ELL Reading Strategies: Vocabulary Part 1

 

Sight Words

For beginning ESL readers, sight words must be developed in a similar fashion to how they are developed in young native speakers of English.

Flash Cards

Flash cards, with pictures of objects, are very helpful in developing basic vocabulary.

Use Visual Cues---Everywhere!

The ESL classroom should be decorated with colorful sticky notes identifying every item in the room—the desk, the chalkboard or whiteboard, the windows, the door, the trash can, etc. Visual cues identifying the objects in the classroom are powerful aids to the student in remembering not only the name of the items, but how they are correctly spelled.

Highlighting Words

When using simple texts for beginning ESL readers, encourage the reader to use a highlighter to mark familiar words in one color, unfamiliar words in another color. This is an interaction with the text that gives the reader a sense of control,even though much of the text may be unfamiliar. It also activates prior knowledge. Color is a powerful cue for visual learners.

Repetition

Repetition can be a strong aid in helping the student to absorb meaning. A related strategy is to have the student transfer words from text or their personal dictionary to a word wall in the classroom. Here they become easily accessible for future reading without requiring the student to look up the definition in the glossary.

 

A Note Before You Go:
Building a strong vocabulary takes time and effort. It is an essential part of learning to read, whether one is reading in one’s native language or in a second language. An effective teacher uses strategies that are designed for deep implementation of vocabulary into her students’ mind.

ELL Reading Strategies: Vocabulary Part 2

Any language program that is used to learn English must address the basic skills necessary for an individual to learn the language from the ground up: alphabetization, phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary and comprehension strategies.

This will focus on vocabulary and some strategies that can be used to help a new language learner decode unfamiliar words and retain comprehension of its meaning. These strategies are not all-inclusive. Just as young ones learn to read and write, so must speakers of other languages: one step at a time, from the bottom up.

Strategy 1: Advance Organizers

Visual aids can help students visually "map" out a word. This can be helpful to commit a word to memory. This can also help identify key components such as root, endings, prefixes and suffixes, sample sentences, contextual and literal meanings, just to name a few.

Example: If a student is learning the word “station," the student will identify major characteristics of the word, using these traits to build on prior knowledge. A good organizer to use would be the Frayer Model. Here’s a possibility of what the graphic organizer could include:

Definition (student's own words)
Word characteristics (ends in "-tion," sounds like /shun/
Examples (what it is)
Non-examples (what it is not)

Strategy 2: Word Morphology

Word roots, prefixes and suffixes that help student identify meaningful chunks when reading unfamiliar words.

Example: Thank + ful + ness = Thankfulness; Meaning- the state of being full of thanks

Strategy 3: Idioms and Phrases

Direct instruction of literal and figurative meanings can be very useful when helping ESL students learn how to manipulate known vocabulary to communicate more effectively.

Example: “all ears”
Mom finally finished talking on the phone and turned to me and said, “Sorry about that, go ahead with your story, I’m all ears.”

Does the expression mean that the person is full of ears?
Or...does it mean that the person is ready to listen to what you have to say?

Strategy 4: Synonyms and Antonyms

Using a similar word and word that is opposite can help students construct categories. This also attaches chunks of meaning to a specific word that is common to a group of words.

Example: Synonyms: thoughtful / insightful
                Antonyms:    inconsiderate/ wise

Strategy 5: Cognates

This is one of the most used strategies. It is one that learners find the easiest to use at the beginning of language acquisition. Students find similarities in spelling and pronunciation of words in both languages. The connection for meaning is already established for the student and then it's only a matter of recognizing pronunciation and differences.

Example:

English	Spanish
Restaurant	Restaurante
Camera	Camara

A Note Before You Go:
Not all languages are as relatable as English-Spanish, but the approach should be the same: to build from the bottom up, helping learners hear the sounds of phonemes or word parts, identifying meaningful chunks and later, using these same strategies to decode unfamiliar words found in text using context clues.