101 Strategies to Make Academic Vocabulary Stick

Marilee Sprenger

• Publisher: ASCD
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781416623137
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Teaching Languages

Veteran educator Marilee Sprenger explains how to teach the essential, high-frequency words that appear in academic contexts--and reverse the disadvantages of what she calls "word poverty." Drawing on research and experience, Sprenger provides a rich array of engaging strategies to help educators across all content areas and grade levels not only teach students a large quantity of words but also ensure that they know these words well. You'll find

• An overview of how the brain learns and retains new words, including the three stages of building long-term memories: encoding, storage, and retrieval.
• Encoding strategies to introduce words in novel ways and jump-start the memory process.
• Rehearsal strategies to help students put words into long-term storage.
• Review strategies to help students strengthen their retrieval skills and gain the automaticity needed for reading comprehension.
• Ways to address planning and assessment as crucial, intersecting supports of a robust vocabulary program.

This comprehensive resource has everything you need to help your students profoundly expand their vocabulary, enabling them to speak, read, and write with greater understanding and confidence.

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Chapter 1

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Remembering Words: Reviewing the Research and Building the Mindset

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I often visit schools where I get to work with exceptional teachers. At one Chicago school, I spent a lot of time in an ESL primary classroom where the teacher, Jacquie Erickson, worked with her students using strategies from my first two vocabulary books, Teaching the Critical Vocabulary of the Common Core (2013) and Vocab Rehab: How Do I Teach Vocabulary Effectively with Limited Time? (2014). Although I had not specifically created lessons for English language learners, these brain-friendly strategies were effective for these students because they offered varied ways of learning.

For vocabulary instruction to be effective, we must meet students where they are and use strategies that take into account how their brains and memories work. In this chapter, I review some of the research behind how the brain learns and retains new words and explain how to prime students for vocabulary instruction to take hold.

INSIGHTS FROM RESEARCH

We are fortunate to teach in an age that abounds with brain research and memory research. Neuroscientists have been able to map the language pathway and the reading pathway in the brain (Sprenger, 2013). Mapping these pathways has enabled us to learn much more about how the brain acquires new vocabulary.

Some research specifically supports a visual word learning method. Reading and comprehension of words are often associated with an area in the left hemisphere of the brain called the visual word form area (Dehaene, 2009). Researchers (Glezer, Kim, Rule, Jiang, & Riesenhuber, 2015) believe that this area is used to store words as pictures, particularly after the words are learned through the familiar "sounding out" process, making good fluency possible.

Professor and researcher Maryann Wolf (2010) explains:

When reading even a single word, the first milliseconds of the reading circuit are largely devoted to decoding the word's visual information and connecting it to all that we know about the word from its sounds to meanings to syntactic functions. The virtual automaticity of this first set of stages allows us in the next milliseconds to go beyond the decoded text. It is within the next precious milliseconds that we enter a cognitive space where we can connect the decoded information to all that we know and feel. In this latter part of the process of reading, we are given the ability to think new thoughts of our own: the generative core of the reading process.

Most of us are familiar with vocabulary strategies that incorporate visuals, such as pictures, drawings, symbols, and graphic organizers. There's a reason for that. Let me illustrate with a common scenario: you're introduced to someone new, and just seconds later you have forgotten his name—but you remember that he's an artist. This phenomenon is often referred to as the "baker/Baker effect." You may not remember Mrs. Baker's name right after you meet her, but if she is a baker, you'll remember that—probably because you visualized the occupation and have a stronger connection to it. In one study (James, 2004), subjects were shown pictures of people along with their names and occupations. Later, when they were shown the pictures again, younger and older participants alike remembered occupations more than names. For this reason, teaching vocabulary is much more effective when the words are associated with visuals of some kind.

In addition to the visual aspect of vocabulary learning, researchers at King's College in London (López-Barroso et al., 2013) have recently found that the arcuate fasciculus—a bundle of axons that connects the two speech centers, Wernicke's area and Broca's area—is the key to remembering new words. Wernicke's area is the brain's lexicon of words and their meanings, whereas Broca's area is involved with the articulation of speech. The researchers found that the more myelinated the arcuate fasciculus was—myelination being the process by which axons are covered in myelin, a fatty coating that makes nerve impulses move faster and more effectively—the more easily a word was remembered. In addition, articulation of the word helps reinforce the connection between the two speech structures. Therefore, the importance of having students speak new words cannot be overstated. Providing more opportunities for students to repeat a new vocabulary word and then use it when speaking increases the likelihood of their using it again.

