Correcting and Encouraging
Understanding what a word means and being able to use it goes beyond just being able to say or spell the word correctly. Speaking, hearing, and using new vocabulary is an important tool for learning and mastering word meaning. Oral use of vocabulary words also supports the phonics element of reading, connecting sound to letters to meaning.
Provide opportunities to use the words.
Providing opportunities to use vocabulary words is a crucial element in ensuring students learn the words deeply and learn a lot about them. Often vocabulary instruction involves mostly seeing the words in written text, maybe looking them up in a dictionary, and writing them in a sentence or simply writing the definition. But most words, particularly the most critical words for students to learn, are ones that have multiple, related meanings. They may have subtle gradations of meaning in different contexts. In order to really get a good sense of how words function, students have to use the words and listen to themselves. They hear whether it sounds right or not and see the reactions of teachers and other students when they use the words. Students reinforce their own learning by using the words orally in classroom discussions and in writing, as well.
Encourage experimentation; expect mistakes.
It’s important to encourage students to experiment with words, but that means not being surprised when students make errors with words. When two-year-olds make errors with words, they're just acquiring their first language, and we think it's adorable. When a child of two years looks at a cow and says woof, we, of course, say: “Oh yeah, that does sort of look like a dog doesn't it?” We don’t say: “That's wrong; that's not what you call that.” And yet, when kids only 10 years older than that make a mistake with how they use a word, they get red red pen marks all over their paper. We can encourage students to use words even when they are slightly or very wrong because it's an opportunity for them to get feedback about what the real meaning of the word is. We can celebrate with them the mistakes they make, as well as the widened vocabulary they are acquiring.
Correcting Pronunciation
Let's say a student reads aloud the sentence, “But shouldn't kids make their own decisions about who they play with?” But the student says, "But shouldn't kids make their de-size-eeons about who they play with?" When the student stops and finishes the statement or the reading, the teacher can say, "Oh yeah, that's one of our vocabulary words, decisions. Let's all say that together, decisions." Then, the teacher can say it a few times or use word chants to practice pronunciation with the whole class.
If a student makes a mistake with a word during discussion, the best approach is simply to model correct pronunciation through repeating or rephrasing what the student says: “Who else thinks kids should make their own decisions about who to play with?” or “So, Ana thinks kids should make the decisions themselves.”
So, in other words, teachers don't have to ignore word errors, but it's probably a good idea not to call it out, particularly not to single out the student. Focusing on correcting errors will discourage students from participating. After all, you can't make a mistake if you don't say anything, right?
Encouraging Vocabulary Use with Revoicing
If a student says, "Some people wanted to get rid of slavery, because it was bad," a teacher might endorse that claim and reward the student for having made an interesting and important observation, by saying something like, "That's right. Many colonists were in favor of abolishing slavery, because they considered it evil." Abolishing is a vocabulary word, and evil is a more sophisticated and more precise version of the word bad. Thus, if we show them that academic vocabulary helps them express themselves more precisely and, thus, more effectively, they will be more inclined to use it.
