Education
Word Study
This handout is intended for teachers at a professional development workshop. It deals with:
) Word-study activities.
f) Word-study strategies.
g) Word-study assessment.
The following strategies / tools can be used to help readers enlarge their vocabulary
Dictionary
Dramatizing words
Sorting words into categories
Semantic feature analysis
Learning from word cards
Identifying context clues
According to Cambridge.org, dictionary consultations is one of the most preferred ways of leaning new words whilst learning form word cards ( new word on one side, meaning on the other) is least preferred. Context is extremely important, since decontextualized learning makes acquiring of vocabulary far harder and less easy to retain.
(ii) The Six Type of Context Cues (adapted from*)
Clue
Description
tion
Sample sentence definition
Readers use definition of sentence to understand word
" the person was intimidating; Jim was frightened"
Example
Readers use the example to understand unknown word
"Spiders, frogs, and toads are examples of predators that eat flies."
Contrast
Readers understand unknown word due to contrast
" Most spiders live for one year, but tarantulas live for 20 years or more"
Logic
Readers think about the rest of the sentence to understand unknown word
"An exoskeleton acts like a suit of armor to protect the spider"
Root words
Readers use the knowledge of root words to figure out unknown word
"People who are terrified of spiders have arachnophobia"
Grammar
Readers use the word function in the sentence to figure out unknown word
"spiders generally…
