essay about teaching vocabulary

Vocabulary words: An evidence-based literacy strategy

By Cheryl Lyon, MAT

Expert reviewed by Allison Posey, MEd, CAST, Inc.

What you’ll learn

Watch: see teaching vocabulary words in action, read: how to use this vocabulary words strategy, understand: why this strategy works, connect: link school to home, research behind this strategy.

It’s hard for students to read and understand a text if they don’t know what the words mean. A solid vocabulary boosts reading comprehension for students of all ages. The more words students know, the better they understand the text. That’s why effective vocabulary teaching is so important, especially for students who learn and think differently.

In this article, you’ll learn how to explicitly teach vocabulary using easy-to-understand definitions, engaging activities, and repeated exposure. This strategy includes playing vocabulary games, incorporating visual supports like graphic organizers, and giving students the chance to see and use new words in real-world contexts.

The goal of this teaching strategy isn’t just to increase your students’ vocabulary. It’s to make sure the words are meaningful and relevant to their lives.

Watch this video of a kindergarten teacher teaching the word startled to her students:

Objective:  Students will learn the meaning of new high-value words and how to use them.

Grade levels (with standards): 

K–5 (CCSS ELA Literacy Anchor Standard L.4: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases)

K–5 (CCSS ELA Literacy Anchor Standard R.4: Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text)

Best used for instruction with:

Whole class

Small groups

Individuals

How to prepare:

Choose the words to teach. For weekly vocabulary instruction, work with students to choose three to five new words per week. Select words that students will use or see most often, or words related to other words they know. 

Before you dive in, it’s helpful to know that vocabulary words can be grouped into three tiers: 

Tier 1 words: These are the most frequently used words that appear in everyday speech. Students typically learn these words through oral language. Examples include dog , cat , happy , see , run , and go .

Tier 2 words: These words are used in many different contexts and subjects. Examples include interpret , assume , necessary , and analyze .

Tier 3 words: These are subject-specific words that are used in particular subject areas, such as peninsula in social studies and integer in math. 

When choosing which vocabulary words to teach, you may want to pick words from Tier 2 because they’re the most useful across all subject areas.

Select a text. Find an appropriate text (or multiple texts for students to choose from) that includes the vocabulary words you want to teach.

Come up with student-friendly definitions. Find resources you and your students can consult to come up with a definition for each word. The definition should be easy to understand, be written in everyday language, and capture the word’s common use. Your definitions can include pictures, videos, or other multimedia options. Cambridge Learner’s Dictionary , Merriam-Webster Learner’s Dictionary , and Wordsmyth Children’s Dictionary are all good resources to help create student-friendly definitions.

How to teach:

1. Introduce each new word one at a time. Say the word aloud and have students repeat the word. For visual support, display the words and their definitions for students to see, such as on a word wall, flip chart, or vocabulary graphic organizer. Showing pictures related to the word can be helpful, too.

For English language learners (ELLs): Try to use cognates (words from different languages that have a similar meaning, spelling, and pronunciation) when you introduce new words. For more information about using cognates when teaching vocabulary to ELLs, use these resources from Colorín Colorado . You can also ask students to say or draw their own definition of the words — in English or their home language — to help them understand each word and its meaning.

2. Reflect. Allow time for students to reflect on what they know or don’t know about the words. Remember that your class will come to the lesson with varying levels of vocabulary knowledge. Some students may be familiar with some of the words. Other students may not know any of them. If time permits, this could be a good opportunity to use flexible grouping so students can work on different words.

3. Read the text you’ve chosen. You can read it to your students or have students read on their own (either a printed version or by listening to an audio version). As you read, pause to point to the vocabulary words in context. Use explicit instruction to teach the word parts, such as prefixes and suffixes, to help define the word. If students are reading on their own or with a partner, encourage them to “hunt” for the words before reading. Hunting for these words first can reduce distractions later when the focus is on reading the text. 

4. Ask students to repeat the word after you’ve read it in the text. Then remind students of the word’s definition. If a word has more than one meaning, focus on the definition that applies to the text.

5. Use a quick, fun activity to reinforce each new word’s meaning. After reading, use one or more of the following to help students learn the words more effectively:

Word associations: Ask students, “What does the word delicate make you think of? What other words go with delicate ?” Students can turn and talk with a partner to come up with a response. Then invite pairs to share their responses with the rest of the class.

Use your senses: Ask your students to use their senses to describe when they saw, heard, felt, tasted, or smelled something that was delicate . Allow students time to think. Then ask them to give a thumbs up if they’ve ever seen something delicate . Call on students to share their responses. Do the same with each of the senses.

A round of applause: If the word is an adjective, invite students to clap based on how much they would like a delicate toy, for example. Or students can “vote with their feet” by moving to one corner of the room if they want a delicate toy or another corner if they don't. This activity works especially well if you pair the new adjective with a familiar noun.

Picture perfect: Invite students to draw a picture that represents the word’s meaning. 

Examples and non-examples: Give one example and one non-example of how the word is and isn’t used. For instance, you could tell students that one thing that is delicate is a teacup. One thing that isn’t delicate is the cement stairs into the school. Then invite students to share their own examples of things that are and aren’t delicate .

After students do one or more of the activities above, have them say or draw the word again.

6. Play word games. Throughout the week, play word games like vocabulary bingo, vocabulary Pictionary, and charades to practice the new words. Include words you’ve taught in the past for additional reinforcement. 

7. Challenge students to use new words. They can use their new vocabulary in different contexts, like at home, at recess, or during afterschool activities. Consider asking students to use a vocabulary notebook to jot down when they use the words. You can even get your colleagues or school administrators in on the fun by asking them to use the words when talking with students or in announcements. Praise students when you hear them using those words in and out of the classroom. 

Rote memorization (“skill and drill”) isn't very helpful when it comes to learning new vocabulary. Students learn best from explicit instruction that uses easy-to-understand definitions, engaging activities, and repeated exposure. Teaching this way will help students understand how words are used in real-life contexts and that words can have different meanings depending on how they’re used. 

This explicit approach helps all students and is especially helpful for students who learn and think differently. This includes students who have a hard time figuring out the meaning of new words when they’re reading. It can be difficult for them to make an inference or use context clues to figure out what a word means.

Explicit vocabulary instruction with student-friendly definitions means there’s no guesswork involved. Repeated exposure and practice help to reinforce the words in students’ memories.  

Share with families this resource they can use at home to help students grow their vocabulary. You can model some of these strategies for families at back-to-school night or another family event.  

“Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction (2nd ed.),” by Isabel L. Beck, Margaret G. McKeown, and Linda Kucan

“A review of the current research on vocabulary instruction,” from the National Reading Technical Assistance Center, RMC Research Corporation

“Building Academic Vocabulary: Teacher’s Manual,” by Robert J. Marzano and Debra J. Pickering

“Teaching Word Meanings,” by Steven A. Stahl and William E. Nagy

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The importance of vocabulary in effective literacy instruction

When it comes to learning to read, vocabulary is a very important word. Let’s find out exactly what it means and how to help students build their own.

When you learn to read, you don’t learn just to pronounce words—you learn to understand them, and how they work together to convey meaning. In fact, it almost goes without saying that vocabulary is an essential, non-negotiable building block of literacy. 

But there’s actually a lot to say about vocabulary. And in the context of literacy instruction, it’s about much more than memorizing and amassing words and definitions. 

If there’s one word we need to better understand to explore the importance of vocabulary, it’s… vocabulary . So let’s explore the word’s full definition, as well as how it fits into best practices in literacy instruction.

Why is teaching vocabulary important? 

Vocabulary is one of the five foundational skills in reading and a key strand in the Reading Rope . As a word, it refers to the collection of words that we understand and use in language. 

Vocabulary includes both the words we recognize and comprehend when reading or listening (receptive vocabulary) and the words we can use accurately and effectively when speaking or writing (expressive vocabulary) . 

But our vocabulary isn’t just a list of words and their definitions. “Words are interrelated,” says Nancy Hennessey, former president of the International Dyslexia Association, on Science of Reading: The Podcast . “We’re storing words in networks of meaning.”

Entwined in those networks is background knowledge. We can memorize words in a vacuum, but they’re not really part of our vocabulary until and unless they’re grounded in what we know.

“Background knowledge and vocabulary are the main support beams in the comprehension house,” says Hennessey. 

How to teach vocabulary as students grow

First, it’s important to note that tactics and emphasis can and should shift as readers develop skills. As Hennessey notes, we can measure vocabulary in terms of both breadth and depth. These elements play distinct yet complementary roles in literacy development.

Vocabulary breadth refers to the sheer number of words a reader knows and recognizes. A broad vocabulary enables readers to understand a wide range of texts and communicate effectively in various contexts.

In the early stages of reading development, educators might emphasize increasing vocabulary breadth—exposing readers to diverse texts, books, conversations, and experiences. In this way, new readers start building a foundation of familiar words that they can understand and use.

As students learn more, instruction can shift from breadth to depth . Here’s where educators dig into the intricacies of word meanings—exploring synonyms, antonyms, contexts, and connotations. A deep vocabulary allows readers to grasp subtle nuances in language and engage in more sophisticated forms of expression and comprehension.

Vocabulary activities and instruction

Hennessey has developed a four-pronged approach to vocabulary instruction, grounded in the Science of Reading . The four prongs are:

• Intentional instruction : explicitly teaching the meaning of specific words.
• “Incidental-on-purpose” instruction : helping students understand new words as they come up.
• Intentional teaching of independent word learning strategies : giving students tools to help them determine the meaning of words on their own (e.g., using morphology, context clues, or even glossaries).
• Development of “word consciousness” : getting students interested in how words work to convey meaning, uses of figurative language, etc. 

“These approaches are based on the fact that we know we need to explicitly teach words,” Hennessey says, “but we also need to continue developing vocabulary through oral experience and reading, because we can’t teach all the words that our students need to know.”

In the context of literacy development, vocabulary instruction is not rote memorization of lists of words. And, according to Hennessey, that’s not the way kids relate to it either. Students bring natural interest and curiosity to exploring figurative language, playing with palindromes, and finding and learning what she calls “$20 words.” 

When we integrate these activities into incidental or incidental-on-purpose instruction, Hennessey says, “we can embed this excitement and understanding of how words play such an important role in our lives.”

More to explore 

• Deconstructing the Rope: Vocabulary with Nancy Hennessy
• The Reading Rope: Breaking it all down
• Science of Reading: Your guide to making the shift

Download our Reading Rope placemat

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Five Key Principles for Effective Vocabulary Instruction

Much vocabulary is learned without formal teaching. We gain words from conversation, observation, television/media, and reading. However, research shows that explicitly teaching vocabulary can measurably improve reading comprehension — if we teach the right words well enough. Here are five key principles to effective vocabulary instruction.

Effective vocabulary teaching has five key principles.

1. Focus on rich meanings, not just dictionary definitions.

Too often vocabulary instruction is no more than kids copying definitions from the dictionary. But researchers have identified a number of instructional approaches that outdo any learning that may accrue from copying definitions.

One of those key principles is that students work with more extensive or complex definitions or explanations of word meanings. Encourage the encyclopedia explanation over the dictionary meanings.

When I teach vocabulary, I often have the kids engage in trying to provide several different versions of a word’s definition.

