Effective Vocabulary Instruction:

The Institute of Education Sciences’ meta- analysis of reading interventions recommends explicit teaching of vocabulary as part of all reading and language arts classes and as a part of all content area classes such as science and social studies (IES, 2008).

•  An effective approach to vocabulary instruction will include the regular and direct teaching of a chosen set of words (Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2002). These words will not only be important as individual words, but they must also serve as anchors and examples for independent learning. Researchers estimate that only 250 to 500 words a year are taught formally (Stall, 1999).
• Teach Tier 2 vocabulary. These are words that “appear frequently across a wide variety of domains.” Tier 2 words are words “that can be worked with in a variety of ways so that students can build rich representations of them and of their connections to other words and concepts.” These are words for which students have a “general concept” and that add “precision and specificity” to their language (Beck, McKeown, and Kucan, 2002).
•  Provide multiple interactions of new vocabulary that allow for deep processing of word meanings. It is better to cover a smaller number of Tier 2 words than it is to cover a larger number of words in a superficial way. Using multiple-choice items alone is not sufficient. (Stahl, 1999). (Blachowicz and Fisher, 2000).
•  Provide strategic vocabulary instruction that provides students with the tools they need to unlock meanings of new words using context clues, word roots, and reference skills (National Reading Panel, 2001).
•  Provide instruction in word structure to increase vocabulary development. Many English words are not isolated items, but are built through combinations of prefixes, roots, and suffixes. Many of them are taken from Latin, Greek, and/or the Germanic roots of our language. The knowledge of these individual parts can be used to help discover the meaning of the whole (Zutell, 2005).
•  Students build schematic maps of word relationships through concept/content interaction (Zutell, 2005). Vocabulary instruction should include a focus on “developing label packets of experiential knowledge” in order to enhance students’ background knowledge (Marzano, 2004).
•  Rich and robust vocabulary instruction goes beyond definitional knowledge. Students should be actively involved in word learning and the learning should include a personalized component (Blachowicz and Fisher, 2000).
•  Provide multiple exposure and high-quality instruction of words over time. Studies have shown that children who received at least 6 days of rich vocabulary instruction showed significant gains in word learning versus children who received only 3 days of vocabulary instruction (Beck and McKeown, 2007).
•  In the primary grades, research has shown that repeated reading combined with word meaning explanation is an effective strategy for vocabulary acquisition. Kindergarten children benefitted from more than two readings with word explanation; first and second graders benefitted from just two readings with word explanation (Biemiller & Boote, 2006).

Instruction in vocabulary is more than looking up words in a dictionary and using the words in a sentence. Vocabulary is acquired incidentally through indirect exposure to words and intentionally through explicit instruction in specific words and word-learning strategies. According to the Center on Instruction, vocabulary instruction can be divided into four areas.

• Additive vocabulary instruction which focuses on specific words instruction.
• Generative vocabulary instruction focused on word-learning strategies, in order to promote indirect vocabulary acquisition through wide or extensive independent reading.
•  Academic vocabulary instruction focuses on specific words and strategy instruction to enhance comprehension of texts in academic content areas. (many Tier 3 words)
• Promoting word consciousness, an awareness and deep interest in words, through word-play activities, word journals, word of the day activities, word wizard competitions, and other activities to motivate and enhance vocabulary learning (Torgesen et.al., 2007).

Teachers should individualize curriculum (goals, methods, materials, and assessment) to meet the needs of the diverse learners in their classes. To ensure that all students succeed, it is necessary for vocabulary instruction to be flexible; engaging students in the process of increasing vocabulary using multiple modalities of learning and allowing students the freedom to express their understanding in a variety of ways.