1. Increasing Reading Vocabulary
Ch. 6
The Essentials of Teaching Children to Read

2. Students Acquire New Vocabulary through language interactions.
Conversation (oral language)
Independent reading
Media
Vocabulary through conversation (will assist in recognizing and comprehending)
Read alouds
Shared reading
Language-rich backgrounds and reading
Limited vocabularies and reading

3. Research Findings
Use of computers in vocabulary instruction/software programs more effective than traditional methods
Vocabulary learned incidentally through storybook reading or listening to others read
Repeated exposure – encounter words in various forms
Learning words before reading is helpful

4. Four Types of Vocabulary
Listening vocabulary – largest, words we hear and understand
Speaking vocabulary – words we use when we speak
Reading vocabulary – words we identify and understand when we read
Writing vocabulary – smallest, words we use in writing
All should be nurtured in an effective teacher’s clasroom

5. Levels of Vocabulary Unknown – unfamiliar and meaning unknown
Acquainted – somewhat familiar; some idea of its basic meaning
Established – very familiar; immediately understands meaning and uses it correctly
Learning words and concepts in content areas is more challenging.

6. What Research Tells Us About Teaching Vocabulary
Most learned indirectly through everyday experiences (oral and written language)
Direct teaching of individual words and word-learning strategies
Preteaching new words associated with text assists students with comprehension
Word consciousness – call students attention the way authors use/choose words
Play with words – riddles, puns, raps, research a word’s history

7. Which Words Should Be Taught?
Words that are key to understanding the text and those the student will encounter in adult life
Limit vocabulary teaching time to 5 to 10 minutes
Limit news words to 8 to 10 per week

8. Sight Words/High Frequency Words
Occur frequently in most texts
Account for the majority of written words
Structure words – carry little meaning but affect the flow of the text
Lexical words – less frequent words (meaning is dependent upon these words)
Fry Word Lists – p. 120

9. Key Vocabulary
Teacher indicates lexical words students need to learn (individually or small group)
Make vocabulary word cards
Student shares word with people during the day
Students adds words to their writing folder or word bank/personal word wall

10. Most Difficult Words to Learn
Multiple meanings
Idiomatic expressions – idioms “apple of my eye”

11. Assessing Students’ Vocabulary Knowledge
Word maps
1. Word
2. What is it?
3. What is it like?
4. What are some examples?
Before and After Word Knowledge Self Ratings – (1 do not know the word ,2 have heard the word, 3 can define and us the word)

12. Teacher Constructed Vocabulary Tests –
1. read and match picture
2. match picture to word
3. read word in isolation and match to
its definition
4. read word and find synonym in a
list
5. read word and find it opposite (antonym)
in a list
6. read word in context of a sentence or paragraph
find definition, synonym, or antonym in a list

13. 7. Fill in missing words
8. Categorize words
Cloze passages – certain words (targeted vocabulary) have been deleted (usually every 5th word)
1. Requires child to use background
knowledge of a subject
2. Informs teacher of child’s background
knowledge and ability to cope with a
particular text

14. Making Words Excellent word-learning strategy
Helps improve phonetic knowledge
Similar to Scrabble
Steps in a making words lesson (textbook pp )

15. Making Words Making words activity
Take out envelope of letters cut out
Make words
Start with the small two and three letter words
Build up to one or two big words at the end

16. Function Words (“Four-Letter” Words)
Abstract meanings rather than concrete
Referred to as structure words
Most difficult to teach
Try to define the word “what”

17. Drastic Strategy Step 1:
Choose a function word (a word that has little meaning)
Write the word on a card
Find a story or create one that uses this word multiple times
Have students hold up their card with the word on it every time they hear the word read in the story

18. Step 2:
Have volunteers make up a story using the word
Classmates hold up the card each time the “function” word is heard
Step 3
Students study word
Cut the letter apart from the word
Direct students to arrange the letters into the word

19. Step 4
Write the word on the board
Students are to study the word (take a picture of it) see the word in their mind
Students write the word from memory
Step 5
Write several sentences on the board with a blank where the “word” should be placed
Read sentences aloud
Have students come to the board and write the “word” in the blank

20. What is a drawback to using this strategy?
Step 6
Give students real books/text where the word appears
As they read the text, when they come upon the word, lightly underline it in the text
What is a drawback to using this strategy?

21. Teaching Word Functions and Changes
Synonyms – similar meanings
Antonyms – opposites or near opposites
Euphemisms – words/phrases used to soften language
Ex. dentures (euphemism)
false teeth (real meaning)
Onomatopoeia – imitation of a sound

22. Word-Learning Strategies
Using dictionaries and other reference aids
Using word parts (ex. Affixes, root words)
Using context clues

23. Remember….
Students require a generous amount of repetition to learn new words and to integrate them into existing knowledge (schemas)
To know a word well means knowing what it means, how to pronounce it, an how its meaning changes in different contexts.