Vocab Definitions
Comprehension, Word consciousness, receptive/expressive, wide reading
Comprehension- The ability to understand, interpret, arrange, and use what you have read, heard, or seen.
Word Consciousness- is the interest and awareness of words
Receptive Vocabulary- Words that you can understand when you hear them. Receptive comes from the verb ‘to receive’. Receptive vocabulary refers to the words that you understand.
Expressive Vocabulary- Putting thoughts into words or speaking. Expressive comes from the verb ‘to express.’ Expressive vocabulary means the number of words that you can use.
Wide Reading- Reading books, magazines, or other texts independently for an extended period of time.
Indirect Vocab Definition & 3 ways to learn it
Indirect vocabulary is learning the meaning of words through everyday experiences with oral and written language.
1.Engaging in daily oral language activities.
2.Listening to adults read to them
3.Children read extensively on their own.
Direct Vocab- 2 things
Teaching students specific words that are important to content learning or understanding an individual text.
Teaching students general word-learning strategies such as word structure, word parts, and word order.
How to teach direct vocab
Knowing a word’s meaning means knowing it in four ways:
Pre-teaching specific words before reading is beneficial to both vocabulary learning and reading comprehension.
Learning improves when new words are encountered often and in different contexts. Increasing a child’s exposure to new words in many contexts gives them a deeper understanding of the word and its use. Knowing a word’s meaning means knowing it in four ways:
- Being able to define the word
- Being able to recognize when to use the word
- Knowing the word’s multiple meanings
- Being able to decode and spell the word
How to select vocab words-5
- Preview the text
- Read the text and determine words you think students will find unfamiliar
- Choose words that are important to the understanding of the text.
- Identify which words are defined within the text and expand on them after reading instead of before reading.
- Determine words that students may know based on prefixes, suffixes, and base or root words.
6.Use words to build prior knowledge with discussion and extension.
Factors that affect vocab development- 5
- Lack of exposure to oral language or conversations
- Lack of being read to
- Lack of background experiences
- Lack of early development in word consciousness
- Lack of extensive independent reading
- Limited exposure to books
- Reluctant reader
- Second language acquisition
- The number of words the child is expected to learn
- Children of poverty
Developing vocab
We can support students in developing their oral vocabulary and listening comprehension by providing purposeful and interactive read-alouds and content-based discussions. Students need explicit vocabulary instruction. However, they need to see and use the vocabulary in context, as well, to support retention.
Word Consciousness
Word Consciousness is when students are aware of and interested in learning about new words and what they mean.
Building Word consciousness-5
- Vocab rich classroom
- Read aloud
- Point out new & interesting words
- vocab instruction
- Include new words
Denotation vs. Connotation
Denotation: The dictionary definition of a word
Connotation: An implied meaning of a word based on emotions or associations, usually negative or positive.
Contextual analysis
Contextual analysis can be used to identify unknown words, but it can also help students determine the word’s meaning. This is often referred to as context clues.
Context clue strategies-5
- Definition
- Examples
- Synonyms and Antonyms
Sentence Clues (1-3) - Morphology
- Figurative Language
Resource Materials
- Glossary
- Dictionary
- Thesaurus
An effective vocab program should provide:5
1.Encouraging wide reading
2.Presenting high-quality oral language to students
3.Promoting word consciousness
4.Explicit instruction of words
5.Instructing and modeling independent word-learning strategies
