[Listen Again] Ten Vocabulary Moves Backed by Research with Blythe Anderson

What does the research really say about effective vocabulary instruction—and how can we translate it into daily classroom practice?

In this episode, we’re joined by literacy expert Blythe Anderson to unpack vocabulary moves grounded in research that make a measurable difference for students. From intentional word selection to meaningful student talk, Blythe shares practical, classroom-ready strategies that help educators move beyond “word of the week” and into instruction that builds deep, lasting word knowledge.

Together, we explore:

• Why explicit vocabulary instruction matters
• How to choose the right words to teach
• The role of discussion and student engagement
• Practical routines that strengthen word learning across content areas
• How to ensure vocabulary sticks for long-term comprehension

Whether you’re a classroom teacher, instructional coach, or school leader, this conversation will leave you with concrete, research-backed practices you can implement immediately.

Tune in to learn how small, intentional shifts in vocabulary instruction can lead to big gains in student word learning and comprehension.

Looking for more literacy support and resources? Explore all of our podcast episodes, free listening guides, and classroom tools at literacypodcast.com.

Interested in bringing Melissa & Lori Love Literacy to your school or event? Email us at literacypodcast@greatminds.org.

Transcript

Why Vocabulary Needs A Rethink

Lori 0:00

This month, we're diving into all things vocabulary instruction. We're bringing back this conversation with researcher Blythe Anderson to revisit 10 research-backed vocabulary moves you can use in your classroom right away.

Melissa 0:14

We'll talk about how to choose the right words, how to teach them clearly and explicitly, and how to give students plenty of meaningful chances to use them. You'll hear about discussion, making connections, using examples and non-examples, writing about words, and building true word awareness because small moves can make a big impact on learning.

Lori 0:36

Hi, teacher friends. I'm Lori. And I'm Melissa. We are two educators who want the best for all kids, and we know you do too.

Melissa 0:45

We worked together in Baltimore when the district adopted a new literacy curriculum.

Lori 0:50

We realized there was so much more to learn about how to teach reading and writing. Lori and I can't wait to keep learning with you today. Hi, Blake. Welcome to the podcast. Hi, thanks so much for having me on. Yeah, we cannot wait to have this awesome conversation about vocabulary today.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

I'm always happy to talk about vocabulary.

Melissa 1:14

Yay. And we found your article called Vocabulary Talk Moves, Using Language to Promote Word Learning. And Lori and I both were like, we have to talk to her about this. It's so good. And in it, you mentioned that a few things that teachers find challenging. One is, of course, making time for vocabulary instruction, which we know time is always something that is an issue for teachers. And one of the main questions that they ask is what strategies can we teach or use to teach new words effectively? So you talk about this in the article. So can you explain for our listeners what are vocabulary talk moves and how can they help teachers with these challenges?

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Yeah,

What Vocabulary Talk Moves Are

SPEAKER_00 1:55

so I refer to uh vocabulary talk moves. I consider those to be ways that teachers use language to promote vocabulary development. And so the particular moves are based on the research of um, you know, how children learn words. And so um, you know, a move can be something as simple as like explaining a word to a child. Um so just something that a teacher is doing just verbally through their own talk to support uh children's vocabulary development.

Lori 2:21

Awesome. And I know you said there were 10 um and they're backed by research. Do you want to share a little bit more about um the research-aligned moves that you observed most frequently?

