Improving vocabulary instruction.

According to Ellery (2005), "In 2000, the National Reading Panel (NRP) compiled a report (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [NICHD], 2000) identifying and analyzing five essential components of reading instruction shown to be effective in helping students learn to read: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension" (p. 2). Based on the National Reading Panel's findings, the Reading First legislation mandated explicit instruction in these five areas. The following articles were chosen to provide current information found among the periodicals in one of the five areas--vocabulary.

WORDS ARE WONDERFUL: Interactive, Time-Efficient Strategies To Teach Meaning Vocabulary. Richek, M., The Reading Teacher, 2005, 58(5), 414-423. Too often, says the author, "vocabulary instruction is tedious and ineffective" (p. 414). This article describes specific strategies to help students experience joy and success in learning new vocabulary. According to the author, the strategies were chosen to suit kindergarten through college students and encompass whole-class, small-group, and individual instruction in both Spanish and English.

The importance of vocabulary, particularly meaning vocabulary, is explained in detail in the first few paragraphs. Richek reviews traditional ways to teach vocabulary, such as having students look up words in the dictionary, before describing more unique and innovative approaches to teaching new words. For introducing words, Richek recommends semantic impressions and word expert cards. With semantic impressions, "students internalize meanings by using words in a certain order to compose their own story before they read a published story" (p. 415). The teacher chooses words and places them on the board in the order they appear in the published story; then, the students develop their own story before reading the published passage. Richek provides explicit instructions for using semantic impressions and describes the benefits.

Word expert cards also are used for introducing vocabulary. When students read a challenging text, they often are confronted by many unfamiliar words. This strategy "gives each student the job of being a Word Expert for just a few of the many words to be learned" (p. 417). Students construct cards that they use to teach other students their assigned words. Richek provides detailed directions for using word expert cards.

Besides these two strategies to vocabulary development, Richek provides four activities for practice and review: Anything Goes, Connect Two, Two in One, and Find That Word. Again, the author provides directions and examples for implementation.

Finally, Richek concludes by reporting ways to put all of these ideas to work with a diverse group of learners. The article would be particularly helpful for teachers who have children with a wide range of abilities.

THE THIRD LANGUAGE OF ACADEMIC ENGLISH. Zwiers, J., Educational Leadership, 2005, 62(4), 60-63. The "vocabulary of instruction" and academic terminology pose learning challenges for English language learners. Zwiers defines academic language "as the set of words and phrases that 1) describe content-area knowledge and procedures, 2) express complex thinking processes and abstract concepts, and 3) create cohesion and clarity in written and oral discourse" (p. 60). Academic vocabulary can make learning the language of instruction similar to learning a third language.

This article makes five salient recommendations for English language learners to increase their comprehension of academic vocabulary: 1) using context to interpret meaning, 2) recognizing words that describe thinking skills, 3) reading challenging but understandable material, 4) taking risks in the new language, and 5) conversing with native speakers about academic topics and terminology. Zwiers provides good examples for each of the five recommendations.

The practical suggestions presented in this article would be helpful to a teacher of middle school students who have had a few years of experience in English language classrooms. It would not be as helpful for use with beginning readers and writers or English-language learners who are just beginning to experience school instruction in English.

CONCEPT MURALING: Dropping Visual Crumbs Along the Instructional Trail. Farris, P., & Downey, P., The Reading Teacher, 2004, 58(4), 376-380. Concept muraling is a strategy that is used to teach vocabulary in context. In practice, concept muraling is helpful for content area reading, such as science or social studies. Concept muraling is defined as "a direct instructional approach that visually represents the material to be taught" (p. 376). While concept muraling is a visual representation and graphic organizer, the major focus of this activity is vocabulary building. A real strength of this strategy involves the learners' work after the teacher has introduced the readings and presented her own concept mural. Before reading the material, "each student creates his or her own concept mural in a notebook. The student draws a picture, which may be accompanied by vocabulary words and a brief phrase related to the concept" (p. 377).

Concept muraling is especially helpful to students who are visual and kinesthetic learners. The level of active engagement necessary for drawing a concept mural makes it more likely that students will remember important vocabulary when they see these words in context.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT:

Moving Over, Under, and Through! Strickland, E., Early Childhood Today, 2005, 19(4), 12. Eric Strickland recommends teaching vocabulary to kindergartners through physical education or movement activities. This article provides several specific examples for using movement to teach vocabulary. For instance, Strickland recommends getting a cheap trash can, cutting out the bottom, and using it as a tunnel. Then, students can crawl through the tunnel, then go over the river by using a balance beam. He makes other specific suggestions for toddlers and preschoolers. While most early childhood educators teach such concepts as "over,.... under," and "through" by using physical activities, the uniqueness of this article is in its specific suggestions for setting up the physical environment and for structuring activities to maximize the learning of words involving positional relationships.

