SCHOOL SUPPORT SERVICES Webinar Notes

Vocabulary Development

Introduction

• Presented by Speech & Language Development Australia (SALDA) – School Support Services (SSS) team

• SSS team based out of Brisbane and Townsville

• The School Support Service is a multidisciplinary service funded by the Department of Education to provide additional support within schools throughout QLD, to enhance learning outcomes of students

Key Learning Objectives • The webinar will cover:

- How students develop vocabulary

- what vocabulary difficulties look like

- how you can support your students.

Components of Language There are three main components of language: • Form

- Syntax – the use of sentence structure or word order

- Morphology – grammar - Phonology – speech sounds

• Content - Content refers to word meanings - How words link together –

semantic relationships - Vocabulary

SCHOOL SUPPORT SERVICES Webinar Notes

• Use - Use refers to pragmatics – how

we use language in conversation and within appropriate contexts.

What is Vocabulary? • Vocabulary – bank of words a

person is able to understand and use.

• Four main areas in which vocabulary is required. - Listening - speaking - reading - writing

• Listening – understanding meaning of the speaker, following instructions, gaining information.

• Speaking – naming, getting our message across, sharing thoughts and ideas.

• Reading – reading and understanding a story/passage.

• Writing – use of age appropriate written vocabulary, complex sentences, subject specific vocabulary.

Prevalence • 1.1 Million Australians present with

language disorder • 1 in 14 children present with a

language disorder, that’s at least 1 student in each classroom.

SCHOOL SUPPORT SERVICES Webinar Notes

Presentation of Vocab Difficulties includes: • Use of non-specific words – using

fillers, word finding difficulties. • Difficulty following instructions • Difficulty understanding

conversation • Difficulty with comprehension tasks • Difficulty learning new words • Using limited vocabulary – use of

mostly tier 1 vocabulary

Classroom Adjustments: • Use Visuals – Provide written

instructions to support verbal information

• Revisit Content – Re-exposure can increase the amount that students can remember.

• Expressive vs. receptive – reduces need for verbal response by using non-verbals, visuals and choice of two.

• Advanced warning for questions – telling the student the question they will be asked in advance to allow for processing time and formulation of a response.

• Word banks to support writing – reduce cognitive load during writing by giving lists of words (e.g., content words, adjectives, etc).

Pre-Teaching • Pre-exposing students to new

vocabulary prior to classroom introduction.

• Supports making links to new words and classroom comprehension.

SCHOOL SUPPORT SERVICES Webinar Notes

Vocabulary Knowledge Rating Checklist • Supports teachers to gauge

student’s exposure to new words, including current sight word list, specific content, or tier 2 words.

Tiers of Vocabulary • Tier 1 - basic words used in

everyday conversation and contexts.

• Tier 2 vocabulary - more complex words that are often used more frequently in the classroom environment.

• Tier 3 - vocabulary items required for content specific to a subject such as maths, biology and technology

8 Steps to Teaching Vocabulary 1. Read passage 2. Provide context - “They hang from

the ceiling of the cave so that they are out of reach of predators”

3. Repeat the word - “predator” 4. Student friendly definition - ‘an

animal that kills and eats other animals’.

SCHOOL SUPPORT SERVICES Webinar Notes

5. Teacher example – “I saw predator birds at the beach as they flew into the water to catch fish for their dinner”.

6. Student example – students may model their answers around yours or other students.

7. Interact with word –true or false questions/identifying different situations.

8. Repeat the word one last time. “what is the word that means “an animal that kills and eats other animals?”.

Specific Interventions Include: • Four Square • SEEP • Semantic Maps • Categorisation • Word Relationships • Semantic Gradients • Board games

Four Square • Helps students learn new

vocabulary by explicitly teaching the definition, synonyms and antonyms of the word.

• Demonstrates how a word is used in a sentence and includes a picture or visual representation of the word.

SCHOOL SUPPORT SERVICES Webinar Notes

SEEP • SEEP stands for “stem, example,

explanation, picture”. • Explores new words through roots,

suffixes and prefixes

Semantic Maps • Supports students to learn new

words through exploring word meanings (semantics) and their relationship to other words, as well as exploring phonological knowledge or word structure at the same time.

• Students learn new words through exploration of the following attributes: description, function, context, category, similarities, associations, and phonology.

Categorisation • Focuses on building a student’s

deeper understanding of Tier 1 vocabulary.

• Realistic pictures can be more beneficial to use first rather than drawings help them make real connections.

• This is a great activity to help the storage and access of information, and to support students around the innate storage of information into ‘folders’ or ‘filing cabinets’ in our brains.

SCHOOL SUPPORT SERVICES Webinar Notes

Categorisation: Beat the Clock • Other activities that can be

completed include rapid naming or beat the clock which simply involves students completing vocabulary games in a time limit.

Categorisation: Odd One Out • This can be completed at picture

level or word level. It’s important when completing this activity that the student is not only able to identify which item doesn’t belong but also explain why.

Semantic Gradients • Consists of looking at a continuum

of words and ordering them based on their level of meaning.

• Demonstrates how synonyms can have different contextual meanings

• Can be completed as part of a group or with individual students

SCHOOL SUPPORT SERVICES Webinar Notes

Boardgames • Vocabulary development can be

targeted through boardgames such as: - Taboo - Articulate - Scattergories - Codenames - 5 second rules - Balderdash - Pictionary - Guess who