What Instructional Approaches Facilitate and Support Vocabulary Development

Once you have determined what words to teach, you need to decide how to teach them. In other words, you need to identify and implement instructional approaches that are most likely to result in students’ taking ownership of the target words and their underlying concepts. We believe the most effective way to accomplish this goal is to utilize approaches that are consistent with the following guidelines:

• Relate the new to the known
• Promote active, in-depth processing
• Create a language- and word-rich environment
• Support independent word learning

Relate New to Known

Vocabulary instruction is most effective when teachers relate new words and concepts to information students already possess about those words and concepts. In effect, teachers must bridge the gap between students’ current understanding of a concept and the level of understanding needed to successfully comprehend what they are reading. Too often teachers start by asking themselves, “What don’t my students understand about this concept?” The question should be: “What do students understand and how can I make the connection between that knowledge and the new information?”

If students know nothing about a particular concept, then the teacher must help students develop background knowledge related to it. If students have some information but it is inadequate to successfully complete the work at hand, then additional background needs to be developed. If students have adequate background knowledge but are not utilizing it, then the teacher must engage students in activities that activate the relevant information.

Promote Active, In-Depth Processing

Vocabulary instruction is most effective when teachers promote active, in-depth processing of words and concepts. While active student engagement is an important component of all learning endeavors, it is essential to vocabulary development. Word learning is enhanced when students are actively involved in the generation of word meanings rather than being passive recipients of information (Bransford, Brown, & Corking, 1999).

We also know that word learning is enhanced when teachers provide students with extensive opportunities to process word meanings at deeper and more complex levels (Kame’enui, 2004). Memorizing a definition or understanding a concept at a superficial level is not enough. Students must have both definitional and contextual information about words, as well as repeated exposures and opportunities to learn and review them. Engaging students in activities in which they work collaboratively to create or understand appropriate definitions and word relationships is one way to accomplish this goal.