SPEAKER_00 2:33

Yes, yes. So um the moves that are um in this article um are there's really I call them three different types of moves. And so there are knowledge and understanding moves that um are really focused on, you know, learning the meanings of new words, right? At the heart of vocabulary development is that you are learning um the meanings of either new words or learning additional meanings for words that you might already know, right? So some words um the most frequently word used, most frequently used words have often have more than one meaning. So um so any any moves, like I said, like for example, explaining the meaning of a word to a child, um, those are the kind of knowledge and understanding moves. Um, and then um a second type of move is an aff, what I call affective factors. And so um the the task of word learning is really, really complex. So, right, I talked already about like there's multiple meanings for words, um, we learn the meanings over time, um, you know, um our understanding of some words actually helps us understand other words better. So there's like kind of this interrelatedness that happens. There's just a lot that goes into vocabulary learning that makes it really complex. And so um vocabulary researchers researchers have theorized that in order for kids to, you know, when they come across a word that they don't know, like they're reading on their own or somebody's talking to them, and like, you know, a lot of kids are just gonna skip that and go on, right? Like um skip over and see if we can make meaning and keep going. But we want kids to be able to recognize, oh, wait, I don't really know what that means, and we want them to be curious enough about what it means and feel like learning words is worthwhile and to put that effort in to figure out those new words. So the affective factors are kind of um the the moves that get kids to be curious and interested and um kind of have that feeling about vocabulary that this is an important thing that we want to do. So an example of a move like that is you know, if a child asks you what something means, like like taking that opportunity, maybe it wasn't the word you were planning on on focusing on, but like taking that opportunity to like um capitalize on that curiosity. Um, so that's just one example. And then the third type of move um are what I call metacognitive and metalinguistic moves. And um these are really important because um we can't possibly teach all the words that there are for kids to learn. Um and so if we think about you know constrained skills versus unconstrained skills, I know you've had people on who have talked about that, um, Paris's uh constrained skills theory, right? If you're learning the letters of the alphabet, um, you're learning the sounds, all those, those are what we call constrained skills. You can learn them to mastery, you know, with effective instruction in a relatively short amount of time, you know, um not across your entire lifetime. Um, but but unconstrained skills like vocabulary, like we're we're learning them forever, right? And so um we really want kids to become independent word learners to like take on this task of learning all these words that that we need to teach out there, you know, we can't because we can't teach them all. And so um having kids have an awareness of how language works, you know, this metalinguistic awareness is really useful. And so um part of you know, these these types of moves um are about you know having kids recognize um, oh, I've heard that word before, um, or or like you know, considering have I heard that word, where have I heard that word, those kinds of things. Um so yes, so there are within this article, there are 10 moves. Um, this is from um a broader study. I I found 32 different vocabulary talk moves that teachers used, um, and this study took place within science instruction. It was actually part of um a broader study, an NSF uh funded study that I worked on with my advisor, Dr. Tani Wright, and also with Dr. Amelia

Three Types Of Word Learning Support

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Gottwalls. Um it was the Solid Start Project, which stands for the Science, Oral Language, and Literacy Development from the Start of School. And so my research was within that broader study. I was looking to see within these science lessons that early elementary teachers were teaching, um, I wanted to see what kinds of um vocabulary talk moves were they using. You know, science is this really rich context, um, and we know how important a meaningful context is to vocabulary learning. And so theoretically, right, there should be many opportunities to support vocabulary learning within that context. And so um looking at eight different teachers, three different lessons per teacher across a semester, they were able to use whatever curricular materials they wanted. Um, and so we had, we you know, collected their uh 24 video recordings total and took those 895 minutes of instruction, and I was able to go through all of them, right, and code for these um particular vocabulary track moves. So there's 32 altogether, but I found that 10 of the moves um made up almost 90% of what the teachers were doing with their with their talk. And so um, those are the moves that are focused on in the article.

Melissa 7:33

Blythe, can I just ask a quick question? So your study was kind of seeing what the teachers were doing most often, but these moves are based in other research. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_00 7:45

Okay, exactly. Yes. So um this was an observational study, um, and all of the codes for you know, um, that I discovered that they were using these types of moves are all based in the research. So from other research, we know that these kinds of things support vocabulary development. And I wanted to see are teachers doing this in practice, right? This was an observational study. The teachers didn't know I was interested in vocabulary talk moves, they were just teaching science lessons. Just kind of we wanted to see, like, just you know, what's what from typical instruction, uh, if you're not purposely trying to support vocabulary any more than you would any other day, right? Like what's just kind of typical? Um, yeah, exactly. And so um a next step that I'm really interested in is um again, this was part of a larger study, and so there were some constraints in terms of like the data that was collected. And so I would love to do a replication study where we have some student out learn, you know, learner outcomes around vocabulary and be able to try to correlate like which moves maybe um supported vocabulary learning the most. Um so that's uh that's a next step. Um, but at this point, these are all what we would consider research-based moves. They're based in research that uh that says that these practices support vocabulary development.

Lori 8:56

Okay. And what I heard you just explain were like these big overarching categories where the moves kind of fit into. Um and I heard you give an example of each move that fits into that category. Would you mind breaking down those top 10 that make up 90%? Like maybe just I mean, and I'm happy to do it too, right? Like run through the the 10 of them and then kind of hand it over to you to explain a little bit more. And, you know, I know that we're going to talk about them in these broad categories, but I think just hearing all 10 would be really helpful for our listeners. What do you think, Blythe? You want to go through, you want me to go through?

