The significance of acquiring domain specific vocabulary and understanding the way lexical items are used is very important. In general the more vocabulary a student has, the more vocabulary they are able to learn and the more they are able to cope and learn from complex academic tasks.
Hiebert & Kamil, 2005
Much vocabulary instruction in secondary content area classrooms appears to be focused on understanding new terms (that is, receptive vocabulary) but students also need extensive instruction and practice in using new vocabulary in speaking and writing (that is, productive vocabulary).
It is also important that content area teachers provide instruction to develop general academic and lower frequency vocabulary as well as subject-specific vocabulary.
Students benefit from the explicit instruction in and reinforcement of common strategies for vocabulary problem-solving. Such strategies include the use of morphological strategies (for example, prefixes), technical resources and dictionaries, checking across contexts, knowledge of parts of speech, and collocations.
Vocabulary learning is most effective when new terms are taught in the context of a current unit of work. One reason for this is that people need to experience and use a new term lots of times, and in a relatively short amount of time, before they can understand and use it confidently.
An effective sequence of vocabulary learning will include these steps:
1. Inquiry to identify students’ existing receptive and productive knowledge of vocabulary related to that topic, e.g.:
2. Explicit instruction in new terminology, e.g.:
3. Repeated opportunities to practice – both receptive and productive, e.g.:
4. Metacognition – students reflecting on their own learning, e.g. discussion or written reflection about:
5. Inquiry into effectiveness of teaching sequence, and planning next steps.
Published on: 08 Jan 2018
