Vocabulary Word Building

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TheNAEP study does not distinguish whether the higher achievement scores of students who read more reflected an increased exposure to more words or the specific act of decoding, but I would argue that it is the former. It is hard to imagine that the mechanics related to reading are responsible for these academic gains. We know that good thinkers need words, and reading is a gateway into the world of words and ideas. Therefore it would follow that how one gathers words is less important than how many words one gathers.

Reading is harder and slower for dyslexic students. Consequently, they typically read less. If they are to keep up with their peers academically, then it is imperative to find additional ways to expose them to as many words and ideas as possible.

There are few things as powerful for encouraging a love of reading as a well-read story. This goes for all children. It is never too early to start reading books to children (and surprisingly, they are rarely too old to enjoy the act of being read to). In Naked Reading: Uncovering What Tweens Need to Become Lifelong Readers, Teri Lesesne cites Becoming a Nation of Readers, a study that was commissioned to examine reading in the United States, to make her own case for why teachers should not abandon reading to their classes once their students become independent readers. According to the study, reading aloud was the single most effective activity for building to eventual success in reading.

Read aloud is powerful because of the opportunity to model reading fluency and expression. Consequently, the reader should be comfortable and familiar with the text. Previewing allows the adult reader to know the overarching architecture of the story and the personalities of the individual characters so that they can employ appropriate voice and tone. Also, many teachers confuse reading aloud with a round robin student read. Unfortunately, round robin reads are often very stressful for student readers (they obsess and rehearse their turn instead of listening to the story). It is also typically a choppy and fragmented version of the story and not effective for encouraging focus and engagement.

Recorded Books: Listening to audiobooks is a way to deliver words and ideas to a child with limited access to an adult reader. Recorded books are wonderful, particularly when authors or professional actors read them. Listening to stories being read aloud by master storytellers goes a long way to cultivate a love of literature. The drawbacks are that the child cannot ask questions or engage with the recorded storyteller and it is more difficult to follow along with the words. Additionally, recorded books also make it more difficult to maneuver around the pages (relocating a passage or a reference requires skill and patience). Despite these drawbacks, recorded books remain a great supplemental way to keep a dyslexic reader well supplied with rich stories.

It should be no surprise that dyslexic students struggle with written vocabulary. Often complex words are challenging because of difficult pronunciations. Dyslexic students may even know the written word when used in a context or read aloud, but on a written word list it means nothing. Teachers often deliver vocabulary in unimaginative and problematic ways, but the good news is there are many ways to supplement vocabulary instruction that will help every dyslexic child get more out of word studies.

Publishers of test prep books are starting to catch on to the power of imagery to create additional associations for memorizing words. There are many vocabulary book and flashcards available now that are organized around images and cartoons. These tools can be helpful for dyslexic students preparing for standardized tests.

Dyslexics also benefit from acting out words. Having to bring a word to life is a little like a game of charades. The beauty of the game is that it requires the actor to understand the word in a deep way. Acting out the meaning of a word is particularly helpful to a child who is a tactile learner (one who learns through using his body), but everyone benefits from creating additional associations for words.

It is sobering, but not surprising, to know that how much time one spends reading influences academic achievement. However, it is also a great relief to know that there are many ways to gather words even when reading is not easy. Dyslexic children usually need additional support in their quest to find a way to gain access to the world of words, but in most cases, all that is required is an alternative path.

Studies across different languages and age groups have found that around 50 words account for 40-50% of our daily communication. 100 words account for 60%, and 200-400 words make up 80% of the words we use every day. Core words are usually verbs, adjectives, and pronouns, and less likely to be nouns.

There are several core-word based vocabularies available in apps (such as Proloquo and Proloquo2Go) or communication devices. In theory, these vocabularies give an AAC user 80% of the words they need to communicate. AAC users benefit from learning how to find and combine core words to express personal thoughts and preferences.

Core words are just one important part of a communication system. All communication tools should be balanced with also quick access to fringe vocabulary and the alphabet. Access to all these words and letters lets AAC users learn to communicate for a wide variety of reasons.

Typically developing children learn language by hearing it spoken around them all day. They hear this in real-life conversations for years before they develop the ability to put together sentences. But often we hand a non-speaking child a communication device and expect him to use it after a short demonstration.

All AAC users need to see what it looks like to communicate using their AAC in real conversations. This is called Modeling, or Aided Language Stimulation. The idea is to use AAC when you talk with the AAC user.

Set students up for academic success across the content areas with this systematic approach to teaching vocabulary. This flexible series focuses on vocabulary acquisition using Greek and Latin prefixes, suffixes, and bases which account for 90% of English words with two or more syllables. Empower students with the tools and strategies they need to decode words independently across multiple content areas both inside and outside of school.

Jen Jump is an Academic Officer for Teacher Created Materials.She is a passionate educator with more than 20 years of experience in various roles in some of the fastest growing urban school districts in the U.S, including the public school system in Washington D.C..

Words matter when it comes to reading and writing, so it is critical that word study is an integral part of our literacy curriculum. Using the power of Greek and Latin word roots, students can dive deeper into the meaning of words. In this session, you will learn simple and effective ways to incorporate word root routines into your weekly instruction using holidays or special days throughout the year.

Timothy Rasinski, Ph.D. is the author of numerous books and articles on reading education.He is a frequent, well-known presenter nationwide. His research on fluency has been cited by the National Reading Panel.

Join this webinar to discover new approaches for implementing high-yield instructional strategies and systems during school intervention programs to accelerate student growth. We will discuss how to meet the needs of all students.

Alan Becker currently serves as an Academic Officer with Teacher Created Materials specializing in best practices for curriculum and instruction. He provides professional development and training in the content areas of math, ELA, and social studies for school districts, teachers, and educational trainers. Prior to his work as an Academic Officer, Mr. Becker served as a District Elementary Education Specialist with Pitt County Schools in Greenville, North Carolina.

Jen Jump is an Academic Officer for Teacher Created Materials. She is a passionate educator with 15 years of experience in various roles in some of the fastest growing urban school districts in the U.S, including the public school system in Washington D.C.

Morphology is the study of words and their parts. Morphemes, like prefixes, suffixes and base words, are defined as the smallest meaningful units of meaning. Morphemes are important for phonics in both reading and spelling, as well as in vocabulary and comprehension.

Teaching morphemes unlocks the structures and meanings within words. It is very useful to have a strong awareness of prefixes, suffixes and base words. These are often spelt the same across different words, even when the sound changes, and often have a consistent purpose and/or meaning.

If a word has an inflectional morpheme, it is still the same word, with a few suffixes added. So if you looked up in the dictionary, then only the base word would get its own entry into the dictionary. Skipping and skipped are listed under skip, as they are inflections of the base word. Skipping and skipped do not get their own dictionary entry.

Another example is : run (base form), running (present progressive), ran (past tense). In this example the past tense marker changes the vowel of the word: run (rhymes with fun), to ran (rhymes with can). However, the inflectional morphemes -ing and past tense morpheme are added to the base word , and are listed in the same dictionary entry.

Derivational morphemes are different to inflectional morphemes, as they do derive/create a new word, which gets its own entry in the dictionary. Derivational morphemes help us to create new words out of base words.

Students with reading learning difficulties may have problems with one or more components of literacy (phonology, orthography and oral language). For these students, the teaching of word morphology (a sub-component of oral language) has the potential to help improve both word decoding and reading comprehension, as word morphology transfers to other components of reading (Good et al. 2015). The development of morphemic awareness involves the teaching of prefixes, suffixes and base/root words to build a conscious awareness of morphemic structures in words and the meaning of various morphemes.

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