Rene Schillinger has dedicated his life to education. He has been a consultant in the educational field for more than ten years. He spends his time working with schools that are trying to improve their literacy instruction. An important part of literacy is vocabulary knowledge. Critical to reading comprehension, it is important for young readers to develop a large word bank and effective vocabulary learning strategies. Below are some strategies that adults can employ with readers of any age.
Pre-teaching Vocabulary Words
Before sitting down with the material, review it to determine which words may be unfamiliar to the child. Define and discuss these words to allow them to develop an understanding of the word's connotations and denotations. After you’ve pre-taught them the vocabulary words, they should read the text.
Repeated Exposure to Words
The more time we are exposed to a word, the stronger our understanding of the word becomes. Repeat vocabulary words often in order for the child to truly understand its meaning and solidify their understanding.
Keyword Method
Prior to reading, unfamiliar words are introduced to the child, like with pre-teaching, but instead of encouraging them to remember the definition of the new word, you teach them a word clue to help them understand it. The clue might be a part of the definition, an illustration, or an image that is connected to the word to make it easier to remember.
Restructure Reading Material
Many times grade level reading material is inaccessible to readers because too many unfamiliar words are used. Restructuring these materials in different ways can help readers comprehend them more easily.
Vocabulary instruction involves more than simply looking up words in a dictionary and using them in a sentence. It is acquired both incidentally and intentionally through instruction and word-learning strategies. Rene Schillinger has been helping schools improve literacy through vocabulary acquisition for many years.
