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All about vocabulary: Vocab Tiers, Teaching Tips and more!

How can we support understanding with vocabulary? Let's learn all about vocabulary and how we can teach new words to support comprehension!


As the weather gets cooler and the chill in the air becomes chillier, we tend to find more moments for cozy reading and quiet learning. In honor of the cozy months, we are tackling vocabulary! We will learn a little bit about vocabulary and its importance for language comprehension as well as some easy tips and tricks to teach vocabulary. 






What is vocabulary and why is it important? 

Vocabulary is our understanding of the world with words! Being able to capture the world with words is what helps us to process and organize what we know as well as communicate it with the people in our world. As we experience new things, we expand our capacity for language to capture those experiences and we connect it to information that we already know in a ‘web’ of related words. We call this our lexicon…the interconnected ‘web’ of words in our brains that helps us to store and retrieve words. Teaching new vocabulary concepts, particularly those related to a specific theme or topic, can help to expand this web and allow our kiddos to better comprehend the concepts and topics embedded in sentences that they hear and read. 


Vocabulary Tiers


There are three main types of vocabulary, organized into tiers of increasing complexity.


Tier 1 Vocabulary:  basic words that we see often in everyday conversations 

Tier 2 Vocabulary: Words that are seen in academic texts and conversations around academic topics 

Tier 3 Vocabulary: Words that are specific to a particular subject or content area that appear less frequently in our conversations 

 


What are some ways we can teach new vocabulary?


1) Teaching the word explicitly and building connections

 When teaching new vocabulary, we can focus on building a deep understanding of the word by connecting the word to real-life examples and experiences, helping to connect the child’s background knowledge to the new information. We can also work on building a deeper understanding of the word by talking about features of the words, how you use it, what part of speech it falls into, comparisons between related words, words that are related or in the same category, examples of the words, and words that mean the same and the opposite of the vocabulary word. You can use a graphic organizer with models like the Frayer Model or Semantic mapping to organize related information or even practice drawing out a picture or writing the definition in their own words. 


2) Talk about the word parts (morphology) and sounds (phonology)

When learning new words, we can often help kids identify word ‘parts’ (prefix and suffixes like -re, -pre etc.) that are consistent across words. Learning these word parts and their meanings can help build the foundation for increased understanding across multiple words that use the same components. In addition to the meaning of the word parts, we can also talk about what sounds we hear in the words. Talk about the syllables, the beginning and ending sounds, and if there are words that rhyme or have similar sound components. Talking about the sound elements of the word can also be a great opportunity for practicing how to say and/or spell the word! This builds word recognition and helps to tap into the parts of the brain that store sound information about words. As you practice these pieces, don’t forget to ask your kids to generate their own examples, non-examples, definitions, and sentences! This will help to solidify what they know and give you a clue into how well they are understanding the knew information. 


3) Encourage Word Awareness

This is a strategy that is so simple, but helps to promote new vocabulary awareness and growth. Talking about words and helping kids to notice and become more aware of vocabulary terms in their world can help to boost their vocabulary growth. You might even make this fun by adding new words to a word magnet wall on the fridge or even by keeping a notebook for new words. 


4) Add visuals

You can use tools like graphic organizers, word mapping, and pictures of the image to help support learning and understanding. Graphic organizers can be used for any of the above strategies! A quick search for ‘morphology graphic organizers’ can help you teach word parts and Frayer model graphic organizers or semantic mapping graphic organizers can help to support content and connections. 


5) Review, repeat, and retrieve

Once we learn a new word and practice building sound awareness, connection, and meaning…we can’t stop there! We want to help build opportunities for revisiting newly learned words and build the use and review of the words in a variety of contexts. Think multiple stories, games, sentences, and even highlighting words that appear in assignments or books. This helps to solidify the meaning and encourage the brain to identify the word as something worthy of long-term memory storage.

 

Providing these repetition opportunities can be done in so many ways! Some examples are games or crossword puzzles, creating mnemonic keywords (linking new words to a keyword or vivid imagery) , exit slips for teachers,  or even a friendly family competition around who can use the 'word of the week' the most times! Try to use the word in a variety of different forms (e.g., construct, constructed, construction etc.) as you are modeling to help solidify the new vocabulary. 


Some ideas for targeting vocabulary this winter...


Need some ideas to get you started with new vocabulary ideas for winter? Check out the list below for some ideas related to winter in each tier of vocabulary complexity! Look for these words in stories, shows, and more as you read and learn about winter!





Need some extra support with vocabulary learning or comprehension? Contact us today to book a free consultation!





Resources & References

-Stahl, S. A., & Fairbanks, M. M. (1986). The Effects of Vocabulary Instruction: A Model-Based Meta-Analysis. Review of Educational Research, 56(1), 72-110. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543056001072 (Original work published 1986)


 
 
 
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