VOCABULARY AND EXPLICIT TEACHING 1

Vocabulary: A Partner for Explicit Teaching

Lisa Cunningham

Department of Education, Wayne State University

English 6010: Tutoring Practicum

Dr. Jule Thomas

April 4th, 2022

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Introduction

There are many teaching best practices that are implemented across countless classrooms

globally. These best practices are integrated with all age groups, grades, subjects, and

assignments/activities. While there is such a variety of teaching practices for instructors to

utilize, there is a lot more diversity among students in classrooms. So, for students to learn

effectively in the classroom, teachers should choose one best teaching practice and implement it

in a way that is appropriately diverse and resourceful, so that all students have an equal chance at

the lesson and can be successful in the overall goal that an assignment or activity substantiates.

This is expressed within the vocabulary activity that will be discussed throughout this analysis. I

found this vocabulary activity on BrightHub Education’s website. Within this activity, I found

that students are being explicitly taught. Explicit teaching is a best practice that is not only

exhibited through this vocabulary assignment but is practiced by many teachers across the globe.

Explicit Teaching is defined by the way teachers instruct their students with extensive direct

instruction, working close with each and every student. They are learning vocabulary in a way

that is diversified, giving the students, who possess differentiated abilities and disabilities, a fair

chance to acquire and be successful in the goal of the activity: vocabulary comprehension.

Overview of the Activity

The activity, that presents multiple steps and details for the students to follow and participate in,

expresses a lesson that aids students to improve their vocabulary skills. This activity effectively

outlines steps for the students to read about and discuss. The preeminent detail within this

activity, is that it involves and encourages direct, explicit instruction and learning between the

teacher and the student(s). “Enriching vocabulary skills takes explicit instructional methods and

specific teaching in word-learning strategies.” The teacher distributing this activity will work
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closely and directly with all the students within the classroom. This type of instruction ensures

that every student is gaining the sufficient amount of instruction and aid to be successful and

achieve the goal of the assignment. This activity dispenses tips and directives for the students to

engage in that will effectively and efficiently ameliorate their vocabulary skills, while also

building upon their reading, writing, comprehension, pronunciation, and problem-solving skills.

Acquiring a comprehensive vocabulary is a very beneficial skill, that as stated, will influence and

improve additional skills that are a necessity to possess and express inside and outside of the

classroom.

Structure and Design of Activity

The activity is designed for students primarily within secondary education, beginning with older

elementary school students, stretching to twelfth grade students. The reason this lesson is very

non-discriminatory against grade levels, is because one’s vocabulary and knowledge acquisition

are constantly improving. These are never-ending processes. As stated in the activity’s

description:

“Building vocabulary involves more than knowing a definition of a word. It also includes

understanding how a word should be used in language. Expanding word knowledge is an

ongoing process that can never be completely mastered, since vocabulary should be

learned throughout life.”

For these reasons, this explicit lesson/activity can be taught among many grade levels and ages.

This activity is a great example of explicit teaching! The students and their instructor are both

working towards a similar goal, to better the number of skills that are practiced within it.
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During the activity, the teacher will be expected to explicitly present the activity to the students,

and then continue their explicit instruction throughout the rest of the activity. The teacher will

facilitate a passage for the students to read. Then the students, despite their diverse abilities and

needs, will work through the five steps and will participate in each step thoroughly to corroborate

their acquisition of the knowledge the activity is proffering. The website structures this

assignment with a simple summary and discusses the learning objectives/outcomes of the

activity. Then, the website provides a layout of steps for the teacher and the students to follow

and complete. These steps/instructions could be printed out for both the teacher and student to

have and refer to. The website labels these steps, “Strategies for Teaching New Vocabulary.”

These detailed, advantageous steps consist of:

 After the facilitation of a passage to read is completed, the teacher will provide the

students with the five steps they will participate in during and after their reading. The first

step of the activity is to allow the students to begin to isolate words that are new and

unfamiliar to them. This allows for the student to create a list of these words, read them

as many times as needed, receive assistance on how to comprehend them sufficiently,

while also attempting to evaluate the words themselves. “Ask the student if the word

sounds like other words he knows or parts if of the word suggest what it means. By

hearing a new word and decoding it himself, the student is more likely to remember its

definition.” The student is taught, during this step, explicitly, then also encouraged to

practice the vocabulary implicitly.

 The second step of this lesson is to have students underline and record words that they are

not sure of, whether it would be the pronunciation of the word, the definition of the word,
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the context in which it is being used, and more. “This allows them to complete the

reading material without disrupting the flow of text.”

 For students who may be having trouble with figuring out the definition of the word, the

next step for them to follow and practice, is to use and analyze clues within the text to

find the context in which a word is being presented. This is an instance where the

instructor can work closely with the student and aid them to look at and find different

words, phrases, sentences, literary devices, and more to identify the definition of a word.

