Vocabulary

Vocabulary & Spelling with Words their Way Word Study Activities with Words Their Way ESL Tutoring: Words Their Way

Resources for the 6 steps of vocab instruction
Vocab Instruction & Strategies ppt

3 Tier Vocabulary Words

Not all words require instruction equally:

Tier 1 – Basic Words – Most cannot be demonstrated and do not have multiple

meanings, but students will need to know them. Sight words would be found at this

level. Estimates indicate that about 8,000 basic words need no instruction

Tier 2 – Words occur in high frequency. Found in a variety of domains. Estimates

indicate that there are about 7,000 words for tier 2 or 700 words per year. These words

can have a powerful impact on verbal functions.

Criteria:

• Importance to understanding the text

• Characteristic of mature language users

• Used across a variety of domains

• Potential for building rich representations of the words (multiple meaning

words)

• Words that allow students to provide precision and specificity in

describing the concept

Words like: merchant, tend, fortunate, maintain, required, performed, benevolent

Tier 3 – Words with a low frequency of use, often limited to special, specific domains.

They are best learned when a specific need arises. (Content area words)

Words like: igneous, metamorphic, Revolutionary War, economics

Teaching Word Tiers Three Tiers of Vocab ==

== **Vocabulary Strategies for Diverse Learners**