The Reading Teacher's Sourcebook - The Meadows Center for ...

word knowledgeSemantic mapping (Heimlich & Pittleman, 1986; Reyes & Bos, 1998; Scanlon, Duran, Reyes, & Gallego,1992; Schifini, 1994), semantic feature analysis (Anders & Bos, 1986; Bos & Anders, 1992; Reyes &Bos, 1998), and generating examples and nonexamples of questions (Baumann & Kame’enui, 1999;Blachowicz & Fisher, 2000; Stahl & Fairbanks, 1986) are research-based instructional practices designedto teach word meaning. Research suggests that knowledge is stored in categories and that words are linkedin our memory to other words, or concepts, based on their relationships to each other (Rumelheart, 1980;Anderson, 1980), so a student’s ability to retain new word meaning is directly related to that student’sability to associate the new word with his/her prior knowledge. Therefore, it is important to activate astudent’s background knowledge when introducing a new word or concept. This approach helps improveretention of new word meaning.English language learners, in particular, benefit from instruction showing relationships between words,especially synonyms, antonyms, and word family associations (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2004; Grognetet al., 2000). It is also helpful to give examples of a new word in different parts of speech (e.g. enthusiasm,enthusiastic, enthusiastically). Provide a meaningful sentence for each word.Semantic mapping, semantic feature analysis, and word maps are effective because:• They are flexible, adaptable, and require minimal preparation time.• They activate students’ prior knowledge of words or concepts.• They help students understand the relationship between words.• They may improve students’ recall of word meaning.WORD CONSCIOUSNESS“Word consciousness” refers to a student’s interest in and awareness of words (Graves, Juel, & Graves,1998). A word-conscious student is interested in learning new words and knows a lot of words. This kindof student loves to use words, pursues the discovery of interesting words, and understands that words canbe used to communicate precisely and clearly (Graves, Juel, & Graves, 1998). Teachers should encouragestudents to be word-conscious by modeling their own love of words. Teachers can model their interest inwords by pointing out unique or intriguing words during in-class reading. Teachers can also model the useof precise words by explaining to students their own word choices. For example, a teacher may start theday by telling students that during the storms the previous night the winds were howling. Then the teachercould explain that howling is a good word to use when describing how strong winds sound because theword howling makes us think of the sound of a howling animal. In addition to modeling a love of wordsand the use of effective words, it is important to praise students for their use of clever or precise words intheir speaking or writing (Graves, Juel, & Graves, 1998).Further suggestions for promoting word consciousness:• Guide students to understand the difference between the ways words are used in written languageand conversation.142The Reading Teacher’s Sourcebook