Teaching vocabulary has come a long way from the traditional looking up lists of vocabulary words in the dictionary, copying the definitions and using the words in sentences. Building an extensive vocabulary arsenal is significant in reading comprehension and success in school, but more importantly, the ability to recall a word that uniquely fits a certain situation or conversation can open doors to better employment and aids you in social situations. Successful vocabulary instruction is leaning more toward the process of understanding words instead of pure rote memory. Each year, students should learn between 2,000 and 3,000 new words. By incorporating numerous aspects of word analysis, students not only come to recognize a word, they incorporate the new word into their working vocabularies.

Direct Vocabulary Instruction
Direct vocabulary instruction provides teachers with an effective means of teaching vocabulary that does not entail solely looking up definitions in a dictionary. Show students how to analyze each word individually by familiarizing them with word origins and root words so they better understand the beginnings and evolutions of the English language. Students should be able to break down a word and look at its components -- the root word and any prefixes and suffixes. Having a good grasp of root words, prefixes and suffixes often allows students to guess correctly at a word’s meaning without ever having encountered it. Teachers assess comprehension of a term when students can give examples and non-examples, which include words such as antonyms.

The Role of Reading

Allow students to explore different types of print media such as newspapers and magazines.
Do not underestimate the role of reading in formulating vocabulary knowledge. Many of the words with which students are unfamiliar they encounter in the literature they read. Even reading 20 minutes a day will expose a student to almost two million words a year. By seeing words in print, students use context clues to decipher meanings. Encourage students to always keep a notebook, a writing instrument and a dictionary beside them whenever they read. They should write down any words they do not understand and look up and jot down the definitions right away. To stave off boredom, provide several types of media for them to read, including magazines, newspapers, plays, articles online and audio books.

Fun and Games
Motivation often becomes an obstacle to successful learning. Students learn in different ways and retain information by activating different areas of their brains. By associating dry academic material with learning techniques that incorporate the various senses and learning modalities, teachers make learning more stimulating and enable students to make significant learning connections in the brain. Weave singing and dancing into your vocabulary instruction whenever possible. To reinforce and gauge the learning of word definitions, set up trivia games or allow groups of students to guess at words in games that allow students to act out or draw on a board. Attach words and definitions or synonyms and antonyms to students’ backs and allow them to find their corresponding pairs. In pairs or small groups, students can match words and definitions inscribed on two sets of cards. Students also enjoy word games such as completing crossword puzzles with vocabulary they have just learned.

Making Connections
If students are able to connect words to what they know, they are more likely to remember and understand those words. The development of greater connections between words and concepts strengthens the formation of memories. Encourage students to build contexts around their words by using graphic organizers. Quiz students on their preconceptions about a certain word before introducing it. This technique introduces students to the K-W-L chart, which organizes and compares what students initially know or guess about a concept, what they want to learn about it and what they actually learn after the lesson. Surround a word being taught by any words students believe to be connected. To illustrate, create a word cluster in which the word “transportation” lies in a bubble at the center of a page with related words such as “bus,” “car,” “train,” “airplane” and “boat” emanating on arms from the central word.

Repeat Exposure
Learning involves repetition. If students see a word repeatedly and often use the word in their work, more connections are made between brain cells, and learning occurs. Help students use new words in as many contexts as possible. If you introduce vocabulary words during a science lesson, at the end of the lesson, ask the students to use those words to write a few sentences in summary of what they had learned. The next day, have students, either orally or in writing, review the previous day’s learning, including vocabulary words learned. Throughout the week, revisit those vocabulary words by doling out extra credit points if you observe students using them in their writing for other subjects. Students need to hear a word between six and 14 times to save it to their long-term memories.