Comp 10/11: Vocabulary, Academic Language and Background Knowledge

Question 1

Listening Vocab

Answer 1

words you understand when listening to other people speak

Question 2

Speaking Vocab

Answer 2

words you use when you talk; smaller than listening vocab

Question 3

Writing Vocab

Answer 3

word you use when you write

Question 4

Sight (reading) Vocab

Answer 4

words you can recognize and correctly pronounce

Question 5

Meaning (reading) vocabulary

Answer 5

words you understand when reading silently
1. Unknown
2. Acquainted
3. Established

Question 6

Target Words

Answer 6

small groups of words that are the focus of small group instruction

Question 7

Non-technical Academic Language-

Answer 7

necessary to perform school tasks such as evaluate, illustrate, summarize and classify

Question 8

background knowledge

Answer 8

refers to what you know about a topic before hand

Question 9

In order to comprehend a text, a reader must have adequately developed: ____, _____, and _____.

Answer 9

meaning vocabulary, academic language knowledge, and background knowledge

Question 10

Tier 1 words are

Answer 10

simple words that most children will know without instruction

ex: flower, rain, sun

Question 11

Tier 2 words are

Answer 11

words that appear in several contexts across two or more areas of student

ex: climate, tropical, territory

Question 12

Tier 3 words are

Answer 12

the most difficult because they are only used in one specific are of study

ex: mitochondria, osmosis, mitosis

Question 13

Factors to consider in developing students’ vocabulary, academic language, and background knowledge are ____, _____, and ____.

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Research Based Principles of Vocabulary Instruction
A.
B.
C.
D.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Answer 14

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

Question 15

VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION: What are the 3 direct teaching teaching of specific words strategies?

Answer 15

o contextual redefinition
o semantic maps
o semantic feature analysis

Question 16

Direct teaching of specific words: Contextual redefinition

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Direct teaching of specific words: Semantic Maps (aka: Word Maps, Semantic Webs)

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Direct teaching of specific words: Semantic Feature Analysis

Answer 18

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

Question 19

VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION: What are the 3 INDEPENDENT word-learning strategies?

Answer 19

Morphemic analysis, contextual analysis, using dictionary

Question 20

Independent learning strategies: Morphemic analysis (aka: structural analysis)

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Independent learning strategies: Contextual analysis

*difficult strategy to teach because many texts have few clearly stated context clues or span across several sentences

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Independent learning strategies: Using the Dictionary

Answer 22

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

Question 23

VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION: what are the 4 ways to develop WORD CONSCIOUSNESS?

Answer 23

o Synonyms and Antonyms
o Homophones and Homographs
o Playing with words: Idioms and Puns
o Etymology

Question 24

Word consciousness: Synonyms and Antonyms games

Answer 24

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

Question 25

Homophones

Answer 25

are two words with the same sound

ex: Sunday, Sundae
ex: Mail, Male

Question 26

Homographs

Answer 26

are two words with the same spelling but two different pronunciations

ex: wind the clock
ex: cool wind breeze

Question 27

Word consciousness: Homophones and Homographs games

Answer 27

students enjoy activities with homophones and homographs

Question 28

Idiom

Answer 28

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”

Question 29

Pun

Answer 29

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!

Question 30

Word consciousness: Playing with words: Idioms and Puns

Answer 30

students enjoy to build a collection of idioms and puns and enjoy illustrating them

Question 31

Etymology

Answer 31

the history (origin) and development of words

Question 32

Word consciousness: Etymology

Answer 32

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

Question 33

VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION: Encouraging Wide reading

Answer 33

Reading a wide range of genres and book series increases vocabulary, academic language, and background knowledge

Question 34

Instructional Activities to Support What Students Have Learned:
A. Listening/Speaking
B. Reading/Writing
C. Structure of the English Language

Answer 34

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

Question 35

interventions to help STRUGGLING READERS acquire vocabulary, knowledge of academic language, and background knowledge

Answer 35

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

Question 36

interventions to help ENGLISH LEARNERS acquire vocabulary, knowledge of academic language, and background knowledge

Answer 36

o Cognates
o Provide Concrete Examples
o Build Knowledge of English Morphemes
o Teach English Syntax

Question 37

interventions to help ADVANCED LEARNERS acquire vocabulary, knowledge of academic language, and background knowledge

Answer 37

o Increasing the Pace and Complexity of Instruction
o Extending the Depth and Breadth of Instruction

Question 38

Assessment of vocabulary, academic language, and background knowledge

A.
B.
C.
D.

Answer 38

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