EUN106 Vocabulary Workshop Notes

Vocabulary in Teaching

Based on Beck, McKeown, and Kucan's model, vocabulary is categorized into three tiers:

Vocabulary instruction is divided into two main types:

Incidental Instruction: Accounts for approximately 85% of vocabulary acquisition. This involves learning through context, such as independent reading and read-alouds.
Explicit Instruction: Comprises about 15% of vocabulary learning, focusing on direct teaching of specific words.

Teachers should integrate oral, written, and visual language when teaching vocabulary.

Independent Reading: Encourage students to use context clues and word-learning strategies to decipher unknown words.
Reading Aloud to Students: Implement interactive read-alouds and think-aloud strategies. Reading aloud to students daily is considered highly effective for improving reading skills and vocabulary.

Explicitly teach specific words with instruction that is rich, deep, and extended.
Teach words in context through mini-lessons and word-study activities.
Analyze word parts (e.g., prefixes, suffixes, roots).
Teach students how to effectively use dictionaries and online search engines.
Develop word consciousness by highlighting words, using a 'word of the day,' collecting words, and incorporating wordplay and experiments.

A word wall is a display of words, often categorized, to aid in vocabulary learning. Examples of types of word walls:

Types of energy (including Energía Mecánica, Energía Eléctrica, Energía Lumínica, Energía Sonora, Energía Térmico, Energía Química, Energía Nuclear).
Anchor charts to explain word meaning, origins and break the word down into components with examples, like the word "telephone".
Words categorized by properties, such as movement of insects (Creeping, Moving Slowly, Fast Moving, Sliding, Hopping, Jerking, Wiggling, Climbing, Jumping, Hiding, Digging, Feeding, Biting).

What did you learn about vocabulary that was new to you?
How have your perceptions about vocabulary changed as a result of your learning today?