Vocabulary Matters!

Encouraging your child to increase their vocabulary has been proven to improve reading comprehension as well as overall academic achievement. This might seem obvious to most teachers and involved parents, but some might not have closely considered this connection before.

While at school, on the playground, watching t.v., or even listening to their parents talk, children are exposed to a wide variety of new words each day, some of which they are able to morphologically decode and connect with words they already know. Morphological awareness is a huge part of this development and occurs naturally, through various stages, in learners of any language. 

This strategy of using morphemes to develop vocabulary, in the hopes of attaining fluency, is useful in the classroom. When students can visually make connections between variations of words they already know, their vocabulary can increase exponentially. For example, I studied Latin for several years and my vocabulary expanded as a result. However, not all languages have common ground. So, what can be done for students when the words they are exposed to are unprecedented and previously unheard?

In this case, there is a need to focus more on text specific words. By this I mean students need to actually learn new words by studying them, not just by inherently learning them via their environment, (a good example would be specialized vocabulary, such as scientific terms, thematic vocabulary or content vocabulary). If students are able to understand new words they find in academic settings, they can start to apply their knowledge elsewhere in their studies, thereby enabling them to fully comprehend these words. Naturally, they will also be able to apply them correctly to their writing and speaking. Once the meanings of these words are completely understood, they will be added to the students’ memory, thus enabling them to use them to decode other morphologically similar words.

When focusing specifically on vocabulary instruction, it is important to be aware of the three tiers of vocabulary used in most schools to encourage development. 

Tier 1 consists of basic words that are the most commonly used in language, such as sight words or function words.

Tier 2 consists of words that are useful high frequency terms that occur across several curriculums and are essential for the deeper understanding of a language.

Tier 3 consists of words that are used in specific content areas and are used only in certain subjects or contexts.

In the classroom

I took all of this information into consideration and created some lessons for my EFL kindergarten students.  An important element in my classroom is incorporating touch screen games into the morning work and free time sections of classes. This multimedia teaching style is motivational and effective for students learning new vocabulary words.  My students are very interested in playing games and they are more likely to be excited about doing worksheets or writing intensively if they know the promise of an educational game awaits them. Additionally, multimedia options in the classroom allow for expansion of background knowledge via video, text and photos. If a student can't understand a word via explanation alone, there are many more options available to ensure comprehension with the touch screen. 

Since students are continuously exposed to new vocabulary and there is no limit to what new words they will hear during any given day, I have pre-selected words that I think will be especially useful for students to learn. I have also supplemented these with additional words in the form of ‘Vivid Verbs’ and ‘Other Ways To Say’ activities, which have already been integrated into the classroom for an extended period of time. I chose words from a Tier 2 level and encouraged students to make connections between words in their texts and words I had selected with the same morphemes. 

A good example of this is manage > manager > managed > management. Breaking down the meaning of manage for students, and allowing them to use their knowledge about prefixes and suffixes allowed them to detect the meaning of the words. They also used context clues to help them assign meaning. 

It is important for students at a kindergarten age to deepen and broaden their vocabulary knowledge, as a wide-ranging vocabulary has been shown to be a precursor to reading ability and high school graduation rates (Overturf, 2014).

Vocabulary development is a fundamental building block for ELLs’ language development. Without focus, thought, and tailored instruction, ELL students can face a lack of understanding as well as a disadvantage when compared to their native speaking peers.

In my classroom, students are Korean EFLs with no native speaking peers. However, the demands placed on these students are high and they need as much support as possible. The creation of a word-rich environment will allow students to increase their vocabulary, literacy, and proficiency in English. When students are comfortable and confident in their abilities, they can become the executors of their English education.