SIOP Background

Building
Academic Vocabulary
ED: 4565 Summer 2011

Two Things to Remember!

Teachers still have the biggest
impact!
SIOP = A framework for organizing
best practices that are essential for
language learners!

What is it about vocabulary?

If your students miss just 5% of the words in a text
makes it nearly incomprehensible!
At some point, students must move from merely
learning words to learning about their own learning of
words.
Teachers should model their own thinking as they
encounter words in text that might be confusing and
show students how they figure out those terms.
Students need to learn strategies for helping themselves
when reading independently.
Academic vocabulary development is as much about
problem solving as it is about acquisition.

What is it about vocabulary?

Canadian students will come in contact with
88,500 word families by the time they
complete high school.
88,500 word families = about 500,000
individual words.
Half of the word families are so rare that
students will likely encounter them only once in
a lifetime.
If a student needs to know 250,000 words and
has 180 days (195 in NB) of school a year for
thirteen years, that student will have to learn
107 words per day and never be absent!

Don t Panic!
Students learn a lot of these words while
reading, interacting with peers- not only by
direct instruction, thankfully.
Other words must be explicitly, systematically,
and intentionally taught (Academic vocabulary
their 3rd language).
The key to improving student achievement is
knowing the difference between words
students will learn automatically and which
need to be taught.
We re here to help you do just that!

How about those objectives,

eh!
Decide what key vocabulary, concept words,
adn other academic words students will need
to know in order to talk, read, and write about
the topice of the lesson.
Think about the language skills necessary for
students to accomplish the lessons activities.
Will students be reading a textbook passage?
Are they able to read a text passage to find
specific information? Will they be reporting
what they observe or find? The skills needed
to carry out these tasks might be the focus of a
language objective!

How about those objectives,

eh!
Identify grammar or language
structures common to the content
area. For example, many science
textbooks use the passive voice to
describe processes. Do they need
to use comparative language to
analyze two related concepts?
These could be your language
objectives!

How about those objectives,

eh!
Consider the tasks that the
students will complete and the
language that will be embedded in
those assignments. Will they need
to explain a certain procedure or
series of events?

How about those objectives,

eh!
Sample language and content
objectives from a middle school science
lesson on cell theory:
Language Objective: Students will be
able to orally describe three types of
cells to a partner.
Content Objective: Students will be
able to produce a visual representation
of each of the three types of cells.
Make the objectives mesurable!

Some points to remember!

A consistent finding in reading research
is the positive correlation between a
learners vocabulary knowledge and
reading comprehension ability.
Students must be able to understand
90% of the words in a passage to
comprehend the passage
independently, or know how to derive
meaning.
How many words per lesson is too
much?? Some say 5 per lesson, some
say more.

Five Essential Steps to Teaching Academic

Vocabulary Making it Intentional!

Tier 1, or General, Words:

Tier 1 words are words that ELLs typically know the concept of
in their primary language, but not the label in English. For
example, a Tier 1 word might be butterfly. This is a word that
English language learners may not know, but it can be easily
taught by pointing to a picture of a butterfly during text
discussion.
Another Tier 1 word might be march (move like a soldier). A
word like march can be easily instructed during text discussion
by marching in place. But because this word has multiple
meanings, it also merits further instruction. This can be
accomplished through oral language activities that follow the
text discussion.

Teaching Tier 1 Words

We take it for granted that native English-speakers
know most Tier 1 words, but this is not the case for
ELLs. Many Tier 1 words may be unknown to ELLs and
key to the comprehension of a passage. Different types
of Tier 1 words require different teaching strategies:
Some Tier 1 words cannot be demonstrated and do not
have multiple meanings, but students will need to know
them. An example of this is the word uncle. A simple
explanation of the word's meaning during the story
reading will suffice. Or, if the teacher and students are
bilingual, a quick translation is sufficient (not your
situation).

Teaching Tier 1 Words

Idioms and everyday expressions (like "make up your
mind," "let's hit the books," and "once upon a time") are
also in the Tier 1 category. Teachers will need to explain
the meanings of these phrases to students.
Some Tier 1 words are simple cognates (like family/
familia or preparation/preparacin).
It is also important to point out false cognates and give
the correct translation. Examples of false cognates are:
rope/ropa (clothing) and embarrassed/embarasada
(pregnant). I don t think this will be an issue in your
teaching context!

Tier 2 Words
Tier 2 words are more complex than Tier 1 words. They
may also be more abstract. These include:
Words that are important and useful to understanding
the text, such as: character, setting, plot, even numbers,
and country.
Words that have connections to other words and
concepts, such as: between, among, by, combine, and
estimate.
Words for which students understand the general
concept, but need greater precision and specificity in
describing a concept or a person, such as: sets, tables
(for math or science, or for a table of contents), shy,
ashamed, and stubborn.

Teaching Tier 2 Words

Tier 2 words appear in grade-level texts. They can be
worked with in a variety of ways so that ELLs build rich
representations of them and connect them to other
words and concepts. Different types of Tier 2 words
require different teaching strategies:
Some Tier 2 words will not require elaborate discussion,
because they can be demonstrated. These include
words with multiple meanings, such as trunk, which can
be taught by using gestures to show that it is part of an
elephant, part of a tree, part of our body, and the back
of a car.

