Developing General Academic Vocabulary

Prepared by Laura Robb

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Tiers of Vocabulary: Tier One, Two, Three

Tier One Words: Most basic words in writin

Rarely require direct instruction with exception of ELL students

High frequency words—early reading vocabulary

Examples: book, girl, sad, happy, jump, clock

There are about 6,000 Tier One words

Tier Two Words: High frequency words Occur across disciplines

Need for reading comprehension

Contain multiple meanings

Require direct instruction

Show maturity of learner

Examples: masterpiece, fortunate, glance, confident, industrious, benevolent

There are about 7,000 words in tier two

Tier Three Words: Low frequency words

Include school subjects, hobbies, occupations, geographic regions, technology,

weather, and so on

Critical for content area learning

Require direct instruction and depth of understanding

Learned for a specific need such as igneous for geology

There are 400,000 words in tier three

Examples: peninsula, amino acids, isotope, economics, habitat

Note: Tier Two and Tier Three words often overlap; there is no clear cut way to

classify these.

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VOCABULARY AND COMPREHENSION FACTS TO CONSIDER NAEP Results:

• Fourth graders who scored above the 75% in reading comprehension also

had the highest average vocabulary scores.

• Fourth graders who scored at or below the 25% in reading comprehension

had the lowest average vocabulary scores,

• In grade 8 in 2011 and in grade12 in 2009, reading comprehension and

vocabulary scores had the same pattern as fourth graders.

THE POWER OF MEANINGFUL TALK

• A stream of talk to babies soon after birth, called parentese, influences

vocabulary development.

• Children from high poverty homes hear 600 words an hour. Children from

middle class and professional homes hear up to 2100 words per hour.

• The literacy gap starts at birth and gap is huge by the time children enter

kindergarten: children living in poverty have heard 13 million words;

children from middle class and professions homes, 48 million words.

HOW TO BUILD STUDENTS’ WORD POWER

• Present daily 10 to 15 minute lessons in all subjects (CCSS supports this).

• Relate lessons to texts and materials students read.

• Included in learning at school is the fact that students gain 1,000 to 4,000

new words a year. We need to push the word-learning needle closer to

4,000 words a year.

• Study roots, prefixes, and suffixes to give students the tools to unlock

meaning from unfamiliar words and at the same time introduce them to

many general academic words.

• Weave into word study general academic words (7,000) because these

words are in texts for all subjects and support students’ reading of graced-

level complex texts.

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• Search the number of times that general academic words can be found in

one million words of a text and the results are 71.7%; the frequency for

social studies domain specific words per million is 9.7% (Hebert &

Lubliner, 2008).

• Teach school-task words as these fall into the general academic words:

define, compare, contrast, evaluate, support, explain, defend, sort,

categorize, show, sequence, infer, restate, conclude, brainstorm, etc.

• Use lists of general academic words to help you link specific words to

students’ reading. Always teach in context.

• Teach figurative language and connotative meanings of words as a

reading comprehension tool that expands students’ understanding and

ability to visualize.

• Teach the forms and multiple meanings of words: combine, combination,

combining, combined.

• Show students how to use context to determine meaning of unfamiliar

words.

The Big Ten and Vocabulary Instruction

1. Promote meaningful Talk

2. Study Word parts: Roots, Prefixes, Suffixes

3. Attend to Figurative Language and Connotations

4. Discuss Words in Different Contexts

5. Use New vocabulary in Writing

6. Build Concepts

7. 7. Make Connections

8. Tap into Technology

9. Promote independent Reading

10. Deliver Daily Read Alouds

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Some Important Vocabulary Teaching Points

• Words are part of networks: synonyms, antonyms, families, concepts, and

different forms of words.

• With narratives, teach synonym sets.

• With informational texts teach topic clusters--topically related words.

• Children learn concrete words faster than abstract words.

• Try to use pictures or the real object to teach concepts.

• The number of words in the English language outnumbers teachers’

opportunities to teach them one-by-one.

• Avoid teaching one word—always teach in related groups.

