Teaching vocabulary to post-elementary students via any one
of the three most common approaches does not have significant
carryover into the reading and writing most students grades 7
and beyond are required to do outside the English classroom.
There is, however, an approach that works well.
The reading-in-context approach
Learning vocabulary through reading context is the method preferred
by good readers and writers. However, a reading-based approach to
teaching vocabulary poses some difficulties for students who are
not good readers and writers.
Three potential problems of reliance on this method of learning
vocabulary in grades 7 and beyond are:
-
Very little reading instruction is done at the high school
level where students are dealing with complex ideas and are
most likely to need support in developing their reading vocabularies.
-
Unless a teacher makes a serious effort to provide students
with reading material that presents vocabulary students need
to know, students may not get an opportunity to see essential
vocabulary in context.
- If the word has different meanings in other contexts, learning
its meaning in only one can may hinder reading comprehension.
These potential problems don't mean reading in context is not useful,
only that it should not be the only strategy employed for to teach
vocabulary.
Test-prep word lists approach
The opposite extreme, the test-prep word list approach to vocabulary
instruction, also presents some problems for teaching and learning:
-
The memorized definition may be applicable to only one context.
-
The word lists on standardized tests may not be vocabulary
students need to use regularly in speaking and writing.
-
Vocabulary memorized for tests but not used is quickly forgotten,
which means much time is wasted on material that is not remembered.
You may decide it's worth putting up with the problems to achieve
higher test scores.
Vocabulary in sentences approach
Between the reading context approach to teaching vocabulary and
the word list approach is the familiar “vocabulary in sentences”
approach.
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It seems sensible that if students are given a list of words and
definitions, having them use the words in their own sentences would
promote retention. Unfortunately, while the procedure may help students
remember material for a test, it does not work particularly well
at developing students written and spoken vocabulary.
Teachers often combine using a word in an sentence with one of
the other two approaches on the mistaken impression that using the
word in a sentence is application of knowledge. It's not. Application
means using knowledge without being prompted to do so.
Limits of all three approaches
Regardless of which of the three approaches to teaching vocabulary
you favor, you need to realize that students require multiple exposures
to each vocabulary word before they learn it.
One pair of researchers estimate that high school age students
with severe reading deficits need 15 presentations to learn a new
word. Research I've seen about the number of presentations a customer
must be exposed to before they notice an ad suggests that figure
is probably reasonable.
Combination yields better results
If you blanch at the thought of having students do the same vocabulary
activity 15 times just to learn one vocabulary word, take heart.
