Strategies for Vocabulary Development

Teaching word meanings should be a way for students to define their world, to move from light
to dark, to a more fine-grained description of the colors that surround us.
Steven Stahl

A RATIONALE DIRECTLY ADDRESSING

VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT
Successful comprehension is, in some significant part, dependent on the reader's knowledge of
word meanings in a given passage. Baker, Simmons, and Kame'enui1 state, "The relation
between reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge is strong and unequivocal. Although
the causal direction of the relation is not understood clearly, there is evidence that the
relationship is largely reciprocal." The good news for teachers from research in vocabulary
development is that vocabulary instruction does improve reading comprehension (Stahl2).
However, not all approaches to teaching word meanings improve comprehension. This chapter
will describe some of the most practical and effective strategies that high-school teachers can
employ with diverse learners to enhance vocabulary development and increase reading
comprehension.
1

Baker, S. K., D. C. Simmons, and E. J. Kame'enui. "Vocabulary acquistion: Instructionaland

curricular basics and implications." In D. C. Simmons and E. J. Kame'enui (eds.), What Reading
Research Tells Us About Children With Diverse Learning Needs. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates, 1988, pp. 219238.
2

Stahl, S. A. Vocabulary Development. Cambridge, MA: Brookline Books, 1999.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK?

There are a number of traditional teaching practices related to vocabulary that deserve to be left
in the "instructional dustbin." The key weakness in all of these practices is the limited or rote
interaction students have with the new word/concept. Let us quickly review the most common of
these less effective approaches.
1. Look them up. Certainly dictionaries have their place, especially during writing, but the
act of looking up a word and copying a definition is not likely to result in vocabulary
learning (especially if there are long lists of unrelated words to look up and for which to
copy the definitions).
2. Use them in a sentence. Writing sentences with new vocabulary AFTER some
understanding of the word is helpful; however to assign this task before the study of word
meaning is of little value.

3. Use context. There is little research to suggest that context is a very reliable source of
learning word meanings. Nagy3 found that students reading at grade level had about a one
twentieth chance of learning the meaning of a word from context. This, of course, is not
to say that context is unimportant but that students need a broader range of instructional
guidance than the exhortation "Use context."
4. Memorize definitions. Rote learning of word meanings is likely to results, at best, in the
ability to parrot back what is not clearly understood.
The common shortcoming in all of these less effective approaches is the lack of active student
involvement in connecting the new concept/meaning to their existing knowledge base.
Vocabulary learning, like most other learning, must be based on the learner's active engagement
in constructing understanding, not simply on passive re-presenting of information from a text or
lecture.

WHAT DOES WORK?

Reviewing the research literature on vocabulary instruction leads to the conclusion that there is
no single best strategy to teach word meanings but that all effective strategies require students to
go beyond the definitional and forge connections between the new and the known. Nagy3
summarizes the research on effective vocabulary teaching as coming down to three critical
notions:
1. Integrationconnecting new vocabulary to prior knowledge
2. Repetitionencountering/using the word/concept many times
3. Meaningful usemultiple opportunities to use new words in reading, writing and soon
discussion.
The following section will explore some practical strategies that secondary teachers can employ
to increase the integration, repetition, and meaningful use of new vocabulary.

Increase the Amount of Independent Reading

The largest influence on students' vocabulary is the sheer volume of reading they do, especially
wide reading that includes a rich variety of texts. This presents a particularly difficult challenge
for underprepared high-school students who lack the reading habit. The following strategies can
help motivate reluctant readers:
1. Matching text difficulty to student reading level and personal interests (e.g. using the
Lexile system)
2. Reading incentive programs that include taking quizzes on books read (e.g., Accelerated
Reader, Reading Counts)

3. Regular discussion, such as literature circles, book clubs, quick reviews, of what students
are reading
4. Setting weekly/individual goals for reading volume
5. Adding more structure to Sustained Silent Reading by including a 5-minute quick-write
at the end of the reading period, then randomly selecting three or four papers to
read/grade to increase student accountability.