• Dictionary definition
• Synonyms for the word
• Antonyms (if there are any)
• Part of speech
• Classification (what semantic group does it belong to, like tools or ways of talking)
• Comparison (it is like____, but different because______)
• Real-life examples
• Graphic version (drawings, pictures, representations)
• Acting it out

By the time you’ve come up with nine different explanations of a word you are more likely to remember it (and, of course, we can do more than just these nine if we want to get into analogies, part-whole relationships, and the like).

2. Emphasize the connections among words.

Many vocabulary programs introduce words by category, such as focusing on words from health and medicine or about transportation, including some that have research showing that they can be effective. However, direct research specifically on this aspect of teaching, suggest that word learning goes slower and without evident later advantage from the extra work that mastering these words entails needed to master these sets of words.

And, yet, evidence reveals that the lexicons in our heads are organized in various networks, not like dictionaries. When you remember a word, you draw from memory a plethora of related ideas—attributes, functions, and synonyms related to that word.

Start thinking diesel trucks and words like wheel, tire, dump truck, gasoline, and highway will not be far behind.

There are circumstances in which it is necessary to simultaneously introduce collections of closely related words that may require fine or subtle distinctions, such as when kids are learning about the structure of cells or atoms. I’ll give that a pass, since such introductions are likely to be accompanied by a much deeper dive into the underlying concepts in such cases.

I also think it is quite reasonable when teaching words to get kids thinking about words about that concept that they may already have mastered. Linking a new word to a concept, is very different than trying to learn and link a whole collection of words.  

I would avoid introducing together plethora, dearth, scarcity, cornucopia, shortage, plenty, sufficient, abundant, and liberal as some programs do. Collect such words over time as they are learned and then later you can have kids comparing the ideas or fitting them into continuum or network.

One teacher I know has her students classifying the vocabulary each week in bulletin board folders, and when a folder accumulates several related words, they revisit them as a set.

3. Promote usage of the words.

It is not enough that kids study word meanings, but they have to learn to use these words in their reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Instruction should create opportunities for kids to use words in all of these ways.

For instance, that rich vocabulary assignment that was described earlier can be done by groups of kids working together to come up with those multiple definitions. That kind of cooperation requires that kids talk with each other about the words. Additionally, I often assign small numbers of words to each group and then have them get together to teach each other the words that their groups studied… more speaking and listening.

One might reward kids for using the studied vocabulary in their writing — or that can be required in various ways.

Isabel Beck and Moddy McKeown came up with the idea of “word wizards,” which gave kids extra points in vocabulary if they could bring in evidence that they had confronted or used the words of interest. Kids get very turned on if they run across some of the vocabulary when watching television or playing their favorite computer game.

4. Review is important.

It can be hard to retain vocabulary if you don’t get a lot of opportunity to use it. We may teach vocabulary because certain words were prominent in the texts, we were reading this week, but then kids might not see them for a long time.

There are many ways to deal with vocabulary, such as having one day a week when you only work with words that have been taught (and supposedly learned) in the past — or perhaps entire weeks might be devoted to this throughout the year.

I’m a fan of including words from past weeks on vocabulary quizzes and for the use of vocabulary notebooks to help punch up kids’ writing during revision.

Another way of ensuring the words stick, is to see how many additional words students can construct morphologically, adding prefixes or suffixes or altering parts of speech and so on. I’ve written about some of the important work being done on morphology by Peter and Jeffrey Bowers before (and you can search for that on my site or on Google).

5. Involve students in identifying some of the words to be studied.

I noted earlier that much vocabulary learning is incidental and, therefore, largely out of the province of schools. However, not all kids are equally good at such learning and even for those who it is easier, it can still be a tough slog requiring many experiences with a word to get it to stick.

One thing that we can do to help develop a “word consciousness” among our students is to involve them in identifying unknown words from their own reading — and to include these in your classroom curriculum. When readers get used to noticing their lack of knowledge of particular words, they will be more likely to try to resolve those gaps when reading. Kids will also be more motivated if they have some say so over the curriculum as well.

This article is excerpted from the longer blog post, Five Things Every Teacher Should Know About Vocabulary Instruction (opens in a new window) .

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About the author.

Literacy expert Timothy Shanahan shares best practices for teaching reading and writing. Dr. Shanahan is an internationally recognized professor of urban education and reading researcher who has extensive experience with children in inner-city schools and children with special needs. His blog about teaching reading, Shanahan on Literacy , is syndicated on Reading Rockets.

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8 Ways to Grow Students’ Vocabulary

December 13, 2021

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I’ve been an educator for 36 years, and if there’s one thing I think every educator can agree on, it’s that increasing the number of words our students know is a good thing. Period.

This is supported by decades of research:

• A rich vocabulary supports content knowledge in all disciplines. Conceptual understanding, along with both general and specific word knowledge, impacts learning at every age level, starting with oral language development in preschool. When older students know the meaning of specific words and are able to put related words together during a unit of study, they can connect to new content more readily and remember more (Marzano & Simms, 2013). 
• Word knowledge is key for reading comprehension. Kindergarten students’ word knowledge predicts reading comprehension in second grade (Catts, Fey, Zhang, & Tomblin, 1999; Roth, Speece, & Cooper, 2002), and this persists through fourth grade (Wagner, Muse, & Tannenbaum, 2007). Even more surprisingly, Cunningham and Stanovich (1997) find that first-grade students’ vocabulary knowledge predicts their reading comprehension level much later, in the eleventh grade.
• Students who are deficient in vocabulary face numerous obstacles , including having much lower reading comprehension. Their reading range is thus limited, their writing lacks specificity and voice, and their spoken language lacks range of word choice. They risk reading less (both in volume and frequency), not understanding content-area texts or concepts well, writing lackluster essays and reports, and not being able to express themselves as well verbally. 

This is why all teachers should address vocabulary instruction head-on. 

But what words should be taught? In English language arts/reading classrooms, explicit vocabulary instruction should focus on general academic words (Beck, McKeown & Kucan, 2013). These words cut across disciplines and help students speak, read, and write well in all the academic settings in which they’ll find themselves. In every discipline, there are also domain-specific terms students need to understand and learn.

8 Vocabulary-Building Strategies

Good vocabulary instruction can and should happen throughout the school day. This can happen through incidental learning , when students talk with and listen to others, watch videos, play games, and read independently, through explicit instruction , which are more structured activities, or with the help of digital tools. 

The strategies that follow, most of which require very little preparation time, come from three of my books, shown below: 

Strategy 1: Informal Conversations

One of the most powerful things teachers (and adults in the home) can do is to have rich conversations with children. Recent research on conversational turns (LENA, 2017) indicates that the more turns a young child takes in conversation with an adult, the more they grow their vocabulary and verbal acuity in general. 

So asking questions of a student, receiving their responses, adding information, and asking them to reflect or add more information—in other words, keeping the conversation going—is important in vocabulary development. This idea has great potential for non-instructional segments of the preschool elementary day like snack time, lining up to go to lunch, and restroom breaks. It also has potential for older students.

Strategy 2: Anchored Word Learning

Anchored Word Learning (Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2002) is ideal to use with elementary students where read-alouds are typically part of the daily routine. It can also be used in the upper grades, especially with complex text that is being read aloud and discussed together as a whole class. 

For young children, picture books provide excellent sources of higher-level, sophisticated words that are important for expanding vocabulary. They expose students to words they would not typically read within leveled books or on their own. For older children, excerpts from novels, nonfiction texts of various types, and content-area texts can all be used for anchored word learning. 

Isabel Beck suggests selecting three general academic words each time the teacher reads aloud a picture book or trade book; these should not be esoteric or archaic terms, but words likely to come up in other academic texts. Older students may be able to handle more words during a read-aloud and class discussion, but teachers are cautioned not to select too many words for one lesson. Three to five words is usually sufficient. 

Prior to reading, teachers need to complete three simple preparation steps:

• Select a read-aloud. Choose from books by favorite authors, recommended books, new books, old favorites, picture books, trade books, and content-area texts that impart critical information. 
• Identify three to five words for direct instruction. Select words which will expand students’ vocabulary and will likely appear in varied contexts—or focus on words critically important to the content being taught. “Nice to know” words don’t have a place here. The idea is to teach important words that are likely to appear in various contexts or words you really want students to know.
• Mark the words in the text with a sticky note or with a highlighter and annotations if the text is on paper. 

Once this preparation is complete, follow these steps with students:

• Read the entire text aloud. Don’t stop in the first reading to discuss the words at length. Students need to hear complex texts being read aloud fluently— especially a first reading —so they can start to process the story itself or the complicated ideas present in many nonfiction and content-specific texts. 
• After reading the text through once, go back and bring attention to each targeted word. You may want to reread the sentences and/or paragraphs in which each word appears. 
• Have students say each word aloud. 
• Write each word so it’s visible to students. You may want to have students write the words down as well (or use their fingers and “write” the words in the air or in the palms of their hands). With younger students, spell the word as you write it. Call attention to any interesting spelling feature, such as double letters, silent E, prefixes, etc.
• Provide a student-friendly definition of each word. You may want to repeat this several times. 
• Provide examples for each word beyond the context of the text. Encourage children to provide examples of their own so they personalize the word, relating it to their own context. This is a great time to use think-pair-share or turn-and-talk.
• If desired, post these words on your academic word wall. If you’re an ELA/reading teacher, you may want to have a section of the word wall dedicated to words from read-alouds.

Strategy 3: TIP Chart

This adaptation of a word wall features a visual in addition to a brief definition. TIP stands for term, information , and picture . Basically, a TIP Chart (Rollins, 2014) is a three-column poster displayed so students can quickly use it to remind them of the meaning of an important content-area ( tier three ) word. In essence, it’s a vocabulary anchor chart.

Unlike the well-known Frayer Model , the TIP Chart is useful for words that are fairly straightforward in meaning—not ones with heavy conceptual weight. Once completed, the TIP Chart serves as an “at a glance” reference for important disciplinary terms; this purpose must be kept in mind if the strategy is to be most beneficial.

TIP charts are displayed prominently for the whole class to see, but students can also keep personal TIP charts in their notebooks or digital files as well. The teacher can first model how to create the chart, and later, students can be involved in deciding what information to record and what picture to draw to go with each word. 

The best time to use the strategy is when beginning a new chunk of instruction, like a chapter or unit. With the chart ready, announce the first word and call students’ attention to the importance of this word in the current segment of instruction. Write the word in column one. Then share the formal and full definition, which ideally would also be printed in the text or on a screen or board in the classroom. Along with students, from this full definition, develop a short, student-friendly definition or a brief list that you write in the middle column. Do not write the full, formal definition in column two. Lastly, provide or co-create a simple visual in column three. 

So, for the term soliloquy in my 9 th grade English class, I would first give the formal definition : A long, usually serious speech that a character in a play makes to an audience and that reveals the character’s thoughts . We might talk for a minute about the fact that playwrights use soliloquies so the audience understands what a character is thinking. So, in the middle column, we might write the student-friendly, casual definition: When someone in the play thinks out loud. And, to emphasize the fact that this kind of speech is usually given with the character standing alone on the stage, I might then draw a single stick figure with lines or a speech bubble emanating from its face to indicate that he or she is speaking. 

The TIP Chart in my class might look something like this:

Here’s a social studies example. For the term “monopoly,” the full definition might be “the exclusive possession or control of the supply or trade in a commodity or service.” It is assumed that the teacher is also teaching the term “commodity” along with “monopoly.” In column two for “monopoly,” the teacher may write “control of a product or service.” In the third column, he or she might draw a large square that surrounds smaller squares, thus showing the dominance of the one provider. Students might also suggest something that symbolizes a monopoly to them, like an iPhone surrounded by other types of cell phones, but the iPhone appears much larger or more prominent, or the other phones are crossed out. 

