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09 8/20/03 350 7:51 AM Page 350 CHAPTER 9 / VOCABULARY: PRESCRIPTION FOR CONCEPT, CONTENT, AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT FIGURE 9.8 POSSIBLE SENTENCES Potentially Difficult Vocabulary Words Easier Words Related to Topic evaporation rain condensation snow water cycle clouds precipitation ocean surface water water ground water Students’ Possible Sentences Rain is one kind of precipitation. Surface water and ground water are two different types of water. Water that collects in clouds is condensation. Water is in the ocean. Evaporation happens when the ocean water gets hot. When snow melts, it is part of the water cycle. Next, students read the text and then discuss, clarify, and correct the sentences. well developed by Anderson and Nagy (1991) in a review of the literature on word meanings. STEPS IN THEMED VOCABULARY STUDY Step 1 Identify a theme. Step 2 Ask students to state those words they think to be related to the designated theme, and to say what they think those words mean. Step 3 Use dictionaries to check word meanings and to find synonyms, antonyms, and nuances of meaning. Step 4 Link the relevant words to one another (with brief definitions) in the form of a semantic map (see illustration on next page). Step 5 Reinforce and evaluate by testing students’ recall and by having them write sentences or descriptive pieces designed to use the new words. [Note: The once-traditional practice of having students write a sentence or two containing a new word still makes sense. It has the diagnostic advantage of revealing whether the students’ knowledge of the word includes the often context- 09 8/20/03 7:51 AM Page 351 METHODS FOR IN-DEPTH WORD STUDY 351 specific way in which a given word is used. Anderson and Nagy (1991) give the example of the word “correlate.” The dictionary definition says, “to be related one to the other.” This led a student to write “Me and my parents correlate, because without them I wouldn’t be here” (719).] In a diagnostic-teaching situation, this would immediately reveal that the term “correlate” is not yet within the student’s grasp. EXAMPLE OF THEMED VOCABULARY STUDY articulate (well-stated) reticent (shy; reluctant to speak) gossip (idle chatter about others) inarticulate (poorly stated) Talking (to say words by speech) loquacious (talkative, but powerful control of language) chatter (talk on aimlessly) garrulous (talking much about unimportant things) verbose (using too many words to say something) Other themes to consider in word study: • noncomplimentary but non-vulgar terms (pesky, brusk, prissy, antsy, bawdy, addlebrained) • behavior-related terms (manners, comportment, deportment, inappropriate, maladaptive, poised, irascible) • character traits (endurance, restraint, perseverance, reflection, tolerance) • thinking terms (abstract, concrete, rational, irrational, creative, critical, cognition, diffusive, coherent) • temperament labels (sanguine, industrious, hyper, choleric, mercurial, pensive) • attitudes (positive, negative, hostile, aggressive, assertive, constructive) Vocabulary learning from themed study can be greatly amplified when combined with Semantic Feature Analysis, Subjective/Objective Vocabulary recording, and/or Motor Imaging. Coupling student reactions to the words in themes such as those described above also provides excellent opportunities for diagnosing aspects of personal-social adjustment and getting a fix on a student’s “world view”—or the way in which he or she is experiencing reality. All vocabulary learning is a form of categorization and theme study.