Teaching Tier 2 Words

The Tier 2 words that should be
targeted for pre-teaching include words
that cannot be demonstrated and are
not cognates.
ELLs should be expected to master Tier
2 words in order to do well on
comprehension and on tests.

Tier 3 Words
These are low-frequency words that are found
mostly in content books (Academic Word List)
in the upper grades. Examples include
witticism, isotope, procrastinate, amoeba, or
words that are not demonstrable or cognates
(or are very difficult to demonstrate). These
words are rarely encountered in the early
grades, but become essential in the upper
grades such as the Concord Colleges and
International Schools where we are teaching
the English language and content!!

What Words do we Choose?

See handout page 4.
Representation: Is the word representative of
a family of words that students should know?
Is the concept represented by the word critical
to understand the text? Is the word a label for
an idea that students need to know? Does the
word represent an idea that is essential for
understanding another concept?

What Words do we Choose?

Repeatability: Is the word used again in this
text? If so, does the word occur often enough
to be redundant? Will the word be used again
during the school year?
Transportability: Will the word be used in
group discussions? Will the word be used in
writing tasks? Will the word be used in other
content or subject areas?

What Words do we Choose?

Contextual Analysis: Can students use
context clues to determine the correct or
intended meaning of the word without
instruction?
Structural Analysis: Can students use
structural analysis to determine the correct or
intended meaning of the word without
instruction?
Cognitive Load: Have I identified too many
words for students to successfully integrate?

Ogden s Basic English word List

Handout, page 5
World Academic Word List
Twenty most frequent affixes in
printed school English, p. 7

2. Make it Transparent!
Five ways in which authors provide context
clues helps students develop their skill in using
context to discover words and their meanings.
1. Definition or Explanation clues: the most
obvious clue occurs when the author explains
the word immediately after its use. For
example: Access to clean water would
ameliorate, and improve upon, living
conditions within the village.

2. Make it Transparent!
2. Restatement or Synonym Clues:
sometimes authors provide a restatement or
synonym of a challenging word. For example:
Access to clean water would ameliorate living
condition within the village such that life would
be tolerable for the people who live there.

2. Make it Transparent!
3. Contrast or Antonym Clues: Some clues
provide a contrast for the target word such that
a reader can infer the word s meaning while
reading. For example: Access to clean water
would ameliorate living conditions within the
village, whereas continued reliance on a
polluted river would exacerbate a bad
situation.

2. Make it Transparent!
4. Inference or General Context Clues:
Sometimes a word or phrase is not
immediately clarified within the sentence.
Relationships that are not directly apparent are
inferred or implied. The reader must look for
clues before or after the sentence in which the
word is used. For example: Access to clean
water would ameliorate living conditions within
the village. Clean water would make life
tolerable because residents could focus on
other pressing needs such as finding food and
shelter.

2. Make it Transparent!
5. Punctuation Clues: Readers can also use
punctuation and font style to infer word
meanings. Quotation marks (showing the
word has a special meaning), dashes,
parentheses or brackets (enclosing a
definition), and italics (showing the word will be
defined) all helps readers determine what the
word means in the given context. For
example: Access to clean water would
ameliorate make tolerable living conditions
within the village.

Morphology and Word Parts

Handout, page 9.

3. Make it Useable: Building Academic

Vocabulary Through Peer Talk!

SIOP Model Step 5 Interaction

Conversation Roundtable,
Handout, page 10.
Semantic feature analysis for cell
parts!, Handout, page 11.
http://edhelper.com/
Collaborative Poster for The
Outsiders. Handout, page 12.

3. Make it Useable: Building Academic

Vocabulary Through Peer Talk!

Wordo! Handout, page 13.

Students must have many
opportunities to use the language
in authentic situations.
Teachers need to build activities
into the lesson that require
students to talk with their peers
about the key concepts by using
vocabulary terms.

3. Make it Useable: Building Academic

Vocabulary Through Peer Talk!

Crossword Puzzle Maker:

http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/
Free powerpoints to create games:
http://www.jc-schools.net/tutorials/vocab/pptvocab.html

4. Make it Personal!
Vocabulary Self-Awareness Chart, handout,
page 14.
A-Z Chart (Alphabet Boxes), handout, page
15.
Vocabulary Journal!, handout, page 16.
Vocabulary Card Based on Frayer Model,
handout, page 17.
Vocabulary Cartoons:
http://www.vocabularycartoons.com/

4. Make it Personal!
Mnemonics Memory Builders
(might not be needed for your
students here in China). Handout,
page 17 18.

5. Make it a Priority!
Creating a School Wide Focus on Learning
Words!
Example: Words of the Week (The WOW
initiative)
Five words each week = Collusion, cohere,
collaborate, cooperate, and colleague can
be selected to explore the Latin group of
prefixes meaning closely or together.

5. Make it a Priority!
Try to work these words in conversations
throughout the day and in the many classes
students attend. Have fun with it, the students
will!
Efforts like words of the week and wide
reading where students read books of their
choice, extends student thinking, vocabulary
and background knowledge.
Words of the week can have a common prefix,
suffix, root, or base. Evidence points to
benefits when focusing on affixes and bases!

Whats next?
At the conclusion of a SIOP lesson, the
teacher reviews the new vocabulary
introduced and practiced in the lesson
with the students and revisits the
content and language objectives stated
at the beginning.
Lets see if we met our content and
language objectives for today.

Sites to help you review

EFL Classroom 2.0

http://eflclassroom.com/clouds/
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