Narrative Synonyms and Antonyms cold hot

frigid toasty

chilly scorching

icy sweltering

shivery sizzling

freezing tropical

amazed, fascinated, marveled: enchanted, enthralled, spellbound, captivated,

transfixed

Word Families relate, related, relates, relating

relative, relatable, relation(s), relationship, interrelated, correlate, correlation,

age-related

Word Concepts

Instruments: musician, conductor, doctor, carpenter,

Multiple Forms of Words: combine, combining, combination, combinable

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Concept Mapping • Choose a theme or concept for a unit of study.

• Have students pair-share before reading to find words and phrases related

to the concept.

• Ask students to show the connections between their ideas and the

concept.

• Revisit the concept map throughout the unit.

Concept: Devastation

• home destroyed by fire

• tornado rips through and destroys your town

• hurricane damage

• floods

• death of a pet

• death of a parent

• death of a friend

• breaking up with boyfriend or girlfriend

• divorce

• parent in prison

• earthquake—destroys homes, kills people and animals

• tsunami—same as earthquake

Building Words Using Prefixes:

• Using prefixes such as un, dis, re, and con, have students build words by

spending a few minutes each day on this activity.

• Use as a before learning to assess the vocabulary students have for a

topic such as slavery, colonial America, recycling, etc.

• Can be an assessment when used as a post-learning activity.

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WORD MAP – Fifth Grade Students

What is it?

deteriorating or disintegarting What is it like?

• rotting (like a pumpkin)

• perishing

• turning black and blue

• becoming junk

• collapsing falling apart

• worsening function of a body part

• wearing down of mountains

• wearing down of rocks

• rotting stacks of hay

• water damage

Examples: sunken ships, rotted and dead plants, teeth, bones, cars,

flooded homes, dead bodies,

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Name __________________________________________ Date ____________

Word Map Directions:

1. Under “What is it?” write the concept . 2. Come up with a similar word of phrase and write it underneath the “concept.” 3. Under “What is it like?” write four to six of its characteristics. Then write some examples in the space below .

What is it? What is it like?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Examples:

Use the word in a sentence that shows you understand its

meaning.

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Name______________________________________________Date_________________________

ABCWordList

A N

B O

C P

D Q

E R

F S

G T

H U

I V

J W

K X

L Y

M Z

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TYPES OF ANALOGIES

Tips for creating analogies 1. Choose the relationship between the first pair of words.

2. Make sure the relationship is clear.

3. Create four choices; one should clearly match the relationship between

the first pair of words.

4. Make two of the choices obviously incorrect.

5. Make one of the choices almost correct.

Example: jupiter : solar system [the relationship is member of the category]

jupiter : solar system :: milky way :

(a) candy bar; (b) galaxy; (c) stars; (d) distance

The correct choice is (b) galaxy because the milky way is part of a galazy.

Synonyms

surge : rise :: renew : restore

Antonyms

vicious : kind :: reckless : careful

Rhyming Words

thatch : catch :: loud : crowd

Whole/Part

bakery : cookies :: environment : trees.

Category/Subcategory

primates : gorillas :: mollusks : snails

Homophones

addition : edition :: capitol : capital

Cause/Effect rain : flooding :: heat : drought

Object and Its Use scissor : cutting :: stove : cooking

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Adjectives That Describe Personality Traits •

adventurous aggressive aloof ambitious anxious assertive bitter bland bloodthirsty boisterous bossy brave brutal calm capable careful careless cheerful clever conceited confident confused controlling courageous cowardly cruel daring determined dignified distrustful domineering dutiful

empathetic evil exacting excitable fearful fearless fierce foolish friendly fussy gentle grouchy gullible harsh hasty haughty helpful heroic hopeful humane humble imaginative impatient impish impulsive innocent insensitive insincere intolerant inventive joyful

kind knowledgeable lazy lively loving loyal meek modest moody morbid mysterious naughty nosy obnoxious optimistic overbearing patient pessimistic popular practical proud pushy quick-tempered rash rational realistic reasonable rebellious reckless rowdy sarcastic secretive sensitive silly sincere

snobby sociable spiteful stubborn suspicious timid tolerant treacherous tyrannical unfaithful ungrateful unhappy unique unpopular unruly unsociable unwise vain villainous violent vivacious weak willful wise wishy-washy witty

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Mini-Word Walls: Use as Part of Guided Reading • Build vocabulary about the topic of a book prior to reading; talk about the

words.