SPEAKER_00 9:31

It's it's your study, so yeah, I'm I'm happy to, yeah. Okay. So the first two moves, they kind of cluster together because they're often used together. That's what we found. Like, you know, some moves can be used on their own, but often we found the moves were used um in in conjunction with each other. So the first move is just using target words. Um, so uh a

The Science Classroom Study Behind It

SPEAKER_00 9:50

word became a target word when the teacher drew attention to it and its meaning. So um I wasn't like looking to see what did the curriculum say, the words they should have been teaching, right? I was just looking to see within the actual lesson what words were they bringing attention to and um supporting kids in understanding the meanings of those words. And so we know that repetition is really important for, you know, you don't just hear a word once and its meaning and you got it, right? So repetition, we learn these words incrementally over time. And so I wanted to track, you know, how how often kids were getting to hear these kinds of words once they've been introduced. And so the the most frequently used um vocabulary talk move was just using the the word. Um, and that was often used with uh the second move is using it with emphasis. So, like I said, you know, drawing kids' attention. We know teachers do a lot of talking in classrooms. Um, and so to help them kind of like tune into what's really important here, the teachers often said these words with emphasis. So, for example, one of the teachers said, Um, yes, the wind in our classroom is calm. And so, in that um example, both wind and calm were examples of um target words that the the teacher had all previously targeted it by by telling them the meaning of them. Um, and then in another um example um for emphasizing it, uh, the teacher said, So is it a mammal? And she particularly emphasized mammal as she said it, right? So there she's using it and emphasizing it.

Melissa 11:19

So it's literally just the tone of the voice of the teacher. Like that it's so it's so uh easy.

Lori 11:24

Like it would be in italics in a text, right? Like if I were reading a book and it were being emphasized, it would be like, so is it a mammal? Right? Like just so just using and emphasizing. Oh my gosh, how easy are those first two talk moves? Like check, I feel like I do that every day in real life. And teacher life.

SPEAKER_00 11:43

Absolutely. And and that's the thing about these moves is they're not like, oh, I need to like scrap everything I know and like implement these 10 brand new things, right? A lot of these things I think teachers are gonna say, like, I already do this, I maybe didn't realize I was doing it, or maybe now that I'm aware that it's really important, I could like be mindful and do it a little more.

Melissa 12:01

I'm doing it.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

Exactly. But um, you know, on their own, like understanding that repetition is important and those multiple exposures in in different contexts is important. I think like consider what are the words that we're really working on right now, and how can I make sure to bring those up and how can I bring their attention to them? Obviously, if you're emphasizing the word every single time you say it, it's probably not gonna have that same effect of really bringing their attention to it, but just you know, as you're introducing it and and um really drawing their attention to it in the in that way, that can be helpful.

Lori 12:32

That's awesome. All right, so we've got the first two. They're really simple. I feel like a rock star already, you know, as I'm I'm feeling like I'm gonna do that. I can handle this, I can do that. And and I can emphasize words. So love this for us. Um, you want to go through moves three through five? I know they're grouped together.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

So they are, yes, you are right. Um, so move three again, this is like not rocket science. So um, so much of explaining um or of having kids learn new words is right explaining the meanings to them. So um this move is explaining or defining the word. Um, I really prefer the term X um an explanation over a definition, right? A definition is like a set, it has its own genre, it's how you say you know how you say it. It's supposed to have very few words because it needs to fit in a dictionary, right? And so we often don't

