Vocabulary Instruction Best Practices

Vocabulary Instruction – Best Practices

Grand Canyon University: SED-535

March 18, 2015

Marzano

Robert Marzano created a six-step process that helps the student build their academic vocabulary. These strategies are designed to be effective at all grade levels, K-12. His steps are most effective when used altogether, not leaving any step out of the process. A teacher’s goal for their student is not the general accumulation of knowledge, but is instead the honing of cognitive skills such as thinking critically. (Willingham, 2006).

While working on this assignment, it was learned that there is no single best approach to teaching vocab instruction. Nagy found that integration, repetition, and meaningful use were the means in which effective vocabulary instruction is taught. (Nagy, 1988). This paper will examine a little more in depth process.

Six Steps (Marzano, 2004)

1. The teacher provides a description, explanation, or example of the new term.

2. Students restate the explanation of the new term in their own words.

3. Students create a nonlinguistic representation of the term.

4. Students periodically engage in activities that help them add to their knowledge of the vocabulary term.

5. Periodically, students are asked to discuss terms with one another.

6. Periodically, students are involved in games that allow them to play with the terms.

Let us examine each step on an individual basis, bearing in mind that a student’s ability to understand a written text and comprehend it is significantly connected with background knowledge of the student (Kosmoski, 1990).

Step 1

When providing an explanation, example, or description of the new terminology, it is important to note that simply seeking the definition in a dictionary is not always best for teaching vocabulary. Effective teachers need to provide context for the vocab word, and present direct familiarities which deliver accurate examples of said vocabulary term. The teacher can also tell a story to the class that incorporates the new vocabulary word. An additional tool could be to have the learners investigate the vocab word and share their learned knowledge with their classmates. This could be in the form of a drawing, a skit or drama, etc. The students should have their own mental image of the vocab and be able to describe it. And