• Use photos or illustrations in the book to build vocabulary; talk about the

words.

• Have students build sets of words using some words on the mini-word

wall; talk about these—share stories and situations

• Create mini-word walls that relate to topics in science and social studies.

Vocabulary Centers

• Have students illustrate words they studied in guided reading

and interactive read alouds and/or figure out situations the

words could work in, then use the word in a sentence.

• Ask students to make a list of synonyms and antonyms for

specific words.

• Have students write different forms of a word they’ve studied.

• Have students write different words for “walk, cook, yell, make,”

etc.

Figurative Language • Find similes and metaphors during shared reading and other read alouds

• Ask students what each one has in common and see if they can figure out

what a simile is and how it differs from a metaphor.

• Move beyond identifying similes and metaphor to discussing what each

one has to do with the meaning or point of a book.

• Do the same with onomatopoeia, alliteration, and personification.

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MatchingGame

• Organizethisactivityintosetsofthreetofourindexcards. • Mix-upcards. • Giveeachstudentacardandhavehimorherwalkaroundcheckingother

students’cardssearchingforcardsthathaveacommonprefix,rootorbase

word,orsuffix. • Oncestudentsidentifytheirgroups,havethemuseadictionaryortextbook

tohelpeachotherunderstandtheseterms. • Groupsteachoneanothertheirtermsprovidingexamplesandsample

sentences.

Here are some suggested sets of words:

• disengage, disrespect, dishonest

• confusion, incision digression

• migrate, migration, immigrant

• democracy, democratic, democrat

• jurisdiction, contradiction, diction

• design, signage, signature

• revolt, revolting, revolution

• obey, disobey, disobedience

• geometry, geography, geoboard

• retroactive, deactivate, reactive

The game can be played with sets of synonyms, homophones,

and multiple forms of words.

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ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS

ROOT MEANING EXAMPLE

act (Latin) do actor, transact

aud (Latin) hear audience, audiovisual

clqr (Latin) clear clarity, declarative

gen (Greek) birth, race genocide, generate,

log (Greek) word prologue, dialogue

narr (Latin) tell narrate, narative

nun, noun (Latin) declare novel, innovate

onym (Greek) name antonym, synonym

struct (Latin) build structure, deconstruct

urb (Latin) city suburb, urbane

SCIENCE

ROOT MEANING EXAMPLE

aero (Greek) air aerodynamics, aerate

baro (Greek) weight barometer, isobar

cardi (Greek) heart cardiac, cardiology

corp (Latin) body corpse, corpuscule

geo (Greek) earth geology, geophysical

kine, cine (Greek) movement kinetic, hyperkinesia

lys (Greek) break down electrolysis, catalyst

opt (Latin) eye optical, optic

scope (Greek) to see microscope, telescope

therm (Greek) heat thermonuclear,

thermometer

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SOCIAL STUDIES ROOT MEANING EXAMPLE

arch (Greek) chief monarchy, oligarchy

belli (Latin) war bellicose, rebellion

chron (Greek) time chronological, chronicle

dem (Greek) people democracy, demagogy

dogma (Greek) opinion dogma, dogmatic

fug (Latin) flee fugitive, refugee

mand (Latin) order mandate, remand

migr (Latin) Change, move immigrant, migratory

poli (Greek) city polis, political

reg (Latin) guide, rule reign, regime

PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES

Prefix Meaning Suffix Part of Speech

ad, a, ac, af, ag,

an, ar, at, as

to, toward able, ible (adj.) adjective

circum around ance, ence noun

dis, dif, di apart, not er, or (noun) noun

in in, into, not ful adjective

inter between, among fy (verb) verb

pro forward sion, tion noun

re again, back ive adjective

trans across, beyond ous adjective

un not tude noun

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Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes for Primary Grades

Prefix Meaning co, con with, together de ex out In, im no, not pre before re back, again sub under un not bi two tri three Root, Stem Meaning audi, audit hear, iisten graph write, draw mov, mot, mobil move port carry vid, vis see Suffixes Meaning able, ible can, able to be done er more est most ful full of less without

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