Comp 10/11: Vocabulary, Academic Language and Background Knowledge Flashcards
Listening Vocab
words you understand when listening to other people speak
Speaking Vocab
words you use when you talk; smaller than listening vocab
Writing Vocab
word you use when you write
Sight (reading) Vocab
words you can recognize and correctly pronounce
Meaning (reading) vocabulary
words you understand when reading silently
1. Unknown
2. Acquainted
3. Established
Target Words
small groups of words that are the focus of small group instruction
Non-technical Academic Language-
necessary to perform school tasks such as evaluate, illustrate, summarize and classify
background knowledge
refers to what you know about a topic before hand
In order to comprehend a text, a reader must have adequately developed: ____, _____, and _____.
meaning vocabulary, academic language knowledge, and background knowledge
Tier 1 words are
simple words that most children will know without instruction
ex: flower, rain, sun
Tier 2 words are
words that appear in several contexts across two or more areas of student
ex: climate, tropical, territory
Tier 3 words are
the most difficult because they are only used in one specific are of study
ex: mitochondria, osmosis, mitosis
Factors to consider in developing students’ vocabulary, academic language, and background knowledge are ____, _____, and ____.
o Frequency
how often will the students encounter the word
o Utility
is it essential to comprehending the text?
o Level of knowledge
the less students know about the word the MORE important it become to teach it
Research Based Principles of Vocabulary Instruction
A.
B.
C.
D.
1.
2.
3.
4.
A. Instruction Must Fit the Age and Ability of the Student
B. Lessons Must Provide Examples of How Target Words are Used in the Context of Sentences and Paragraphs
C. To Learn the Meanings of Words, Children Must Have Repeated Exposure to the Words
D. Vocabulary Instruction Involves Each of the Following:
1. Direct instruction of specific words
2. Teaching students independent word-learning strategies
3. Developing word consciousness
4. Encouraging wide reading
VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION: What are the 3 direct teaching teaching of specific words strategies?
o contextual redefinition
o semantic maps
o semantic feature analysis
Direct teaching of specific words: Contextual redefinition
o teacher shares words and students on their own write a definition or their best guess
o teacher gives students sentence with word and has students work in groups to come up with improved definition using context clues
o teacher gives another sentence and students improve definition
o students volunteer/share their definition
o teacher gives actual definition
Direct teaching of specific words: Semantic Maps (aka: Word Maps, Semantic Webs)
o teacher places target word in center with lines branching out to other bubbles with topics that students need to fill in with words and phrases
Direct teaching of specific words: Semantic Feature Analysis
o good activity for a set of words that share at least one characteristic
o using a chart with the target words on the left vertically and the traits on the top horizontally
o students write “+” under each trait the word shares
VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION: What are the 3 INDEPENDENT word-learning strategies?
Morphemic analysis, contextual analysis, using dictionary
Independent learning strategies: Morphemic analysis (aka: structural analysis)
Requires students to look at parts of words to determine their meaning which can be: prefix, suffix, root word, synonyms, antonyms, and Greek and Latin roots and affixes
Independent learning strategies: Contextual analysis
*difficult strategy to teach because many texts have few clearly stated context clues or span across several sentences
when children use contextual clues to figure out the meaning of words on their own
1.Definition context clue: author provides the definition for the target word in a text.
2. Synonym context clue: another word in paragraph is the synonym for target word
3. Antonym context clue: another word in the paragraph is the antonym for target word
4. Example contextual clue: author lists examples of the word in the text
Independent learning strategies: Using the Dictionary
Students learn the meaning of the word by looking for the definition in a dictionary
*However:
o dictionary needs to be developmentally appropriate with illustrations and child friendly definitions
o children need to know how to find the word and which definition to choose from multiple
VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION: what are the 4 ways to develop WORD CONSCIOUSNESS?
o Synonyms and Antonyms
o Homophones and Homographs
o Playing with words: Idioms and Puns
o Etymology
Word consciousness: Synonyms and Antonyms games
o teacher chooses 5 target words from a paragraph, then the teacher has a word bank with 5 synonyms/antonym of the target words and 5 that are not
o student has to read the paragraph and circle the 5 synonyms/antonym of the target words
o OR play games with whole class once everyone has been introduced to the word pairs
o teacher gives everyone a word and they have to find their synonym/antonym partner
Homophones
are two words with the same sound
ex: Sunday, Sundae
ex: Mail, Male
Homographs
are two words with the same spelling but two different pronunciations
ex: wind the clock
ex: cool wind breeze
Word consciousness: Homophones and Homographs games
students enjoy activities with homophones and homographs
Idiom
a phrase with the following characteristic: its impossible to determine the phrases’s meaning even if the meaning of each individual word is known
ex: “It’s raining cats and dogs”
Pun
involve the humorous use of a word, typically by playing with a word with multiple meaning or substituting it for a word that sounds like another
ex: What did the cupcake say to the frosting? I would be muffin without you!
Word consciousness: Playing with words: Idioms and Puns
students enjoy to build a collection of idioms and puns and enjoy illustrating them
Etymology
the history (origin) and development of words
Word consciousness: Etymology
students are usually fascinated to learn the origins of a word
ex: the word “limousine” comes from a region of France called Limousin where shepherds wore a hooded cape and the first limousines had a covering that looked like the hood worn in Limousin
VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION: Encouraging Wide reading
Reading a wide range of genres and book series increases vocabulary, academic language, and background knowledge
Instructional Activities to Support What Students Have Learned:
A. Listening/Speaking
B. Reading/Writing
C. Structure of the English Language
A. Listening/Speaking
o Teacher Read Aloud of diff types of text and hold discussion to challenge readers what they learned from direct instruction
o Oral rehearsal: Before students write, they say it to themselves and listen to how the words “come out”to see if it makes sense (Helps transfer oral skills to written language)
B. Reading/Writing
o Students have to apply the words they learned through sentences and paragraphs
C. Structure of the English Language
o understanding sentence structure (subjects and predicates, independent clauses, dependent clauses, sentence fragments, and run ons)
o Syntax: the order of words in sentences (in English a common pattern is article, adjective, noun)
o Punctuation and Capitalization
interventions to help STRUGGLING READERS acquire vocabulary, knowledge of academic language, and background knowledge
o Focus on Key Vocab and Focus on Non-technical Academic Language
o Re-teach what is not Mastered
o Provide Concrete Examples
o Use Visual, Kinesthetic and tactile Activities
interventions to help ENGLISH LEARNERS acquire vocabulary, knowledge of academic language, and background knowledge
o Cognates
o Provide Concrete Examples
o Build Knowledge of English Morphemes
o Teach English Syntax
interventions to help ADVANCED LEARNERS acquire vocabulary, knowledge of academic language, and background knowledge
o Increasing the Pace and Complexity of Instruction
o Extending the Depth and Breadth of Instruction
Assessment of vocabulary, academic language, and background knowledge
A.
B.
C.
D.
A. Vocab and Academic Language-TEST
o Use a word in sentence/multiple answer options format
o Choose a synonym
o Analogies
B. Vocab and Academic Language- USE IN CONTEXT
o Oral and writing Activities to determine whether students learned the meaning of the words
ex: write a diary of what you experience before going to war
C. Morphemic Analysis
o Ask students to define the prefix/suffix
ex: What is the difference between a test and a pretest?
D. How to Assess Knowledge of Language Structures
o CLOZE assessment: students should know what part of speech is missing