Choose Appropriate Dictionaries for Heterogeneous Classrooms

Secondary students certainly need to know how and when to use a dictionary to look up the
meanings of unfamiliar words. Surprisingly, many adolescents lack even the most rudimentary
dictionary skills and benefit from some explicit instruction. Without training and guidance, less
proficient readers and English language learners are apt to encounter numerous difficulties as
they struggle first to locate and then to effectively navigate a lengthy dictionary entry.
Many students do not own a dictionary, and if they do, it is often not a very powerful or
appropriate resource for clarifying word meanings. English learners may carry a bilingual
dictionary, but this resource is generally inadequate for several reasons. First, long-term
bilinguals or more recent immigrants with disrupted educational histories may have limited
academic vocabulary in the home language. When looking up the meaning of a term such as
categorize or stereotype, a bilingual youth may very well encounter an unfamiliar word in the
native language. Simply copying a translation does little to promote reading comprehension.
Further, the small bilingual dictionaries carried by secondary students offer limited and often
inaccurate definitions. An electronic dictionary may be equally unproductive for a bilingual or
less proficient reader tackling grade-level curricula, as it tends to offer scant definitions and no
contextualized example sentences. An electronic dictionary is useful for a quick fix, but it is not
the most considerate resource for a student operating from a weak academic vocabulary base
while completing grade-level assignments. Another common language arts resource, which is
likely to utterly demoralize an under prepared reader, is an adult thesaurus. To benefit from an
array of synonyms, a reader must operate from a solid academic vocabulary base. Less proficient
English users will generally have no ability to gauge contextual appropriateness and will end up
infusing their written work with glaringly inappropriate word choices.
A traditional collegiate dictionary is probably a less effective resource for students daunted by
grade-level literacy tasks. High school classrooms are predictably equipped with only collegelevel dictionaries, which are actually designed for a proficient adult reader possessing a relatively
sophisticated vocabulary base and efficient dictionary skills. This does not describe the average
high-school student, whether she or he is reading at or below grade level. Collegiate dictionaries
can be extremely frustrating resources for most adolescent readers because they do not integrate
the support mechanisms of a "learners' dictionary."
Many publishers, including Longman and Heinle & Heinle, have developed a line of manageable
"learners' dictionaries" for secondary students who need a more user-friendly dictionary to assist
them in content area coursework. A learner's dictionary characteristically includes fewer yet

more high-frequency definitions, written in accessible language and complemented by an ageappropriate sample sentence. English language learners and less proficient readers benefit from
the clear, simple definitions and common synonyms as much as from the natural examples
illustrating words and phrases in typical contexts. These dictionaries are also easier for students
to utilize than collegiate dictionaries because the entries are printed in a larger type size and
include useful and obvious signposts to guide them in identifying the proper entry. A final
advantage is that many learners' dictionaries may be purchased in book form, along with a CDROM providing pictures, audio, and pronunciation of headwords.
Developmentally-appropriate lexical resources are fundamental to providing all students,
regardless of their level of English proficiency or literacy, with greater access to grade level
competencies and curricula. A democratic language arts classroom, marked by cultural and
linguistic diversity, must include considerately chosen and manageable dictionaries for less
proficient readers, to enable them to develop more learner autonomy and to assist them in
completing independent writing and reading tasks.

Select the Most Important Words to Teach

Students with weak lexical skills are likely to view all new words as equally challenging and
important, so it is imperative for the teacher to point out those words that are truly vital to a
secondary student's academic vocabulary base. Unfortunately, teachers who gravitated toward
English instruction, in great part out of a passion for language and literature, may find all words
of equal merit and devote too much instructional time to interesting and unusual, yet lowfrequency, words, that a less prepared reader is unlikely to encounter ever again. This lexical
accessorizing is overwhelming to a reader who may be striving simply to get the gist of a novel,
and it proves to be even more daunting as the student attempts to study a litany of unfamiliar
terms. Graves and Graves4 make a helpful distinction between teaching vocabulary and teaching
concepts. Teaching vocabulary is teaching new labels / finer distinctions for familiar concepts. In
contrast, teaching concepts involves introducing students to new ideas / notions / theories / and
so on that require significantly more instruction to build real understanding. Teachers can get
more out of direct vocabulary work by selecting words carefully. More time-consuming and
complex strategies are best saved for conceptually challenging words, while relatively expedient
strategies can assist students in learning new labels or drawing finer-grained distinctions around
known concepts. Making wise choices about which words to teach directly, how much time to
take, and when enough is enough is essential to vocabulary building.
Tips for selecting words:
1. Distinguish between words that simply label concepts students know and new words that
represent new concepts.
2. Ask yourself, "Is this concept / word generative? Will knowing it lead to important
learning in other lessons / texts / units?"
3. Be cautious to not "accessorize" vocabulary (e.g., spend too much time going over many
clever adjectives that are very story specific and not likely to occur frequently). Rather,

