EPSE 502 Martina Cawker

Book Talk
The Book
Greene, J. W. C. A. J. (2015). Academic Vocabulary for Middle School Students. Baltimore: Brookes
Publishing. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ubc/detail.action?docID=
1963746

Summary
This book is a great reference for beginners and experts alike when teaching vocabulary to
students of middle school ages and beyond.

Key Theoretical Ideas

Academic vocabulary - words that exist frequently in academic texts but not so frequently in other
kinds of texts.

Technical vocabulary - words that are important to know within a specific context area but not as
important to know outside of context area.
Some everyday words have a technical meaning when used in specific subjects ex. cream in Foods or
solution in Science

Principles for Prioritizing Vocabulary

Frequency
Consider high, mid, and low frequency words

Repetition
Student’s need opportunities to interact with the words through listening, speaking, reading, and
writing
Require students to use words in small and whole class discussions

Spaced retrieval
The more times a learner retrieves a word from memory, the stronger the connection between the
word and memory

Avoiding interference
Make sure learners have full understanding of lexically related words before introducing a new one
to avoid confusion, ex: affect/effect

Generation Principle
Students need opportunities to encounter and use new words in different contexts, ex. cream

Nation’s vocabulary balance

1) Meaning-- focused input (learning target vocabulary through reading and listening)
EPSE 502 Martina Cawker

2) Meaning-- focused output (learning target vocabulary through writing and speaking)
3) Language-- focused learning (learning the pronunciation, spelling, morphology, grammar-- use
patterns, and other elements of target vocabulary),
4) Fluency (the ability to use target vocabulary with speed and accuracy in reading, writing,
speaking, and listening).

Activities – pg. 44-70 – 14 different activities, some which work well with specific subjects more
than others. All come with suggested extension activities that are research based.

Description of Significance

Though I teach high school, middle school vocabulary strategies are still relevant, particularly
with grade 8 and 9 students, especially because they likely have not taken a Foods class before. I
have very little knowledge on how to successfully teach vocabulary and the book provides
researched based, clear examples. In a course such as Foods, a specific term in a recipe can make or
break it so it is very important for students to understand vocabulary relating to their labs. I have
many students in my class who are have learning challenges or are ELL and they need to understand
vocabulary to experience success. Finally, after an entire semester of teaching Foods 10, I had some
students on one of the last labs of the year unsure what the difference between a boil and simmer
is. This taught me that I need to teach vocabulary more frequently in my classes.

How to use it in a professional context

This book provides theoretical, researched based information about how and why to teach
vocabulary. Additionally, it provides 14 activities that can be implemented or tweaked to suit the
needs of just about any classroom. Each activity is backed with research and details how students
will benefit from the activity. The activities also have extension ideas on how to further expand
vocabulary lessons.