Moves 1 And 2 Using Emphasis

SPEAKER_00 13:20

say things the most clear in a in a true definition. Um but I think you know, any kind of explanation um that maybe uses a lot more words, but makes it very clear for students is what's important, right? And using child-friendly language. So, in order for something to be child-friendly, like the words that we use to explain can't be more challenging than the word that we're explaining in the first place, right? I I work with a lot of uh students who are are getting their initial certification, so they're going to become um teachers. And so, right, when they're practicing writing definitions for my class, sometimes the words that they use to explain are actually well, that would be a whole new target word, too. Like you'd have to teach both. Um, so that's just something to really be mindful. Like, what is it that chill children probably already understand and can use that then to understand this new word? Um, and also like the concepts that, right? Like you need to use familiar words and familiar familiar concepts if the word itself is right brand new. Um yes, okay, so that was the first one. Um, so examples um from uh the the classes that the classrooms that I saw, right? One of the teachers said, so bipeds are animals that use two legs for walking. So, right, she's very clearly bipeds was the target word. I believe she said it with emphasis. Um, so we were stacking, she used it, she said it with emphasis, and she also gave that really clear explanation, right? Uh children understand animals, two legs, walking, like that's all very accessible for them. Um, another teacher said, so the needs are things that we have to have to have in order to survive, right? So that was a whole lesson on wants and needs, and so made it very clear needs are things that we have to have, really accessible language there. Um the next move, I think uh I think a lot of uh educators do this just naturally, maybe don't even realize that they're doing this. Um, but helping students make personal connections, I think we're always trying to help situate in a way that in you know, in what your context of your life, how is this going to make sense? Um, and so um the the context of this particular example is this uh study took place in a large Midwestern state during the winter, and they had just had like this polar vortex, like they missed like a solid week of school. Um, the kids had all been home, it had been very cold, almost too cold to play outside during that time. And so this is like their first day back after that extended break. And so um the lesson happened to be on severe weather conditions, and so the teacher said, in the past three or four days, we've had some severe weather conditions. Um, so she's um this is a kindergarten classroom. Um, the kids all know they were stuck inside, right? So she's helping them make that connection to their own life. Um, and another example, um, that teacher, that same teacher who was talking about needs, um, said, So, for example, in our house, do we need to have a way to get water, right? So she's not just like needs are things that you need, but giving them a specific example of, you know, in your home, you know, do you have access to water? You know, that's something that we need to survive. And then the fifth, um rounding out this this set of moves, the fifth move um again is things that I think uh educators naturally do already, um providing an example or a non-example. Um, and and sometimes that can be even more clear, I think, at times than an explanation or definition,

Moves 3 To 5 Explain Connect Example

SPEAKER_00 16:40

depending on the word, right? Sometimes I think the example can be more illuminating. So um uh there was a lesson on habitats, and the target word was shelter, and so the teacher explained um grass can also be shelter for animals. So she's um giving that example of grass, right? Um, as being that shelter. And then back to the lesson on needs. Um here's uh an example of a non-example where the teacher said, but if we have a house, which is our shelter, do we have to so there's an example, right? The house is the shelter. She had that part in there, and then she says, Do we have to have a bed? Um, and they say no, so a bed is a want. Um, so that's an example. They're specifically focusing on need, and then um the non-example is bed, which the children actually in this example thought that they really did need the bed, and so that was a whole nother conversation about how people sleep in many different ways, but um, you could survive without a bed if needed. Um, so that yeah, that rounds out that that second or the second set of moves.

Lori 17:42

Yeah. I I'm curious, did you see and I know these are talk moves? And so we're talking about like the language here. Um, but did any of the teachers use visuals to help bring these to life? Or is there any like research that supports that visuals uh in terms of like showing is helpful?

SPEAKER_00 18:04

Yes, yes. So um one of them, just double checking here, um so visuals in different ways.

Lori 18:11

So if we move on uh some of the last moves we actually know, I was like I kind of I realized after I said it that I might be pushing ahead. I apologize.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

That's okay. Um but yes, there were visuals in different ways. So um we'll get to the acting out and demonstrating in that way. Um, but also just um one of the moves that didn't make the top 10, but was also one of the moves that I found was um showing like a picture or um pointing to the object itself, those kinds of moves where you're actually you know saying the word. It was a talk move because they were say it was done in conjunction with talking about the the the word, right? But they were pointing to it. Um the other one of the other moves that's coming up um in in the final set is visually displaying the word itself, so the printed word, um, you know, showing the letters. And so that is another way of um drawing their attention uh uh to it. So showing the the actual object, but also the word.

Lori 19:06

Okay. Thank you. I didn't want to get us too off course, so yeah, that's all right. We made it through the first five nice and clean.

Melissa 19:13

I have a quick follow-up on those, on this set, if you don't mind. Um not to get too nitpicky, but I'm wondering like, is there sometimes overlap between them? Because I was thinking about like that water example. You you said it was a personal connection, but also feels like could be an example. Is that I'm I'm assuming that some some of these things could be both at the same time. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_00 19:34

Absolutely, yes. So if you see my coded transcripts, it's often, you know, sometimes it's just one move, but often it's like three or four moves happening together. So if they said it and they said it with emphasis and they provided an example and it was an example that was relevant to their life, right? That the right there there's four. If they had pointed to it too, you know, if they had shown the word. So all often these things are all happening together.

