Deep Word Study to Build Vocabulary

What’s the best way to teach vocabulary when research shows that the traditional method of giving students definitions, writing sentences, and taking a matching/multiple choice test is ineffective for long term learning and retention?

Deep word study refers to teaching every aspect of a word to students (etymology, pronunciation/spelling, multiple meanings of the base word and different uses/applications of the word with prefix and suffix add-ons).

Choose just one word that is key to a unit of instruction. For example:

Colonialism

1. Start with the root: “col”: a prefix meaning“with,” “together,” “in association”
2. Then look at the meaning of the base word: colony

• There are 5 definitions of this word in the dictionary –talk about all of them and show pictures of colonies (people, artists, bees….)

3. Write out the various forms of the word on the board

• colonize: the verb to create a colony
• colonist: a person (“ist”) who lives in a colony
• colonial: (adj) which relates to the 13 British colonies that became the USA
• colonialism: “ism” pertaining to the belief system of living as a colony
• **discuss how the suffixes not only change the part of speech but also subtly change the meaning

4. Talk about the antonyms of a colony = solitary, individual, isolation/isolationism as a policy
5. Talk about synonyms of a colony: community, gathering, dependency, brotherhood…

Now you can have a deeper discussion of the historical meaning of the practice of Colonialism and the colonists who banded together to fight British control.

Try this with just one key word of a unit of study. Class discussion that makes the word relevant and encourages student connections is key to student understanding and retention.