Building Academic Vocabulary

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Building Academic Vocabulary

• Presented by
• Melisa Jean Hancock
• David S. Allen

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• The limits of my language are the
• limits of my world.
• (Ludwig Wittgenstein)

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VOCABULARY

• Vocabulary is knowledge of words and word
  meanings in both oral and print language and in
  productive and receptive forms.

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ACADEMIC VOCABULARY

• The kind of words that students need to know to
  solve problems and read increasingly demanding
  text with understanding.

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Impact of Direct Vocabulary Instruction
Vocabulary taught in isolation
Stahl Fairbanks, 1986, as cited in Marzano, 2004
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• Teaching specific terms in a specific way is
  probably the strongest action a teacher can take
  to ensure that students have the academic
  background knowledge they need to understand and
  be able to do mathematics.

Marzano Pickering, 2005, p. 1
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Vocabulary Instruction

• Research indicates that students must encounter
  words multiple times before they learn them. If
  students EXPERIENCE words before they read them
  in context, they have a greater chance of
  learning the words and understanding them in
  context.

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• What activities do you currently use to teach
  vocabulary?

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• Perhaps the biggest misconception is that
• teaching vocabulary means teaching formal
• dictionary definitions. There are a number of
• traditional teaching practices related to
• vocabulary that deserve to be left in the
• instructional dust bin. The key weakness in all
• of these practices involves the cognitively
  limited
• or rote interaction students have with the new
• word/concept.
• (Marzano)

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Traits of Formal Definitions

• Based on the least amount of information
  needed.
• (2) There is nesting within definitions
• Example Minimally Defining List

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From description to definition Square

• List as many properties as you can think of
  related to
• Sides
• Angles
• Diagonals
• Symmetry

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From description to definition Square

• Review the lists and determine the minimum
  characteristics you need to define a square.
• Minimal List must be
• Sufficient to ensure shape will be a square AND
• Necessary (cannot be removed and 1 would still
  be true.

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What Does Work?

• Effective vocabulary teaching comes down to three
  critical notions
• Integration connecting new vocabulary to prior
  knowledge,
• 2. Repetition encountering/using the
  word/concept many times,
• 3. Meaningful use multiple opportunities to
  use new words in reading/writing/discussion/etc.
• Conceptualizing effective vocabulary instruction
  begins with explanations
• NOT definitions. The critical distinction being
  that it
• is not the precise dictionary wording that drives
  instruction, rather it is assisting students by
  explaining word meanings using language,
  examples, metaphors, and images the students
  already know.
• Effective explanations are characterized by
• Language the students already know,
• Examples culled from students background
  knowledge, world view
• Images, metaphors, etc. familiar to students.

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What Doesnt Work?

• Copying definitions certainly dictionaries have
  their place, especially during writing and after
  a student knows something about the word, but the
  act of looking up a word and copying a definition
  is likely to not result in vocabulary learning of
  new words (especially if there are long lists of
  unrelated words to look up and copy definitions).
• 2. Writing sentences writing sentences with
  new vocabulary AFTER some understanding of the
  word is helpful, however to assign this task
  before studying word meaning is of little value.

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What Doesnt Work?

• 3. Telling students to use context there is
  little research to suggest that context is a very
  reliable source of learning word meanings. Nagy
  (1988) found students reading at grade level had
  about a one in twenty chance of learning the
  meaning of a word from context. This, of course,
  is not to say that context is unimportant, simply
  that students will need a broader range of
  instructional guidance than the exhortation, use
  context.
• 4. Memorizing lists of definitions - rote
  learning of word meanings is likely to, at best,
  result in the ability to parrot back what is not
  clearly understood. Of course, once students have
  a grasp of a new word, judicious review is very
  helpful!

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Teaching Selected Terms

• Provide a description, explanation, or example of
  the new term. (ESL-include a non-linguistic
  example)
• Ask students to restate the description,
  explanation, or example in their own words.
• Ask students to construct a picture, symbol, or
  graphic representing the term or phrase.
• Engage students periodically in activities that
  help them add to their knowledge of the terms in
  their notebooks.
• Periodically ask students to discuss the terms
  with one another.
• Involve students periodically in games that allow
  them
• to play with terms.

Marzano Pickering, 2005
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STEP 1

• Provide a description, explanation, or example
  of the new term and elicits background knowledge.
  
• (ESL-include a non-linguistic example)

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STEP 1 Possibilities

• direct experiences
• example
• stories that integrate theme
• video
• students do investigations
• current events
• describe your own mental picture of term
• find pictures

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STEP 1 Function

• (1) UN debut for 100 laptop for poor
• By Jo Twist, BBC News technology reporter in
  Tunis (Nov. 17, 2005)
• Green machine
• The foldable lime green laptop made its debut at
  the World Summit on the Information Society,
  which is looking at way of narrowing the
  technology gap between rich and poor. Nicknamed
  the green machine, it can be used as a
  conventional computer, or an electronic book. A
  child can control it using a cursor at the back
  of the machine or a touchpad on the front. It can
  also be held and used like a handheld games
  console and can function as a TV.
• (2) Dave's Quick Search Taskbar This is the
  king of the specialized tools at
  http//www.dqsd.net/. Type in any word and it
  searches Google. Simply add an exclamation point
  to the word (for example, fbi!) and you get
  Googles Im Feeling Lucky function which
  automatically transports you to the first result.
  There are tons of other shortcuts to learn.

