Explicitly Teaching Academic Vocabulary to Help Students Transition
TESOL Convention, March 25, 2010
Laurie Martin, Professional Development Specialist
Adult Learning Resource Center, Arlington Heights, IL
[email protected]
Selecting Words
ESOL students often need to expand their academic reading vocabulary in order to be able to transition into
ABE, ASE, or higher education classes. In Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction (Isabel
Beck, Margaret McKeown, and Linda Kucan, The Guilford Press, 2002) the authors propose that teachers
select words for instruction based on their usefulness and frequency of use in print. Tier Two words appear
across all content areas of academic texts, so they are words that can greatly contribute to students’
language knowledge.
Tier One
Tier Two
Tier Three
Basic
Concrete
Oral
Abstract
Academic (across content areas)
Written
Content/subject specific
Infrequent
Sources of Academic Words
The Academic Word List (Averil Coxhead) in sublists and word family sublists according to frequency:
http://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/resources/academicwordlist/
The Reading Teacher’s Book of Lists, 4th Ed. by E.B. Fry, et al. (Jossey-Bass)
3-Step Explicit Vocabulary Instruction
1. Preparation & Presentation
Tell students why
Pronounce words and give meaning
Give examples
Students try
2. Practice – Low and High Impact Exercises
Oral and written, simple to complex activities
Words used in many contexts
Students explore similarities and differences in word meanings
Continual review
3. Independent Application
Students use words by themselves, orally and in writing.
Continual use
L. Martin, Adult Learning Resource Center, www.thecenterweb.org
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Preparing Teacher Notes
Example:
customary (adj) – usual, normal, habitual, traditional
Antonyms: peculiar, unusual
In the U.S., it is customary for adults to shake hands when introduced in a business setting.
In China, it is customary for brides to wear red, whereas in the U.S. brides traditionally wear
white.
I customarily walk my dog around 7:00 in the morning.
Discussion prompts: In your country, what is the customary way that people greet each other?
How do people customarily find jobs?
Try it: Choose one word from the list below and write two sentences that use the word meaning in contexts
that your students are likely understand. Be careful to use the meaning that is given.
adequate (adj) good enough to get the job done, passable, sufficient
appeal (v) to ask for something you need badly, to make an important request
objection (n) a statement or a feeling of dislike, disapproval, or opposition
1.______________________________________________________________________________________
2.______________________________________________________________________________________
Low Impact Exercises
Fill-ins, matching words and definitions, and multiple choice exercises are useful at the beginning of
vocabulary practice. They are highly supported and have only one correct answer. The context is supplied
for the student, so completing them is not as personalized or rigorous as other types of exercises.
High Impact Exercises
The activities below will push students to explore the new word meanings in more depth. These activities
are more open-ended and allow students to develop their own contexts for the word meanings.
Make Sense?
Students determine if the sentences make sense. If they don’t make sense, the students revise them so
that they do. Personalize the contexts whenever possible.
Example: Masaki knows about current cancer research because he read all the medical journals that
were published two years ago.
…were published recently.
advise
minimum
current
objection
deprive
originate
hesitate
penalize
maintain
reliable
Try it: Use two of the words from the word bank to write statements below.
Statement 1 (makes sense):
Statement 2 (doesn’t make sense):
L. Martin, Adult Learning Resource Center, www.thecenterweb.org
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Examples and Non-Examples
Students look at two sentences, one which reflects the meaning of the target vocabulary word and another
that does not. Students must decide which sentence is the example.
Example: reliable
Ewa could always count on Teresa to drive her to school.
Jakub’s car was old and he often had trouble starting it.
[From Bringing Words to Life, Isabel Beck et al, The Guilford Press, ©2002.]
Discussion or Writing Prompts
Develop interesting topics for pair or small group discussions or short writing tasks using target vocabulary
words.
Example: When you were young, how did your parents advise you to live your life?
Try it: Write a prompt using a word from the bank below..
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Describing Pictures
Put a list of vocabulary words on the board. Show students an interesting picture and ask them to use some
of the vocabulary words to describe (or ask questions about) the picture. This activity can be done orally or
in writing by students working alone, in pairs or small groups.
advise
minimum
current
objection
deprive
originate
hesitate
penalize
maintain
reliable
Try it: Using a word from the word bank, write a sentence that describes the picture shown below.
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
Word Sorts
Students are given a selection of vocabulary words to sort into categories of their own making. Then they
explain how they sorted their words. This activity can be done by students working alone, in pairs, or in
groups.
L. Martin, Adult Learning Resource Center, www.thecenterweb.org
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The Conversation Game
Form two teams of students and distribute 2-3 cards or slips of paper with vocabulary words to each
student. Begin by introducing a topic for conversation, such as, “I have some friends coming to visit me this
summer, and I’m wondering what I should plan for their visit.” Students should raise their hands to
participate in the conversation by using their vocabulary words in statements or questions to add to the
conversation. Teams try to use all their words first.
[From When Adolescents Can’t Read, Mary E. Curtis and Ann Marie Longo, Brookline Books, ©1999.]
Raising Vocabulary Awareness
Students often need to become more conscious of the words around them. As their awareness increases, so
will their vocabulary. A few ideas for raising awareness are:
Word of the week / day
Word wall
Word spotting
Puns
Tracking vocabulary progress (vocabulary journal, quizzes, word knowledge charts)
[Adapted from Teaching Word Meanings, by Steven A. Stahl and William E. Nagy, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates,
2006]
Some Helpful Resources
Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction, by Isabel Beck, Margaret G. McKeown,
and Linda Kucan, The Guilford Press, 2002
Word Knowledge: A Vocabulary Teachers’ Handbook, by Cheryl Boyd Zimmerman, Oxford
University Press, 2008
Essentials of Teaching Academic Vocabulary, by Averil Coxhead, Houghton Mifflin,
2006
Teaching Word Meanings, by Steven A. Stahl and William E. Nagy, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates,
2006
The Vocabulary Teacher’s Book of Lists, by Edward B. Fry, Jossey-Bass,
2004
When Adolescents Can’t Read: Methods and Materials That Work, Mary E. Curtis and Ann Marie
Longo, Brookline Books, 1999.
Ten complete downloadable vocabulary “units” with Tier Two words, teacher notes, and multiple
activities can be found as Word documents at the website of the Adult Learning Resource
Center at http://www.thecenterweb.org/alrc/reading-pub.html (scroll to bottom).
L. Martin, Adult Learning Resource Center, www.thecenterweb.org
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