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Scientifically Based Interventions
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Reading Interventions:
Vocabulary
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Vocabulary
Least Intensive Interventions
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Vocabulary refers to:
Vocabulary is important because:
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Teaching specific words before reading helps both vocabulary learning
and reading comprehension. Extended instruction that promotes active engagement with vocabulary
improves word learning. Repeated exposure to vocabulary in many contexts aids word learning. Courtesy of: |
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An Example of Classroom Instruction A teacher plans to have his third-grade class read the novel Stone Fox, by John Reynolds Gardiner. In this novel, a young boy enters a dogsled race in hopes of winning prize money to pay the taxes on his grandfather's farm. The teacher knows that understanding the concept of taxes is important to understanding the novel's plot. Therefore, before his students begin reading the novel, the teacher may do several things to make sure that they understand what the concept means and why it is important to the story.
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An Example of Classroom Instruction Of course, it is not possible for teachers to provide specific instruction for all the words their students do not know. Therefore, students also need to be able to determine the meaning of words that are new to them but not taught directly to them. They need to develop effective word-learning strategies. Word-learning strategies include:
Using dictionaries and other reference aids. Students must learn how to use dictionaries, glossaries and thesauruses to help broaden and deepen their knowledge of words, even though these resources can be difficult to use. Using information about word parts. Breaking words down into prefixes and suffixes will assist the student in determining meanings of words. For example, bi= two, hydro = water, ous = full and re = again. Using context clues. Searching for clues in the text (i.e., pictures and surrounding words) will assist in deciphering the meaning of unknown words. Courtesy of: |
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An Example of Classroom Instruction A first-grade teacher wants to help her students understand the concept of jobs, which is part of her social studies curriculum. Over a period of time, the teacher engages students in exercises in which they work repeatedly with the meaning of the concept of jobs. The students have many opportunities to see and actively use the word in various contexts that reinforce its meaning. The teacher begins by asking the students what they already know about jobs and by having them give examples of jobs their parents have. The class might have a discussion about the jobs of different people who work at the school. The teacher then reads the class a simple book about jobs. The book introduces the idea that different jobs help people meet their needs, and that jobs either provide goods or services. The book does not use the words goods and services, rather it uses the verbs makes and helps. The teacher then asks the students to make up sentences describing their parents' jobs by using the verbs makes and helps (e.g., "My mother is a doctor. She helps sick people get well.") Next, the teacher asks students to brainstorm other jobs. Together, they decide whether the jobs are "making jobs" or "helping jobs." The job names are placed under the appropriate headings on a bulletin board. They might also suggest jobs that do not fit neatly into either category. The teacher might then ask the students to share whether they think they would like to have a making or a helping job when they grow up. The teacher next asks the students to talk with their parents about jobs. She tells them to try to bring to class two new examples of jobs – one making job and one helping job. As the students come across different jobs throughout the year (for example, through reading books, on field trips, through classroom guests), they can add the jobs to the appropriate categories on the bulletin board. Repeated exposure to words: A second-grade class is reading a biography of Benjamin Franklin. The biography discusses Franklin's important role as a scientist. The teacher wants to make sure that her students understand the meaning of the words science and scientist, both because the words are important to understanding the biography and because they are obviously very useful words to know in school and in everyday life. At every opportunity, therefore, the teacher draws her students' attention to the words. She points out the words scientist and science in textbooks and reading selections, particularly in her science curriculum. She has students use the words in their own writing, especially during science instruction. She also asks them to listen for and find in print the words as they are used outside of the classroom – in newspapers, magazines, at museums, in television shows and movies, or on the Internet. Then, as they read the biography, she discusses with students in what ways Benjamin Franklin was a scientist and what science meant in his time. Courtesy of: |
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An Example of Classroom Instruction Knowing some common prefixes and suffixes (affixes), base words, and root words can help students learn the meanings of many new words. For example, if students learn just the four most common prefixes in English (un-, re-, in-, dis-), they will have important clues about the meaning of about two thirds of all English words that have prefixes. Prefixes are relatively easy to learn because they have clear meanings (for example, un- means not and re- means again); they are usually spelled the same way from word to word; and, of course, they always occur at the beginnings of words. Learning suffixes can be more challenging than learning prefixes. This is because some suffixes have more abstract meanings than do prefixes. For example, learning that the suffix -ness means "the state or quality of" might not help students figure out the meaning of kindness. Other suffixes, however, are more helpful. For example, -less, which means "without" (hopeless, thoughtless); and -ful, which means "full of" (hopeful, thoughtful). Latin and Greek word roots are found commonly in content-area school subjects, especially in the subjects of science and social studies. As a result, Latin and Greek word parts form a large proportion of the new vocabulary that students encounter in their content-area textbooks. Teachers should teach the word roots as they occur in the texts students read. Furthermore, teachers should teach primarily those root words that students are likely to see often. Courtesy of: |
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An Example of Classroom Instruction As his class reads a text, a second-grade teacher discovers that many of his students do not know the meaning of the word board, as in the sentence, "The children were waiting to board the buses." The teacher demonstrates how to find board in the classroom dictionary, showing students that there are four different definitions for the word. He reads the definitions one at a time and the class discusses whether each definition would fit the context of the sentence. The students easily eliminate the inappropriate definitions of board, and settle on the definition, "to get on a train, an airplane, a bus, or a ship." The teacher next has students substitute the most likely definition for board in the original sentence to verify that it is, "The children were waiting to get on the buses" that makes the best sense. Courtesy of: |
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Word Parts Word parts include affixes (prefixes and suffixes), base words and word roots. Affixes are word parts that are "fixed to" either the beginnings of words (prefixes) or the ending of words (suffixes). The word disrespectful has two affixes, a prefix (dis-) and a suffix (-ful). Base words are words from which many other words are formed. For example, many words can be formed from the base word migrate: migration, migrant, immigration, immigrant, migrating, migratory. Word roots are the words from other languages that are the origin of many English words. About 60% of all English words have Latin or Greek origins.
