The chapter on vocabulary was about how a solid foundation in vocabulary is crucial in every subject, especially when students get to the secondary level in school. The text breaks vocabulary words down into three categories; general, specialized and technical. General vocabulary words are just that, words used in general in everyday life. Specialized vocabulary is vocabulary specific to certain things, events, places, etc. Technical vocabulary is words used in a technical sense, words used in subjects such as math and science. Two ideas that I found extremely important from the chapter is, first, students who struggle in comprehension due to lack of vocabulary in secondary settings need different strategies to help them than what you would use when teaching vocabulary for the first time. For example, it says in the text, a high school student who is reading on a fourth grade level due to problems in vocabulary can not be helped by using vocabulary teaching strategies you would use on the fourth grade level as remediation for that student. Other enriching strategies are needed to help this student. I found this very interesting because my first thought would be, if the student is reading on a fourth grade level, I would start with fourth grade strategies and instruction to help this student, but the book says that is not successful. The second idea that I found extremely important from this chapter is that students must make personal connections with vocabulary words for them to successfully fully understand the word or concept. A student must relate the word to personal experience for the word to make sense and also to actually remember the meaning of the word, as Dr. Boyce would say the student must "make the word their own." This holds true for any age group, not just secondary students. One thing that stood out to me when reading this chapter was the vocabulary journal mentioned in the section vocabulary in math. It gives the example of geometric terms in math. For example the the term was triangle, the student would find a picture of a triangle in a real life scene such as a road sign. They would cut out a picture of the triangle and glue it to the page and then they would give a summary of the term in their own words, then diagrams, formulas and theorems concerned with the term. I think this was a great idea because while creating the pages it helps remember the words and their meaning, but then they will also have it to flip back to quickly if they need to refresh their memory. The vocabulary journal is an awesome idea for any subject area.
Questions:
1. If a high school student is reading on a fourth grade level, why is it not a good idea to used fourth grade vocabulary strategies to help them? The book did not explain completely
2. Why are vocabulary tests still given in classroom if they are proven not effective?
I wonder the same about vocabulary testing in classrooms. So many textbooks say they are outdated and to try new methods but then every classroom I have seen still have regular vocabulary tests. I believe that end of the week vocabulary tests are just the easiest way to assess if the students know their words. Even though it might be the easier, I am sure there are several other ways to assess students in their knowledge of vocab. :)
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