When this 7th grade English teacher realized that her students could decode words but were not reading critically, she intervened immediately with Vocabulary.com and embarked on a research project to measure the outcomes. In her award-winning paper, Carolyn Streets describes the impact of systematic, direct vocabulary instruction as "transformational." Continue reading...
Looking at the morphology — or the make-up — of words is a well established vocabulary-learning strategy, and one component of the new Common Core standards for English Language Arts. Enter Power Prefix Vocabulary Lists, ten new lists to teach some basic building blocks of word morphology. Continue reading...
Just in time for the holidays, Visual Thesaurus contributor Mark Peters has rounded up a selection of gift-related words and phrases for his latest "Wordtastic" column in Good Magazine — covering everything from Seinfeldian "regifting" to "shopper's block." Read it here. Continue reading...
Last week, as part of the Lexicon Valley podcast, I talked about how the word discombobulate grew out of a vogue in the Jacksonian era for making up jocular polysyllabic words with a pseudo-classical air. That impulse for concocting silly-sounding sesquipedalianisms has often bubbled up in the history of English. Continue reading...
Check out the results of our special kickoff event, and learn how to get involved in the academic competition where every student in your school can play, compete, and learn. Continue reading...
One of the most persistent myths about word acquisition is that students don't need to be taught words; they just need to read more and their vocabularies will magically expand. This theory — which I like to call "learning words by osmosis" — doesn't hold much promise for your average or struggling reader. While it may hold true for a select group of students who are strong, avid readers possessing a curiosity about words, most students don't learn words by simply encountering them in reading. Continue reading...
A paradox is a logical puzzle that seems to contradict itself. No it isn't. Actually, it is. An oxymoron is a figure of speech — words that seem to cancel each other out, like "working vacation" or "instant classic." Continue reading...
A pandemic is like an epidemic on steroids. Both are words for a widespread disease, but a pandemic can spread across continents, while an epidemic affects a smaller population. An epidemic disease can originate in one area but grow to be a pandemic as it infects people all over the world. Continue reading...
Sure, Star Wars launched plenty of original words—like Jedi and Wookiee. But what better way to observe National Star Wars Day on May the 4th than to brush up on existing words featured in the film series? The following lexicon will serve you well in any galaxy. Continue reading...
A dictionary definition is a place to start (or end); it cannot capture a word's essence or connotation. Students need to learn that words — like people — have personalities. Some get along with everybody. Some only get along with other select words. Some are comfortable everywhere, while some have special hangouts or niches. Continue reading...