Teachers can gradually do less in whole-class fashion with TIP charts and encourage students to create their own in hard-copy notebooks or digital notebooks using Google Docs, LiveBinders, or OneNote. Students might preview the first part of each chapter or unit (in any class) and try to complete a personal TIP chart to be kept in their organizational system. They could also collaborate with other students to create TIP charts, so that if any individual is confused about a word, they can get ideas from others. This is a portable strategy students can use with any content area and any textbook from elementary school well into college. 

Strategy 4: Save the Last Word for Me

Save the Last Word for Me (Beers, 2003) is an ideal strategy to promote peer conversation, increase engagement, and promote deeper processing about vocabulary and content. Although it’s usually applied to conversations about literature, its clearly defined structure is perfect for reviewing vocabulary and gaining deeper understanding of specific terms.  

It is fairly typical for teachers to provide guided review activities before a unit test, midterm, or final exam. Let’s say the instructional unit includes about 25 terms which students must recognize and understand how to use correctly within context. Save the Last Word for Me serves as an engaging vehicle for students to practice doing so in preparation for an assessment.

The steps for employing this strategy are as follows; the first three need to be completed ahead of time:

• Print multiple sets of cards with a target word on one side and the definition on the reverse side (one set for each group of students). 
• Print the directions for the activity (see below). 
• Place the printed directions and terms in a plastic bag or manila envelope for each group of students.
• Divide students into groups of three to five. It’s important that groups are small so each student has an opportunity to discuss. The goal is for students to review and deepen understanding about concepts and specific terms, so making sure they clarify their thinking aloud is important.

To begin, one student draws a card from the deck and another student defines the term. Moving around the circle, each student adds to the definition, refining and adding examples along the way. The person who draws the cards gets the “last word” and can add to the definition or revise it before students agree upon a definition. You may want to model the process in whole-class fashion first or by having a small group model the process as the rest of the class watches. 

Sometimes, if the bank of terms is large, I suggest simply printing one master deck of cards and place five or six cards in each bag. After a few minutes, signal the groups to trade bags of terms and, in so doing, each group gets new terms to review. 

While Save the Last Word for Me is low-tech, sometimes simpler is better. It delivers by supporting interaction and engagement, deeper conversations, and higher-level processing.

Student Directions for Save the Last Word for Me

• One student selects a card from the deck and says the term aloud with the other group members.
• On a piece of paper, each student jots down what they know about the term. (This can also be “in your head” and each person takes about 30 seconds to think about what they know about the meaning.)
• When everyone is finished, each person takes a turn sharing their reflections/responses. As each participant shares their thoughts, other students can share thoughts and responses.
• The student who drew the card gets the last word by sharing their reflections/reactions or by stating a fresh view if the responses of others have altered their original thinking. 
• If students are unsure or need clarification, they refer to the text, notes, and/or handouts for clarification.
• Another student draws a new card, and the process is repeated.

Strategy 5: SNAP Minilessons

Setting aside specific time daily, weekly, or periodically to explicitly teach general academic vocabulary through minilessons (of 5 to 15 minutes each) is another way you can provide explicit instruction. 

Each minilesson in my books contains four core components or steps, which the acronym SNAP in the title represents: 

S: Seeing and saying each word 

N: Naming a category or group each word belongs to or noticing connections to related words or word families 

A: Acting on the words (engaging in a brief task or conversation about the words)

P: Producing an individual, original application of the words

The example below is intended for secondary students.

Strategy 6: Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy

The primary purpose of the Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy (VSS) (Haggard, 1986) is to help students generate a list of words to be learned based on their prior knowledge and experience with reading and texts. This strategy can stimulate word growth and independence as students read texts and select vocabulary which they deem important to understanding the content.

VSS includes the following steps:

• Selecting words
• Defining words
• Finalizing word lists
• Extending word knowledge

The strategy can be used to support general word learning from one’s environment or to support vocabulary learning from assigned and self-selected texts. 

A colleague of mine routinely used this strategy to support general word learning with college freshmen. Every week, students “collected” three words from their environment (watching, listening, and reading) that they thought important to learn. For each word, students included the following information

• An accurate definition
• Where they heard or read the word including a bit of the context
• A justification for why they thought the word was important to learn

Words were shared and discussed in class at an established time each week. Students also recorded their words in personal vocabulary notebooks. VSS engaged students in lively discussions and specifically raised word consciousness, a critical goal of word learning. 

Another way VSS can be implemented is to specifically support word acquisition from content-area text. To support content learning, students can work in cooperative groups and read a chapter from a textbook (or any text). As they read, they identify words they think should be studied and mastered. During class discussion, groups then share their words and why they think the terms are important to mastering content. Additional steps can include developing a class list that contains one word from each group, creating TIP charts with the words, and having students teach minilessons focused on the words to each other.

Strategy 7: Word Talks

Word talks were derived from a similar strategy called book talks, in which students give a brief (less than five minutes) presentation about a book they recommend to their peers for independent reading. Word talks are similar in that they require a student to give a brief presentation on one or several words that they feel are important for their peers to know. This strategy is, like some others in this chapter, excellent for general academic words, not highly specialized, domain-specific words. Also, it can be easily combined with the Vocabulary Self-Collection strategy discussed earlier.

Some teachers who use word talks schedule a certain day a week or a certain day per month on which several students get up and do their word talks. Other teachers schedule a rotation so that a few times a week, one student is doing a word talk that day. Because the word talks consist of a student teaching their peers, it’s important to make time for this, because students tend to find the periods in which their classmates are leading discussion much more memorable than when the teacher is; students often have a way of saying something that “clicks” with their peers just because it’s said in a kid-friendly way.

What kind of words should students share in word talks? Many students share from their independent reading and their media and technology use. Teachers can ask students to provide a rationale for each word chosen if they like, but they can also allow students to share any word that might be interesting. I find myself thinking of the character Sam in the Netflix series Atypical as a high school student. He would have certainly loved to share words related to penguins and Antarctica in word talks. 

In a word talk in one of my high school classes, a student selected the following words to share: ascent , descent , decompression , and recompression . Can you tell what the student was learning to do outside of school? Scuba diving. This student was studying for her initial scuba certification and thought these words would be good to share because although they have scuba-specific meanings, they also have application to non-scuba situations.

Word talks are great opportunities for some students to showcase their interests and expertise, but most importantly, they make clear that continual word learning is important.

Strategy 8: Digital Tools for Independent Practice

The following websites/programs offer support for you as a teacher as well as independent practice activities for students:

Flocabulary This robust program includes hip-hop type videos to help students learn new terminology. 

Freerice This site has an addictive vocabulary game with five difficulty levels, with levels one and two being appropriate for students in grades three and up. 

Vocabador This game allows students to study SAT vocabulary words, choose an avatar, and “get into the ring” to play against other virtual wrestlers. 

There’s nothing negative that comes about when anyone grows their vocabulary—and for students, there are many, many positives. By adding even a few of these strategies to your repertoire, you’ll help students build vocabularies that will support them no matter what path they choose to pursue.

Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., & Kucan, L. (2013). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press. 

Beers, K. (2003). When kids can’t read, what teachers can do: A guide for teachers 6–12 . Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Catts, H. W., Fey, M. E., Zhang, X., & Tomblin, J. B. (1999). Language basis of reading and reading disabilities: Evidence from a longitudinal investigation. Scientific Studies of Reading, 3(4), 331–361.

Cunningham, A. E., & Stanovich, K. E. (1997). Early reading acquisition and its relation to reading experience and ability 10 years later. Developmental Psychology, 33(6), 934–945.

Haggard, M. R. (1986). The vocabulary self-collection strategy: Using student interest and world knowledge to enhance vocabulary growth. Journal of Reading , 29(7), 634–642.

LENA. 2017. Proving the Power of Talk: 10 Years of Research on the Impact of Language on Young Children. Available at https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/3975639/Research_Summary.pdf?utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lena.org%2F.

Marzano, R. J., & Simms, J. A. (2013). Vocabulary for the Common Core . Bloomington, IN: Marzano Research.

Rollins, S. P. (2014). Learning in the fast lane: 8 ways to put all students on the road to academic success. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Wagner, R. K., Muse, A. E., & Tannenbaum, K. R. (Eds.). (2007). Vocabulary acquisition: Implications for reading comprehension. New York: Guilford Press.

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Categories: Book Recommendations , Instruction , Podcast

Tags: English language arts , Grades 3-5 , Grades 6-8 , Grades 9-12 , Grades K-2 , teaching strategies

Thank you for the tips. Student vocabulary, or lack thereof, has stood out to me since beginning to teach last year. I look forward to applying these in the classroom.

Expanding vocablary in students of all ages is so important. I can modify some of the strategies mentioned to fit my Kindergarten group activities. Purposeful play is an area I see so many words develop and we can expand on them.

I LOVE these ideas! I’m a high school biology teacher. In biology, vocabulary plays a huge role in my instruction. Like I tell my kids, it’s almost like learning another language. I learned early on in my career that just having students write the word and definition has little to no effect on their memory and understanding of the vocab. I constantly fight the memorization trap … “But I memorized the vocab. and those definitions weren’t on the test.”

Thanks for the informative post!

Your strategies provide a great way to improve vocabulary and literacy levels amongst students while also avoiding the traditional memorization route. I find memorization to be especially detrimental when teaching second language acquisition as students rarely remember the word (largely because it isn’t relevant to them or they haven’t made a personal connection) and at best will recognize it, but not it’s meaning. This really stunts their ability to effectively communicate as they are memorizing pre-determined words/statements or translating words rather than learning them in context.

Do you find yourself ever using these activities as a formative assessment to get a snapshot of student literacy?

I also love the digital resources you have included; a great way to use technology systems to support student learning in a fun and interactive way!

Tai, I think several of the strategies in this post could be used as formative assessments to get a snapshot of student literacy. While some of the strategies are geared toward direct instruction, others would provide great formative data to inform instruction. A few of the strategies that might work well for formative assessment are Strategy 4: Save the Last Word for Me, Strategy 7: Word Talks, and even Strategy 1: Informal Conversation. In addition, most of the digital tools listed at the end of the post have a formative assessment component, as well. I hope this helps! If you do use any of these strategies with students, we’d love for you to let us know how it goes!

Thank you for sharing these strategies! The curriculum I use only provides one vocabulary activity per story, and I know my students need more practice with these words. This helps a lot.

Erica, We’re glad you found it useful! All the best.

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Tips for Improving Vocabulary Instruction in Middle School

These strategies go beyond flash cards to help students learn new terms and apply them in novel contexts.

Middle school students have a wide range of vocabulary knowledge. Many have developed a depth of knowledge from reading, verbal communication, and previous educational experiences, but some students lack the vocabulary skills needed to understand grade-level content.

All students benefit from additional vocabulary instruction. The ability to effectively use and understand words increases written and verbal communication skills, reading comprehension, and critical thinking. Flash cards are often the go-to strategy for helping students learn new words, and while flash cards can help with memorization, students benefit from opportunities to engage with the words that encourage making connections, application, and creation.

After incorporating a few of these activities into a regular vocabulary rotation, I’ve found that students not only memorize the words but are able to incorporate them more confidently into their writing and conversations and apply them to content. While I’ve used these strategies in English class, many of them would work in other content areas as well.

Strategies for Teaching New Vocabulary

Make it visual: Students create a visual that represents each word. Encourage students to create something that has a meaning for them and that will not only help them remember the word but also help make a connection to it.

