Altogether too often, social studies teachers assume that working with students on vocabulary is unnecessary in social studies classes. As long as students know how the textbook defines the bold-faced words, they have the vocabulary knowledge necessary to pass the course, right? Wrong. Students, especially middle school students, need guidance in learning vocabulary. This even occurs in the social studies classroom. From what I have learned so far, there are two central needs for vocabulary instruction in the social studies classroom:
1. Students who lack a foundational knowledge of vocabulary in the English language need assistance to understand the basic elements of the text.
2. Social studies requires knowledge of subject-specific vocabulary that may not have entered conversations for even students who are strong in English.
So now that we have clarified the importance of vocabulary instruction in the middle school classroom, how should a teacher approach this instruction? Well, there is no specific "best" method, but several parameters can help to improve the quality of vocabulary instruction.
1. Include a limited number of words each week. Students will not retain what they learn if they simply copy definitions of a long list of vocabulary words.
2. Repeat the vocabulary words and have students use them in the appropriate context. Students will only truly "own" words after repetition and use.
3. Encourage morphological awareness: the recognition that words contain different morphemes (units containing meaning. If students work with the meanings of various prefixes, roots, and suffixes, they can learn a variety of words without relearning each time variations containing the same morphemes come up in class. Vocabulogic posted a quality description of morphological awareness that I strongly recommend. It is clear, concise, and relevant.
4. As much as possible, select words that will be in use repeatedly in the social studies class and other classes. For example, "interpretation" is important for a social studies class and many other classes. While, as the title suggests, "democracy" is not the only vocabulary word that matters, it is a more relevant choice for students to learn well than "demography", a highly specific term that probably matters little to the class as a whole.
5. Make vocabulary instruction relevant and interesting. Students who find motivation to participate in vocabulary lessons will more easily learn and remember words.
There are a variety of teaching strategies that help meet these suggestions. One that I found interesting is in the use of vocabulary shapes. Teachers place morphemes at different corners of shapes, and students think of other words using those morphemes to predict what the morphemes mean. From there, the class guesses the definition of the whole word. For example, the word "prejudice" would go into a triangle as "pre", "jud" and "ice". Students may recognize words like "predict" and "pre-test" for "pre" and "judge" for "jud". From there, they can develop a meaning relating to judging people or things before knowing them.
Of course, discussion of vocabulary instruction could easily continue for hours. And vocabulary barely breaches the tip of everything there is to talk about regarding comprehension. Since I cannot continue forever, I leave you with a question that I have pondered for a few days now. How much of the vocabulary that students encounter in social studies classes needs to become a part of instruction? Primary sources can include many challenges. For that matter, there are plenty of words in the United States Constitution that I cannot define without a dictionary. How can a teacher remain selective about words without constantly referring students to dictionaries when they express interest in words from assigned readings? Any thoughts on the subject are more than welcome.
Although it may sound as if I am alluding the question, "how much" vocabulary to teach in the social studies classroom may depend on the topic. In the beginning, more time might have to be devoted to vocabulary in order for you and your students to have a solid base of understanding. After the class understands words like "interpret" or "analyze," you can focus on new, specific Social Studies words.
ReplyDeleteIf you're teaching the Constitution, I think it's okay to admit to your students that not all of the words are entirely essential and that they're difficult. When we really get hung up on the convoluted meanings of words, it's important to turn to the root word and see if any meaning can be gleaned.
Jennifer, I'm also wondering a similar question: how much of every day and time is spent on vocabulary instruction in the ELA classroom? How do I balance literature, reading, and vocabulary?
Amy brought up some complicated yet essential questions. What our teachers said in class seems to ring true here: don't teach students more than a few new words a week or else they'll be overwhelmed. Also I agree with what Amy said about admitting to students when certain words just aren't necessary to know. Students will be much better off trying to learn essential words than words that only appear on page 348 in a social studies book.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the need to limit new words, and it makes sense to admit that some words are simply unnecessary. Some words are only on a specific page, but they still might catch a student's attention. I know that I have encountered words in Social Studies classes and in English classes that I simply wanted to define. When I was in middle school, I would have been sorely offended if a teacher told me that my burning curiosity surrounded a word that did not matter. How, then, can a teacher encourage interest in individual pursuit of the definition without wasting class time?
ReplyDeleteI remember deciphering new words as kid solely from the context surrounding them (because I did not want to stop reading and take out a dictionary or other strategy, the story was too exciting!) The only problem with my one method approach is that I sometimes inferred the wrong definition, and that definition stuck. One example I remember is the word vanguard, which to me sounded like the rear guard of an element (why would you need a guard in the front when everyone is facing that way?) It was not until at least a year later that I realized vanguard actually meant the foremost or leading element.
ReplyDeleteWhat I am getting at here is that students need to learn a variety of methods to decipher the meaning of words. You did an excellent job describing some of these methods.
I used to do that as well. I'd read a word and assume it meant whatever made the most sense to me based on context or, worse, just ignore unknown words entirely. Did you found, as I did, that books and stories took on whole new meanings when I learned the new words?
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a good point, though. It is easy for a teacher to assume that students only need help with those words that the book selects and explicitly defines. This is especially true in non-ELA classes. I wonder how often students misinterperet unknown words in social studies texts and completely misunderstand concepts or historical events.