The Importance of Vocabulary Instruction in Middle and High School Mathematics - Extending Thinking

Laurian Phillips
Jan 05, 2009

Students must be explicitly taught vocabulary terms that are unique to mathematics. In order for students to deepen their understanding, they must use the vocabulary in context. In fact, vocabulary in context ranks as the number three strategy that most impacts achievement with a percentile gain of 33%. Remember the chart from Robert Marzano and the US Department of Education in the Learning-Focused Connecting Strategies workshop? William Speer (NCSM, 1997) states that "Children do not learn by doing...They learn by thinking, discussing, and reflecting on what they have done."

Setting rules for language use in the classroom is important in order to have students communicate mathematically. Students should be required to speak in complete sentences, using standard English. They should be encouraged to look at their notes and Student Learning Maps to use the appropriate mathematical language. For example, instead of saying "flip it," they should refer to the reciprocal of the fraction.  

I am often asked how long Student Learning Maps and other classroom organizers should stay posted in the classroom after the unit has been taught. This is one of those "adapt, don't adopt" questions. The maps should, however, stay up long enough for students to begin using the vocabulary as a part of their natural discussion and reflection in the mathematics classroom.

Why post words on a word wall, if you never have students use these words? The vocabulary should be used in their writing on a daily basis.  They can use these words, as they summarize during the lesson.  When working in pairs, have students write their thoughts during distributed summarizing before sharing with their partner. This sometimes helps them put more thought into their responses. Summarizing at the end of the lesson is usually written, and it is even a good idea to tell students that they should use the words learned in the lesson in their answer to the essential question.

True understanding, however, comes when students use a particular thinking skill to deepen their knowledge and make connections about the content.  The compare and contrast organizer is a great tool to use to have students utilize the vocabulary in context. It then becomes a great way to help them organize their writing. Once students have created meaning from the vocabulary and made connections, they can begin to use it in authentic ways.