Vocabulary: Diversity
English Language Learners Learners
Vocabulary development is vital for all ELL students’ success in school. Here are some important things to consider when completing vocabulary instruction with ELL students (Antunez, 2002):
- Vocabulary needs to be taught explicitly because without it there will be no fluency or comprehension, because they need to context in order to be successful.
- Figurative language will cause confusion for ELL students, it will need to be explicitly taught to them
- Vocabulary instruction should not be taught in isolation, but instead through the reading of authentic texts.
- Provide students with the meanings of new vocabulary words before introducing a new text.
- A lot of vocabulary instruction occurs indirectly in social conversations and listening to others speak
This website supports the development of oral vocabulary in ELL students through the use of conversation. It supplies a teacher with multiple questions that will prompt conversations with your ELL students about hundreds of different topics.
The article from reading rockets discusses the five essential aspects of literacy instruction (phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development, fluency, and comprehension) and the best practices for developing these in our ELL students.
This article colorincolorado.org supplies 4th through 12th grade teachers with tips for teaching vocabulary to their ELL students. It includes twelve tips that make the implementation of vocabulary seem natural!
If you want to learn how vocabulary affects your ELL students and different classroom strategies that you can use to implement vocabulary instruction, than this website is for you!
Special Education Learners who Struggle with Literacy
Vocabulary instruction will help students with special needs to be more successful in class. Here are several strategies that will help low perform readers develop their vocabulary more effectively (Allington, 2006):
- Teachers should bring attention to words daily and create an environment where students feel like word detectives
- Teachers should teach students the different types of context clues: synonyms, antonyms, example, definitions, and inference.
- Teachers should directly teach ten new words a week that are from texts the students will be working with that week. This will make the instruction much more meaningful.
Gifted and Talented Learners
According to the National Reading Panel (2001) these strategies are effective when teaching vocabulary to gifted and talented students:
- Computer/Multimedia Instruction
- Dictionary/Glossary
- Key Word Method
- Association Method
- Repeated Multiple Exposure
- Context Methods
- Preview of Vocabulary Words
- Roots/Affixes Analysis
- Wide Reading
- Elaborate/Rich Instruction
- Interactive Vocabulary Techniques
- Text Revision