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An Example of Classroom Instruction Context clues are hints about the meaning of an unknown word that are provided in the words, phrases and sentences that surround the word. Context clues include definitions, restatements, examples or descriptions. Because students learn most word meanings indirectly, or from context, it is important that they learn to use context clues effectively. Not all contexts are helpful, however. Some contexts give little information about a word's meaning. An example of an unhelpful context is the sentence, "We heard the back door open, and then recognized the buoyant footsteps of Uncle Larry." A number of possible meanings of buoyant could fit this context, including heavy, lively, noisy, familiar, dragging, plodding, and so on. Instruction in using context clues as a word-learning strategy should include the idea that some contexts are more helpful than others. Courtesy of: |
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An Example of Classroom Instruction In a third-grade class, the teacher models how to use context clues to determine word meanings as follows: Student (reading the text): When the cat pounced on the dog, the dog jumped up, yelping, and knocked over a lamp, which crashed to the floor. The animals ran past Tonia, tripping her. She fell to the floor and began sobbing. Tonia's brother Felix yelled at the animals to stop. As the noise and confusion mounted, Mother hollered upstairs, "What's all that commotion? " Teacher: The context of the paragraph helps us determine what commotion means. There's yelping and crashing, sobbing and yelling. And then the last sentence says, "as the noise and confusion mounted." The author's use of the words noise and confusion gives us a very strong clue as to what commotion means. In fact, the author is really giving us a definition there, because commotion means something that's noisy and confusing – a disturbance. Mother was right; there was definitely a commotion! Courtesy of: |
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Indirect Learning of Vocabulary You can encourage indirect learning of vocabulary in two main ways. First, read aloud to your students, no matter what grade you teach. Students of all ages can learn words from hearing texts of various kinds read to them. Reading aloud works best when you discuss the selection before, during and after you read. Talk with students about new vocabulary and concepts and help them relate the words to their prior knowledge and experiences. The second way to promote indirect learning of vocabulary is to encourage students to read extensively on their own. Rather than allocating instructional time for independent reading in the classroom, however, encourage your students to read more outside of school. Of course, your students also can read on their own during independent work time in the classroom – for example, while you teach another small group or after students have completed one activity and are waiting for a new activity to begin. Courtesy of: |
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Words to Teach You won't be able to directly teach your students all the words in a text that they might not already know. In fact, there are several reasons why you should not directly teach all unknown words.
You will probably be able to teach thoroughly only a few new words (perhaps eight or ten) per week, so you need to choose the words you teach carefully. Focus on teaching three types of words: Important words. When you teach words before students read a text, directly teach those words that are important for understanding a concept or the text. Your students might not know several other words in the selection, but you will not have time to teach them all. Of course, you should prepare your students to use word-learning strategies to figure out the meanings of other words in the text. Useful words. Teach words that students are likely to see and use again and again. For example, it is probably more useful for students to learn the word fragment than the word fractal; likewise, the word revolve is more useful than the word gyrate. Difficult words. Provide some instruction for words that are particularly difficult for your students. Words with multiple meanings are particularly challenging for students. Students may have a hard time understanding that words with the same spelling and/or pronunciation can have different meanings, depending on their context. Looking up words with multiple meanings in the dictionary can cause confusion for students. They see a number of different definitions listed, and they often have a difficult time deciding which definition fits the context. You will have to help students determine which definition they should choose. Idiomatic expressions also can be difficult for students, especially for students who are English language learners. Because idiomatic expressions do not mean what the individual words usually mean, you often will need to explain to students expressions such as "hard hearted," "a chip off the old block," "drawing a blank," or "get the picture." Examples
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Mneumonic Vocabulary Instruction First-Letter Mnemonic Strategy is a strategy for independently approaching large bodies of information that need to be mastered. Specifically, students identify lists of information that are important to learn, generate an appropriate title or label for each set of information, select a mnemonic device for each set of information, create study cards and use the study cards to learn the information. Extracted from Strategic Instruction Model: Learning Strategies and Teaching Routines, The University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning, www.kucrl.org, 1999-2001, September, 2001 Courtesy of: |
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Generative Vocabulary Strategies Background: Overview: Possible Sentences:
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PALS (Peer Assisted Learning Strategies) Peer Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) is a class-wide peer-tutoring program providing supplemental practice and instruction on key reading skills. K-PALS focuses on phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle and sight word reading. First Grade PALS focuses on alphabetic principle, fluency and sight word reading. Second-Eighth Grade PALS focuses on fluency and accuracy in connected text and reading comprehension strategies of summarization, main idea and predication. High School PALS focuses on Fluency and comprehension skills within the context of a career, job oriented structure. Lessons are provided to train students to be “readers and coaches”. Students are taught correction procedures and instructional cues. K-8 PALS can be used in general or special educational classrooms. High School PALS has only been validated in special education and remedial settings.
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QuickReads QuickReads is a research-based fluency program that features short, high interest nonfiction texts designed to be read quickly and meaningfully. It is designed for students who read at grade levels 2 – 4. QuickReads can improve fluency, comprehension, background knowledge and vocabulary. QuickReads has a classroom-validated instructional routine that takes 15 minutes and is done with students daily. QuickReads promotes fluent reading by:
Evidence of Positive Effects on Reading Achievement: Field-testing in classrooms demonstrated significant fluency gains for both native English speakers as well as English language learners. For additional information see website: www.textproject.org Local evidence of positive effects: Local School districts within Heartland have data available on fluency gains of students.
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