TO BUILD WORD CONSCIOUSNESS , YOU MUST KEEP THE MIND IN MIND
Words matter . Learning new words is foundational to students ’ success in school . Mastering any academic domain is intimately tied to knowing the words that comprise it . Vocabulary fluency plays a crucial role in reading , writing , and critical-thinking processes . Importantly , since vocabulary is fashioned , processed , and manipulated by the human mind , teachers cannot hope to effectively support literacy growth without understanding how children think , remember , and learn .
The dizzying volume of new and attractive – but often conflicting – research on the science of learning can leave educators feeling mystified . One useful trick to cut through this noise is to view every learning intervention through a single powerful lens – that of human memory . Over the last decade , this singular perspective has allowed us to craft a word-learning system that applies a cohesive set of best practices that helps students develop word consciousness – a curiosity and love for words .
Using the Memory Lens
The educational psychologist John Sweller insightfully defines learning as “ an alteration in long-term memory . If nothing is altered in long-term memory , nothing has been
learned .” With this in mind , here are some word-learning strategies and interventions — refashioned using a memory lens to help you think about them in a novel way .
1 . Why differentiate and personalize :
Learning relies on elaborative encoding – the process of establishing connections between what ’ s already in our longterm memory and what ’ s currently being learned . The more connections that can be established , the better we learn and the less likely we are to forget . However , the more disparate your students , the more variation there is
in the set of knowledge networks the teacher needs to influence . Providing a way for each and every student in class to slot new information into their existing memories can be a nearly impossible task . Fortunately , technology is well suited for it .
“ No bespoke vocabulary list could meet the needs of even five students in any given class . Our kids ’ experiences are wide-ranging and unique ; it ’ s essential for us to have a differentiated platform .
Membean ’ s personalization translates well to the needs of an extremely varied expatriate population .”
2 . Why reading alone isn ’ t enough :
A sufficient vocabulary is a prerequisite for understanding what is read ; in fact , 98 % of the words in a given piece of text must be known for adequate comprehension .
Students often resort to guessing when they don ’ t know a word , which can be error prone – they often don ’ t even know other words that surround the word they are guessing about ! This is especially true for nonnative readers . In addition , the most wonderful words are not encountered frequently enough when reading — if at all . A rule of thumb from our data is that students need 15 to 25 exposures to a word before they can remember it . This is difficult to get without wide and varied reading . Effective direct instruction of words , on the other hand , can be carefully crafted to reveal interesting aspects of each word . This provides repeated opportunities for robust learning by linking each of those aspects with pre-existing memories . In addition , direct instruction can ensure repeated exposures to the word . When the word comes up in reading the next time , it ’ s readily available .
3 . Why desirable difficulty should be the goal of instruction :
Every educator has probably been told that learning that is spaced or that is interleaved with other learning is retained longer . Ever wondered why ? These instructional manipulations create “ desirable difficulties ” in learning . Any intervention that requires effort from the learner , that is , that either marshals more pieces of knowledge from long-term memory