Learning Vocabulary in Context

By Doug Buehl,
Madison East High School teacher
Member, Wisconsin State Reading Association

June 2005

How comfortable are you with the following list of words: inclined, abnormal, privy, unsought, feigned, preoccupation, levity, intimate, revelation, quivering, horizon, plagiaristic, marred, suppressions, infinite, snobbishly, fundamental, parceled?

Very likely, some of these words surface on occasion in your speech and writing. Others are easily recognizable as words you can confidently understand when you are reading or listening. Perhaps there is even a word or two on this list that you are not necessarily sure of.

What do these words have in common? Each word on this list is an example of a tier 2 word (see April and May 2005 Reading Room columns). We encounter tier 2 words predominantly through written texts, unlike tier 1 words, which comprise the bulk of our spoken language.

Imagine these words appearing together in a paragraph. What might this paragraph be about? How might these words be related to each other? How might you meaningfully link together some of these words?

In addition to being tier 2 words, each of the above words share another similarity. They can all be sighted in the third paragraph of the opening page of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel “The Great Gatsby.” Like many authors, Fitzgerald expected his readers to be able to navigate prose packed with vocabulary that extends beyond the normal discourse of spoken language.

The strategy
Several of these columns this year have explored ideas for nurturing student vocabulary growth. Researchers like Beck, McKeown, and Kucan (2002) maintain that explicit vocabulary instruction is a significant but often missing component in developing reading comprehension in our classrooms. Vocabulary study that is embedded in discussions of written texts is particularly valuable.

Step 1: Select a core of tier 2 words for student examination from material students are reading in class. Teachers may typically identify “difficult” words from a text, ask students to ascertain the meanings of these words, and then quiz them in some fashion, perhaps asking for definitions and demonstration of usage in a sentence.

Beck, McKeown, and Kucan caution against this practice, arguing that many students merely copy a simplistic definition from the dictionary, fixating perhaps on a familiar synonym, without really gaining a solid understanding for the new word. As a result, nearly two-thirds of the sentences penned by students are out of sync, as students misuse the new word or create awkward, odd, or nonsensical usages.

Instead, when identifying tier 2 words from, say, a chapter or short story, focus on vocabulary that can be connected to key themes or ideas in the text. These tier 2 words represent the most meaningful vocabulary to highlight for instruction, because they will naturally coincide with discussions and other activities in which students will be engaged. As a result, these words become part of the discourse of learning while students explore a written text.

It can certainly be suggested that all of the words in the opening paragraph could merit further study. But which of these words are especially germane to the study of this work of literature? Although we are talking about only a small sample of vocabulary from this chapter (from only a single paragraph), we can already notice some words that might be especially relevant to an understanding of “The Great Gatsby.”

Step 2: Rather than sending students to the dictionary, start with a knowledge-rating activity. Ask students to evaluate their current level of knowledge about each target word:

K - I know it; H - I have a hunch what it means; S - I’ve seen it but I don't know it; and N - I've never seen it before today.

Next produce from the story the actual contexts for each of the target words, and display with an overhead projector. For example, students will meet our Gatsby words in the following contexts: “I was privy to the secret griefs of wild, unknown men” ... and ... “Most of the confidences were unsought – frequently I have feigned sleep . . .”

Step 3: Now that students have taken stock of their own level of knowledge of the target words and have been provided with further information about each word with an example of usage, ask students to begin to “explain” each word in terms of what they know or think they might know. Emphasize that you are not seeking a “tidy” definition, but instead are seeking to articulate useful associations and various facets of a word’s meaning.

For example, some students may note that Revelations is a book of the Bible. Or that sometimes an athlete feigns injury to get out of practice. Or that an outdoor toilet, such as in state parks, is referred to as a privy by some people.

During these vocabulary explanations, offer at least one additional example for each word that expands understanding beyond the original context.

Step 4: Embed these target words in classroom activities and purposefully interject them into ongoing discussions of the texts so that students are hearing them as well as reading them. Provide students with multiple opportunities to “test-drive” these tier 2 words as they talk about and write about the book, story, or selection. In particular, include them in assessments. For example, students could be asked: “Explain how the following words can be related to an understanding of Gatsby’s character.”

In addition, ask students to self-select other tier 2 words that can be useful in talking about each of the characters in a novel or ideas in a passage. These words should be logged into their personal “word banks,” which are comprised of new words they spot in their reading. Remind students to include the contexts (phrases or sentences) of these new words as they record them in a section of their class notebooks.

Posted June 2, 2005