Word+Wall



=**Word Walls...** =

One of the most useful and applicable academic vocabulary tools is the Word Wall. This tool can be used in a number of ways to foster vocabulary development through daily engagement with and conversation about words and language, and ultimately to support reading comprehension across the curriculum. Word Walls are usually literally //on the walls// of the physical classroom, but they can also be recorded on paper or on graphic organizers in student notebooks/binders.

Word Walls feature either high-utility words or topical words from the academic discipline. A high-utility word wall might be a work in progress for an entire semester or year, with students making regular and progressive additions as new content is learned. A topical word wall might be up for a period of time to reflect vocabulary learned during a thematic unit of study or from a specific text. Regardless of type, the word walls should contain words the teacher wants students to use productively in reading, writing, and speaking, and the words that appear on the wall need to be spelled correctly. As Allen says, “You will want your Word Wall to be a //living part of the classroom//, with new words being added each day as they are encountered and taught” (//Inside Words//, p. 120, emphasis added). Word Walls are not stagnant displays that become part of the scenery; they are owned, co-created, and regularly incorporated into the activities of the classroom community.

=**According to Janet Allen...** =

Janet Allen is right on target with this particular tool! She advocates using Word Walls flexibly and frequently in all classrooms, citing research from Cunningham & Allington (1994). She includes a useful graphic organizer that is ideal for portable versions for students to keep in notebooks/binders for easy reference inside and outside of the classroom, as well as beyond the unit of study. Although she mentions math as an example in her definition, and she later talks about observing the use of word walls for a digestion unit, both of the graphic examples she uses in the chapter are for English/Language Arts. What’s useful about her examples is that the first one is a high-utility example for use over the course of a year for vocabulary encountered in the works by Shakespeare, while the other is a topical example for use with a particular science fiction text, giving teachers an idea of how to diversify their use of word walls. And Allen hits the nail on the head when she cautions that Word Walls must be incorporated into the teaching and learning in the classroom to become “a living part of the classroom” (p. 120). She also points out that teachers and students should build the walls together, with discussions and interactions around and about the words and the texts.

=**According to Jackie...** =

Word Walls are superior vocabulary tools that can and should be used in all classrooms, across the curriculum and across all grade levels. As a secondary English teacher, I used Word Walls to great advantage academically and to rave student reviews! Research also strongly supports their use for vocabulary development directed toward improving reading comprehension. According to Blachowiz & Fisher (2004), it is important to develop word awareness and a love of words through word play, and they point to word wall participation as an activity that makes students “motivated word learners. … When learning words is fun, students become interested in words and see them as objects that they can use and examine” (pp. 67-68). And Scott (2004) talks about the scaffolding aspect of this tool: “We need to increase the amount of time and exposure devoted to word exploration and learning. Students need to be immersed in an atmosphere that celebrates rich language use” (p. 281). Stahl & Shiel (1992) talk about the importance of teaching vocabulary in context, “so that teaching one word would lead to learning other words” (p. 226). When classroom discussion happens around word walls, then “open classroom discussion affords the poorer students the opportunity to learn from the better students in a nonthreatening manner” (p. 235).

Word Walls are definitively supported by vocabulary research, but I recommend that Allen revise or expand her examples to include content areas other than ELA, preferably math or science. Many English teachers are already familiar with the utility of Word Walls, but additional examples will reinforce that idea for teachers in all academic areas. I also recommend that she include texts and page numbers on her Shakespeare example, so students can refer back to the appropriate texts and will also be able to see and understand and connect words that recur across texts.

__**References:** __

Blachowizc, C., & Fisher, P. (2004). Vocabulary lessons. //Educational Leadership, 6//(6), 66-69.

Scott, J. A. (2004). Scaffolding vocabulary learning: Ideas for equity in urban settings//.// In D. Lapp, C. Block, E. Cooper, J. Flood, N. Roser, and J.Tinajero (Eds.), //Teaching all the children: Strategies for developing literacy in an urban setting.// (pp. 275-293) NY: Guilford

Stahl, S. A., & Shiel, T. G. (1992). Teaching meaning vocabulary: Productive approaches for poor readers. //Reading and Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties, 8//(2), 223-241.

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