focus attention on critical academic vocabulary that is essential to understanding the big
ideas in a text (e.g., prejudicial: As students learn the meanings of pre- and judge, they
can connect to other concepts they know, such as "unfair.")

Brief Strategies for Vocabulary Development (Stahl5)

Words that are new to students but represent familiar concepts can be addressed using a number
of relatively quick instructional tactics. Many of these (e.g., synonyms, antonyms, examples) are
optimal for prereading and oral reading, which call for more expedient approaches.
1. Teach synonyms. Provide a synonym students know, (e.g., link stringent to the known
word strict).
2. Teach antonyms. Not all words have antonyms, but thinking about for those that do,
opposite requires their students to evaluate the critical attributes of the words in question.
3. Paraphrase definitions. Requiring students to use their own words increases connection
making and provides the teacher with useful informal assessment"Do they really get
it?"
4. Provide examples. The more personalized the better. An example for the new word
egregious might be Ms. Kinsella's 110-page reading assignment was egregious indeed!
5. Provide nonexamples. Similar to using antonyms, providing non-examples requires
students to evaluate a word's attributes. Invite students to explain why it is not an
example.
6. Ask for sentences that "show you know." Students construct novel sentences confirming
their understanding of a new word, using more than one new word per sentence to show
that connections can also be useful.
7. Teach word sorting. Provide a list of vocabulary words from a reading selection and have
students sort them into various categories (e.g., parts of speech, branches of government).
Students can re-sort words into "guess my sort" using categories of their own choosing.
3

Nagy, W. "Teaching Vocabulary to Improve Reading Comprehension." Newark, DE:

International Reading Association, 1988.
4

Graves, M. and Graves, B. Scaffolding Reading Experiences: Designs for Student Success.
Norwood, MA.: Christopher Gordon 1994.
5

Stahl, op. cit.

STRATEGIES FOR CONCEPTUALLY CHALLENGING

WORDS

Selecting and teaching conceptually demanding words is essential to ensuring that diverse
learners are able to grapple with the "big ideas" crucial to understanding a challenging text.
Complex concepts require more multidimensional teaching strategies. The next section will
elaborate on a number of these techniques: list-group-label, possible sentences, word analysis
(affixes and roots), and concept mapping.

List-Group-Label (Taba6)
This is a form of structured brainstorming designed to help students identify what they know
about a concept and the words related to the concept while provoking a degree of analysis and
critical thinking. These are the directions to students:
1. Think of all the words related to ______. (a key "big idea" in the text)
2. Group the words listed by some shared characteristics or commonalties.
3. Decide on a label for each group.
4. Try to add words to the categories on the organized lists.
Working in small groups or pairs, each group shares with the class its method of categorization
and the thinking behind its choices, while adding words from other class members. Teachers can
extend this activity by having students convert their organized concepts into a Semantic Map
which a visual expression of their thinking.
List-group-label is an excellent prereading activity to build on prior knowledge, introduce critical
concepts, and ensure attention during selection reading.
6

Taba, H. Teacher's Handbook for Elementary Social Studies. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley
1988.

Possible Sentences (Moore and Moore7)

This is a relatively simple strategy for teaching word meanings and generating considerable class
discussion.
1. The teacher chooses six to eight words from the text that may pose difficulty for students.
These words are usually key concepts in the text.
2. Next, the teacher chooses four to six words that students are more likely to know
something about.
3. The list of ten to twelve words is put on the chalk board or overhead projector. The
teacher provides brief definitions as needed.
4. Students are challenged to devise sentences that contain two or more words from the list.