Melissa 19:57

Okay. I didn't want to get teachers like to get two in their heads of thinking like, am I doing a personal connection or am I doing an example? Which one is it? It's both. You're good to go.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

And the important thing is that you're doing them. So, you know, as a researcher, I have to get very specific about like what makes this this versus that. Um, but as a practitioner, it's just do all of it. Right. Um, so yeah.

Lori 20:21

Okay. Should we should we push on to six through ten? I feel like I'll just do a quick recap if that's okay, of one through five. So all right. So uh first is using the the target word, the second is emphasizing the target word, the third is explaining or perhaps defining the target word, the fourth is making a connection to the word, and five, providing an example or a non-example. All right, so I'm gonna pass you the baton. Um I think six and seven are grouped together over here.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

The move six is prompting students to use a target word or to use its meaning. So either way. Um and so the remember that that repeated exposure is really important um and and building this over time in different contexts. And so that review part is really important for these words. We need many encounters with words um to really kind of own it and have that understanding. And so um, one for one of the examples, there was a discussion about prehistoric creatures, um, and the teacher prompted students to use the word herbivore. And so she said, So if it ate plants, what was it called? So she's trying to remind them you learned a real big fancy word, I think was her word for it, right? About this. Um, what was that? Um, and another teacher um prompted students uh to use the term wind flag. So they had they had been working on the weather unit and and different tools that they had. And so she said, Do you remember what the new tool was that we made from the previous lesson? So this was at the start of a lesson, and she's reviewing and prompting um kids to supply that. Both of these examples, she was asking them to um say the word itself, but she Also, could have said the word and said, you know, do you remember what that that means? Um, move seven

Moves 6 To 10 Prompt Display Act

SPEAKER_00 22:05

then is eliciting students' ideas um for a review word. So um anytime we can get students involved, that active engagement, um we want to have them um really sharing their ideas around this. And so um, and and if we're just saying here's a word and here's its meaning, and we're just trying to get that to stick, right? That's not as effective as if we're getting kids actively involved, having that deeper processing, thinking about it, and using it, um, using their own words and language to talk about it. So um, this is an example of getting kids involved. And so one of the teachers asked again weather conditions. Um, the teacher said, What do we know about stratus clouds? And so then that a whole discussion ensued about the different cloud types that they knew and um stratus clouds in particular. Um and then back to that wind flag conversation, the teacher asked the students um what the wind flag was used for. So the students, I think when they when she asked what tool, this the student specifically said flag. And so she's like, that's a great starting place, but like, okay, what is a wind flag used for? So trying to get back at the importance of the wind part of that um for the tool. And then the um move eight um is uh using target words with a hint. Um and so for this move, um, the teacher uses a word um in context, but provides some kind of hint or clue about it. So um a teacher uh was they were talking about a crossing. Um, and so the teacher said, so you will have to design some sort of crossing for your animal to get across the road or under the road. So here there's it's it's again as a researcher, um, I have to be like specific about what makes that different from like an explanation, right? Um as a as a practitioner, you're just gonna give that that um whether it's a hint or or an explanation doesn't matter as much. But um the specific difference here is here is that it's it's implicit. So the teacher isn't saying a crossing is something that you use to get from one place to another, right? Um, but you can tell from how she's explaining it that you're supposed to get from one place to another. Um and so um in another example, um, the teacher was hinting at the meaning of the word angle. Um, so she's like, they were not straight up and down, they were at an angle, right? And so she's got that straight up and down as an example. And I think um often this move can be used when you want to make sure students are understanding what you're talking about, but also want to introduce this um more technical word or this word that might be new for them, right? And so you can explain it, you know, it's not straight up and down, and then you can give them language for what it is. It's at an angle or it's diagonal or whatever the case may be. So I think if you think about this move as it's really just that scaffold so that they can get this new word and understand its meaning together.

