We have all seen this tired loop of "instruction": distribute word list, have students look up words, ask students to use the words in original sentences. While encouraging usage is never a bad idea, it's not realistic to expect students to pivot from definition to usage without guidance.
We suggest ditching (or at least delaying) the idea of originality and instead asking students to model their sentences on usage examples written by those people who are especially skilled with using words: professional writers.
It's not cheating. It's learning from the masters.
When students are first learning a word, they tend to cling to memorizing definitions without regard to what role that word usually plays in a sentence (i.e., part of speech) and in what contexts that word is usually found. This rote memorization can result in awkward or clumsy usage, divorced from how words are commonly used by experienced writers and speakers. If students instead analyze a group of authentic sentences using an unfamiliar word, they can pick up on usage patterns that can guide their own writing and speaking choices.
For example, consider the word inflict. A student relying on a definition alone ("impose something unpleasant") might write an original sentence like "We inflicted our enemies" (not understanding that this transitive verb requires an object). However, if that same student would study the usage examples on the Vocabulary.com Dictionary page for inflict, he might notice that in each sentence something bad is inflicted on someone else. In the case of these usage examples found in the fiction category, injuries, violence, shots, and even halitosis are being inflicted:
Internalizing models in gameplay
In addition to detecting meaningful patterns in the usage examples on the dictionary pages, students will encounter great models for usage as they play Vocabulary.com. In the course of mastering a word during gameplay, users will encounter the word being used in a variety of question types that use sentences from current news sources or from classic and contemporary literature. Although students may not consciously register that they are learning usage lessons as they play the game, they will internalize associations through exposure. As an example, the following sentence-synonym question for superfluous uses a sentence from The New York Times.
A student relying on context clues alone might guess the answer would be "expensive," but a game player missing this question would soon learn its relevant definition (meaning "adj . more than is needed, desired, or required"). In this way, students are required to synthesize definition and usage knowledge as they progress in word mastery.
Of course, the brass ring on the carousel you wish your students could grab is authentic and expressive usage — using word knowledge to communicate an idea instead of just answering an arbitrary standardized test question. However, rest assured, the more opportunities you provide students to take note of how other writers use words is building familiarity and priming the pump for original expression.
This post was adapted from the December 2014 issue of our monthly newsletter for educators. Subscribe and view archives here.
