Explicit Instruction: our methods...
We provide instruction over a 5 day cycle, which is the length recommended by Beck et al (2013) & Lawrence et al (2010) to give students sufficient repeated exposures to the words to promote deep knowledge of the word meanings.
Day one - introduce and explain words...
Read the text aloud and identify words for instruction. Note the words on a chart or whiteboard so students can see them. Taking each word in turn, follow steps 1-4 below:
Day one - introduce and explain words...
Read the text aloud and identify words for instruction. Note the words on a chart or whiteboard so students can see them. Taking each word in turn, follow steps 1-4 below:
- Introduce - Introduce each word, including having the students pronounce, and spell the word, and bring attention to the type of word, key word parts, and collocations. (Nation, 2005; Kinsella & Ward-Singer, 2010).
- Provide explanations of word meanings in everyday language that students understand - Beck et al (2013), stress the importance of providing “student-friendly explanations” which may include use of synonyms or known phrases to link to students prior knowledge (Feldman & Kinsella, 2005). We have prepared a separate document on preparing “student-friendly explanations”, and recommend that you review it before continuing:
Download & review document >> "Student-friendly explanations" - Provide examples - after defining the word, provide students with several examples or non-examples to illustrate the word’s meaning. Students will benefit from “examples and non-examples of the proper use of new words.” (Vaughan, Wexler, Roberts, Barth, Cirino, Romain, Francis, Fletcher & Denton, 2011). Feldman & Kinsella (2005) note that to firmly grasp the meaning of a new word, students will need at least 2-3 examples.
- Give students an opportunity to immediately interract with the word meanings - To establish an initial understanding of the words, the students need to get actively involved with thinking about and using the meanings straight away (Beck et al, 2013; Feldman & Kinsella, 2005). Beck & colleagues (2013) suggest the use of lively activities to engage students in using the words immediately after discussing word meanings. We utilise an oral game identifying examples and non-examples for this purpose.
Days Two to Four - activities...
“Students need to see, hear, read and write new words repeatedly and in different contexts to learn the words completely." (Learning Point Associates, 2004, pg 25). Days 2, 3 and 4 involve students in games and activities where they actively use word meanings. The activities are structured to first provide oral and then written exposures to the words, as language proficiency grows from oral competence to written competence (Bromley, 2005, pg). Activities include working synonyms and antonyms, matching meanings, word associations and completing sentence stems (see the link below for the detailed daily lesson outline).
Day Five - assessment...
Assessment includes completing sentences with selected words and responding to questions about the word, as recommended by Beck et al (2013) who advocate using assessments that combine both multiple choice tests and exercises to assess whether the teaching has achieved deep knowledge of word meanings. Feldman & Kinsella (2013) advocate both summative assessment of this nature using discrimination tasks or creation of examples, but also ongoing formative assessment, checking for understanding during the daily lessons.
A brief note on pedagogy...
Vocab Central's instructional
process is heavily underpinned by sociocultural theory and, in particular, by several
key ideas of Vygotsky.
Vygotsky believed that a central tenet of learning is the “Zone of Proximal Development,” which is the distance between what a child can do on their own, and what they can do with the assistance of a more knowledgeable other, a teacher or peer. “For Vygotsky, interaction with peers and adults helps learners to bridge this gap. This theory is evident in the contemporary educational practices in the form of “scaffolding” learning – providing the support necessary for learners to enable them to accomplish a task more independently.” (Churchill, pg 77).
The explicit instruction process provides a high level of scaffolding initially, and then reduces the scaffolding over the instructional cycle with goal of independent use of the word meanings. For students who require it, there are opportunities for continued scaffolding throughout process based on the structure of the follow up activities. Depending on the needs of your students, the group and paired activities can place more able learners with less able learners to take advantage of peer modelling and tutoring, or less able students can be grouped together to enable scaffolding by the teacher.
In the detailed daily lesson outline we provide below, opportunities for scaffolding are highlighted at each stage, so teachers can observe and assess student learning and make decisions on effective grouping based on their individual student needs.
Download & review document >> "Detailed daily lesson outline"
Vygotsky believed that a central tenet of learning is the “Zone of Proximal Development,” which is the distance between what a child can do on their own, and what they can do with the assistance of a more knowledgeable other, a teacher or peer. “For Vygotsky, interaction with peers and adults helps learners to bridge this gap. This theory is evident in the contemporary educational practices in the form of “scaffolding” learning – providing the support necessary for learners to enable them to accomplish a task more independently.” (Churchill, pg 77).
The explicit instruction process provides a high level of scaffolding initially, and then reduces the scaffolding over the instructional cycle with goal of independent use of the word meanings. For students who require it, there are opportunities for continued scaffolding throughout process based on the structure of the follow up activities. Depending on the needs of your students, the group and paired activities can place more able learners with less able learners to take advantage of peer modelling and tutoring, or less able students can be grouped together to enable scaffolding by the teacher.
In the detailed daily lesson outline we provide below, opportunities for scaffolding are highlighted at each stage, so teachers can observe and assess student learning and make decisions on effective grouping based on their individual student needs.
Download & review document >> "Detailed daily lesson outline"
Once you are ready, please continue your reading and review the research foundations behind our method of Explicit Instruction by using either this link or the one provided at the foot of this page. For those wishing to skip directly to our page on reviewing and maintaining vocabulary, please click here.