Vocabulary (& Decoding) - Day 6 RPI

Since I first signed up for the RPI, I have been really looking forward to attending today's session about vocabulary. Supporting my students in developing a strong vocabulary is an ongoing challenge in my classroom, and I'm always eager to find new strategies. As an experienced teacher, I know how crucial it is for students to have a wide vocabulary so they can express themselves effectively, both orally and in the written word. It's clear that students are at a disadvantage without this foundation.

Dorothy's (Manaiakalani) talk this morning reinforced this idea, emphasising that a strong vocabulary enhances all aspects of communication: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. She pointed out that improving vocabulary is essential for overcoming disadvantages in oral language development and early literacy.

A recent study by Starship in Auckland found that most children in the Tamaki area start school at a developmental level of 3-4 years. They assessed 120 children between June 2016 and May 2017, including 25% Maori, 27% Tongan, 19% Samoan, 13% CI Maori, and 16% from other backgrounds. This of course is not a new phenomenon and like many schools in Auckland, many of our students at Ōwairaka are running to catch up from day one. Fortunately, research has provided us with some key approaches to support accelerated learning, such as explicit vocabulary instruction.

My notes from today that I will be taking back to my team are:

“An interest and awareness of words” 

(Scott and Nagy, 2004; Anderson & Nagy, 1992)

Building Word Consciousness: Foster an interest in and awareness of words through rich incidental exposure and explicit teaching, using a three-tier model focusing on multiple exposures and word selection.

Robust Teaching of Words: Teach words thoroughly, covering their depth and breadth, syntax, orthography, and phonology. Strategies include using morphology to understand academic vocabulary (Tier 3 words) and teaching methods to crack unfamiliar words.

Principles of Robust Vocabulary Instruction:

• Direct, learner-friendly explanations
• Connections to students’ lived experiences
• Playful and engaging use of words
• Interactive engagement
• Follow-up through multiple encounters with new words.

 

    

To reach a 15,000-20,000 word vocabulary by literacy, students need to acquire about 700 words annually. Tier 2 words are ideal for targeted teaching due to their high utility and impact on verbal functioning.

Practical Classroom Strategies:

• Pause and express interest in new words
• Encourage students to identify and record high-value words during reading
• Challenge students to use these words in various contexts
• Maintain a 'Cool, New Words' space and promote students as 'Word Wizards'.

 

It is a nice feeling when you realise that you and your colleagues are on the right path when teaching our students to have a wide and diverse vocabulary and a better understanding of morphology. In Years 4 to 6, the WordLab spelling program (Literacy Innovators) is used and complements the phonic program (Yolanda Soryl) taught in Years 0-3. WordLab teaches decoding skills in multi-syllable words, compound words, morphology units, and word chunks.

So what is next for my teaching practice? 

I am going to plan in more time for word work using the robust, interactive vocabulary approaches:

• Word Associations
• When have/might you ..?
• Which would YOU ..
• Degrees of Meaning. 

I am also going to focus on teaching questioning skills using both the Q-A-R questions and the role prompt cards. I know this will help build more independence and student-led conversations during guided reading sessions. 

Another great session and as a bonus today came with many ready-made resources to share. I look forward to trying them with my class next term.