In several of my last articles I have focused on different aspects of reading. The topics have gone from phonics to comprehension to fluency and now to vocabulary. My latest article talked about the importance of increasing the vocabulary of your students.
In this article I continue to discuss vocabulary. However I begin to examine the methods of teaching vocabulary to students.
As most of you recall, the typical method of teaching vocabulary consisted of copying bold words and their definitions from a body of text or from the glossary of a book. These definitions were then to be memorized and tested over.
However vocabulary does not always have to be so directly taught. There are ways that students can indirectly learn new words without copying definitions.
No matter what age group of children you have or students you teach, all children can benefit from being read to. The more various kinds of words and text students are exposed to, the larger their vocabulary will grow.
Children increase their vocabulary more when being read to if the reader talks about and discusses the text along with the reading.
Another way to indirectly increase the vocabulary of your students is to encourage reading outside of school. The more time that students spend reading, the more words they will be exposed to.
When it is time for direct vocabulary instruction, many teachers struggle with which words they need to teach to the children. Some text series come with lists of words to teach. However others do not.
When choosing vocabulary words, teachers should focus on the following types of words:
Important Words: Do not try to teach children every word in a story or passage that they may not know. There are many words that are not necessarily needed to be able to understand a passage. Choose the words that are essential to the meaning of the text.