How to teach English vocabulary
using a word list as your starting point

Middle and high school teachers must know ways to teach English vocabulary for listening and reading comprehension before they can expect students to use that vocabulary in their writing.

Although learning words in the context of reading is the most desirable method of expanding vocabulary, starting with a vocabulary list is better for students with severe reading deficits.

Values of vocabulary lists

Vocabulary word lists:

• Present words students may have heard but never seen.

• Prime students to anticipate the presence of certain words in their reading.

• Prepare a foundation for learning totally unfamiliar vocabulary words.

In order to keep the lessons manageable for you and your students, use lists of no more than 10 words.

How to teach from vocabulary lists

Here is how to teach word lists:

1. Introduce one word and its meaning.

2. Ask students to think of contexts in which the word could be used.

3. Present the word in various contexts. This may include reading aloud passages that include the word and having students do cloze (fill-in-the-blanks) activities.

   Present the other words on the list in the same manner.

4. Give students opportunities to use the words in ways that expand their understanding and develop their thinking abilities, such as

   • Yes/No/Why in which the teacher pairs two words from the current word list and asks a question about them that requires students to talk about the word meanings. For example,

   • Analogies in which students must find an appropriate word to fill in a missing element in a set of word analogies incorporating the week's word list.

5. Give a writing prompt and ask students to write a paragraph response incorporating at least half the words on the current list.

Find much more about teaching vocabulary on the reading-writing thread.