Students encounter unfamiliar words all of the time, but few slow down to think about what they can learn about those unfamiliar words based on how they are used. The ability to define unfamiliar vocabulary is a life skill that teachers need to teach explicitly. We cannot assume that students will know how to do this without instruction and practice. Below are five strategies I encourage students to use when they encounter new words in a text. Show
These tips may not work every time, but they give students a place to start. Below is a video tutorial I created to provide students with a concrete example of what it looks like to use these tips while reading an excerpt from The Giver in StudySync.
Not only will students who use these strategies to define unfamiliar words develop vocabularies more quickly, but it will help them be more successful on high stakes exams, like the SAT. All of the vocabulary on the new SAT is used in context, so students will need to be comfortable navigating a challenging text with unfamiliar vocabulary. A 10-year-old child who is a good reader will encounter something like 1 million words a year (around 12 novels), but crucially, approximately 20,000 of those words will prove unfamiliar (Oakhill et al. 2015). It is important then to support our pupils to develop an array of independent word learning strategies to
explore and to better understand an unfamiliar word they encounter. The most common strategies for comprehending a new or unfamiliar word include using a dictionary or guessing word meaning from the context of the sentence. Unfortunately, pupils often have limited word knowledge so that a dictionary proves a blunt tool (from knowing the spelling of an unfamiliar word, to selecting the correct meaning of a word from the selection available). Also, the context of a sentence can often prove unhelpful and sometimes even misdirective. We can support pupils by deliberately practising an array of strategies for exploring an unfamiliar word. Over time these strategies can be internalised as independent word learning skills that pupils use automatically.
Crucially, the best strategy to learn new words is to already possess a wealth of words. Like mental velcro, having a broad and deep vocabulary offers the necessary ‘hooks’ to better understand new or unfamiliar words. For this reason, explicitly teaching vocabulary, drawing upon these seven strategies, is a great tool for teachers in the classroom. You can find a PDF version of these 7 strategies in my ‘Closing the Vocabulary Gap Resources‘ on the RESOURCE page of my blog. If you are interested in learning more about vocabulary instruction and ‘closing the vocabulary gap’ in the classroom, my book ‘Closing the Vocabulary Gap‘ is now available here: Amazon – http://amzn.to/2FiwDFX Routledge – http://bit.ly/2C0vxgI What strategy is used to determine the unknown word?use word parts (roots, prefixes, and suffixes) to determine the meaning of an unfamiliar word. use context clues to confirm the meaning of an unfamiliar word. use a graphic organizer to achieve a deeper understanding of specific vocabulary words.
How can you find the meaning of an unknown word using context clues?Using Context Clues
When coming across an unknown word, a student uses other words in the text that are usually in the same sentence or nearby sentences that provide clues to the meaning of the unfamiliar word. These clues may include synonyms, antonyms, definitions or examples.
What listening strategy can be used when we encounter an unfamiliar word?Top-down listening activities
By using their knowledge of context and co-text, they should either be able to guess the meaning of the unknown word, or understand the general idea without getting distracted by it.
|