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Function Description

• A function is a relationship between two things
  like height and weight. As one goes up, the
  other goes up. Isnt it generally true, that as
  you have grown in height over the years, your
  weight has also gone up? We could describe this
  relationship by saying, Your weight is a
  function of your height.

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Function Definition (Textbook)

• Function a relation between two sets in which
  one element of the second set is assigned to each
  element of the first set, as the expression y
  x2 operator. Also called multiple-value
  function. a relation between two sets in which
  two or more elements of the second set are
  assigned to each element of the first set, as y2
  x2, which assigns to every x the two values y
  x and y -x.

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Step 2

• Ask students to restate the description,
  explanation, or example in their own words.

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Step 2 Possibilities

• Write-pair-write
• Journal
• Tell 3 things about
• Say Show
• Frayer Model (Link Sheet)

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Step 2 Functions

• Using the situation of selling lemonade (number
  of cups sold and profit made)
• Say and Show what you know about functions.

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Step 3

• Ask students to construct a picture, symbol, or
  graphic representing the term or phrase.

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Step 3 Possibilities

• Quick Draw (like Pictionary)
• Frayer Model/Link Sheet
• Construct Physical Models (e.g., build and label
  a circle)
• Sketch in notebook

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Step 3 Functions
Already accomplished in STEP 2! Could also - ask
students to sketch only from an everyday,
familiar example.
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Step 4

• Engage students periodically in activities that
  help them add to their knowledge of the terms in
  their notebooks.

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Step 4Possibilities

• Highlight a prefix or suffix
• Identify synonyms or antonyms
• Draw additional picture or graphic
• List Related Words
• Write common confusions/reminders
• Translate the term
• Concept maps

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Step 4Function

• Add phrases in the Venn Diagram

Everyday Meaning
Math Meaning
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Step 5

• Periodically ask students to discuss the terms
  with one another.

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Step 5 Possibilities

• Think-Pair-Share
• List-Group-Label
• Compare/contrast (e.g., Venn Diagram)
• Spinner/Dice with tell, write, draw,
  synonyms, examples, and characteristics.
• Debate

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Step 6

• Involve students periodically in games that allow
  them to play with terms.

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Step 6 Possibilities

• Whats the Question?
• Vocabulary Charades
• Name That Category
• Draw Me

• Talk a Mile a Minute
• Big Book of Books
• Dice Activities
• 10,000 Pyramid

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Step 6 Functions
Mathematical model
linear
quadratic
y-intercept
rate
slope
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Vocabulary Knowledge Affects Comprehension

• Methods that encourage students to actively
  construct meaning helps students learn and retain
  word meanings longer. (Taught rather than
  caught)
• The less cognitive energy students spend figuring
  out the words on the page, the more energy they
  can spend understanding the text and/or how to
  solve the problem.

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REFLECTION

• Look at your list from the beginning of the
  session.
• Are your activities incidental or intentional?
• For intentional vocabulary, which step do they
  address?
• What do you need to do more frequently?
• What do you want to add to your list of
  vocabulary tools?

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Vocabulary is Linked to Achievement

• First grade children from high SES groups know
  about twice as many words as lower SES children.
• High-Knowledge 3rd graders had vocabulary about
  equal to lowest performing 12th graders.
• High School Seniors near the top of the class
  know about four times as many words as their
  lower performing classmates.
• Smith, 1941

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References Resources

• Bartels, Bobbye. H. (1995). Promoting Mathematics
  Connections with Concept Mapping. Mathematics
  Teaching in the Middle School, 1(7), 542-549,
  Reston, VA NCTM.
• Beers, Sue (2003). Reading Strategies for the
  Content Areas-Toolkit, Alexandria, VA ASCD.
• Marzano, Robert J. (2004). Building Background
  Knowledge for Academic Achievement. Alexandria,
  VA ASCD.
• Marzano, Robert J., Debra J. Pickering, (2005).
  Building Academic Vocabulary Teachers Manual.
  Alexandria, VA ASCD.
• McIntosh, Margaret E. (1997). 500 Writing
  Formats. Mathematics Teaching in the Middle
  School, 2(5), 354-358, Reston, VA NCTM.
• Smith, M. K. (1941). Measurement of the size of
  general English vocabulary through the elementary
  grades and high school. General Psychological
  Monographs, 24, 311-345.
• Van de Walle, John, LouAnn H. Lovin (2006).
  Teaching Student-Centered Mathematics. Boston
  Allyn Bacon.
• Zike, Dinah (2003). Big Book of
  Math. New York Glencoe
• McGraw-Hill.