Why Is Incidental Word Learning Important But Not Enough to Ensure Student Success on State Tests?

Cindy Riedl
Nov 08, 2010

Students learn about 3,000 words a year but only about 300 of these words are from direct instruction. Nagy and Herman, 1987 state, "Because the bulk of a child's vocabulary growth occurs incidentally ... the single most important goal of vocabulary instruction should be to increase the amount of incidental word learning by students."

No doubt, it is critical that you immerse your students in a word rich environment, but how do you accomplish this and at the same time emphasize words critical to learning grade level content to a greater depth of understanding required by state tests. Consider what it means to "know" a word. There are three dimensions of word knowledge: breadth, depth and flexibility. The knowledge that students have for many words is much more complex than could be attained by direct vocabulary instruction that relies primarily on definitions. Not only are there too many words to teach them all one by one to students, but there is too much to learn about each word to be covered by anything but exceptionally rich and multifaceted instruction. Therefore, you need to apply other techniques along with direct and explicit vocabulary instruction of critical content words to afford the opportunities our stud ents require to a greater depth of word knowledge. When students are learning new words through explicit instruct, a depth of understanding can only occur when they truly gain ownership of the word through multiple and varied encounters with that word. This requires thoughtful planning! Knowing a word must go beyond learning the definition but how to apply and recognize the word in different contexts. Word knowledge is like using a tool verses stating a fact. Knowing how to explicitly teach key/critical content vocabulary using Marzano's 6 step process is an important tool:

Step 1: Provide a description, explanation and example of the new word.
Step 2: Students restate explanation of the new word in their own words.
Step 3: Students create a nonlinguistic representation of the word.
Step 4: Students periodically do activities that help add to knowledge of the vocabulary words.
Step 5: Students are periodically asked to discuss terms with one another
Step 6: Students periodically are involved in games that allow them to play with words.

Or you can use a more comprehensive process adapted by Learning-Focused:

Step 1: Provide a description of the meaning of the word in student friendly language with extensive elaboration and examples.

Step 2: Students partner and rehearse how to paraphrase the meaning in their own words using familiar examples.

Step 3: Model how to remember the word by making personal connections or visual connections, i.e. symbols, experiences, pictures, mnemonic.

Step 4: Students identify how they will remember the word and share their idea with a partner.

Step 5: Students maintain a note-book where words can be accessed for reference and review.

Step 6: Provide multiple opportunities for students to use new words during summarizing and writing activities, games and Word Wall activities.

But, what do we do about those other words? How do we create opportunities for incidental word learning? Here are some ways you can support incidental word learning:

  •  Use lots of talk in the classroom such as discussion of events, experiences, books and in peer groups collaborating on learning activities.

  • Listen to stories and books read aloud. When you come to a new word, stop and explain its meaning and elaborate, personalizing the word, have students in pairs share what the word means to them and how they might use it and then identify how the word is used in the story. Provide other situations where the word might be used and moves on. Later in the day, find other ways to reintroduce words found in the story.

  • Word games

  • Model curiosity about words.

  • Pre-Reading Vocabulary Instruction - Select a Word Bank of 6 to 10 words selected from a passage or chapter, introduce words and discuss meaning, have students locate words during reading and consider meaning in context, create word cards from Word Bank and review on a regular basis.

  • Pre-Reading Follow-Up Activities - Practice Word Bank cards by having students write paragraphs using a certain number of the words or write a summary of a passage or story using some of the words. Practice dictionary skills by having students create webs of meanings for the same word.

  • Model a Context-Analysis Strategy students can use to understand unknown words in text, i.e. 1) Say the word, 2) Look for clues by rereading the sentence before and after the sentence in which the word is found, 3) Ask yourself what the word might mean and think of a word that expresses that meaning, 4) Put the word in the passage in place of the unfamiliar word and check if it makes sense. (Texts should be at instructional or independent level for use with independent reading.)

  • Teach the meanings and grammatical roles of key prefixes and suffixes and model how to infer meaning of words by applying this knowledge during reading.

  • Inferring meanings from word parts should be presented as a way to estimate the meaning of the whole word. Provide guided practice during reading so that students notice and analyze complex words habitually.

In summary, be conscious of key vocabulary related to successful understanding of grade level content. Explicit instruction must be planned and implemented to assure student success. A greater depth of understanding can only occur if you plan for it to happen. Building an environment rich with words means taking every opportunity possible to capitalize on expanding student word knowledge. Often it is not planned but when you remain receptive of the ‘learning moment' use thinking out loud while modeling the joy of learning words. An environment rich in words does not mean plastering your walls with words - but organizing them to create meaningful connections for reference and use by students.