Accessible Vocabulary
Overview
Teachers support language development by using and providing Vocabulary that is appropriately leveled (e.g., using word wall words). When teachers incorporate challenging but accessible Vocabulary words in their daily instruction, they create an environment for students to practice, apply, and grow their Vocabulary knowledge. Using words they are comfortable with also helps free up their Working Memory demands for other tasks.
Example: Use This Strategy in the Classroom
Watch how this teacher makes academic vocabulary accessible to the students. By introducing one or two new words a week and having the students engage with the words in a variety of ways, they increase their understanding. Students guess the words' meanings, associate them with pictures, use them in sentences, and use gestures to incorporate movement.
Design It into Your Product
Videos are chosen as examples of strategies in action. These choices are not endorsements of the products or evidence of use of research to develop the feature.
See how Newsela provides texts at adaptive reading levels, which allows learners to read content that is interesting to them with Vocabulary that is accessible to them. Additionally, through their Power Words feature, high-frequency and high-utility words are highlighted within the articles and added to their individual word walls, allowing learners to remember or reference their definitions in context.
Additional Resources
Additional examples, research, and professional development. These resources are possible representations of this strategy, not endorsements.
Factors Supported by this Strategy
More Teacher Modeling & Support Strategies
Teachers can support language development by using and providing Syntax that is appropriately leveled (e.g., short, simple structure for young students).
Content that is provided in clear, short chunks can support students' Working Memory.
Building positive and trusting relationships with learners allows them to feel safe; a sense of belonging; and that their academic, cognitive, and social and emotional needs are supported.
Teaching students how to label, identify, and manage emotions helps them learn Inhibition & Self-Regulation skills.
Actively and authentically encouraging all students to seek support, ask questions, and advocate for what they believe in creates a safe space for risk-taking and skill development and supports a Sense of Belonging.
Providing constructive feedback supports students' writing development by letting them know how to improve their writing.
Teachers can help students understand that learning involves effort, mistakes, and reflection by teaching them about their malleable brain and modeling their own learning process.
Providing feedback that focuses on the process of developing skills conveys the importance of effort and motivates students to persist when learning.
By sharing their own reading and writing, teachers can create a literacy community that supports students in finding meaning in their own work.
By talking through their thinking at each step of a process, teachers can model what learning looks like.
Maintaining consistent classroom routines and schedules ensures that students are able to trust and predict what will happen next.
Reading aloud regularly exposes students to new and familiar Vocabulary and texts.
Reading aloud books about skills children are learning provides another model for their development.
Providing students a voice in their learning is critical for making learning meaningful.
Wait time, or think time, of three or more seconds after posing a question increases how many students volunteer and the length and accuracy of their responses.