5. All sentences that students come up with, both accurate and inaccurate, are listed and
discussed.
6. Students now read the selection.
7. After reading, revisit the Possible Sentences and discuss whether they could be true based
on the passage or how they could be modified to true.
Stahl8 reported that Possible Sentences significantly improved both students' overall recall of
word meanings and their comprehension of text containing those words. Interestingly, this was
true when compared to a control group and when compared to Semantic Mapping.
7

Moore, P. W. and S. A. Moore. "Possible sentences." In E. K. Dishner, T. W. Bean, J. E.

Readence, and P. W. Moore (eds.), Reading in the Content Areas: Improving Classroom
Instruction, 2nd ed.,1986. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt pp. 174179.
8

Stahl, op. cit.

Word Analysis / Teaching Word Parts

Many underprepared readers lack basic knowledge of word origins or etymology, such as Latin
and Greek roots, as well as discrete understanding of how a prefix or suffix can alter the meaning
of a word. Learning clusters of words that share a common origin can help students understand
content-area texts and connect new words to those already known. For example, a secondary
teacher (Allen9) reported reading about a character who suffered from amnesia. Teaching
students that the prefix a derives from Greek and means "not," while the base mne means
"memory" reveals the meaning. After judicious teacher scaffolding, students were making
connections to various words in which the prefix a changed the meaning of a base word (e.g.,
amoral, atypical). This type of contextualized direct teaching meets the immediate need of
understanding an unknown word while building generative knowledge that supports students in
figuring out difficult words in future reading.
Learning and reviewing high frequency affixes will equip students with some basic tools for
word analysis, which will be especially useful when they are prompted to apply them in rich and
varied learning contexts. The charts below summarize some of the affixes worth considering
depending on your students' prior knowledge and English proficiency.
Prefix
un
re
in / im
dis
en / em
mis

% of All
Prefixed Words

Meaning
not; reversal of
again, back, really
in, into, not
away, apart, negative
in; within; on
wrong

26
14
11
7
4
3

Example
uncover
review
insert
discover
entail
mistaken

pre
a

before
not; in, on; without

3
1

prevent
atypical

Similarly, a quick look at the most common suffixes reveals a comparable pattern of relatively
few suffixes accounting for a large percentage of suffixed words.
% of All
Suffixed Words
-s, -es
more than one; verb marker
31
-ed
in the past; quality, state
20
-ing
when you do something; quality, state 14
-ly
how something is
7
-er, -or
one who, what, that, which
4
-tion, -sion state, quality; act
4
-able, -ible able to be
2
-al, -ial
related to, like
1
Suffix

Meaning

Example
characters, reads, reaches
walked
walking
safely
drummer
action, mission
disposable, reversible
final, partial

There are far too many affixes to directly teach them all; however, it is important to realize that
relatively few affixes account for the majority of affixed words in English. Thus, it is helpful to
explicitly teach high-utility affixes (meaning and pronunciation) and assist students in making
connections as they encounter new vocabulary containing these parts. Once these basic affixes
have been mastered, it can be useful to explore more complex or less frequent word parts, such
as the following:
Prefixes
multipanmicroproSuffixes
-less
-ism

Meaning
many
all
very small
in favor of, before

Example
multimedia
pandemic, Pan-American
microcosm
protect

without; not
state, quality; act

useless
realism

Additionally, focused word study that builds student knowledge of Greek and Latin roots, or
bases, can be of significant assistance to secondary students. Diverse learners in particular, are
unlikely to have read enough or engaged in enough academic conversations beyond school in
which key roots were clarified. Linguists estimate that well over 50 percent of polysyllabic
words found in English texts are of Latin or Greek derivation, underlining the importance of
ensuring that students learn "English from the roots up."
9

Allen, J. Words, Words, Words: Teaching Vocabulary in Grades 412. York: ME Stenhouse
1999.