I often create handouts divided into eight boxes, one word at the top of each box, and then the students draw their pictures in the boxes. 

Guess a word: Students are assigned a word and then create a Google Slide that includes  words, phrases, and images that relate to their assigned word. Once all the slides are added to one slide show, students try to guess the words based on the clues created by their peers.

While they can do this as a whole class, more students would be able to participate and practice if they played in small groups. Instruct students not to put direct definitions on the slides but instead to focus on connections to the word and creative ways they can represent it for their peers.

Teach a word: Students are each assigned one word to create a Google Slide that includes the word, the definition, synonyms, antonyms, a visual representation, the word origin, the part of speech, the word used in a sentence, and anything else they think would be helpful for their peers to learn the word. Then each student gives a short presentation to the class to teach them about the word.

At the conclusion of the activity, all students upload their slides into one shared document so that all students can reference them later. 

Sentences with context clues: Write each word in a sentence using context clues that would help a reader who is unfamiliar with the word to understand the meaning.

Students must use one of the following types of context clues in each of their sentences: definition, inference, example, synonym, or antonym. 

Free write: Students write about a topic of their choosing and try to include as many vocabulary words as possible in their writing. Encourage students to start with the words they’ve already learned and then refer to notes to include words they’re still learning.

Connection map: Students begin by writing one of the vocabulary words on a large piece of white paper. Then they choose another word that they can connect to the first word and draw a line between the words. On the line they write or draw how the words are connected.

They continue with this exercise adding additional words and connecting them to any other word already on the paper until they’ve used all of their words.

Shared silly stories: Seat students in a circle and give them a list of all their vocabulary words stapled to a piece of paper. The first person starts writing a story and must include one vocabulary word  in their sentence and then marks out the vocabulary word from the list. Then the students all pass their papers to the person on the right.

The next person reads the sentence, then continues the story with their own sentence that uses a vocabulary word of their choice, and marks out the word. This continues until all the stories have used all the words.

Enlist help from other teachers: Share vocabulary words that you’re using in your content with other grade-level teachers who teach your students, and ask them if they can use the words in conversation with students and/or in class as applicable.

If they’re willing, give them a few words to use within a week, and tell your students to listen for their vocabulary words in other classes and see who hears them first. Students will remember the words when they feel out of context, and they might just listen better in all their classes trying to hear the words.

Concept map: For challenging words, have students create a concept map for the word to help them to consider everything they know about the word and how it can be used. This can include definition, synonyms, antonyms, visual representations, word origin, part of speech, the word used in a sentence, things the word is not, and anything else they think would be helpful for their peers to learn the word.

Charades: Students play a class game of charades to guess each word.

Vocabulary improv: Put students into groups and give each group a container filled with the words written on small pieces of paper or note cards. Students take turns pulling out words and incorporating them into an improv skit or conversation within their group.

Is and is not: For each word, students complete a fill-in-the-blank that gives the word and then fill in what the word is and is not, but they can’t use definitions, synonyms, or antonyms for the blanks. Instead of simply using words that can be googled or found in a dictionary, they must come up with creative concepts and ideas that describe what the word is and is not. 

These vocabulary practices are engaging for students and help them begin to own the words as part of their vocabulary. The more they think critically and creatively about the words, write them in context, and use the words with peers, the deeper their understanding of the words. This helps push them beyond simply memorizing a definition and into understanding the word and how it can express their ideas.

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High-Impact Strategies for Teaching Vocabulary

March 1, 2021 //  by  Lindsay Ann //   6 Comments

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Do you struggle with strategies for teaching vocabulary in your middle school or high school classroom? Vocabulary instruction is important. It’s something that comes organically through reading a diverse range of texts; however, students can also benefit from a direct focus on building their vocabulary. 

This is something that doesn’t have to take a lot of time , and it’s something that I’ve noticed is easy to ignore as I focus on the “big-gun” reading and writing skills. 

Don’t treat vocabulary like that “healthy” food that you’ve forgotten about in the back of your refrigerator. I see you, cauliflower.

Strategy of Teaching Vocabulary

If you don’t have a specific set of words in mind , you can play word games like puns of anarchy or Free Rice . You can also have students create their own lists of words they want to learn and/or remember.

With a focus on vocabulary, it’s important to expose students to words more than one time. 

Students learn best with repeated exposure. The more students can connect vocabulary words to each other and to their prior knowledge, the more we get away from memorizing words randomly and move toward deeper learning through connections. 

Adding to this, deepen student learning by teaching beyond just the definition of a word. Try bringing in synonyms as well as antonyms, using examples and non-examples. You can also have students explore the word roots to deeply understand the significance and meaning of the words. 

Maybe you have a specific set of words for students to know. If you’re reading a text, frontload the vocabulary words before reading and have students find the words in the text as they are reading. When they find the words, have them explain how the sentence/context from the text demonstrates the definition of that word.

Teaching Vocabulary Activities

Vocabulary instruction does not have to be a yawn-fest! In fact, it can be fun! 

Focus on active learning, using different modalities in your instruction and activities. 

• Play a game of charades. Divide students into teams. Give each team a word to “act out” in front of the class. Have the class guess the correct word. For an added twist, have students act out the opposite of a word. 
• Project picture that shows a vivid setting or human interaction. Have students “tell the story” of the picture using as many vocabulary words as possible in a given time frame. 
• Create a multimedia quiz for students to participate in. Kahoot , Quizziz, GimKit are tried and true sites to rely upon. 
• Have students create advertisements selling the word to the class. 

Have students create a Kahoot or Quizziz game for the class to play.

Active Learning Strategy for Teaching Vocabulary

An active learning strategy that deserves its own special section is word sorting and categorization.

Use the list-group-label strategy for students to understand relationships between different vocabulary words. Give students 4-6 different categories or themes (or have students determine these “big ideas” for themselves) and have students determine which words fall into each category. 

You can also give students a word bank and have them determine word pairs that are opposite/similar.  

After this sorting process, have students then write explanatory or descriptive sentences demonstrating clear understanding of both words and their relationship to each other and/or to the theme they have selected.

Vocabulary Comics

One of the very first vocabulary activities I tried as a new teacher was to give students comic strips and have them create the dialogue/narration using their vocabulary words.  

This was waaaay back in the days when everyone had physical newspapers with that beloved comics section, and I would white-out the text and copy for the students. 

Students loved this activity and were always really engaged! And, though we’ve moved past the good old days, this strategy still works! 

Any set of words can be used for this activity. The goal is for students to demonstrate mastery of vocabulary by creating the dialogue / narration for each comic page and adapting the words to fit into the created sentences. 

Make sure to have students underline each word as it will be easier for you to find when assessing their work. 

Also, I suggest modeling for the students what types of sentences effectively and clearly demonstrate understanding of the word through context. 

A modernized twist on this activity is to have students create dialogue/narration for memes, take/stage pictures to represent a vocabulary word, create a Goosechase activity to have students find items that can represent the meaning of different words, create TikToks to illustrate one or more words, or to create their own digital comic strips. 

I hope that this post has helped you to think about ways to focus on vocabulary in ways that are beneficial for students and not just going through the motions.

About Lindsay Ann

Lindsay has been teaching high school English in the burbs of Chicago for 19 years. She is passionate about helping English teachers find balance in their lives and teaching practice through practical feedback strategies and student-led learning strategies. She also geeks out about literary analysis, inquiry-based learning, and classroom technology integration. When Lindsay is not teaching, she enjoys playing with her two kids, running, and getting lost in a good book.

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Reader Interactions

May 13, 2021 at 9:44 am

Very nice ideas, loved when you talked about vocabulary comic, thanks for sharing so useful content.

August 23, 2021 at 8:34 pm

I just discovered you! Do you have a pod? Where else can I find your work? I need all the things!

August 30, 2021 at 5:15 pm

Margaret, you’re so sweet! I’m glad that you’re finding inspiration here. This is my main hub, but I do post on Instagram @lindsayannlearn and on TpT https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Lindsay-Ann-Learning-Digital-English-Resources

Happy Monday! Lindsay

November 8, 2021 at 8:39 am

As I’m teaching English, this looks very helpful to me.

August 25, 2022 at 2:22 pm

Great ideas! I loved the suggestion of incorporating Kahoot or Quizziz for an interactive approach. Very applicable as I work to build the vocabulary of my new group of 6th graders. Thank you for sharing!

August 29, 2022 at 6:47 pm

Awesome to hear, Carsyn. Thanks for reading!

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Three Pillars of Vocabulary Teaching

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that vocabulary knowledge is crucial for pupils’ school success. Pupils are language sponges, learning thousands of words each year. Like increases in a child’s height, it is a slow but inexorable development. On a daily basis it is near-imperceptible, but when you begin

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that vocabulary knowledge is crucial for pupils’ school success. Pupils are language sponges, learning thousands of words each year . Like increases in a child’s height, it is a slow but inexorable development. On a daily basis it is near-imperceptible, but when you begin to count the passing of school terms, you can see significant differences occurring. For teachers, the key question is how can you best enhance and enrich pupils’ vocabulary.

For busy teachers, digging into the research on vocabulary development and language gaps can prove daunting. It is helpful to distil that wealth into consistent pillars of practice that are ‘best bets’ for supporting, and super-charging, vocabulary development:

The Three Pillars of Vocabulary Teaching

1. Explicit vocabulary teaching 2. Incidental vocabulary learning 3. Cultivating ‘word consciousness’

Explicit vocabulary teaching

Explicit vocabulary teaching can provide a vital boost to our pupils’ vocabulary development . In recent years, building on the excellent research from Beck, McKeown and Kucan, awareness of choosing the right words to teach has become more common across primary and secondary schools – such as their popular ‘Tiers of vocabulary’ model:

This awareness of choosing vocabulary to be learnt, making rich connections that build pupils’ vocabulary schemas (networks of well connected links) , has been bolstered by practical approaches to teaching these individual words and phrases, such as my SEEC model (influenced the work of brilliant researchers, such as Robert Marzano , Isabel Beck and colleagues):

We know that teaching complex academic concepts clothed in sophisticated vocabulary proves a barrier to too many pupils. Dishing pupils a dictionary won’t necessarily lead to successful learning . And so, careful attention to aligning the curriculum with opportunities for explicit vocabulary teaching can unlock academic challenges, such as understanding the process of photosynthesis in biology, or learning about the Great Fire of London in key stage 1.

The rise of ‘ knowledge organisers ‘, and similar tools, offer opportunities to identify key vocabulary, but we should be wary of assuming stacking vocabulary in a list for some quick quizzing offers anything like the deep understanding and rich connections pupils need to make between words, phrases, concepts and big ideas. More active approaches to teaching and engaging pupils with new words include Frayer Models , ‘word ladders’ (see p10) , words maps , word gradients , and similar.

It can be helpful to consider ‘ keystone vocabulary ‘ to identify those vocabulary choices that offer pupils opportunities to generate meaningful links via their talk, writing, reading and more. For example, when I have taught romantic poetry to year 7s in the past, we identified important ‘keystone’ nouns that unpacked a lot of the big ideas that underpin Wordsworth’s poem about daffodils:

Now, you can rightly debate whether these are the right words to teach (it is excellent professional development to discuss these small but often crucially significant building blocks of knowledge), but the explicit attention to these words can offer a foundational understanding of what is an unfamiliar word. It is a schema that pupils can add to and go onto make many surprising, exciting connections as they go onto read the poems selected.

