The following information was excerpted and adapted from a lecture, "Five Principles for Learning Vocabulary," by Professor Kevin Flanigan who teaches at West Chester University of Pennsylvania.
- For the target word, learn a clear definition that distills the critical aspects of what the word means--and what it doesn't.
- Place the word in the context of a sentence to get a feel for how it's actually used. Remember if you want to really know a shark, you study it in the ocean--its natural habitat. if you want to really know a word, you study how it behaves in its natural habitat--sentences, paragraphs, and books.
- Make connections to the word. Think of a vocabulary word as a label for an underlying concept.
- Explore the word's morphological structure. Morphology is the study of the structure of words, including meaningful word parts, such as roots, and patterns, and the processes of word formation. The morphological system in English can be an incredibly powerful system for learning vocabulary if you know how to tap into it.
- Learn the word by semantic chunking. Semantic chunking means learning the word in the context of a list of words that are grouped by category (rather than the traditional way of learning words by alphabetical order). The idea of chunking vocabulary items is related to a well-known concept in cognitive science: schema theory. According to this theory, we organize and categorize knowledge by abstract mental frameworks or structures called schema. Think of a schema as mental file folders in which we organize information. Schemas help us keep track of information in our brains and avoid the pitfalls of the "mental junk drawer." If we organize our vocabulary learning by meaning, honoring the way our brains work, we will dramatically improve our chances of remembering and using new words. In other words, teach students vocabulary with "chunks" of words (lists) that have similar meanings. In addition to learning the target word, the student is able to examine the finer shades of distinction and nuances of meaning among words. Together with definition, context, connection, and morphology, this principle will give students a solid foundation for building a better vocabulary.
Example
Definition: Procrustean means "tending to produce conformity by arbitrary, ruthless, or violent means."
Context: "Even though the student's poem unanimously won the all-county writing contest, the procrustean English teacher gave her a F for failing to dot the i in her name."
Personal Connection: Have you ever met someone who's completely inflexible, a stickler for rules and regulations? Try to associate that person in your mind with the word procrustean.
Morphology: The word comes from the Greek word prokrouein. Pro means "before" and krouein means "to strike." The morphology/etymology speaks to the violent connotation of the word, an aspect of the word's meaning. Etymology, the word's origin, is related to its morphology. Human beings are hardwired to remember stories. If a student learns the etymological narrative/story of a word, he/she is more likely to remember its meaning. Procrustean comes from Greek mythology. Procrustes was a mythical bandit of Attica who would waylay hapless travelers and attempt to fit them to his iron bed. If travelers were too long for the bed, he'd cut off their feet. If they were too short, he'd stretch them out. A procrustean bed has come to mean an arbitrary standard to which something is forced to conform.
Semantic Chunking: procrustean, relentless, ruthless, unmerciful, severe, inexorable, profuse, unsparing