Topic: Teaching Vocabulary
The National Reading
Panel in 2000 recognized the significance of vocabulary knowledge to reading
achievement. Many studies reveal that children with a wide vocabulary range
often succeed in the reading process, while those who have limited vocabulary
often experience comprehension bog down.
Given the importance of vocabulary to reading success and to learning,
teachers began to focus more on explicit vocabulary instruction. In 1983, Chall distinguished between two
types of vocabulary needed for reading: word-recognition
vocabulary and meaning vocabulary.
- Word-recognition vocabulary consists of words that a student can pronounce when seen in print, whether by sight or by use of word attack skills.
- Meaning vocabulary consists of words that a student can attach appropriate meaning to or define.
Strategies
in Teaching Vocabulary
A.
Word Formation Processes
The
English language is a very dynamic language.
There are many processes by which new words are added to a language.
Teaching students the different word formation processes helps students
recognize words and hypothesize about their meanings.
- Acronym are words that are formed from the initials of several words
·
RAM
- Random Access Memory
·
SCUBA
– Self-contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus
·
RADAR
– Radio Detection and Ranging
·
LASER
– Light Amplification of Stimulated Emission of Radiation
- Back-formation occurs when words are morphologically interpreted incorrectly
·
peddle - formed from the word peddler (It was
incorrectly interpreted as meaning “one who peddles”)
·
lasing - formed from the noun laser; it means the
process of using laser
- Compounding is formed by combining two or more pre-existing words together
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- Blending is formed like compound words, but parts of the combined words are deleted in the process
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- Borrowing is the integration of a word from one language into another. Almost 40% of English words are borrowed from other languages
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- Clipping is the process of shortening a word, and marks the acceptance of an abbreviation as a word in its own right.
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- Coinage is the creation of a novel or new word for something, many times something that is new to the language
·
Many
brand names of products are coined words: Jell-O, Vaseline, Plexiglas (which is
also a blend of plastic, flexible, and glass), and Kleenex are all examples
·
Words
may also be formed from the names of people and places, which are known as
eponyms
·
For
example, sandwich is named after the fourth Earl of Sandwich, who placed food
between two hunks of bread to be able to eat and gamble at the same time
·
Another
example is use of john as a synonym for the restroom
- Derivation is formed by adding derivational morphemes to existing ones The infamous example:
·
anti
+ dis + establish + ment + ary + an + ism
- Functional Shift A new word may also be formed by treating an already existing word as if it were a member of a different syntactic category
·
Meal
(n) – has become a verb meal
·
Beach
(n) – has become a verb meaning “to get stuck on a beach”
B.
Context Clues. The meaning of a word
may be determined by its environment, the words that surround it, either coming
before or after it in the sentence or in the paragraph.
1.
Definition is considered the simplest and most obvious
way by which the meaning of a word is revealed.
The be verb is used to
equate the term to be defined to the familiar word in the sentence.
·
Biology is a branch of science that deals with the study of living things.
2.
Restatements may be in the form of synonyms, examples,
elaboration by the use of modifiers, and pairing closely related words. It is usually introduced by signal words: that
is, for example, such as, like, in the way, that, in other words, what this
means, etc. It may also be signaled
by the dash and the parentheses.
·
Many garment companies are downsizing – or
reducing the number of employees – in order to save money and increase the
amount of profit.
·
The river was full of noxious materials such as
cleaning agents from factories and pesticides from the nearby farms.
3.
Synonym is a word that means essentially the same
thing as another word. It is usually
preceded by the function word or.
Sometimes the synonym may be found in another sentence within the
paragraph.
·
Sports are universal, and very few people have not succumbed,
or given in, to their lure at one time or another.
·
Mrs. Barron loves to chat, and her friends are
similarly loquacious.
4.
Antonym is the opposite or
contrasting word that may serve as a clue to the unfamiliar word.
·
The girl who used to be very vociferous
doesn't talk much anymore.
·
Andrea
is one of the most supercilious people I know. Her brother, in contrast,
is quite humble and meek.
5.
Inference requires reading between lines to see
connections and relationships not explicitly stated in a particular passage.
·
Josie received a bauble for Christmas from
her great aunt. This she put with her others, a pair of imitation earrings, a
fake emerald pendant, and a ring that looked like a ruby.
· From the lugubrious expressions of people coming out of the theatre, I could tell that the movie had a tragic ending.
6.
Homophones & homographs – homophones are words with the same pronunciation but with different
spellings; homographs are words with more than one definition.
Homophones: Site-sight-cite-scythe martial-marshal
Rite, right, write new-knew
Aisle, I’ll, isle course-coarse
Homographs: If the judges are fair, our rabbit will win a ribbon at the fair.
Jim hunts, but he does not shoot does.
Andrei didn’t feel well after falling into the well.
7.
Words of Various Disciplines are the basic meaning
of specialized vocabulary in a particular subject area.
·
The capital of
the Philippines
is Metro Manila. (Social Science)
·
His capital for
the new business is one million pesos. (Math)
·
The mouse
is not working. Call the technician.
(Computer Science)
·
The mouse belongs
to the rodent family. (Science)
8.
Multiple Context make the meaning of unfamiliar words clearer
and easily understood.
·
Butterflies fly from flower to flower.
·
How high did the boy fly his kite?
·
Airplanes fly regularly from Manila to Hongkong.
C.
Vocabulary Cs
1.
Collocation refers to the combination of words bring about different shades of
meaning
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sugar is sweet
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sweet face
·
sweet tooth
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sweet potato
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sweet talk
·
sweet someone
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2.
Cline places related words within a slope to show degrees
Temperature: Boiling/ hot/ lukewarm/ warm/cold/ freezing
3.
Cluster refers to the process of grouping similar or related things
·
LARGE in SIZE -
big-great-huge-tremendous-massive-beyond-outside-stupendous-gigantic-gross-colossal-grand
4.
Chain: synonym words are arranged in chains to show gradation of difficulty
·
hunt-seek-trace-track-search-inquire-pursue-look
for
Source: M.A Class ( TESL) with Professor Marla Papango,Philippine Normal University
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