““All words are not valued equally. Instead, what we want children to learn is the language of school. For many children, this is a foreign language.” (p. 68). Stahl and Stahl (2004)

Incidental vocabulary learning

You cannot explicitly teach all the words! With over a million words in the English language, teachers make careful selections regarding subject specific vocabulary and those sophisticated Tier 2 words. It is clear that reading rich texts, both in the classroom and beyond the school gates, is critical for language and vocabulary development. Put simply, the more words you read, the more you learn .

When reading complex texts, pupils can struggle to learn new, unfamiliar words , so helping pupils with strategies to notice and record interesting vocabulary is likely to prove valuable. It may be having pupils keep a ‘word hoard’ of their own – or use vocabulary book marks – or simply record words in the back of their books, for discussion and questioning later. Setting up a ‘classroom dictionary’ in domains like geography, science or maths, could help move the incidental learning to something more intentional.

Teachers need to flood the classroom with vocabulary alongside explicit teaching . Putting in lots of reading miles on the clock really matters to maximising vocabulary learning , so well structured daily reading opportunities (with care taken over reading choices) can grow pupils’ vocabulary, though it may not be immediately visible (remember that opening analogy of height and daily growth?).

When teachers talk about words – their subtleties, misnomers, histories, and more – building on reading high quality texts, these conversational turns unlock important shades of meaning for pupils that can fend off misconceptions and lead to greater understanding when reading. Many of these opportunities will arise spontaneously. You simply cannot predict all the words pupils will know and not know. However, with awareness that some of these ‘teachable moments’ could be missed, we should aim to wed incidental learning to explicit teaching.

Cultivating ‘word consciousness’

‘Word consciousness’ is an “awareness and interest in words and their meanings” (put a little more interestingly, it is pupils “bumping into spicy, tasty words that catch your tongue” ). This love of language and continual curiosity about what words mean, where they are from, and their legion of connections, feels like the end-game of great vocabulary teaching. With careful cultivation, this curiosity can be fostered and it can help fuel our pupils’ school success.

The teaching of word parts (morphology) and word histories (etymology) are some of most well-evidenced methods of explicit vocabulary teaching, but done well, we hand over the baton to our pupils and they become ‘word conscious’, spying word parts and word families each time they read, talk and write. Faced with a complex word like ‘oligarchy’, pupils can recognise the familiar root ‘-archy’, meaning ‘rulership’. It offers an essential hook to understand the word, offering more familiar related words like ‘monarchy’.

Common practices, such as ‘ interactive word walls’ , ‘word of the week’, and similar, can engage pupils and reach out to parents. We should be wary these are not superficial gimmicks and that robust vocabulary teaching is careful crafted in curriculum choices and sustained teaching practices too.

What marks out ‘word consciousness’ from explicit teaching and incidental vocabulary learning? For me, it is the focus on gifting our pupils with independent word learning strategies. It is the understanding about the richness of words that ensures that incidental word learning happens more effectively. It is the end goal, and means, for continued vocabulary development.

“Education is the process of preparing us for the big world and the big world has big words. The more big words I know, the better I will survive in it. Because there are hundreds of thousands of big words in English, I cannot learn them all. But this does not mean that I shouldn’t try to learn some.” David Crystal, ‘Words, Words, Words’

If you are interested in vocabulary development, my book ‘ Closing the Vocabulary Gap ‘ is available here (Amazon) and here (Routledge).

The 3Rs - Reading, writing, and research to be interested in #45

Goal Setting and Building Cathedrals

How do we encourage reluctant children to successfully stick with a tricky task? How do we advise truculent teens to persist through a long and winding learning curve fraught with failure? These are the perennial questions we ask that are about how best to motivate learners to undertake the struggle

The 3Rs - Reading, writing, and research to be interested in #44

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The Importance of Teaching and Learning Vocabulary

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How to Teach Vocabulary to ESL Students

Vocabulary is the heart of any language, so teaching it well is important.

So why not teach vocabulary the way you learned it as a child? That’s what I’ve started doing and it’s been working super well.

Native speakers learn new words in their youth in context and by immediately  using them in a practical way .

By teaching vocabulary words with visual stimuli, in the context of other words, in word clusters and spoken out loud, and by choosing practical words that students actually need to know, you’ll get new vocabulary words to stick in your students’ minds.

Let your ESL students blossom into confident English speakers using a volume of new words with these five effective vocabulary teaching methods, each with their own set of corresponding activities.

1. Present Words with Visual Stimuli

How to teach esl vocabulary with visual stimuli:, 2. attach context to vocabulary, how to teach esl vocabulary with context:, 3. build confidence with word clusters, how to teach esl vocabulary with word clusters:, 4. keep new words practical, how to teach esl vocabulary with practical exercises:, 5. let your students’ voices be heard, how to teach esl vocabulary out loud:.

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Visual learning has long been a staple of learning .

From the time we’re kids and throughout our entire academic careers, visual learning plays a big role. Presenting new words using visual stimuli is also a great way to step away from more humdrum methods (like those vocab lists) and spice up the classroom.

One way I recruit visuals to join this battle is by using flashcards. Of course, this is a classic teaching and learning method. However, there are plenty of ways to make them into a new, exciting and visual activity.

For example, you won’t simply have your students write the new words and their meanings on flashcards— boring!  Rather, you’ll let them build a visual experience that will support comprehension. We’ll show you how to take this even further in the teaching method outlined below.

I had to suggest a top method for how to teach vocabulary to ESL students, this would be it.

• First, compile a healthy stack of magazines. The material should be appropriate to your students’ ages.
• Grab stacks of flashcards, glue sticks and scissors. Hopefully you have some of this stuff lying around already. Make a few flashcards yourself. Pick a new vocabulary word and cut out pics from magazines that represent it. These homemade illustrated flashcards will serve as examples for your students.
• It’s class time. Present a few new words to your class, discussing the definition and usage of each.
• Show examples of your creative flashcards and let them loose in groups to develop their own using the words you presented at the beginning of the activity. The groups will support communication, a great ESL sub-skill.
• Once your ESL students have developed their flashcard masterpieces, it’s time to present. Each student will explain their new word, definition and the photos they chose for that specific word. This creates a lasting visual memory, boosting comprehension when opportunities for practical use come knocking.

Attaching context to the vocabulary you present to your students will connect them with those new words in a more meaningful way. It’s how I remember students’ names, so I know the method works well.

Many English teachers place the most emphasis on this vocabulary teaching method due to its efficacy.

There are a few strategies based on teaching with context. For one, you can group words together using context. You’ll want to show how vocabulary words work together in sentences and paragraphs. You’ll want to present words to students with a complete story or a video clip that utilizes all of it.

By teaching vocabulary to ESL students this way, you’re much more likely to get students to remember key words.

• Find a subject first. The chosen subject will put everything else in place. For this sample activity, we’ll use the weather as the subject. After all, the weather will sooner or later be a talking point for your students outside of the classroom. Find a weather broadcast from a news channel website or YouTube.
• Pick five to seven new words you’ll focus on from the weather video. Transcribe how they were used in the video and write down their definitions for your lesson plan material .
• Present the vocabulary in context to your class. Show them the video. Then present the new words, their definitions and transcriptions. Have a little discussion and answer questions as needed before moving on.
• Show the weather broadcast video again, but this time have your students raise their hands every time they hear the new target words. You can do this two or three times.
• Once you have etched the new words into your students’ minds with context, it’s time for contextual action. Break up your eager students into small groups of three or four, then unleash them to develop their own weather scripts using their freshly presented vocabulary. They can work together in their peer groups and simply modify the transcriptions from the video, or they could even create totally new and compelling scripts of their own.
• Have the groups present their scripts in front of the class in order to build confidence and have them learn that vocabulary once and for all.

Another exceptional and effective way to keep building vocabulary comprehension is to deploy word clusters in the classroom. I’ve seen from personal experience that students tend to enjoy relating words to other words and this approach often leads to new areas that I hadn’t even planned on.

They also allow you to check in on your students’ comprehension levels quite easily. They could be a bit boring if you simply give your class a worksheet of word clusters to decipher—but you don’t want to be the boring English teacher , now do you?

Word clusters basically map out relationships between words (see here) . Students will need to identify which words are closely related and draw it all out.

You may also want to consider using Visual Thesaurus for examples for this activity as well as further activities and learning possibilities. Visual Thesaurus is exactly what it sounds like, a thesaurus that uses word maps to display the relationships between words. Because of its interactive, engaging nature, students may end up using it not just to find the “right” word, but to add new words to their vocabulary without even realizing it!

• There’s nothing wrong with a little competition, so pair up your students  for this vocabulary building activity. Each pair will be competing for points and cluster champ bragging rights.
• Browse your previous vocabulary lesson plans in order to find the target words you’ll use for this activity. You’ll want to have lots of descriptive words that are synonyms and antonyms to one another, if possible. Let’s say you decide to utilize the five to seven words you presented in context during the weather-related vocabulary building activity. These words will be the centerpieces for your students’ word clusters.
• In order to warm your class up a bit, recap the words you’ll be building clusters for. This could be a simple classroom discussion after you present the words again, or you can let the class watch the weather broadcast again and point out the new words.
• Once the warm-up is complete, let the cluster creation begin. Each student pair will have a blank sheet of paper or you can provide them with a blank template . You’ll say and write the first cluster word, and they’ll write the word in the center of their blank paper.
• Start the timer. Your students must attempt to get as many words linked via lines to the core word as possible before time runs out. Five minutes is generally a good amount of time per word.
• Once time is up, your pairs will present the words they have clustered. They get a point for each word, and another point if the word is spelled correctly.
• You’ll repeat and answer questions as they arise during the activity. Ensure that you’re encouraging communication and collaboration between your students. The classroom should be nowhere near quiet during this activity.

Keeping new words practical will let students know exactly how to use them when they need them the most.

In fact, building ESL skills through practical use is essential to language growth. Plus, it adds excitement to any activity. You can mold your students’ communication skills faster while building quicker response times in a practical setting.

This could prove valuable to ESL students abroad or during English testing. Improvisational activities in the classroom are effective for presenting and learning vocabulary in a practical way.

This is my secret weapon when it comes to how to teach vocabulary to ESL students.

• First, you’ll need to identify five to seven new words to present to your class. Sticking with the practical use theme, it’s a best practice to use vocabulary associated with the time of year or an event currently happening, for example.
• If a big sporting event is taking place or is about to take place soon, you can utilize it for your practical vocabulary building activity. The Olympics is a fantastic example. You can build plenty of vocabulary using the Olympics as your subject.
• Choose five to seven words associated with the Olympics. This can be a specific event or a concept like teamwork that’s involved in the happenings of the world-renowned athletic event. Let’s say you want to focus on track and field. You could introduce words related such as marathon, sprinting, high jump, time, teammate and competition, among others.
• After presenting the new Olympic track and field vocabulary, pair up your students. You’ll give them roles. Student A will be a sprinter and student B will be a marathon runner. You can give them opening lines or a scenario to get them started, but then let them converse naturally after.
• The use of the new vocabulary in such a practical manner will drive them to think fast by answering questions or coming up with questions to ask. For example, Student A the sprinter placed first in his run, and Student B the marathoner is congratulating his teammate. This will allow your students to develop their vocabulary, confidence and thought processes. And it’s fun to get some improv acting going in any classroom, for you and your students.

Your students want to build vocabulary and they want to be heard.

