Teaching Vocabulary Through Reading

Chapter 1 “A Most Terrible Sea”

At six in the morning I was awaked by a great shock, and a confused noise of the men on deck. I ran up, thinking some ship had run afoul of us, for by my own reckoning, and that of every other person in the ship, we were at least thirty-five leagues distant from land; but, before I could reach the quarter-deck, the ship gave a great stroke upon the ground, and the sea broke over her. Just after this I could perceive the land, rocky, rugged and uneven, about two cables’ length from us ... the masts soon went overboard, carrying some men with them ... notwithstanding a most terrible sea, one of the [lifeboats] was launched, and eight of the best men jumped into her; but she had scarcely got to the ship’s stern when she was hurled to the bottom, and every soul in her perished. The rest of the boats were soon washed to pieces on the deck. We then made a raft ... and waited with resignation for Providence to assist us.
From an account of the wreck of HMS Litchfield off the coast of North Africa, 1758

The Litchfield came to grief because no one aboard knew where they were. As the narrator tells us, by his own reckoning and that of everyone else they were supposed to be thirty-five leagues, about a hundred miles, from land. The word “reckoning” was short for “dead reckoning” — the system used by ships at sea to keep track of their position, meaning their longitude and latitude. It was an intricate system, a craft, and like every other craft involved the mastery of certain tools, in this case such instruments as compass, hourglass, and quadrant. It was an art as well.
Dash, J. (2000). The Longitude Prize. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

 

1. Choose three words from the text that can be taught using morphemic analysis (affixes, base words, roots). Briefly explain your reasoning for your choice of words.
    

2. Choose a group of at least three words from the text that can be taught using semantics (antonyms, synonyms, figurative language, etc.). Briefly explain your reasoning for your choice of words.

Tommy is a seventh grade struggling reader. He has always had difficulty expressing himself verbally and is quiet most of the time around his peers and family. In the past year, Tommy has become very interested in fishing. No one else in his family fishes so he reads every fishing magazine he can find. His mother is amazed at the increase in his vocabulary over the past year. Tommy’s teacher reports that both his expressive and receptive vocabulary have improved because he is reading more. 

Prompt

 

1. Explain how reading fishing magazines can improve Tommy’s expressive and receptive vocabulary. Include the connection between listening, speaking, reading, and writing. 

As we move forward with the discussion about the six reading components and the roles they play in the reading process, we now focus attention on vocabulary in this chapter. Vocabulary development begins at a very early age and continues throughout a person’s lifetime. 

We focus on the impact vocabulary has on the reading process and discuss the ways students learn vocabulary both indirectly and through direct instruction. Domain specific and academic language as well as the value of writing in vocabulary development are reviewed.

• Understand the goal of receptive and expressive vocabulary instruction is the application of a student’s understanding of word meanings to multiple oral and written contexts.

• Understand morphology as it relates to vocabulary development (e.g., morphemes, inflectional and derivational morphemes, morphemic analysis).

• Identify principles of semantics as they relate to vocabulary development (e.g., antonyms, synonyms, figurative language, etc.).

• Understand the domain specific vocabulary demands of academic language.

• Understand that writing can be used to enhance vocabulary instruction.

• Understand the role of formal and informal vocabulary assessment to make instructional decisions to meet individual student needs.

• Read content, visit recommended websites, access any multimedia, and complete interactive activities embedded in the course.

• Successfully complete Summative #7.

What Does it Mean to Know a Word?

Honig et al. (2013, p. 407) along with Steven Stahl define vocabulary as the knowledge of words and word meanings. As Steven Stahl (2005) puts it, “Vocabulary knowledge is knowledge. The knowledge of a word not only implies a definition, but it also implies how that word fits into the world.” Vocabulary knowledge is not something that can ever be fully mastered; it is something that expands and deepens over the course of a lifetime. 

Understanding a new word is more than simply reciting the dictionary definition. A new word is learned first at a surface level. The reader is acquainted with the new word but may only know one definition or context within which the word is used. The more a word is read and used in speaking and writing, the deeper the word knowledge.

 

Click on the down arrows to learn more about Allen’s (1999) descriptions of the multiple levels of understanding.

  Verbal Association Level

  Partial Concept Knowledge

  Full Concept Knowledge

Chapter 7, Vocabulary Gap

It is difficult, if not impossible, to comprehend text if the reader does not understand what most of the words mean (NPA, 2000). The level of vocabulary knowledge that a student brings to the reading process is a strong indicator of the success that student will have in comprehending text.
 
The Matthew Effect is evident when considering vocabulary knowledge of students. Students who have good vocabulary knowledge comprehend text more effectively and are likely to read more. Students who have poor vocabulary knowledge comprehend less and are more likely to become frustrated and read less. Since vocabulary is learned through reading, good readers continue to increase their vocabulary knowledge while poor readers do not.
 
This leads to a vocabulary gap that continues to separate good readers from poor readers. It begins in elementary school in which decoding and fluency are affected and the gap continues to widen in secondary school when text becomes more difficult.

Hart and Risley (2003) find that by age four, children of poverty are exposed to approximately 30 million fewer words than children in professional families. Children who enter school with low vocabulary knowledge are at risk of reading failure which leads to school failure.

The NRP (2000) finds that students learn new vocabulary both indirectly and through direct teaching. Most vocabulary is learned incidentally through multiple exposures to words (Honig et al., 2013). This happens through the types of oral language experiences to which children are exposed, as well as to their varied reading experiences. 

Children begin learning vocabulary starting at birth. The amount and quality of the language used by parents and caregivers affect the vocabulary knowledge children acquire prior to entering school. 

As previously noted, Hart and Resley (2003) found that children who grow up in poverty are exposed to far fewer words than children who grow up with parents having professional careers. This factor puts many children at risk before they even begin school since it takes multiple exposures to a word before it is truly learned.

Moats (2004) recognizes that the quality of the language children experience is critical. The everyday verbal interactions that they have with adults play a major role in developing children’s vocabulary. Consider the conversations of three different mothers and their children as they walk through the grocery store.