Vocabulary+in+Content+Areas

=Vocabulary in the Content Areas = = =

**Content area Vocabulary **
====Each content area has a collection of specialized terms which hold meaning for important concepts. These terms are considered the content area vocabulary of that domain. Content area vocabulary is often different from general vocabulary because of the depth of word knowledge students need to fully understand the word. When studying vocabulary in content areas, students often need a deeper knowledge of words than in general vocabulary. Often vocabulary in the content areas is required to know for concepts that follow (Alverman, Phelps, & Gillis, 2010).Because of the depth of knowledge needed for content area vocabulary, teachers must ensure that vocabulary instruction is often and engaging. ====

**Characteristic of Vocabulary in the Content Areas **
====In the content areas, vocabulary is often made up of symbols, technical terms, and subtechnical terms. Technical terms refer to terms that are only referred to in one content area. Subtechnical words are words that represent different concepts throughout the content areas (Alverman et al, 2010). Symbols in the content area often create confusion for students because often the same symbol is in several contents, representing different concepts. Science and math are the primary subjects that symbols are associated with. Social studies vocabulary contains terms that frequently relate to ideas, people, places, and events. Often concepts in social studies are abstract, making it more complex for students to learn. These words include customs, culture, and economics. ====

**Content Vocabulary Instruction **
====“When considering students’ abilities to comprehend the scope of the materials they encounter, vocabulary development is arguably the most important component of a lesson (Harmon and Hedrick 2000).” This being said vocabulary instruction in the content areas is vital in creating success in learning the content. As teaching most things, teaching content area vocabulary should be aimed at meeting the needs of all learners in the classroom. According to Nady (1988) instruction needs to begin by connecting new words to known words or concepts, have repetition of newly acquired words, and feature meaningful use (as cited in Harmon & Hendrick, 2005). The first thing a teacher must decide before instruction is the vocabulary that defines concepts that are essential to learning the content. Having students help in this process can allow teachers to get a glimpse of background knowledge and present the students with appropriate vocabulary. Teachers should then introduce these words by linking them to concepts the students already understand (Alverman et al., 2010). This can be done using several different strategies. Strategies that are used in general vocabulary can be adapted to the content areas. The following strategies are those that best support the type of knowledge needed for content area vocabulary. ====


 * ====Identifying examples and non examples of a word is another way to build connections. ====
 * ====Teaching students to use context clues provides them with a word learning strategy. Teachers should models this for students and gradually release them to use this strategy independently. ====
 * ====Hands-on experiences allow students to develop a concept before learning the new term. This strategy is especially great for math and science. ====
 * ====Semantic mapping allows students to use key terms and organize them in a way that shows relationships among concepts. Semantic mapping has also been identified to be effective for diverse learners (Haynes & Zacarian, 2010). ====
 * ====Possible sentences is a strategy that promotes discussion, writing, and reading and provides students with repeated exposure to content vocabulary (Alverman et. al., 2010) ====
 * ====Visual Associations such as vocabulary squares, graphic organizers, videos, charts, and graphs allow students to connect a visual to new vocabulary. ====
 * ====Vocabulary walls are also a great visual strategy that provides support for students when learning content. Students can also create their own portable word wall list for their desk and home. This is helpful to all students, but especially those struggling learners and Ells (Haynes & Zacarian, 2010). . ====
 * ====Modeling all strategies for students is essential in promoting students to continue these strategies independently. ====
 * ====Discussing maps, graphs, charts, and other content related data provides opportunities for students to engage in meaningful conversations and practice using new vocabulary and relating it to a visual. ====



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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Chard, D. (2003). Vocabulary strategies for the mathematics classroom. Houghton Mifflin Math. Houghton Mifflin Company
====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Harmon, J. M. and Hedrick, W. B. 2000. Zooming in and zooming out: Enhancing vocabulary and conceptual learning in social studies. The Reading Teacher, 54(2): 155–159. ====