GO TO THE "ROOT" OF PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES. Chanko, P., Instructor, 2005, 114(6), 49-53. More and more emphasis is being placed on vocabulary development as one of the five foundational areas for reading. Since the advent of Reading First, numerous articles have been written about vocabulary development. Readers will find practical and easy-to-implement ideas for teaching prefixes and suffixes in this article. Chanko provides seven suggestions: 1) Wall-of-Words Construction Site, 2) Antonym Antics, 3) Word-Builder Flip Books, 3) Find a Partner, Form a Word, 4) Base-Word Bingo, 5) Spin-a-Word Game (using a reproducible she has provided), 6) Prefix and Suffix Dictionary, and, finally, 7) Put Your Suffixes to Work. New teachers should find this a valuable resource while veteran instructors will discover some new ideas.

TRANSITION WORDS. Chanko, P., Instructor, 2004, 114(4), 50-51. Chanko begins this article by answering the question, "What are transition words?" Transition words and phrases "help us to organize our writing. They act as bridges, helping us cross from one idea to the next" (p. 50). Chanko goes on to explain four types of transitions, giving numerous examples of words used for each. Time-order, cause/ effect, location, and compare/contrast transitions are described.

The following six strategies for teaching transition words are also described: 1) Puzzling Recipes, 2) Link 'Em Up!, 3) Mystery Transitions, 4) Make a Mini-Dictionary, 5) Cause/Effect Commercials, and 6) Travel to the Transitions. These six activities will provide students with practice in using the four types of transitions mentioned earlier in the article.

WORD GRAVEYARD. Gowan, M., Instructor, 2004,114(3), 52. Michelle Gowan, an elementary school teacher from Macon, Georgia, was tired of seeing her students using what she refers to as "worn-out words" in their writing assignments (e.g., "nice," "pretty," and "amazing"). To encourage students to use other adjectives, Gowan used the hallway in her school to create a word graveyard where these and similar words could rest in peace. Gowan not only placed worn-out words on a tombstone, she also provided suitable synonyms underneath. "While students pay their respects to deceased vocabulary, they can check out a list of alternative words to use in their writing" (p. 52).

The article did not report whether it was the teacher or the students who came up with the alternative synonyms. Any teacher who uses this strategy should encourage the students to find other words; if actively involved in the process of choosing alternate words they will be more likely to use them.

A NOUN IS ... A VERB IS ... AN ADJECTIVE IS. Chanko, P., Instructor, 2004, 114(2), 27-31. As in the other articles written by Pamela Chanko and described in this column, this article provides practical strategies for building vocabulary-focusing in this case on nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Chanko provides four activities for teaching nouns: 1) Nifty Nouns, 2) Play Noun Bingo, 3) Have Noun Alphabet Race, and 4) Go on a Noun Hunt. Perhaps the most innovative of these is Nifty Nouns. Chanko explains how to introduce the world of nouns by using Maria Fleming's whimsical book Chicken in the City (2004).

Readers will also find four suggestions for teaching verbs: 1) Have a Verb Relay, 2) Pass the Hat!, 3) Discover Verbs on the Job, and 4) Vivid Verbs. For the activity Discover Verbs on the Job, Chanko shows how to teach vocabulary by discussing occupations. For example, words associated with a chef would include "measure," "stir," "cook," "boil," "fry," "chop," and "bake." She explains how this exercise can be turned into a game.

Adjectives can be taught using these strategies: 1) Play an Animal Adjective Game, 2) Adjective Adventures, 3) Describe a Mystery Object, and 4) Toss Your Adjectives.

Chanko also recommends The Bug Book by Maria Fleming (2004) as a great way to teach adjectives through "Adjective Adventures."

A major strength of this article was a list of books that can be used specifically for teaching parts of speech. We are reminded that "it's important to teach grammatical concepts in context. Reading children's literature is a great way to do just that" (p. 31).

WORD BUILDERS. Charlesworth, L., Instructor, 2004,114(1), 47-49. The genre of poetry has many vocabulary words associated with it, such as verse and rhyme. Charlesworth discusses what makes a poem and then provides several ideas for teaching vocabulary through poetry. One of these ideas is a word-builder block center. She recommends that teachers "use the poem's subject matter as a springboard to give students tactile practice with the sight or vocabulary words of the teacher's choice" (p. 47). The article continues by explaining exactly how to develop a word-builders block center, as well as other practical suggestions, such as "Words to Toss, Words To Keep," that can be used to teach the use of more appropriate synonyms for poetry construction.

References

Ellery, V. (2005). Creating strategic readers: Techniques for developing competency in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Fleming, M. (2004). Chicken in the city. New York: Scholastic.

Fleming, M. (2004). The bug book. New York: Scholastic.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction (NIH Publication No. 00-4769). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.