So, let them do both  with an out-loud activity that will boost their confidence, communication and comprehension. Having your students practice their new vocabulary out loud will also help develop proper pronunciation of their new words. Hearing them use the new words you presented will allow you to make on-the-spot pronunciation fixes while still building momentum within an activity.

You can combine this vocabulary teaching method with the Total Physical Response (TPR) method as well. You’ll be instructing students around the classroom, making the two-method combination an exceptional way to build ESL skills, English response time and language use confidence.

• First, present the new words to your students in a fun way to set the mood for the rest of the lesson. For example, let’s say your subject is clothing. You can run around the classroom and define the clothing that you or your students are wearing in a loud, goofy way.
• Once you have shown and presented the new words such as pants, shirt, shoes, etc., you can expand those new words on the spot. Choose the first student and instruct them to move toward another student. Then ask them to describe what that student is wearing. The correct answers would be pants, shirt and so on.
• Next, you’ll ask the student what type of pants they’re wearing (for example, they might be jeans, slacks, sweatpants, corduroy). Then you’ll ask the color and so on. They’ll answer everything out loud and with a strong, confident voice, even if they’re wrong.
• Correct pronunciation and any questionable answers on the spot, allowing your students to make real-time corrections.
• The student who was just described will be the next student to describe a classmate, and so on. They’ll bop around the room with excitement, not even realizing how much they’re learning and comprehending as they go.

Now you’ve got an excellent assortment of ESL vocabulary teaching methods that can boost a variety of language skills.

So, don’t settle for just any old method. Focusing on vocabulary teaching methods that incorporate confidence-boosting activities that touch on other ESL skills is always a best practice.

Learning vocabulary is an ESL cornerstone and sets the tone for future growth.

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What Every Teacher Should Know About Teaching Vocabulary

Research and best practices for teaching vocabulary in the elementary classroom.

I’m back this week linking up with #TeacherMom for her Building Back to School series.  This week we’re talking about language tools.  I’ve done some digging to see what research tells us about teaching vocabulary.  Here’s what I found:

A Strong Vocabulary Is a Big Deal

We can all surmise that a strong vocabulary is important for students.  Students have a better chance of decoding words and understanding text if they can draw from a large vocabulary.  Many research studies indicate that vocabulary is an accurate indicator of success in school (Elley, 1988).

Indirect vs. Direct Vocabulary Acquisition

I was surprised to learn that students acquire most vocabulary indirectly (National Institute, 2000).  That is, through conversations with others, by listening to adults read aloud, and through their own independent reading.  Isn’t it nice to hear that the read aloud you use to get everybody simmered down after recess is also pumping up your students’ vocabularies?

Some words need to be taught directly such as words that represent tricky concepts which aren’t part of students’ experiences.  Direct vocabulary instruction involves teaching specific words but also teaching word learning strategies (more on that, later).

Choosing Words

Obviously, we don’t have time to teach students every tricky word they’re going to encounter.  So how do we choose words to teach?  Isabel Beck (2002) splits words into three tiers.  Tier 1 words are simple and familiar to students (words like door, house, book).  These words rarely require focused instruction.  Tier 2 words occur frequently and across a variety of domains.  They are considered mature, academic language (words like coincidence, reluctant, analysis).   Beck believes teachers should spend the most time teaching tier 2 words .  Tier 3 words are rarely used and are limited to specific fields of study (words like isotope, Reconstruction, Buddhism).

Elements of a Good Vocabulary Instruction Program

Alright, so what do we actually need to be doing to build students’ vocabulary?  Michael Graves (2000) identifies four components of good vocabulary instruction:

• Independent reading : Students should read widely and extensively to build their vocabularies.  Independent reading is a great go-to activity for when students finish their work or while the teacher is working with a small group (plus it’s quiet and doesn’t make a mess!).
• Instruction in specific words : The goal here is to aid students’ comprehension of a particular text.  Going through a list of words that aren’t connected to a concept or a text the class is studying isn’t helpful.
• Word learning strategies:  These include recognizing and using prefixes, suffixes, and root words.
• Word consciousness:   This is the ability to reflect upon and manipulate words.  It involves knowing how word parts and word order affect meaning.  It also includes an understanding of synonyms, antonyms, metaphors, and figurative language.

Honestly, I had no idea why teaching opposites was even on the standards.  Now I get it: students have a stronger understanding of a word’s meaning if they know that word’s opposite (or antonym).

Synonym cinnamon bears and antonym ants anchor chart

Root words anchor chart from Book Units Teacher

Degrees of Knowing Words

It is not the case that students either know or do not know words. Rather, they know words to varying degrees. If a word is unknown , they have never seen or heard of it before. If they have seen or heard of it but don’t know exactly what it means they are acquainted with the word.  If they are very familiar with a word and can use it accurately then they have an established understanding.

Word Learning Strategies

What about all the words that you will never have time to teach your students?  How will they navigate them?  That’s where word learning strategies come into play.  Looking at the list of word learning strategies was an “ah-ha!” moment for me.  Finally, I understood why teaching standards include nitty gritty stuff like separating affixes and root words.  It all leads to students being able to pick out word parts and at least make a good guess at a word’s meaning.

These are word learning strategies you should be teaching your students

• Dictionary skills –  Looking words up is a lot easier these days with electronic dictionaries but it’s still important for students to see how multiple meanings and parts of speech are identified in the dictionary (electronic or otherwise).
• Using Word Parts – This includes prefixes, suffixes, and Greek and Latin roots and knowing how they make up the meaning of a word
• Context Clues – This one is tricky.  Context clues aren’t always reliable but students should have this strategy in their back pocket because it frequently comes in handy.

Here is an excellent anchor chart about using context clues from Crafting Connections

Repeated Exposure

Focusing on a new word for a day or even a week probably isn’t going to be enough.  Students need extended instruction with several exposures to a new word across a variety of contexts.  One way to do this is to have a vocabulary word wall that you refer back to frequently.

Vocabulary Word Wall, read more at Resources With Altitude

Pin for later reference:

Follow along on Pinterest for more literacy ideas:

Elley, Warwick B. (1988). New Vocabulary: How Do Children Learn New Words? Research Information for Teachers, 1 , 2-5

Graves, M.F. 2000. A vocabulary program to complement and bolster a middle-grade comprehension program. In B.M. Taylor, M.F. Graves, and P. Van Den Broek (eds.),  Reading for meaning: Fostering comprehension in the middle grades.  Mew York: Teachers College Press.

National Institute for Literacy. (2000). Put Reading First . Jessup, MD: EdPubs.

Norton the Bookworm clip art from Sarah Pecorino Illustration

Author:  Hannah Braun

Hannah Braun is a former teacher with 8 years of experience in the classroom and a master's degree in early childhood education. She designs engaging, organized classroom resources for 1st-3rd grade teachers.

WOW! this is an amazing post! So well researched & thought out!! What a great resource. 🙂 I’ll be pinning this for later, for sure.

Thanks for linking up!

So many great tools. I will definitely be saving this post to reference in the future. Thanks so much for sharing all of this information.

Jessica Notes From the Portable

Excellent post that gets at the heart of teaching vocabulary. I really agree with your point that it’s not a question of students knowing or not knowing a word. I used to have my middle school students rate in their vocab notebooks how well they knew the new target words they were learning. Then we’d have a discussion about the ones they weren’t very sure of. The students got any confusion or lack or understanding cleared up and I got to see which words were more difficult for them.

The ESL Connection

Wow, what an informative post! We are focusing our teaching on more word study this year since 3rd grade is the first grade to take the state tests (SOLs in VA). I will share this post with my team! Thanks for the info!

Comments are closed.

Teaching Vocabulary Through Communication Essay

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Vocabularies are unfamiliar words that students come across while learning but fail to understand their meanings and so, teachers find it necessary to teach their students about them. On this basis, students may come across vocabularies in and out of the classroom situation; hence there are different ways used in understanding a vocabulary. In this case, tutors should through different methods; teach their students about vocabularies and their meanings (Newton, 2001).

Among these methods, is the predicting method where learners form groups in which they discuss words from a certain topic amongst themselves. In this particular situation, they build some words into word webs then compare them to be able to note the differences and how these words should be used. The other way that learners can use in learning about vocabularies, is by cooperative dictionary search. In this method, each learner is given some words to look up in the dictionary after which he/she explains to others as he fills in the meanings of each word; this pattern repeats to all students in a class (Nagy, 1998).

Words and definitions are another way that learners can use to learn more about vocabulary. On this basis, a learner will be provided with a list of words and another one containing meanings; here the learner is expected to match these words with their correct meanings. For easy learning, this task can be done in pairs where each of the learners has half the words and half the definitions and each writer will take a turn in trying to match words with his/her partner’s definition (Newton, 2001).

Additionally, the glossary is a process where a learner is provided with words and their meanings making the learner’s work easier so all he/she has to do is to read and understand the definitions. In this approach, a learner becomes more inactive than when practicing to learn meanings in the class because it is not involving and the learner may easily forget; however a learner can use the glossary approach without the help of a tutor (Nagy, 1998).

Further, an interactive glossary is a process whereby students are provided with a strip of words and their meanings. To learn words’ meaning, a different strip will be provided containing words without definitions where a learner will pick a word he/she is not conversant with and look for its definition from the teacher’s strip. For easy and interactive learning, this approach is used as the teacher monitors the practice (Newton, 2001).

In the negotiation approach, learners are required to discuss the words among themselves without any external assistance. On this basis, this is a very effective way because through learners’ combined effort; they are able to get the answers making it easier to remember and making the vocabularies part of their way of communication. In most cases, it is easy to find all meanings of words given; by the use of this method as diversity of learners’ knowledge applies (Nagy, 1998).

From a personal perspective, it can be argued that some of the approaches are more effective than others; for example, the glossary is more effective than predicting because it provides accurate information. On the other hand, the predicting method may prove to be effective as it is more involved than the glossary method. On this basis, students would be in a better position to understand and get more information as far as vocabularies are concerned; if their teachers use all the combined approaches in teaching them (Newton, 2001).

To wind up, teachers must use the best approaches possible in teaching their students vocabularies. On this basis, this will help in the improvement of the students’ communication and writing skills; hence helping them to have a better understanding of their written and spoken languages.

Reference list

Newton, J. (2001) Options for vocabulary learning through communication tasks, ELT Journal , 55 (1), pp.30-37.

Nagy, W. (1998). Teaching Vocabulary to Improve Reading Comprehension . Newark: International Reading Association.

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IvyPanda. (2021, December 30). Teaching Vocabulary Through Communication. https://ivypanda.com/essays/teaching-vocabulary-through-communication/

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1. IvyPanda . "Teaching Vocabulary Through Communication." December 30, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/teaching-vocabulary-through-communication/.

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Words are the building blocks of a language, and as such, the acquisition of vocabulary is extremely important. Through building vocabulary, students can express themselves more fully and with more confidence. Conversely, having a limited vocabulary can negatively affect how students are able to communicate.

Teaching vocabulary should go beyond a focus on the direct teaching of vocabulary through common methods such as using word searches, crosswords, gap-fills, and vocabulary journals where students write definitions of new words. While these have their place, other approaches such as exposure to target vocabulary in context can be more effective. It is also useful to focus on practice that requires students to use target vocabulary through the productive skills of speaking and writing. This aids deeper and more permanent acquisition.

Teaching vocabulary is a broad and complex topic. This article aims to introduce some useful and practical ideas to help make this important area of language teaching a little easier. The article begins by introducing some simple but effective exercises for teaching vocabulary, and then continues by discussing the issue of vocabulary acquisition, the needs of learners according to level, learning through context, and the use of two well known word lists.