Melissa 24:46

It's kind of like context clues when you're reading. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 24:49

Yeah, it's like you're providing context clues. That's a really great way to think about it, like intentionally providing context clues. Yes, you were on the right track. So for move nine, this is um visually displaying target words. Um so this is where you have the word either already printed or you write it in front of them, or if you're reading a book, you're like a big book or a projected book, right, where you can point to the word and they can see it. Um and this is really important for providing that orthographic information, right? So when we think about learning words and reading words, we're putting together that orthography, the you know, the spelling, um, the way the word looks printed, um, with how it sounds. Um, so one of the moves that didn't make the top 10, but was an important move is just asking children to like repeat the word and say it out loud. So here's a bonus move for you. Um it's it's so in that case, they're hearing it and hearing themselves say it. Um, and then um, of course, the meaning. So we're always thinking about putting those the three things together: the sounds, the sounds, the phonemes, um, right, the um orthography and the meaning semantic part. Um, and so by visually displaying or showing kids the words, that helps with that or the showing them that orthography and helping them um build that representation in their mind for the word. Um, and so examples of that, um, the teacher wrote the word severe on a whiteboard as she was describing it for them. And so she was saying it and writing it and showing them, and then later pulled that whiteboard back out in part of a conversation and says, Well, that what do we call this kind of weather? And she had it right there on the board, right? So she was able to draw their attention to that. Um, and another example, I think it was the same teacher, same lesson, or just wrote like extreme weather as she was saying it. And so again, coming back to that, having that visual that kids can picture that word and think of that word um uh actually does then support them in learning that word and and connecting it with the meaning. And then the final move um was the other way of showing kids, right? Um, and so this move is um acting out or demonstrating the meanings of the words, and so I think um early elementary teachers in particular, I think uh do this really naturally uh often of showing and trying to explain things, um, embodying them as they're explaining them. And so um some examples, um, the teacher was they were talking again, lots of talk about severe weather. They were talking about tornadoes, and so the teacher was trying to explain and this same conversation about wind and all those kinds of things. So she's like using her fingers and like show, like making circles with her fingers, um, showing like the movement of the wind. And as she's doing that, she's saying, instead, instead of the wind moving every which way, it spins in a circle. So she's demonstrating for them that the meaning of that. Um, and back to the teacher who was um giving the context clue for um for angle, she first held her hand straight up and down and said, right, um uh it's not straight up and down, it's at an angle. And she showed with her, you know, moved her arm to make it to be at an angle. Um so there again, she's demonstrating what that word means. So, yep, those were the top 10 most frequently used um moves. Uh, the article does share all 32 with examples. So if people are curious about other ones, like I said, having kids repeat and say the word out loud. Um, there are some others that way, but um these were the ones I saw most frequently across those um 24 lessons.

Melissa 28:05

That's great. And we will include this article in our show notes. So for people who are out there looking for all 32, they can go to our show notes to find that. I wanted to ask some of those that

Why Review And Repeated Encounters Matter

Melissa 28:15

you just mentioned were you know about this like reviewing and and not letting the words just I I always said when I learned, I like took a test on the words and then I never heard those words again, um, which was terrible. Um but is there like is there research behind that idea of like continuing the review of words over time?

SPEAKER_00 28:35

Yeah, absolutely. There is an official number, I think it's somewhere between seven and twelve. I can't remember the exact number of how many encounters with a word it takes to really like own that word, but also you have to consider okay, that might be like one sense of that word, but it may have other meanings, right? And so um, I just think you know, the distributed review is is always gonna be uh an important part, uh, but also just that uh that allows for more repetition, that allows for more encounters in different contexts, and so um I uh any any time that we can um draw back to words that we've already worked on as they make sense in context, like um, you know, as a teacher, you know which words you've already been focused on throughout the year. So like look for any opportunity to bring those words back up. Maybe it's been a few months since you were talking about herbivores or whatever. Um, but if you know that comes up um naturally, like make that's a really great opportunity to use that word and and remind kids that they have heard it and make sure that they're still um remembering what that means.

Melissa 29:38

I'm wondering, so this is not what your study is about at all, but I'm gonna pick your brain while you're here, which is the question always comes up, and I think you mentioned it in your article too, which is well, which words should I teach? And you uh listed a bunch of great examples of words that teachers were teaching. But do you have any recommendations for how teachers should choose which words to do these moves with and which ones are not necessarily worth their time to do all this with?

