The+Frayer+Model





=**The Frayer Model...** = The Frayer Model is a graphic organizer that helps students learn academic vocabulary, especially a new concept, by focusing on the features that distinguish the concept. Using this instructional strategy to teach a concept usually involves the following steps.
 * First, defines the concept and give the essential characteristics or attributes of the concept;
 * Second, show students the differences between this particular concept and other related concepts;
 * Third, give students some examples of this concept, and explain what makes these examples;
 * Fourth, provide some non-examples and explain what makes these non-examples;
 * Fifth, provide students with examples and non-examples and ask them to determine whether they are examples or non-examples.

Click [|here], and you will find a video in which a teacher explains how she use the Fray Model in her class.

=**According to Janet Allen...** = Janet Allen gave a good explanation of the Frayer Model and how to use it in class. The example she offered in the book well illustrates the procedures in using this tool. She actually added one step as the last move in this strategy, providing examples for students to decide whether they are examples or non-examples, which I think is nice. She also explained that this tool can be particularly effective for introducing important concepts to a unit of study. Since it can be time consuming, she suggests that teachers consider the time for this activity in their instruction.

=**According to Kongji...** =

The Frayer Model is adapted from a test instrument to measure the concept mastery, which was proposed in a working report by Frayer, Fredrick, and Klausmeier (1969). In the report Frayer and her colleagues put forward a framework to test how well a person understands a concept. Their framework for measuring the concept mastery requires test on the knowledge of the //attributes// of a concept, //examples// and //non-examples// of the attributes, the //definition// of the concept, its //superordinate// and //subordinate// concepts, etc. This comprehensive framework for assessing the knowledge of a concept was later adopted by reading specialists and developed into a learning tool rather than an assessment tool.

The rationale for using the Frayer Model to teach academic vocabulary and concepts comes from its ability to provide an excellent format for students to go beyond mere definitions to gain deeper and more complex understanding of a concept. For example, using this model helps student differentiate between characteristics that define the concepts and those that are merely associated with it. This instructional strategy alsoprovides students experiences with examples and non-examples, which share some but not all necessary characteristics, and help students to construct rich and sophisticated meanings of important concepts. These features of the Frayer Model make it a great vocabulary instruction tool for students to build their academic vocabulary and their reading skills in disciplinary areas because academic vocabulary in content areas often has both general and subject-specific meanings (Baumann & Graves, 2010; T. Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008), which can presents challenges for students and asks students to engage deeply with the meaning of the words in the domain areas. In a practitioner-oriented book for reading (Duffy, 2003) this vocabulary teaching strategy is also recommended even though it is not labeled as the Frayer Model.

Frayer Model can be a nice tool for teaching or assessing academic vocabulary, particularly concepts or domain-specific academic vocabulary (Baumann & Graves, 2010). However, in her book Janet Allen only discussed how this tool can be used in teaching concepts in subjects like language arts, social studies, or science. Actually it can also be used to assist students in learning concepts in other subjects too, such as maths or history. Please click [|here] to see a video in which a teacher warms up her Algebra class using an activity with Frayer Model.

Teachers can also develop students a habit in using the Frayer Model in their learning of concepts. Even though this model might be time-consuming, it can be an effective tool for students to work on the concepts after class.

The Frayer Model can also be helpful for English language learners because it breaks down the learning of complex concepts into accessible instructional steps. Teachers can also use this graphic organizer to help English language learner to write about the concept so that they can develop their language skills during the process of learning the concept.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">__**References:**__

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Baumann, J. F., & Graves, M. F. (2010). What is academic vocabulary? //Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy//, //54//, 4-12. doi:10.1598/JAAL.54.1.1

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Duffy, G. G. (2003). //Explaining reading: a resource for teaching concepts, skills, and strategies//. New York: Guilford Press.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Frayer, D. A., Fredrick, W. C., & Klausmeier, H. J. (1969). //A schema for testing the level of concept mastery// (Working paper No. 16). University of Wisconsin (Madison), Wisconsin Research and Development Center for Cognitive Learning. Retrieved from http://www.brainimaging.waisman.wisc.edu/.../frayer-frederick-klausmeier.pdf

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Shanahan, T., & Shanahan, C. (2008). Teaching disciplinary literacy to adolescents: Rethinking content-area literacy. //Harvard Educational Review//, //78//(1), 40-59.

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