Common Latin and Greek Roots (Stahl)

Root
-aud-astro-bio-dict-geo-meter-min-port-phono-duc(t)-

Meaning
hear
star
life
speak, tell
earth
measure
small, little
carry
sound
lead

Origin
Latin
Greek
Greek
Latin
Greek
Greek
Latin
Latin
Greek
Latin

Examples
audio, audition
astrology, astronaut
biography, biology
dictate, predict
geology, geography
thermometer
minimize, minimum
transport, portable
microphone
deduct, produce, educate

Tips for Word Study of Latin and Greek Roots

1. Highlight Greek and Latin roots as they come up in your readingsbriefly for less
important words and in more depth for essential concepts.
2. Associate the new word derived from a root with more generally known words in the
students' lexicon. Visual organizers can be helpful.
3. Encourage students to look for additional words that share the newly learned root in their
independent reading and reading in other content classes.
4. Encourage students to use words containing newly learned roots in their writing,
conversations, or discussions.

Concept Mapping/Clarifying Routine (Ellis10)

Research by Frayer et al. supports the strategy of teaching concepts by
1. identifying the critical attributes of the word.
2. giving the category to which the word belongs.
3. discussing examples of the concept.
4. discussing nonexamples.
Others have had success extending this approach by guiding students through representation of
the concept in a visual map or graphic organizer. The Clarifying Routine, designed and
researched by Ellis et al.,13 is a particularly effective example of concept mapping. These are the
steps:
1. Select a critical concept / word to teach. Enter it on a graphic clarifying map like the
sample for satire.

2. List the clarifiers or critical attributes that explicate the concept.

3. List the core ideaa summary statement or brief definition.
4. Brainstorm for knowledge connectionspersonal links from students' word views/prior
knowledge (encourage idiosyncratic / personal links).
5. Give an example of the concept; link to clarifiers: "Why is this an example of ___?"
6. Give nonexamples. List nonexamples: "How do you know ___ is not an example of
___?"
7. Construct a sentence that "shows you know."
Term: SATIRE
Core Idea: Any Work That Uses Wit to Attack Foolishness
Example
A story that exposes the acts of
corrupt politicians by making fun
of them

Clarifiers
Can be oral or written.
Ridicule or expose vice in
Nonexample
a clever way.
A story that exposes the acts of
Can include irony
corrupt politicians through factual
exaggeration, name-calling,
reporting
understatement.
Are usually based on a real
Example sentence
person or event.
Charles Dickens used satire to
expose the problems of common
folks in working-class England.
10

Knowledge Connections
Political cartoons on the
editorial pages of our paper.
Stories TV comics tell to
make fun of the President
like Saturday Night Live.
My mom's humor at dinner
time!

Ellis, E. (1997). The Clarifying Routine. Lawrence, KS: Edge Enterprises 1997.

Tips for Using the Clarifying Routine

1. Provide all students with a blank clarifying map, and guide them in filling it out while
you model your thinking on an overhead projector.
2. In the "knowledge connections" (step 4 above), encourage students to generate their own
idiosyncratic linksanything to remind them of the concept. Total accuracy is not as
important as forging the cognitive linkage to the core idea.
3. Focus on nonexamples. This challenges students to explicate "why ___ is not an example
of ___." This level of analysis will greatly assist understanding.

4. Vary use of the routine as students become familiar with the steps, turning more and more
of the process over to student direction / control; for example, providing students with a
partially-filled-in map if their prior knowledge or proficiency in English requires more
support.
5. Challenge students to fill out their own clarifying maps.

AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT OF VOCABULARY

MASTERY
Because vocabulary plays such a central role in English language arts instruction, it makes sense
to assess students' comprehension and mastery of essential words and phrases introduced during
the course of a unit or lesson. However, so much new vocabulary may be highlighted in any
given lesson that it makes sense to prioritize words for students and to clearly stipulate those that
are most important and that you intend to include in an assessment.
During language arts instruction and assessment, it is helpful to make a distinction between
words that should simply enhance a student's receptive vocabulary and words that should ideally
enter a student's expressive vocabulary. A student's receptive vocabulary comprises to words that
are recognized and understood if presented in a rich and meaningful context when he or she is
listening or reading. This does not mean that the student necessarily feels comfortable using
words in either conversation or writing. A student's actual expressive vocabulary is those words
that the individual can use both confidently and appropriately. When designing vocabulary
assessments, it seems reasonable to include a majority of foundational words that are truly
critical to a student's grade level academic lexiconmore high-frequency terms that the learners
are likely to encounter both within and outside of the language arts classroom as they progress in
their schooling.
Traditional vocabulary assessments can reveal little about a student's actual word mastery,
particularly those assessments that require simple matching, a written definition, or use of the
word in an original sentence. While a student may be able to recall a memorized definition and
an example sentence provided by the dictionary or the instructor, there is no guarantee that the
student can actually use the word with facility. Many students have refined their skills in rote
memorization and succeed with these rote-level assessments. Then a week later they proceed to
misapply the terms in the next writing assignment. For this reason, teachers should refrain from
designing quizzes that merely tap into students' short-term memorization and should instead
require critical thinking and creative application.
There are many ways to design more authentic vocabulary assessments. Following are three
meaningful and alternative assessment formats that require relatively little preparation time:

Assessment Formats
1. Select only four to six important words and embed each in an accessible and
contextualized sentence followed by a semicolon. Ask students to add another sentence

after the semicolon that clearly demonstrates their understanding of the italicized word as
it is used in this context. This assessment format will discourage students from rote
memorization and merely recycling a sample sentence covered during a lesson.
Example: Mr. Lamont had the most eclectic wardrobe of any teacher on the high-school
staff;
2. Present four to six sentences each containing an italicized word from the study list and
ask students to decide whether each word makes sense in this context. If yes, the student
must justify why the sentence makes sense. If no, the student must explain why it is
illogical, and change the part of the sentence that doesn't make sense.
Example: Mr. Lamont had the most eclectic wardrobe of any teacher on the high-school
staff; rain or shine, he wore the same predictable brown loafers, a pair of black or brown
pants, a white shirt, and a beige sweater vest.
3. Write a relatively brief passage (one detailed paragraph) that includes six to ten words
from the study list. Then, delete these words and leave blanks for students to complete.
This modified cloze assessment will force students to scrutinize the context and draw
upon a deeper understanding of the words' meanings. Advise students to first read the
entire passage and to then complete the blanks by drawing from their study list. As an
incentive for students to prepare study cards or more detailed notes, they can be permitted
to use these personal references during the quiz (particularly if you have designed a more
challenging passage).
Because these qualitative and authentic assessments require more rigorous analysis and
application than most objective test formats, it seems fair to allow students to first
practice with the format as a class exercise and even complete occasional tests in a
cooperative group. Another suggestion is to frequently assign brief vocabulary quizzes
rather than occasionally assign expansive tests, to encourage students to review
vocabulary regularly and to facilitate transfer to long-term memory.

SUMMARY
In sum, there are countless additional strategies that teachers can employ to assist students in
building their vocabularies. However, it is essential to keep in mind that promoting extensive
reading, carefully selecting which words to teach quickly and which to teach extensively, and
choosing strategies that help students make cognitive connections between the new and the
known are at the heart of effective vocabulary building. Last, the more intangible notion of
taking delight in the world of words, modeling one's own love of language, pushing the "lexical
envelope" is less subject to research study but nonetheless certainly worthy of consideration.

REFERENCES

Allen, J. Words, Words, Words: Teaching Vocabulary in Grades 412. York, ME: Stenhouse
1999.
Baker, S. K., D. C. Simmons, and E. J. Kame'enui. "Vocabulary acquistion: Instructional and
curricular basics and implications." In D. C. Simmons and E. J. Kame'enui (eds.), What Reading
Research Tells Us About Children With Diverse Learning Needs. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates, 1988, pp. 219238.
Ellis, E. (1997). The Clarifying Routine. Lawrence, KS: Edge Enterprises 1997.
Graves, M. and Graves, B. Scaffolding Reading Experiences: Designs for Student Success.
Norwood, MA.: Christopher Gordon 1994.
Moore, P. W. and S. A. Moore. "Possible sentences." In E. K. Dishner, T. W. Bean, J. E.
Readence, and P. W. Moore (eds.), Reading in the Content Areas: Improving Classroom
Instruction, 2nd ed.,1986. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt pp. 174179.
Nagy, W. Teaching Vocabulary to Improve Reading Comprehension. Newark, DE: International
Reading Association 1988.
Stahl, S. A. Vocabulary Development. Cambridge, MA: Brookline Books 1999.
Taba, H. Teacher's Handbook for Elementary Social Studies. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley
1967.

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