SPEAKER_00 30:05

Yeah. Yeah, well, uh a couple things. Um I'll I'll start with how I kind of think about this, but I can also um share a few resources that might be helpful that maybe you can I can send you to Link and show notes as well that I I think are helpful ways to think

How To Choose Words Worth Teaching

SPEAKER_00 30:20

about this. So um I think it's really important to remember we want to always be sharing words in meaningful context, right? So I think you mentioned Melissa having experience of like there's a list of words I learned, I heard it once, I like never came back to it, right? So um we we know that that's not effective. Um there's uh a great book, right? No more look up the list uh vocabulary instruction. Um it's uh part of the series that Nel Duke and Alan Keene, I think did. Um and so like right, if you if you wanted to hear more about why that doesn't work, that's a good that's a good resource. Um, but um we always so keeping in mind that that meaningful context is is so important. Um, and so that may be a text that you're reading, whether it's a read aloud or it's the text that the students are are reading themselves, right? Um, thinking about what are the words that are important to understand this particular text. So we know that when we you know take the time to teach the challenging words within a particular text, that helps kids learn those particular words and it helps them understand that text. So that is something that we would want to do. Um consider um, you know, which words are really important for making sense of the text, and also which which words might be words that they will encounter again in other contexts. That can be a helpful way to kind of narrow down um which words if with limited time. Um, also, you know, think about what are the words that students aren't already likely to know. I think I know that sounds kind of obvious, but you kind of have to know your students. And so there's where you might be working with some curricular materials that have suggested some words and you're and you're pretty confident they already know those words. Like don't take the time on those. Like look and find find some others that you think might be more um uh words that that your students would have challenges with and focus your time there instead. Um, I think um so that's you know, if the meaningful context that you're talking about is a text, and and text could be right, like I said, a read-aloud, it could be books that kids are reading, it could be a video or something that you're sharing um that has some vocabulary in it that you want to draw attention to. Um, the other really meaningful context, which I alluded to, you know, by looking at science instruction with this study is um anytime you're you're working on on content knowledge, you're building, building knowledge of the world, right? And so um, for example, science or social studies lessons are really great places to be thinking about what are the words that are going to be really important for this content area, and um, thinking about introducing those words um in you know, semantically related, you know, networks of words or clusters of words they've been talked about in different ways. But um I talked earlier about part of the complexity of word learning is the interrelatedness, but that also is a benefit is that we can introduce kids to words that are related and help them see those connections. And so that may be a way um to think about when you're selecting words. Um, you know, informational text uh often the words that are gonna be challenging for them are maybe those domain-specific words, and they often um appear in these clusters that are connected, right? If you're learning about, I don't know, photosynthesis, all the other kinds of challenging words are all gonna be connected to that meaning. And so by introducing them together, um, that can help build um the meanings of all of those words and help students, right, as you're building their knowledge, um, is really what we're getting at. And then also ultimately, you know, any word that a student doesn't know is a good word to teach. So I think back to my days as I was a literacy coordinator, um, and part of my uh role was to do professional learning experiences um across the district. And so in one, I was working with a school um and we were doing a book club, and one of the teachers shared this really great example. She was working with a multilingual learner and she had previewed the text that they were going to read, and she um was pretty sure that the word nip was going to be um a challenging. There was a dog in the story that nipped the boy's ankle, and so she was all prepared um to teach the word nip. And it turns out that there was enough context clues, um, the child understood dogs and how they work, and like that wasn't the word that the child wasn't sure of. It was actually the word ankle. Um, and it's not that this child doesn't know what an ankle is, but that they didn't know the word in English. And so um take advantage of those moments of that's the word that that child needed to understand that text instead. And so um just knowing your students and being aware, and I think if you're building that culture of like words are interesting and worthwhile learning, and we want to be curious about words, like that will help you also then determine like what's worthwhile to spend my time on.

Lori 34:53

I love that story. That's so fun. Thank you for illuminating that point. Like sometimes we go in and we're like, definitely, you know, these are the words I need to teach, and then oh the the script just flips on it once the kids come into play, right? Absolutely, yes. Yeah. All right, so I'm just thinking right now, I have my teacher head on. I'm thinking with 10 talk moves, right? I know you said there's 30, 30 days.

Melissa 35:18

Oh, yeah.

Lori 35:18

Um, but we just focused on these top 10 today. So if if we're thinking about these 10 moves, it might feel overwhelming for our listeners to incorporate them all into their daily routines. Now, I know a lot of them are moves they're already doing. Um, but if they're not doing them, or you know, if a teacher like here's a couple moves that they're like, oh, I'm interested in that. Well, how do you recommend teachers get started using these moves?

