What is Word Study?
PD Presentation: Union 61
Revised ELA guide Supplement
2007-08 (and beyond)
What IS Word Study ?
Word Study is an essential
component of the core
curriculum in ELA.
ELA Core Curriculum
• Independent reading, fluency
practice and self-selected
reading.
• Students practicing written
expression independently
• Texts used for reading
instruction increase in difficulty
as they expand students’
background knowledge and
vocabulary.
ELA Core Curriculum
(continued)
• There is direct and explicit
teaching of strategies and
skills.
• Guided reading so that students
can apply strategies/skills.
• Teacher-modeled writing with
spelling and grammar included.
Reference Tools
Structural Analysis
Using Context
Sound/Symbol Relationships
Vocabulary Development
Word Study is
Standards-Based
Standard 19: Writing
Standard 4: Vocabulary
Standard 7: Reading connecting Sound /Symbol
Standard 22: Standard English Conventions
Standard 5: Structure & Origins of English
Word Study
• Focuses on student recognition of
language patterns
• Overlaps language, composition and
reading strands of core curriculum
• Integrates inquiry into vocabulary and
spelling instruction
• Is based on a developmental continuum
and scaffolding of skills and concepts
Word study builds on and
emphasizes for students the
relationship that exists between
reading and writing. If one
considers Bloom’s taxonomy,
students go beyond literal
understanding or knowledge into
comparison, analysis,
generalization and synthesis
through word study.
Word Sorts, Using Context
Sorting words and manipulating
letters and syllables to make
words, deriving meaning from
context and morphemic clues
are some of the strategies used
in word study as well as desired
outcomes for student learning.
Effective
Readers
Use 5 Cueing
Systems
• Phonics
(sound/symbols)
• Structural AnalysisMorphology
• Visual configuration
• Contextual analysis
including syntax,
pictures and phrasing
• Reference: dictionary,
expert
Effective
Spellers
• use a variety of spelling
strategies to spell and
learn new words
• automatically recall highfrequency words, topic
and signal words
• continually build their
vocabulary
• understand the English
orthographic system
understand and apply
spelling generalizations
• self monitor and
generate alternative
spellings for unknown
words.
Developing Vocabulary
Effective direct instruction in vocabulary
involves:
• Descriptions rather than just definitions
• Use of linguistic and non-linguistic
representations
• Scaffolding so that word meanings are
shaped gradually
• Teaching and using word parts (roots,
suffixes, prefixes, inflected endings)
Vocabulary Development
• Different types of instruction for different
types of words
• Students interacting with one another
about the words they are learning
• Use of games, word sorts, graphic
organizers and webs for over-learning
• Focus on terms that are important to
specific content areas
The approach to vocabulary instruction
that researchers have identified
as being the most successful in providing
students with fuller, richer word
knowledge and increasing their reading
comprehension, is an eclectic, systematic
one that contains three distinct elements:
integration, repetition, and meaningful
use.
Sound-Symbol Relationships
As a student’s awareness of the
relationship between sounds
and symbols develops, they go
through three stages:
Alphabet
Pattern
Meaning
The goal of word study is
that student reach the most
advanced stage of skill with
sound/symbol
relationships. In this stage,
students have an
understanding of and use
derivational patterns.
Using Context
Text book writers usually know when
they must use a word that will be new
to their student readers. So they
often include other words or phrases
to help with the understanding of the
new word. These words or phrases
are referred to as context clues.
Contextual Clues
Readers use context to make logical
guesses about the meanings of many
words. In addition, students can use
context clues to define idiomatic
expressions. As writers, students
include context clues to demonstrate
their understanding of vocabulary.
Types of Context Clues
1. Examples
2. Synonyms and Definitions
3. Antonyms and Contrasts
4. Experience or Sense of the
Sentence
5. Part of speech/Syntax
Structural Analysis
Using knowledge of prefixes,
suffixes, plurals, and compound
words to decode and understand
words
Using knowledge of prefixes,
suffixes, plurals, and compound
words to spell words correctly
•Research indicates that morphemic analysis
helps students recognize affixes and roots,
learn their meanings, and apply this
knowledge to learn the meaning of new words.
(ROOTing out Meaning)
•When you teach a word, also gradually teach
its derivative forms. When you teach an affix,
introduce it on words that carry its most
common meaning and later present other
meanings.
When you teach a word that has
meaningful parts, deconstruct and
reconstruct the word with our student
in a way that points out the meaning of
each part.
Teach the use of strategies that help
students to internalize patterns or
rules and apply them in many different
ways. By doing so, students focus on
the exceptions as well as the patterns
and rules.
Patterns & Generalizations
• Regarding spelling, reflective strategies
encourage students to think about the
types of errors they make and of ways to
reverse those errors.
• Deductive strategies encourage students
to figure out the rules that make words
work and transfer those rules to new
words.
• Word Study promotes the use of both
deductive and reflective strategies.
Using Reference Tools
•
•
•
•
Dictionary
Thesaurus
Internet
Kurzweil (speech to text, text to
speech software)
Use of reference tools relies on
specific skills such as
•Alphabetical order
•Guide words
•Sound spelling/symbols
All of the above are learned
behaviors.
Tools for Teachers
Appendix:
• Definitions, examples, explanations
• Developmental Continuum
• Specific Learning Activities
• Resource Lists
• Graphic Organizer templates
Tools for Teachers,
continued.
Summary Sheet for each grade
• Student learning outcome by area
• Essential concepts/terms
• CIA
• Materials & Resources
• White Space
Tools for Teachers,
Professional Development
• Pilot implementation
• Grade-Alikes
• District PD day
• Courses & Institutes
continued
.