What are some useful approaches to teaching vocabulary?

A good place to start is by using some simple but effective ideas suggested by Paul Nation, a widely respected expert on the subject of vocabulary teaching. Below, he suggests some useful vocabulary learning exercises that require little or no preparation. Before using these exercises, he offers some advice on how to select target words for these exercises.

Choosing the words

1. On a rotational basis, appoint a special vocabulary secretary whose job is to identify difficult words encountered in class for future attention.

2. Select words that have appeared in classwork and materials in the last week or two.

3. Select words that you believe are important for students to know.

Once target words have been identified, employ a combination of the exercises below which are grouped according to some of the key criteria for what it means to 'know' a word.

Exercises that focus on word meaning

Find the fundamental meaning : Students read through dictionary entries and find the common meaning of the different uses of the word.

Word card testing : In pairs, students give their cards to their partner who tests them on their recall of the meaning by saying the word and asking for a translation of the word in return. This process can also be done in reverse i.e., saying the word in the first language and asking for it in the target language in return.

Using the dictionary : When a target word occurs in a text, the teacher trains students in the correct use of a dictionary to locate the meaning of that specific usage.

Guessing meaning from context : Whenever a guessable word occurs in a reading text, the teacher trains the students to employ the various strategies of inferring the meaning from context.

Exercises that focus on word form

Spelling dictation : The teacher calls out words or phrases for students to write down as accurately as possible.

Pronunciation : The teacher writes words on the board and asks students to choose a word and attempt the correct pronunciation. The teacher then gives feedback and/or models the correct pronunciation.

Word parts : The teacher writes words on pieces of paper and students cut them into parts and give the meanings of the parts. This is obviously useful for teaching prefixes and suffixes.

Exercises that focus on word use

Suggest collocations : The students work together in pairs or small groups to list collocations for a given word.

Word detectives : A student reports on an unfamiliar word they have found in their reading. They then give a mini-presentation about the meaning, spelling, pronunciation, word parts, origin, collocations, and grammar of the word.

Now that you have been presented with some simple and practical ideas for teaching vocabulary, it may be useful to delve a little deeper into vocabulary learning and teaching.

It is not always the case that students need to resort to specific vocabulary study books to learn new words. Many people who possess an extended vocabulary do not report having acquired it through direct learning activities and commercial coursebooks.

A common approach to vocabulary teaching starts with a list of words found in a reading or listening activity accompanied by translations in the students' first language and vocabulary exercises. Often, not much attention is given to approaches that ask students to build vocabulary from reading and listening through context, which presents a missed opportunity.

How does successful vocabulary acquisition take place?

For successful vocabulary acquisition to occur, students require a considerable amount of exposure to new words. The process of acquisition should follow a similar path to first language vocabulary acquisition: through context, associations, and constant exposure.

Students must be provided with opportunities for using vocabulary in memorable and meaningful situations. Selecting vocabulary learning activities should be guided by key factors such as how often the words are likely to be encountered and how necessary they are for producing effective communication.

Learning new words involves building up vocabulary from repertoire - that is, relating new words to previously acquired language. Try to imagine building blocks and stacking one layer over the other to consolidate vocabulary and build a strong foundation for future communication.

Teaching vocabulary should also take flexibility and creativity into account. The teacher should avoid approaching words as isolated and independent objects and preferably expose students to the way they are used in sentences and how they can group with other words to form collocations. As an example, apart from simply working out the meaning of the word 'go', it would also be effective to associate it with the preposition 'to' and present it as 'go to' - preferably in a sentence.

With lessons that focus on the receptive skills of reading and listening, it is useful to identify which words are most likely to be unfamiliar to students and do some pre-teaching. The idea is to make sure the students find the activity not only interesting but also meaningful and comprehensible. After students have read or listened to a text, the new vocabulary can be reinforced in other ways such as using flashcards or asking students to use the words in short writing or speaking activities.

Vocabulary learning needs according to proficiency level

Students' level of proficiency is another key consideration when approaching vocabulary learning activities.

Beginners benefit through direct vocabulary teaching as it fosters quick expansion in the number of words they know. Relevant activities might include using flashcards and illustrated handouts along with other memorisation strategies. This is a stage of early development, so it is important that the teacher also focuses on building confidence and a sense of self-accomplishment.

The approach with intermediate students should focus on expanding on already acquired vocabulary. For instance, students can explore the fact that the same word can have multiple meanings. This might involve students discovering how many different contexts they can use words like 'head' or 'park' for example. In addition, it is also valuable for intermediate students to work with affixes such as in-, un-, -less, -ly, and word families as in 'beauty, 'beautiful' and 'beautifully' as a way of expanding vocabulary range.

To build learner autonomy, encourage students to use their imagination so they can come up with their own ways of memorizing words based on their repertoire to consolidate the way they link new words to familiar ones.

Advanced students sometimes become frustrated because they feel that their vocabulary learning has plateaued. This often happens because they may already be familiar with the most frequent general words in the language. Therefore, consider increasing their exposure to academic vocabulary, which is likely to be far less familiar, but more likely to be encountered in future academic and professional life.

Learning vocabulary through context

Regardless of the level, activities requiring students to guess the meaning of a word from context are useful. This invites them to develop their self-sufficiency in contrast to a dependency on the teacher or dictionaries.

It is not only through reading that students can guess meaning from context but also through listening to stories, music, podcasts, and also from watching TV series, and films. Using the same principle of building vocabulary through repertoire, they provide audio and visual context clues.

An example activity would be to choose a story that students are familiar with in their first language such as the story of "The Three Little Pigs". This will make it easier for them to guess the meaning of keywords as they should be able to relate them to an already known context. Students would likely already be familiar with many of the words in the story from their mother tongue. They would also be very familiar with the plot, so there is a rich and accessible context for them to guess the meaning of vocabulary.

Teaching strategies that can help students understand the meaning of unfamiliar words from context is important for their development as independent learners. To do this, they should be looking for context clues such as synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples, and explanations.

For example, students should become aware that when encountering an unfamiliar word in a text, they should look for words in the sentence or surrounding sentences that help them deduce what the unknown word is. In the example below, we can see that the second sentence offers an 'antonym' that should if the student is aware of the strategy, help them decipher the meaning of 'distraught'.

The English supporters were distraught after losing the final. They were not happy losing another penalty shootout.

Let's use 'definition' as another example. Below, we can see that the second sentence essentially defines the word synthesise. Students should be made aware that phrases such as 'in other words' often signal the clarification of a key term or concept.

Academic writing often requires students to synthesise the ideas of multiple authors. In other words, take key ideas from texts and combine them to produce an original text.

It is important to realize that these context clues may not always be so obvious. Hence, teachers need to carefully evaluate if the activity is suited to students' proficiency level and current vocabulary range.

Learning vocabulary from context is effective, but it should not exclude direct teaching, especially if used as a way of increasing students' awareness and speeding up the development of specific language. By using context, it encourages students to identify and acquire new vocabulary independently because they are equipped with practical strategies. In addition, this approach should be directed to useful vocabulary which will not only enhance their comprehension of listening and reading texts but boost their ability to communicate in spoken and written English.

Word lists for vocabulary learning and teaching

Just as important as understanding what constitutes effective vocabulary teaching, it is also important to be clear on which vocabulary to target. It may not always be obvious for teachers to decide which vocabulary to teach. A good starting point is to consider established and recognised word lists such as the New General Service List (NGSL).

What is the NGSL?

The NGSL is a list comprised of words considered to be the most common and frequently occurring in English - roughly 2,000 headwords. These headwords define word families, for example: 'with: within, without', or 'day: daily, daylight'. It is estimated that the list covers 80% of all words found in general reading texts and 90% of the words used in spoken English.

As previously mentioned, advanced students should already be familiar with a wide range of general words so working with the NGSL might not be a priority for them. Instead, the Academic Word List (AWL) is a better alternative as it focuses on academic vocabulary. Students at this level are often entering universities where English is the medium of instruction, so the AWL provides not only a more challenging and rewarding set of target vocabulary but also one that is highly relevant.

What is the AWL?

The AWL consists of 570 word families of which 90% are not found in the NGSL. They cover 10% of words in academic texts and are often the most challenging. The list is divided into 10 sub-lists in line with the frequency they appear in academic texts, with sub-list 1 being the most frequent and sub-list 10 the least frequent.

For advanced students, both lists are important as when combined, they are estimated to cover 90% of the words found in academic texts.

How can wordlists be used in vocabulary teaching?

Teachers must consider a variety of ways and approaches when selecting vocabulary learning activities, especially regarding students' proficiency level. While beginners can benefit more from direct teaching and activities such as flashcards, intermediate students would be suited to more challenging activities such as guessing meaning from familiar and rich contexts.

Advanced students with a greater familiarity with words in the NGSL can take advantage of the sub-lists in the AWL, especially through reading activities. But it is important to keep in mind that it can be a rather tedious activity if planned for the duration of a whole class. At this level, students are most likely expecting practice in improving their speaking skills in more dynamic tasks such as peer and group interactions.

Therefore, it is better to approach the AWL as a self-study exercise through activities such as reading, matching, and writing exercises. These can be assigned as homework and later checked during class. This way both teacher and students can optimize class time by focusing on the practiced use of specific vocabulary rather than in direct learning.

To illustrate, the teacher could highlight AWL words in a reading passage. Students could then be asked to match these words with their correct definitions or work out their meanings from context, or even use a dictionary (if needed). After working with definitions, students could then match the target words with synonyms. Additionally, students could complete a chart of word families as a way of increasing exposure to their corresponding variations.

In summary, teachers need to deal with vocabulary as a long-term goal and be constantly aware that vocabulary acquisition can be a slow process that requires repetition. Simply presenting new words to students and expecting them to memorise their meaning is an ineffective practice. It is important to link vocabulary to previously acquired language. Meaningful, continuous, and thoughtful exposure to vocabulary is the key. Ultimately, teachers should not only seek to employ effective vocabulary learning activities, but also remember to be patient, attentive, and empathic.

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TeachingEnglish: How to teach vocabulary

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Welcome to 'How to teach vocabulary'

How will the course help you.

Help your learners notice, record, recycle and use new vocabulary more confidently with engaging classroom activities.

What does the course include?

How to teach vocabulary is a free self-study training course, which is divided into three hour modules. It also includes:

• A dedicated Facebook community of course participants with up-to-date insight, resources and innovative ideas for you to try out.
• Engaging discussions taking place in the Facebook community
• A free workbook with extra learning content and resources.

What will you learn?

The aim of this module is to explore major aspects of vocabulary, including form, meaning and use, and relate these to teaching and learning. By the end of this module, you'll be able to: -explain concepts used to describe aspects of vocabulary. -explain some of the factors which lead to vocabulary errors by learners -identify activities to use for error correction -select activities to use to make vocabulary learning memorable.

The aim of this module is to outline ways of helping learners to record and recycle vocabulary, while at the same time building their skills and encouraging autonomy. By the end of this module, you'll be able to: -evaluate a range of methods and techniques that help learners remember, organise and record vocabulary -evaluate a range of activities for recycling vocabulary -identify activities which develop the learners’ vocabulary skills and encourage greater autonomy -plan the stages of a recycling activity taking into account a range of factors which promote learning.

