What About Word Walls?

Cindy Riedl
Jun 23, 2008

Rarely have I concluded a workshop on vocabulary instruction without a teacher challenging why I recommend that word walls for the primary grade levels contain words that are not only color coded for connections but also cut out by their word shapes. My typical response has been that cutting out the word's shape makes the word easier for the student to recognize. Students also use the outline made around the letters of the word to remember and recall the word.

James Cattell (1886) was the first psychologist to propose this method as a model for word recognition using the pattern of ascending, descending and neutral characters. Reicher (1969) supported Cattell's supposition after replicating many of his studies. Reicher's research supported the word shape model because it allows the student to quickly recognize the familiar shape. Once the shape has been recognized, then the student can deduce the presence of the correct letters longer after the stimulus is presented.

Lowercase text is read faster than upper case text. Woodworth (1938) was the first to report this finding. His work supported the word shape model, because lowercase text displays unique patterns of ascending, descending and neutral characters. When text is presented in all uppercase, all letters have the same text size and thus are more difficult to read. This premise could be challenged based on the fact that most readers spend the highest percentage of time reading lowercase text and therefore are more proficient at it. Keeping this in mind, consider that most of the conflicting theories deal with studying adult subjects, not beginning readers.

The strongest evidence for the use of the word shape model for primary word walls is the word 'superiority effect', which showed that letters are more accurately identified in the context of a word than in isolation. Rather than wasting time hashing over the science of word recognition, I would prefer to focus on how to help teachers make their word walls a more effective tool in a vocabulary immersion approach to instruction.

The Word Wall Approach (Green, 1993) was originally designed to challenge and motivate high-achieving as well as reluctant learners in elementary and secondary classrooms. The goal was to develop vocabulary-learning skills and to internalize new vocabulary. Students were meant to consult the word walls as a thesaurus and spell check during writing assignments. They were expected to use them as resources during language development lessons. Specific lessons and competitive games were to be devised around the word wall to encourage the development of vocabulary learning strategies. Students' vocabulary would be built during explicit instruction and learning, as multiple exposures and opportunities for making meaningful connections among words occurred. The repetition made possible by using this word wall approach resulted in greater vocabulary retention and an enthusiasm for learning, as students saw, touched, said, and wrote the words.

Literally surrounding students with words is not enough! Giving life to those words by organizing them as multiple walls devoted to a specific language curricular objective makes the difference! It is critical that word walls become an integral part of the classroom.

Lack of wall space is not a problem. Word walls can be created using window shades, shower curtains hanging from portable rods, pocket charts for easy student access, or individualized foldables made from file folders. Regardless of how words are actually displayed, it is important to add words gradually in the context of the learning and ensure that they are easily visible to all students (Moore, Moore, Cunningham, & Cunningham 1994).

Colors should be used to distinguish one word from another and different types of words. For instance, background colors can correspond to a specific language or academic goal; i.e. pink background for concepts, yellow for nouns, orange for phonics rules or green for spelling conventions. These color designations trigger associations in the minds of learners about the place and time they first encountered the word.

Word wall activities need to meet the learning needs of the students. For example, some teachers may want to focus on synonyms and antonyms, prefix/suffix and root words collections or semantic groupings to reinforce vocabulary building when focused on grade appropriate high-frequency words. These words are added to the wall as they are encountered in real texts and are used for authentic communication purposes. The contextualized connection assists students as they realize the importance of the words and helps with making the connections of the word encountered in texts. Fixed placement of the words often limits the use of words. Activities that encourage students to move words about reinforce multiple usages and reordering into different categories.

All learners will make reference to the word walls at other times, on their own, such as when editing their work. No word wall word can be misspelled during writing activities. Teachers must constantly model the use of the word wall words during explicit instructional activities and games to assure student involvement.

Furthermore, it should be possible for words to be reordered or regrouped based on conceptual needs during future lessons. Bringing word walls to life takes thoughtful practice because they truly are 'works in progress'. At the beginning of the school year or term, the word wall is empty. As teachers and students select words, criteria need to be met before words are placed on the wall. Entries must be grade appropriate, useful to the students and used by the students. For word walls that are constantly changing based on instructional units of study, it is critical that the words remain long enough to ensure that students have multiple encounters with the words and opportunities to make connections between new and old entries before they are removed to make room for other words in future units.

Our goal as teachers is to bring words to life for all our students! Whatever works best should be employed. Every classroom is different in size, shape and make up, but there is always a way to create and make word walls effective. Think outside of the box! Raise student achievement using thoughtfully designed word walls and explicit vocabulary instruction.

Learn more about Vocabulary Instruction in a Learning-Focused Workshop!