Week 2: Vocabulary

Synthesis

All of the readings advocated for improved and increased vocabulary instruction because of linguistic changes and increasing vocabulary deficits. For example, W&B cited research that showed that the “vocabulary level of U.S. college-bound 18-year-olds has dropped very sharply in recent years” (MMT 611). For the most part, the readings were culturally responsive enough to frame the vocabulary issue as "neither a national disgrace nor the end of civilized life" (MMT 611). Instead, they listed several reasons to support the importance of vocabulary development, including the fact that it increases comprehension, encourages "word consciousness and word learning," influences individuals' self-talk, helps people "refine and refute ideas," and "promotes fluency" (MMT 615, H&S 121).

When students struggle with vocabulary, the "most troublesome words" are  often "domain specific and central to building knowledge and conceptual understanding in science, history, and math" (H&S 122). Content vocabulary can relate to particular concepts, or they can be terms that change their meaning depending on the context or the subject matter. With content area learning, vocabulary instruction and conceptual learning must go hand-in-hand because the vocabulary is "unique to a subject matter and new conceptual understandings simultaneously" (HWM 347). Because of this relationship between content and vocabulary instruction, a lot of content vocabulary is taught implicitly. However, explicit instruction is also important, and it should involve "multiple, varied, and meaningful experiences with words" (HWM 353). Also, when selecting and scaffolding content-area texts, teachers should keep in mind that “students’ comprehension increases when new terms in targeted passages are explicitly defined” (HWM 355).

Response

During this week's readings (particularly HWM), I was at first nervous about the importance of content vocabulary instruction. While English does have content vocabulary, such as literary terms and figurative language, I feel like most content vocabulary that students encounter are in other areas. However, I think that I can gain a sense of where my place is in relation to content vocabulary instruction. For one, I might end up being a literacy coach someday, in which case my familiarity with such instructional strategies will be necessary. Also, I do often bring in nonfiction articles to supplement larger texts that my students are reading in my class, so content vocabulary instruction could be beneficial to them when reading those articles.


While reading the MMT chapter, I found myself a little reluctant about the tone with which we often discuss vocabulary. Vocabulary instruction is imperative, as I outlined in the synthesis above, of course. However, the MMT chapter did point out that society often expects teachers to "preserve, or at least slow down, certain 'gusts' of fashion in speech so that written and spoken communications are not stifled by rapidly changing language styles" (MMT 614). I am reluctant about this approach, to be honest. I want my students to have a large, diverse vocabulary. I want them to be familiar with standard English for the sake of communication and because academic and professional standards will require it of them. However, one of my favorite things about language is how dynamic and potentially infinite it really is. I am a major advocate for improved vocabulary instruction, but I struggle to allow this particular attitude to be a part of my philosophy about vocabulary.

As for instructional strategies, I am already excited to try new things soon. While reading the MMT chapter, I absolutely loved the idea of the community of language immersion approach. I feel like it would be much easier to implement on an elementary level, though. I would like to think further about how to tweak it for the high school level. Also, the vocabulary instructional strategies section of H&S really struck a chord with me. Some things, such as teaching word roots and using KWL, were familiar to me and are regular practices in my class. In particular, I am interested in implementing a KWL strategy with the "word of the day," as the chapter suggested. I think that would be very effective in terms of helping students increase their vocabulary and think about word learning on a deeper level.
 
Questions

I am very intrigued by the idea of using concept circles (from HWM). However, they seem to be most applicable with content area vocabulary or with vocabulary words that are related, which for some reason I sometimes struggle to generate in relation to what I'm teaching. How do you think I could use them in an English class or with my literacy for life (struggling reader) students?

 Low frequency words are useful in academic settings and are more “literary,” but how can we “sell” them to adolescents? I find that my students are only invested in vocabulary that they think is “useful” or “interesting,” and I feel like low frequency words might often fail to fit into those categories in their minds.