Plan for this session
■Why vocabulary matters■ How does vocabulary work■ How to teach vocabulary so it sticks
Ways to think about vocabulary■ Academic vs Spoken
– E.g. Tier 1, 2 and 3 vocabulary■Multi-word ‘units’
– E.g. depends upon, in spite of, alive and well etc
■ Cohesive devices– E.g. that, yet, so etc
Academic vs Spoken vocabulary
Tiers of vocabulary Beck, McKeown, and Kucan(2013)■ Tier 1 – spoken everyday vocabulary■ Tier 2 – academic vocabulary used across the
disciplines■ Tier 3 – discipline specific vocabulary
However – the differentiation between these tiers is not as simple as the categorisation suggests
Command verbs in a Maths exam paper
■ Determine…■ Give...■ Draw in...■ Show that...■ Sketch...■ Let...■ Use...■ What conclusion can be
made...
■ Complete....■ Consider....■ Calculate...■ Perform...■ Interpret…■ Explain...
Consider how these verbs may require different actions in other disciplines
What Tier are these words?
Multi-word ‘units’
Disasterriskglobally ishighly concentratedinlowandlowermiddleincomecountrieswhereagricultureis heavilyrelieduponasameansofincome
What makes this hard to read?
Multi-word ‘units’How would you break this sentence into ‘meaning units’
Disaster risk globally is highly concentrated in low and lower middle income countries where agriculture is heavily relied upon as a means of income.
Vocabulary as cohesive devices
Pathogenic bacteria cause hundreds of diseases, such as whooping cough, tetanus, diphtheria, impetigo, pneumococcal and meningococcal disease, and typhoid fever.
■ such as = some examples of what I have just said will follow
These are all infectious diseases, because they are caused by infection with pathogenic microorganisms.■ These
– the things I just mentioned■ because
– I am going to give a reason for what I have just said
■ they– those same things I mentioned in the previous
sentence
Your turn
Those that are able to spread rapidly by close contact with an infected person are described as contagious.
Those = I’m talking about a subset of what of I’m been talking about, but you need to read on to find out what this subset is
described as = Now I’m going to give a definition of what I have just said
For this reason, it is commonly known as school sores.
■ For this reason = I’m referring to something I have said in the previous sentence(children) and you will make the inference to school■ It = the condition I defined in the previous sentence
Look at the vocabulary in this text from the discipline of Music through the different
vocabulary lenses.To begin with, the piano establishes the slow moving tempo with heavy use of sustained pedal. This is played in a mellow, smooth tone, contrasting with the nasal tone colour of the bowed strings.
Gradually throughout the piece, a more ominous character is created as the chords and melodies of the piano become more inharmonious, and there is dissonance within the ensemble.
Teaching vocabulary so it ‘sticks’
■ Form – spelling and pronunciation■Meaning – remembering that English words
are ‘polysemous’■ Usage – the context of the word, how it
collocates with other words
Teaching vocabulary so it ‘sticks’■ Go slow – repetition at intervals is more
effective than intensive work■ Go deep – examine the word through multiple
lenses■ Stay contextual – words make their meaning
from the company they keep■ Be systematic■ Teach up
– Robert Bjork’s theory of ‘desirable difficulties’ –meaning sticks better if you’ve had to work at it
Teaching vocabulary across the disciplines through word study
■ Word study involves:– orthographic knowledge (understanding
what is possible in letter order)– semantic knowledge (knowing what
words mean)– etymological knowledge (knowing
where words come from)– morphological knowledge (knowing the
meaningful parts of the word)
Morphological knowledge – the study of meaning within words
■Morphemes are the meaning units within a word
■Morphemes can be base words or affixes.
.
Morphemes help with conceptual understanding.■ six – ty, six – teen■ peri – meter
They build vocabulary.■ peri – scope■ tele – scope
They are foundational to spelling.■ mathematic – ian
They are key to reading comprehension and writing in complex and nuanced ways
Investigating words to build vocabulary■ pathogenic = patho + gen + ic
– patho = suffering■ sympathy, empathy, pathology
– gen = something that produces– ic = adjective suffix
■ colla (glue) gen, carcino (cancer) gen
■ quarantine– quaranta = 40– quarantine = from 1337– ‘Venetian custom of keeping ships from plague-
stricken countries waiting off its port for 40 days’■ Etymonline.com
The ‘stans’ in Geography
Kazakhstan■ stan – land (Farsi – Iran)■ kazakh – the indigenous
people (Cossacks)
Pakistan■ Pak – pure (Farsi and Urdu)■ Also an acronym from
Punjab, Afghani border, Kashmir– Ask any of your Farsi,
Urdu and Arabic speaking students what the names of countries are in their language
In Business and in Health
incorporate■ in = prefix means in■ corp(us) = means
body (both senses)■ orate = suffix making
verbsChallenge: Think about corpse, corpulent, corpuscle
muscle■ mus = mouse!Challenge: explain that!!!
Etymology = the reason for the word
■ Borrowed from other languages– French, Latin,
Greek and many many others!
■ Onomatopoeia – zip, laugh
■ Abbreviations– movies, fridge
■ Acronyms– scuba, laser
■ Portmanteaus– brunch, chortle
■ Eponyms– sideburns,
leotards
Can you explain the spelling of its name?
Morphology and etymology will help you.
SarcophilusHarrisii
A vocabulary activity
■ patronise■ isolated■ calculated
1. Student friendly definition – (is your definition discipline specific)
2. Example sentence - (is your sentence discipline specific?)
3. How does the word make its meaning?
4. Building other words from the same roots
■ Calculus = (Latin) small pebble, limestone■ Calculate = verb, suffix ‘ate’ to make verbs■ Calculation = abstract noun, suffix ‘ate’ + suffix ‘ion’
to make abstract nouns■ Calculator = noun, suffix ‘ate’ + suffix ‘or’ to make
nouns■ Calcium = calc + suffix ‘ium’ for marking metallic
elements■ Calcify = calc + suffix ‘ify’ to make verbs
Systematic vocabulary building across the disciplines
– Paleolithic– Paleo = old, lithic = stone
– So , neolithic is……
– Neo = new, lithic = stone
Words across the disciplines - Science– Lithosphere– Litho = stone, sphere = to be surrounded by, a
circle of
– So atmosphere and stratosphere are …
■ Atmos = steam, air, strato = layer
– Stratify■ Strat = layer, ify = a suffix that turns a noun into a
verbStratification
Strat = layer, ifi = verb, cation = noun
Morphemes in the Arts
■ lithograph– litho – stone, graph – writing/drawing
■ photograph– photo – light
■ choreograph– choreo – dance
Words across the disciplines
Food technologypaleo dietprotein = proto = first
Scienceprotonprotozoic
Technologyprototype
Historyprotocol
Englishprotagonist
From other schools…Choose ONE word that is specific to your learning area. Using the word wall, help your students unpack the word using one of the knowledges. You will need to share this word and what you have found out about it at our next session.
Word Knowledge Activity What I found out
Equilibrium Etymological + morphemic
Students used etymological dictionary and then found other ‘equal’ words- Equaliser- Equality- Equally
Equal- from Latin word ‘aequalis’ meaning uniform,identicalLibra- balance, scale (Latin)ium- common suffix (morpheme) used with borrowed Latin words, most often referring to compounds – magnesium, titanium