It behooves us to approach vocabulary instruction using sound pedagogy that incorporates the conclusions of these research findings, including the use of repetition and reinforcement that strengthen the word connections in the brain. Researcher Michael Graves (2006) devised a four-part plan for teaching vocabulary that provides multiple avenues for learning and incorporates both explicit and implicit modes of learning. His plan includes the following four elements:

1. A rich language environment. Students should be immersed in a word-filled world. Some ways teachers can achieve this are by reading with and to students, through direct instruction and discussion of new vocabulary (Moore, Alvermann, & Hinchman, 2000), and by encouraging students to form "book clubs" in which they read and discuss books of their choice. Students should read and write across genres and content areas, and teachers should be sure to provide informational text along with fiction. You will find more ideas for creating a rich, word-filled environment throughout this book.
2. Focus on individual words. Teaching individual words is at the heart of increasing vocabularies. Because our student populations are so diverse, a toolbox of strategies is necessary to introduce and rehearse new vocabulary. Teachers should be open to what students need and vary their teaching methods accordingly.
3. Word-learning strategies. It's important for students to be able to learn and explore new words independently. Teachers should show students how to use context clues as well as clues from morphemes (i.e., the smallest parts of words that contain meaning) to figure out the meaning of new words. Although most experts agree that generating definitions with students is preferable to using dictionaries as a way of learning vocabulary, teachers should explain to students when a dictionary may be necessary and how to use a thesaurus.
4. Word consciousness. To foster word consciousness, teachers should model an awareness and enjoyment of words and their usefulness. Freely using and playing with words is an important part of building a strong vocabulary.

Baumann, Ware, and Edwards (2007) put Graves's plan to the test by following 5th grade students from diverse backgrounds for one year, during which time the four elements of Graves's approach were incorporated into daily vocabulary lessons. A sampling of the impressive results follows:

• Students' word knowledge grew more than expected as a result of the program's multifaceted approach to vocabulary learning.
• Students who were initially below average in vocabulary knowledge showed greater gains than did classmates who had originally tested above average.
• Writing samples indicated a 36 percent increase in students' word knowledge between fall and spring.
• Low-frequency word use increased by 42 percent between fall and spring.
• Parents' ratings of their children's vocabulary size and appreciation of vocabulary increased between fall and spring.
• Students reported an increase in their interest in reading, writing, and vocabulary from fall to spring.
• Students used more sophisticated and challenging words as the school year progressed.
• Students' attitudes toward learning improved over the school year.
• Students independently used word-learning tools and strategies.

It's clear that Graves is onto something with his four-part plan. But there are still many questions to be answered about teaching and learning vocabulary. For example, how well should words be learned? Must students be able to recognize a word's meaning in multiple contexts and recall its meaning without any triggers or clues? How long are students expected to retain this knowledge? What do we mean when we refer to students "encountering" a word—coming across it in a written text, hearing it in conversation, defining it in a specific teacher-designed exercise, taking the initiative to use it in a sentence, deliberately committing it to memory? All of the above?

The mere presence of these questions indicates that vocabulary is a much more complex and important subject than it's often given credit for. Indeed, it is increasingly clear that vocabulary instruction must not be relegated to an occasional lesson but, rather, should pervade teaching across the curriculum and in all grade levels. As my colleague Mike Fisher writes in Hacking the Common Core (2016),

Friday is not the only day that vocabulary is important, though you'd never guess that was the case in many classrooms in 2016. This practice is still pervasive and it must stop. Vocab is important every day. We don't want to create neural pathways (myelination) in students' brains that hardwire them to care about vocabulary only on Friday. (p. 37)

I agree wholeheartedly with Mike. We have to show our students that vocabulary is important to us, and that it is important every day. We need to teach definitions, pronunciation, relationships among words, strategies for choosing the right word in a given situation, and the kind of deep understanding that will enable our students to write complex sentences using vocabulary words automatically and correctly. How are we going to do this?

INTRODUCING THE FIVE LONG-TERM MEMORY SYSTEMS

Because our ultimate goal is to get vocabulary words into students' long-term memories, let's first look at how long-term memory works. There are actually five long-term memory systems that we can use to get information stored in the brain. Two of these are explicit, or declarative, systems: semantic and episodic. The other three—motor procedural, nonmotor procedural (automatic), and emotional—are implicit memory systems.

Semantic Memory

Semantic memory holds factual information that we have learned from words. Here's how it works: new information enters the brain through the brain stem, goes to the thalamus, and is sent to the hippocampus, which serves as the "file cabinet" for our factual memories. Just as each aisle at the supermarket has a sign telling us which items are on its shelves, the hippocampus holds the signs, or files, for our memories. If incoming sensory information is factual, it will trigger the hippocampus to search its files for matching information. If that existing information connects to the new information, it will be sent to the prefrontal cortex, where working memory will continue to sort and sift the old and the new material. Through prior knowledge or interest, the new information may be added to the old information and form new memories. This process may need to be repeated before permanent memories are formed.

