Quick, Explicit Vocabulary Instruction Tips for the Time-Crunched

No question about it, one of the of the biggest keys to comprehension is a robust vocabulary. This is especially important when reading grade level or complex text.  But students often do not come to us with a robust vocabulary. Whatever the reason for it, it is up to teachers to do everything we can to build a vocabulary.  To do this, we must make room for both implicit and explicit vocabulary instruction.  As advised by the National Reading Panel, both types of teaching are needed.

First, let’s put the two types of teaching in perspective.

In their book Shifting the Balance (3-5), Burkins, Yates, and Egan-Cunningham point out that “if we explicitly teach 8-10 vocabulary words per week during a school year, we will only teach 360 words max!”  Let’s be real: explicit teaching of 8-10  words every week is a lofty goal, to be sure.  

Which is why it’s important to heed the National Reading Panel’s advice, and put both implicit and explicit word learning in place. 

Implicit learning brings many more words to students. Burkins, Yates, and Egan-Cunningham say that students who read independently on a regular basis (both in and out of school)  stand to encounter nearly 70,000 new words per year–just through reading.  When we consider that there are even more ways to learn words implicitly (through the language you yourself use each day, your read alouds, videos, etc.), it really underscores the important role implicit vocabulary learning plays. 

However, although students will encounter thousands of words through incidental means, we certainly cannot leave it at that.  It’s just not enough.

We must also be intentional with explicit vocabulary instruction. 

Explicitly teaching high-utility words each week builds a much deeper understanding of words than will ever occur through incidental means.  It’s  also much more likely students will retain the meaning of these words because of the deliberate practice explicit teaching includes.

Given that no teacher has extra time in the day, it becomes imperative that we use every single minute and every single resource to the fullest. 

The biggest bang for your buck is the interactive read aloud.  Not only is this resource readily available (and likely already a part of your curricular materials), but it serves a double whammy for also being an incredible tool for building background knowledge about any topic you can imagine. 

If you’re using a boxed curriculum, it will no doubt provide you with explicit vocabulary lessons on specific words from the texts it asks you to use. If you aren’t using a curriculum in that way, it’s very easy to pull vocabulary words and concepts from the texts you are using. 

A word of caution on the vocabulary lessons often found in boxed curriculum.  More often than not,  words are introduced all at once (sometimes more than 5 at a time!).  One lesson that provides definitions. And then…that’s it. This is not going to be enough to actually get kids to remember and use these words.

That is just the beginning. We cannot stop there!

Let’s talk about how to make explicit vocabulary instruction work. 

Drawing from the work of David and Meredith Liben, Anita Archer,  Isabel Beck, Margaret McKeown, and Margaret Kucan, we know that explicit vocabulary instruction needs to take place over time. One and done lessons like many boxed curricula include will never cut it. 

Here’s how to make your vocabulary lessons more explicit and help them stick, whether you’re using a curriculum or designing your own:

1. Ensure that the words you’re spending time teaching are tier 2 words. These are the words that kids will come across again and again. Extremely specific, content academic words (like photosynthesis) are not the words that will use again and again and again. 
2. Don’t ask kids what they think the word means! The goal is explicit instruction…we just need to tell them.  Too often, when we invite kids to provide a definition, they’re wrong or say it in a very confusing way.  This is not at all what we want–plus it eats up precious minutes.  Add images or real objects whenever possible for greater understanding.

“Use consistent, unambiguous wording and terminology. The complexity of your speech (e.g., vocabulary, sentence structure) should depend on students’ receptive vocabulary, to reduce possible confusion”

Anita Archer, Explicit Instruction 

3. When you introduce a word, take a minute to do some phonics work. Count the syllables. Show where to break the word–and reinforce the why behind it. This is especially important when the word can be broken into morphemes for even greater understanding. You could even keep going and make a list of other words that contain those same morphemes and roots.
4. Use the words in sentences. Not just the way the word is used in the text that you are about to read, but in different contexts as well. This is why Tier 2 words are most crucial. They may have slightly different applications, depending on the context. Beck, McKeown, and Kucan champion this idea, so that kids don’t associate the word in only the specific context of the text you’re introducing it in.

5. Kids need to say the word in sentences as well. Start by displaying sentences on your smart board and have kids read them with you. This is a sneaky way to build in sentence structure variety. Then have them come up with their own sentences that use the words, as another opportunity to experience the word in different contexts.
6.  Another day, bring together the whole list of words that you have been working on. Ask kids to recall which word you would use if you were talking about _______. Which word would you use if you _____? Which word would you use if you felt ____? This is spaced retrieval, an important aspect of the science of learning. 
7. Don’t just use these words at the beginning of the week or a lesson. Every day that you use this particular text, bring back some of those words. When you are doing comprehension work with a text, say arriving at the gist, recall those previously introduced words. This is another important aspect of the science of learning – – interleaving. This is when you bring back a previous concept while teaching another.

Keep in mind that because of the time this kind instruction takes, only a small number of words can be taught this way each year.  Remember that it’s also important to balance direct, explicit vocabulary instruction with a great deal of incidental vocabulary acquisition as well. Through intentional inclusion of both methods, your students’ vocabularies are sure to soar!

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Who is Coach from the Couch??  I’m Michelle, a 25-year veteran educator, currently a K-5 literacy coach.  I continue to learn alongside teachers in classrooms each and every day, and it’s my mission to support as many teachers as I can.  Because no one can do this work alone. I’m available to you, too, through virtual coaching calls!  Simply email me at [email protected] or reach out for a coaching call!

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