 Another step in which the students will be expected to complete, will be a personalized

dictionary. “Help students by providing a list of new vocabulary words or have them

make their own list of unfamiliar words. Encourage dictionary use and ask them to write

down the definitions and a sentence using the word.” This will especially allow the

students to not only receive explicit teaching from their instructor but will enable the

students to create a list of words that they’d like to learn more about and need to practice.

 The last step for students to practice extensively in this activity, is to read and re-read.

This is the most important step that should be practiced multiple times. Re-reading a text

can sufficiently help a student to comprehend the information and words being presented

to them in a more efficient way, a way that can make the above steps of the activity less

challenging and more effective.

Audience

The audience of this activity includes students and teachers. This activity is an eye-opening

activity that exhibits explicit teaching, a world-renowned best practice, as well as a beneficial

lesson of vocabulary that will effectively improve multiple skills within one activity.

Students of all ages and grade levels can benefit from this lesson. They will gain sufficient
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skills from participating in the activity and will continue to use these steps within this lesson

in future lessons, continually improving and practicing their comprehensive skills of;

vocabulary, reading, writing, identifying definitions, pronunciation, and more. This

vocabulary lesson helps students practice all different words and will extend their vocabulary

and their speech. Acquiring an extensive and differentiated vocabulary allows for an

individual to speak more confidently, fluently, and appropriately. Teachers can implement

this lesson into their classroom and effectively transform students of all abilities into better

readers, writers, and encourage the expansion of vocabulary. These skills will follow these

students throughout their life in and outside of school.

Goals and Purpose of Activity

The goals and purpose of this vocabulary activity are comprehensively related to each other

and combine to encourage the most success for the students participating. The goals of this

assignment are laid out throughout the entire description of the lesson, including the

significant steps of the activity. Students are expected to become more familiar with different

words, their definitions, the context in which they are being used, and to comprehend all this

information. These aspects improve not only the vocabulary of the student, but the goal to

improve other skills of the student like their reading and writing skills, pronunciation skills,

comprehension skills, and more are all implied through the extensive and beneficial steps the

students will complete within the activity. This is all done through explicit instruction

involving the student(s) and the teacher. The goals of this assignment are in correlation with

the best practice of explicit teaching, because the teacher is alongside the students, working

directly with them to make sure of their success. The teacher can complete the activity with

the students see their progress, what they may need help with, and more.
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Implementation of Best Practice: Explicit Teaching

This activity thoroughly and clearly involves the best practice of Explicit Teaching, in the

way that it allows for the instructor to work closely with each student, depending on their

abilities and disabilities and how they can efficiently work through the steps of the activity.

The teacher is expected to facilitate multiple resources and instruction to the students, so the

students have a clear understanding of what is expected of them during the activity and what

the overall goal of the activity is. The overview of the activity expresses, “While indirect

exposure can certainly help a student learn new words, students with learning disabilities

particularly need additional assistance in increasing their vocabulary strategies.” This activity

not only allows for students of all abilities to participate and be successful, but it also makes

it possible for the teacher to provide limitless help to any student who may possess a

disability and needs further instruction and aid. The instructors consistently teach explicitly

within the activity, presenting different ways a student can complete a certain step and will

help the student create a certain aspect of a step to work together toward the goal of the

activity/lesson.

Conclusion

After analyzing this step-by-step, inclusive activity, I learned that implementing a best

practice into an activity and working closely with the students can make all the difference in

the success of the students. If I were to integrate this activity into my classroom, I would

certainly teach it in an explicit way to make sure that the students are receiving the proper

knowledge and practice that they need to be successful within the activity and to build their

skills that are being practiced. I would create different versions of this activity to fit into

different subjects and lessons. I will explain these steps thoroughly to the students. These
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steps of the activity can also be printed out on a sheet of paper that the students can keep and

refer to. I feel that this activity can be implemented into the classroom in many ways and the

students can practice these skills that will follow them through their journey through school

and life. The steps can be tweaked, so that the steps and assignment can also fit into other

subjects, other than English. Teachers can also benefit from this activity. Within my

classroom, implanting this activity would help me to see how my students are working with

the material, what they need more help on, what they know, what they don’t know, and how

they are progressing. Each student will be able to work at their own pace, and I, as the

teacher, will be around the classroom constantly to help each and every student with

whichever step they are on and what aid they need to keep moving forward.
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References

Gutlohn, L., & Diamond, L. (2006). Teaching Vocabulary. Reading Rockets. BrightHub

Education. Accessed 2022.

https://www.brighthubeducation.com/special-ed-inclusion-strategies/64053-strategies-

for-teaching-new-vocabulary-to-students-with-learning-disabilities/#expanding-

vocabulary-through-instruction