The aim of this module is to explore ways of presenting new vocabulary in the classroom. The module considers what is involved in learning new words, how to select words to teach, and a range of methods and techniques for presenting vocabulary that take into account an inclusive multi-sensory approach. By the end of this module, you'll be able to: - describe aspects of vocabulary that learners need to know - use a range of techniques to express meaning when presenting new vocabulary - evaluate a range of methods and techniques for presenting vocabulary - use further techniques to express meaning, which take into account an inclusive, multisensory approach - evaluate a range of methods and techniques for presenting vocabulary.

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Enrolment for 'How to teach vocabulary' is now closed. Sign up to the  free newsletter  to keep up to date on when our courses open.

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The course is free.

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You will receive a certificate if you successfully complete all self-study modules.

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Minimum CEFR B1

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Hello I cant access my course due to a notice "this course was ended on 2nd of April" Can i reactivate my course? Ive been in module 2. It same goes for teaching grammar course ive been enrolled. Hopefully this problem can be fixed immediately

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Teaching vocabulary

Hello, I am delighted to see all the strategies I can use while teaching Vocabulary they are helpful and fruitful.

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It won't let me enroll for this course.

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I can't enroll on this…

I can't enroll on this course. How can I fix it?

Sorry to hear you are having problems enrolling.

To enrol, make sure you are logged into your TeachingEnglish account. You can then either go to step 2 above under "How do I register for the course?" and click the Enrol button, or click this link to go to the courses page directly:  https://open.teachingenglish.org.uk/Home/ExploreProgrammes  

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Hi, I am enrolled to this course 'How to teach vocabulary'.I have completed module 1 but on the site it is showing in progress. Is it a technical issue? Thank you for your help. Richa

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• 40 Useful Words and Phrases for Top-Notch Essays

To be truly brilliant, an essay needs to utilise the right language. You could make a great point, but if it’s not intelligently articulated, you almost needn’t have bothered.

Developing the language skills to build an argument and to write persuasively is crucial if you’re to write outstanding essays every time. In this article, we’re going to equip you with the words and phrases you need to write a top-notch essay, along with examples of how to utilise them.

It’s by no means an exhaustive list, and there will often be other ways of using the words and phrases we describe that we won’t have room to include, but there should be more than enough below to help you make an instant improvement to your essay-writing skills.

If you’re interested in developing your language and persuasive skills, Oxford Royale offers summer courses at its Oxford Summer School , Cambridge Summer School , London Summer School , San Francisco Summer School and Yale Summer School . You can study courses to learn english , prepare for careers in law , medicine , business , engineering and leadership.

General explaining

Let’s start by looking at language for general explanations of complex points.

1. In order to

Usage: “In order to” can be used to introduce an explanation for the purpose of an argument. Example: “In order to understand X, we need first to understand Y.”

2. In other words

Usage: Use “in other words” when you want to express something in a different way (more simply), to make it easier to understand, or to emphasise or expand on a point. Example: “Frogs are amphibians. In other words, they live on the land and in the water.”

3. To put it another way

Usage: This phrase is another way of saying “in other words”, and can be used in particularly complex points, when you feel that an alternative way of wording a problem may help the reader achieve a better understanding of its significance. Example: “Plants rely on photosynthesis. To put it another way, they will die without the sun.”

4. That is to say

Usage: “That is” and “that is to say” can be used to add further detail to your explanation, or to be more precise. Example: “Whales are mammals. That is to say, they must breathe air.”

5. To that end

Usage: Use “to that end” or “to this end” in a similar way to “in order to” or “so”. Example: “Zoologists have long sought to understand how animals communicate with each other. To that end, a new study has been launched that looks at elephant sounds and their possible meanings.”

Adding additional information to support a point

Students often make the mistake of using synonyms of “and” each time they want to add further information in support of a point they’re making, or to build an argument. Here are some cleverer ways of doing this.

6. Moreover

Usage: Employ “moreover” at the start of a sentence to add extra information in support of a point you’re making. Example: “Moreover, the results of a recent piece of research provide compelling evidence in support of…”

7. Furthermore

Usage:This is also generally used at the start of a sentence, to add extra information. Example: “Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that…”

8. What’s more

Usage: This is used in the same way as “moreover” and “furthermore”. Example: “What’s more, this isn’t the only evidence that supports this hypothesis.”

9. Likewise

Usage: Use “likewise” when you want to talk about something that agrees with what you’ve just mentioned. Example: “Scholar A believes X. Likewise, Scholar B argues compellingly in favour of this point of view.”

10. Similarly

Usage: Use “similarly” in the same way as “likewise”. Example: “Audiences at the time reacted with shock to Beethoven’s new work, because it was very different to what they were used to. Similarly, we have a tendency to react with surprise to the unfamiliar.”

11. Another key thing to remember

Usage: Use the phrase “another key point to remember” or “another key fact to remember” to introduce additional facts without using the word “also”. Example: “As a Romantic, Blake was a proponent of a closer relationship between humans and nature. Another key point to remember is that Blake was writing during the Industrial Revolution, which had a major impact on the world around him.”

12. As well as

Usage: Use “as well as” instead of “also” or “and”. Example: “Scholar A argued that this was due to X, as well as Y.”

13. Not only… but also

Usage: This wording is used to add an extra piece of information, often something that’s in some way more surprising or unexpected than the first piece of information. Example: “Not only did Edmund Hillary have the honour of being the first to reach the summit of Everest, but he was also appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.”

14. Coupled with

Usage: Used when considering two or more arguments at a time. Example: “Coupled with the literary evidence, the statistics paint a compelling view of…”

15. Firstly, secondly, thirdly…

Usage: This can be used to structure an argument, presenting facts clearly one after the other. Example: “There are many points in support of this view. Firstly, X. Secondly, Y. And thirdly, Z.

16. Not to mention/to say nothing of

Usage: “Not to mention” and “to say nothing of” can be used to add extra information with a bit of emphasis. Example: “The war caused unprecedented suffering to millions of people, not to mention its impact on the country’s economy.”

Words and phrases for demonstrating contrast

When you’re developing an argument, you will often need to present contrasting or opposing opinions or evidence – “it could show this, but it could also show this”, or “X says this, but Y disagrees”. This section covers words you can use instead of the “but” in these examples, to make your writing sound more intelligent and interesting.

17. However

Usage: Use “however” to introduce a point that disagrees with what you’ve just said. Example: “Scholar A thinks this. However, Scholar B reached a different conclusion.”

18. On the other hand

Usage: Usage of this phrase includes introducing a contrasting interpretation of the same piece of evidence, a different piece of evidence that suggests something else, or an opposing opinion. Example: “The historical evidence appears to suggest a clear-cut situation. On the other hand, the archaeological evidence presents a somewhat less straightforward picture of what happened that day.”

19. Having said that

Usage: Used in a similar manner to “on the other hand” or “but”. Example: “The historians are unanimous in telling us X, an agreement that suggests that this version of events must be an accurate account. Having said that, the archaeology tells a different story.”

20. By contrast/in comparison

Usage: Use “by contrast” or “in comparison” when you’re comparing and contrasting pieces of evidence. Example: “Scholar A’s opinion, then, is based on insufficient evidence. By contrast, Scholar B’s opinion seems more plausible.”

21. Then again

Usage: Use this to cast doubt on an assertion. Example: “Writer A asserts that this was the reason for what happened. Then again, it’s possible that he was being paid to say this.”

22. That said

Usage: This is used in the same way as “then again”. Example: “The evidence ostensibly appears to point to this conclusion. That said, much of the evidence is unreliable at best.”

Usage: Use this when you want to introduce a contrasting idea. Example: “Much of scholarship has focused on this evidence. Yet not everyone agrees that this is the most important aspect of the situation.”

Adding a proviso or acknowledging reservations

Sometimes, you may need to acknowledge a shortfalling in a piece of evidence, or add a proviso. Here are some ways of doing so.

24. Despite this

Usage: Use “despite this” or “in spite of this” when you want to outline a point that stands regardless of a shortfalling in the evidence. Example: “The sample size was small, but the results were important despite this.”

25. With this in mind

Usage: Use this when you want your reader to consider a point in the knowledge of something else. Example: “We’ve seen that the methods used in the 19th century study did not always live up to the rigorous standards expected in scientific research today, which makes it difficult to draw definite conclusions. With this in mind, let’s look at a more recent study to see how the results compare.”

26. Provided that

Usage: This means “on condition that”. You can also say “providing that” or just “providing” to mean the same thing. Example: “We may use this as evidence to support our argument, provided that we bear in mind the limitations of the methods used to obtain it.”

27. In view of/in light of

Usage: These phrases are used when something has shed light on something else. Example: “In light of the evidence from the 2013 study, we have a better understanding of…”

28. Nonetheless

Usage: This is similar to “despite this”. Example: “The study had its limitations, but it was nonetheless groundbreaking for its day.”

29. Nevertheless

Usage: This is the same as “nonetheless”. Example: “The study was flawed, but it was important nevertheless.”

30. Notwithstanding

Usage: This is another way of saying “nonetheless”. Example: “Notwithstanding the limitations of the methodology used, it was an important study in the development of how we view the workings of the human mind.”

Giving examples

Good essays always back up points with examples, but it’s going to get boring if you use the expression “for example” every time. Here are a couple of other ways of saying the same thing.

31. For instance

Example: “Some birds migrate to avoid harsher winter climates. Swallows, for instance, leave the UK in early winter and fly south…”

32. To give an illustration

Example: “To give an illustration of what I mean, let’s look at the case of…”

Signifying importance

When you want to demonstrate that a point is particularly important, there are several ways of highlighting it as such.

33. Significantly

Usage: Used to introduce a point that is loaded with meaning that might not be immediately apparent. Example: “Significantly, Tacitus omits to tell us the kind of gossip prevalent in Suetonius’ accounts of the same period.”

34. Notably

Usage: This can be used to mean “significantly” (as above), and it can also be used interchangeably with “in particular” (the example below demonstrates the first of these ways of using it). Example: “Actual figures are notably absent from Scholar A’s analysis.”

35. Importantly

Usage: Use “importantly” interchangeably with “significantly”. Example: “Importantly, Scholar A was being employed by X when he wrote this work, and was presumably therefore under pressure to portray the situation more favourably than he perhaps might otherwise have done.”

Summarising

You’ve almost made it to the end of the essay, but your work isn’t over yet. You need to end by wrapping up everything you’ve talked about, showing that you’ve considered the arguments on both sides and reached the most likely conclusion. Here are some words and phrases to help you.

36. In conclusion

Usage: Typically used to introduce the concluding paragraph or sentence of an essay, summarising what you’ve discussed in a broad overview. Example: “In conclusion, the evidence points almost exclusively to Argument A.”

37. Above all

Usage: Used to signify what you believe to be the most significant point, and the main takeaway from the essay. Example: “Above all, it seems pertinent to remember that…”

38. Persuasive

Usage: This is a useful word to use when summarising which argument you find most convincing. Example: “Scholar A’s point – that Constanze Mozart was motivated by financial gain – seems to me to be the most persuasive argument for her actions following Mozart’s death.”

39. Compelling

Usage: Use in the same way as “persuasive” above. Example: “The most compelling argument is presented by Scholar A.”

40. All things considered

Usage: This means “taking everything into account”. Example: “All things considered, it seems reasonable to assume that…”

How many of these words and phrases will you get into your next essay? And are any of your favourite essay terms missing from our list? Let us know in the comments below, or get in touch here to find out more about courses that can help you with your essays.

At Oxford Royale Academy, we offer a number of  summer school courses for young people who are keen to improve their essay writing skills. Click here to apply for one of our courses today, including law , business , medicine  and engineering .

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