Vocabulary Recommendations

Institute of Educational Science Practice Guide
Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and Intervention Practices

Recommendation 1: Provide explicit vocabulary instruction.

• Dedicate a portion of regular classroom lessons to explicit vocabulary instruction. 
• Provide repeated exposure to new words in multiple contexts, and allow sufficient practice sessions in vocabulary instruction. 
• Give sufficient opportunities to use new vocabulary in a variety of contexts through activities such as discussion, writing, and extended reading. 
• Provide students with strategies to make them independent vocabulary learners. 

Four-Part Vocabulary Program 
Michael Graves, The Vocabulary Book

• Providing rich and varied language experiences 
• Teaching individual words 
• Teaching word-learning strategies 
• Fostering word consciousness

Five-Step Vocabulary Model
Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey Word Wise and Content Rich

• Make it intentional: select words for instruction; use words and up-to-date website lists wisely 
• Make it transparent: model word-solving and word-learning strategies for students 
• Make it useable: offer learners the collaborative work and oral practice essential to understanding concepts 
• Make it personal: give and monitor independent practice so students take ownership of words 
• Make it a priority: create a schoolwide program for word learning 

Marzano's Six Step Process for Teaching Academic Vocabulary 

• Provide a description, explanation, or example of the new term. 
  
• Ask students to restate the description, explanation, or example in their own words.
• Ask students to construct a picture, symbol, or graphic representing the word.
• Engage students periodically in activities that help them  add to their knowledge of the terms in their notebooks.
• Periodically ask students to discuss the terms with one another.
• Involve students periodically in games that allow them to play with terms.