Why is addressing vocabulary so important? 
  • Vocabulary is the largest determinant of comprehension of language.
  • By Kindergarten, the number of words known orally is the strongest predictor of children’s reading comprehension when they reach the upper elementary grades (McCardle, Scarborough & Catts, 2001).
  • “Vocabulary knowledge is necessary for effective listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills, and a student’s ability to acquire new vocabulary is an important contributor to academic success" (Sweeny & Mason, 2011).
  • After grade 2, most children can and should acquire new vocabulary from the books they read. 
McCardle, P., Scarborough, H. S., & Catts, H. W. (2001). Predicting, explaining, and preventing children's reading difficulties. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 16(4), 230-239.
Sweeny, S. M., & Mason, P. A. (2011). Research-based practices in vocabulary instruction: An analysis of what works in grades PreK-12. Report for: Studies & Research Committee of the Massachusetts Reading Association, MA, USA.

​Who might need explicit language instruction? 
  • Heart & Risley (1995) studied vocabulary size in relation to social economic status (SES)/language input; by 5 years of age, there was the potential for a 30 million word gap to develop between children from the wealthiest and poorest families.
  • English language learners
  • Student who do not read at grade level
  • Students with Disabilities: Receptive & Expressive Language Disorder, ADD/ADHD, Intellectual Disability, Processing Disorder
  • Children with multiple Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES)
  • Students with frequent absences, for any reason, at any grade 
Hart, B., & Risley, T. R. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young American children. Paul H Brookes Publishing.

How can technology assist us in improving vocabulary skills for our students? 

Add (Augment) Pictures/Images to Your Spoken and Written Language 
Why?
  • Adding visual information to spoken or written language allows for understanding with both our eyes and our ears 
  • Images are less fleeting then spoken words, students who are temporarily distracted, process information at a different pace or have difficulty processing infomation presented auditorily have more access to the information with both verbal and visual presentation
  • Images may initially be easier to understand than spoken words alone and may aid in activating background knowledge and assist students in connecting to and understanding new words/concepts
Adding Images to Spoken Language or Text:
  • Google Images FREE
  • Camera/digital photos FREE
  • Websites/wikipedia FREE
  • Teacher/Student drawings FREE
    • Paper
    • Blackboard
    • Whiteboard
    • Interactive White Board
    • Document Camera
    • Boogie Board​
    • Tablet 
    • Rubber Stamps
    • Magnets
  • Websites/wikipedia FREE
Word Studies
  • Analogies
Digital Word Games
Word Clouds & Word Banks
Why?
  • Highlight important vocabulary
  • Provide easy access to correctly spelled words for writing on a specific topic 
  • Reduce cognitive load (assist student's storage and retreival of content relevent vocabulary)
  • Increase engagement with content vocabulary
Digital Text
Why?
  • Add images
  • Hyperlink (dictionaries/visuals/additional text/videos, etc.)
  • Highlight (main idea, supporting details, important "look fors", new vocabulary, etc.)
  • Bold
  • Italicize
  • Increase/decrease font
  • Embed metacognitive hints (Example: "How does this relate to the video we watched in class?")
  • Embed chapter summary/reading comprehension questions closer to the source of the information 
  • Cognitive rescaling
Turn PDFs and Worksheets into Digital Text
see Assistive Technology for Reading, Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
Cognitive Rescaling