the word, and
they don’t recognize the word itself.

17. Condition 4: Unfamiliar
word
 New meaning. Students know the
word, but they are unfamiliar with
the way the word is used and its
meaning in this situation.

18. Why do students have
difficulty with vocabulary?
 They may not have the relevant
concepts as part of their background
knowledge
 They may have a different label for
the targeted concept
 They may have a somewhat
different meaning for the label

19. DEVELOPMENT OF
KNOWLEDGE

20. Stages of vocabulary
knowledge
 I never heard/saw the word before.
(I have never before seen nor heard
the word Koran.)
 I have heard/seen the word, but I
don’t know what it means. (I have
seen the word Koran in a news
article.)

21. Stages of vocabulary
knowledge
 I recognize the word in context, or…
it has something to do with… (A
dowry has something to do with
money.)
 I know the word. (Draconian is very
harsh or severe application of the
law.)

22. Goals of vocabulary
instruction
 Teach independent vocabulary
learning
 Teach concepts important for
comprehension
 Create an environment that
promotes general vocabulary
development

23. Guidelines for vocabulary
instruction
 Relate the new to the known
 Promote active in-depth processing
 Provide multiple exposures
 Teach students to be strategic

24. Characteristics of good
direct vocabulary teaching
 Short (limited to a few critical words
and concepts)
 Connect explicitly to the actual text
students are to read

25. TEACHER BEHAVIOR
Link Relate students’ past experience with
present ones
Elaborate Add more information about the familiar
content, or suggest rewording
Input Introduce new vocabulary & reinforce
through constant use
Connect Tie new words to the activity or activity to
new words
Clarify Add examples, illustrations, or
descriptions
Question Stimulate thinking about terms through
questioning
Relate Show how new words compare w/ what
students know
Categorize Group new words, ideas, and concepts
Label Provide names for concepts, ideas, and
objects

26. Tiers of vocabulary focus
for lower grades
Function words
 A, an, the (articles)
 And, but, or (conjunctions)
 At, into, over (prepositions)
 Could, run,had snowed (auxiliary
words)

27. Tiers of vocabulary focus
for lower grades
Content words: having concrete
meaning
 House, car, dog (nouns)
 I, her, they (pronouns)
 Hot, sticky (adjectives)
 Then, neatly, suddenly (adverbs)

28. Tiers of vocabulary focus
for lower grades
Content-specific words: always having
specialized meaning within a
particular subject area, must be
learned within the context of that
area

29. Tiers of vocabulary focus
for upper grades
Basic words
 Building blocks of everyday
language
 Do not require specific instruction
except in the case of ELL

30. Tiers of vocabulary focus
for upper grades
General utility words
 More complex terms may be used often in
speech but these words tend not to be
specific to any one subject area
 Often involves instruction in common root
words and affixes
 Can help readers to discover the meaning
of general-utility words

31. Tiers of vocabulary focus
for upper grades
Low-utility words
 Words encountered less frequently
 Found in a particular content
 Should be introduced prior to
instruction

32. Types of vocabularies for
upper grades
Meaning Vocabulary
 The sum total of a child’s understanding
of the meaning of words
 Readers need to draw from this store as
they emerge into reading to learn
 Readers draw known meanings and use
these to figure out new meanings as they
read

33. Types of vocabularies for
upper grades
Reading Vocabulary
 Is gained when readers learn to
decode words whose meaning they
already know
 Words are already in their meaning
vocabulary

34. Activity: Same word,
different meaning
 Use the word “conductor” in three
different sentences that convey
three different meanings of the
word.
 Use the word “staple” in two
different sentences that convey two
different meanings of the word.

35. Activity:Same word,
different meaning
 Use the word “frog” in two different
sentences that convey two different
meanings for the word.

36. Activity:Same word,
different meaning
 How many definitions do you have
for the word “up”?
 Write five sentences using the word
“up” in five different ways.

37. Activity:Same word,
different meaning
Copper is a good conductor of
electricity.
Give your ticket to the conductor.
The orchestra conductor was quite
young

38. Activity:Same word,
different meaning
She wanted to staple the three pages
together.
Corn was a staple in the diet of some
Native Americans.

39. Activity:Same word,
different meaning
Look up at the moon.
Look up the word in the dictionary.
Lock up the car.
The drain is stopped up.
Sam said he’s tied up and can’t come.