This memory system is a problematic one to use for learning because it takes several repetitions of the learning to cement it into the pathway, and the new learning must be stimulated by associations, comparisons, and similarities to be accessed. Despite the limitations of semantic memory, most of our educational system relies heavily on this system. Textbooks, videos, and lectures are some of the teaching strategies that feed this system.

Episodic Memory

Episodic memory, which relates to locations, people, and events, has also been called contextual or spatial memory. You are always somewhere when you learn something, so that learning may easily be associated with the location. For example, those of us who are old enough to remember the assassination of President Kennedy may ask one another, "Where were you when you found out that JFK had been shot?" For younger people, the 9/11 tragedy is a similar type of memory trigger.

The point is that we all remember some information because it is location-related. The car that you learned to drive in will be easier for you to drive than other cars because you will remember the instructions you received and associate them with this particular car. That's why taking your driving test in a different car tends to make the experience more difficult. Similarly, students who learn information in one room and are tested in another consistently underperform. Episodic memory has an important component that can be called "invisible information." Students have more trouble solving math problems in their English classroom than they do back in math class because the walls, desks, overheads, chalkboards, and even the math teacher provide all kinds of invisible information. The content of the room becomes part of the context of the memory.

Students can improve their semantic and episodic memory through the recoding process—that is, by putting information into their own words. This is especially important for students who struggle with a new language, who come from homes with little literacy, or who generally rely more heavily on their surroundings and experiences to build long-term memory. In a study by Szpunar, Chan, and McDermott (2009), three groups of students learned a set of words on computers in five sessions with a 20-minute break between each session. During the breaks, members of group A spent the time as they pleased; members of group B stayed at the computer and went over the words and definitions they had just learned; and members of group C received a blank sheet of paper and were asked to write down everything they remembered from the session. On the unit tests and the final test, group C outscored both of the other groups by about 40 percent. Interestingly, group B did not do much better than group A. This study shows why it is imperative not only to motivate students to attend to the instructional portion of a lesson but also to teach them how to recode and internalize the new information once the lesson is over.

Motor Procedural Memory

The motor procedural memory system is often referred to as "muscle memory." Information found in this system relates to processes that your body engages in and remembers, like riding a bike, skipping rope, roller skating, or driving a car.

The parts of your brain that are responsible for this information in its initial stage are the prefrontal cortex, the parietal cortex, and the cerebellum. For years, it was thought that the cerebellum was used solely for balance and posture, but recent research (Munoz, 2014) suggests that the cerebellum plays a larger, more profound role.

When any procedure becomes routine, it is stored in the motor cortex and cerebellum. So when you first learned to drive, not only was your episodic memory storing factual information, but your motor procedural memory was also activated. Stopping at a red light, hitting your brakes when you see brake lights in front of you, and turning the wheel to avoid collisions are all stored in this system.

The storage of procedural memory within this system has given humans the ability to do two things at once. The fact that we can drive cars and talk on the telephone at the same time (not something I condone!) is evidence of this. Because different areas of the brain are needed for these two functions, they do not fight for brain space or energy.

Nonnmotor Procedural (Automatic) Memory

Nonmotor procedural memory is where any learning that has become automatic for you is stored. The alphabet is stored here, as are Tier 1 words, which are a natural part of our speech. Because retrieval of words from nonmotor procedural memory is automatic, this is the system through which I recommend learning the critical vocabulary found in the Common Core standards. Automatic memory is also where you'd probably find the multiplication tables, your ability to decode words, and lots of songs.

Repeated sets of words are also stored here: think stop and go, black and white, up and down, in and out. If you practiced learning information on flashcards, that material would also be stored in your automatic memory system.

The use of this system can cause other memory systems to open. For example, imagine that you are listening to the radio, and a song comes on that you haven't heard in a long time. You begin to sing the song and remember that the last time you sang it, you were on your way to the hospital. Now your episodic memory has been triggered. You picture yourself clutching the steering wheel of your blue Oldsmobile as you drove up the hill to this hospital. Now you have activated your procedural memory. As you think about the hospital, you remember why you were there: you were taking your friend to the emergency room. Your semantic system has opened up with this factual information. Suddenly, you feel happy as you recall that you were with your friend when her baby was born: now your emotional memory...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Addressing Word Poverty
• Chapter 1. Remembering Words: Reviewing the Research and Building the Mindset
• Chapter 2. Encoding: Introducing New Words
• Chapter 3. Storage: Practice Makes Permanent
• Chapter 4. Retrieval: Review for Automaticity
• Chapter 5. What Now? Assessment and Planning
• References
• Study Guide
• Related ASCD Resources
• About the Author
• Copyright