SPEAKER_00 35:44

Yeah, I think um taking a look at the either the list of 10 or or 32 um and and just kind of taking a moment to reflect on like, hmm, what which of these do I already really do? And I think a lot of educators are gonna say, I'm I'm I'm really doing quite a few of these already. Um and so um I think just kind of a quick self-assessment of um where you are in terms of which ones are are already already checked off. We don't need to worry about, um just continue them. Um then there may be a set of moves that um you know you do from time to time, but like you could you could do more of those, right? So just kind of thinking about I'm gonna be more intentional about doing these, but I I know it's something I do. Um and then think about which of the moves might be more challenging to um implement. Most of them, you know, can be done uh uh on the fly across the day. You know, we still want to have very planful instruction where you've got those child-friendly explanations ready to go for a lot of instruction. But as you're walking down the hall, if a child's asking what something means, right? Um you may be just giving that explanation on the go. Um and so for a lot of these moves, um, thinking about which ones might be more challenging for you to either implement or to remember to implement, um, you know, maybe having a sticky note up in your teaching area and just reminding you for like uh several weeks until it maybe becomes more of a habit, like, oh yeah, I wanted to try to ask kids to repeat the word more often or something like that, right? Um and then, you know, once you've

A Simple Plan To Get Started

SPEAKER_00 37:10

kind of got that, okay, these are the ones I already do, these are the ones that I just need to boost a little bit more, and then these are the ones that really might be more challenging with that, the more challenging words, I would just pick one or two and say for the next, you know, depending on the how much of a lift you think it's gonna be, like for the next week or two or three weeks, like I'm just gonna try to like really be mindful about using that. I might like write it in my lesson plan a couple, you know, whatever it's gonna take to remind you to like try that out. Um, I think that's a starting, like I wouldn't start with all 32 at once. Um, but also thinking about how you can add a few at a time, um, but also remembering that often these are stackable. And so maybe you already, you know, use the word and emphasize it and give a child-friendly explanation, but you could add asking kids to repeat it and maybe you could write it for them, or you could remember um, you know, I'm gonna use Google Images or something, I don't know, right? To pull up that word as we're talking about it if it's if it's a word that can be learned easily like that. Um, so I think that's that's a good starting place.

Lori 38:11

Thank you. Those are super practical. Yeah, and I feel like too, even as a parent, I'm always emphasizing words. So I can maybe now I'll just be more strategic.

SPEAKER_00 38:23

Build in some of those contexts. I think as a parent, that's one that I really love to do is like I just use all the words as if they're going to understand them, but then I have that scaffold in there for them too.

Lori 38:32

Yeah, that's a great one. What a fun way too to think about like um, you know, getting the parents involved who are always asking, like, what can I do at home? This is like super simple, but seems like a big bang for your buck, you know.

SPEAKER_00 38:43

Absolutely. Yeah, and I actually I want to circle back because I mentioned a resource um for in thinking about right which words to to teach and how to teach them. Another one that I think is really helpful. Um, I think it's an ILA brief, but I actually think it's from before the name change. So it might be under IRA brief. Um, but it's called uh flood, fast and focused. Um uh and so that's just in terms of thinking about like which maybe it's fast, flood focused, it's those three in some combination, right? But some words you can just give that quick explanation and keep going. Um a lot of it's just about language expo, you know, language exposure, that that oral language input. And so having the rich uh language environment, um, having both through talk and through the text that you're reading, right, they're encountering all kinds of words. Um, but then the focused part then is like which other words we really want to spend time on. And so I think that can be um, as you're thinking about um, like I said, either the meaningful context of the book or the meaningful context of the um science experiment, for example, like how how do we want to um focus our attention there? So I think in sort, kind of we can sort words too, of like which ones and and to what degree do they need instruction.

Melissa 39:53

Plythe, I'm kind of curious. I wanted to bring this back to the three big categories that you mentioned at the beginning. I think it was really easy for me to see how all these talk moves were about knowledge and understanding new words. Do you would you say that some of these talk moves also are part of those affective factors and the metacognitive um factors as well?

SPEAKER_00 40:14

Yes, most of these moves um that made the top 10. I'm just doing a quick skim. Um, yes, most of the moves in the top 10 are about building that knowledge and understanding. Um, so and that's like like you said, that's what teachers were doing primarily. Um so some of those, it may be that may be an area as you're looking at the list um of all 32, um, you know, some of them that are more about um getting kids interested in in words and you know, um just like uh helping kids, helping kids make personal connections, that's actually uh one of the affective ones, right? Like if you're appreciating word choice. So like you're cut you're reading a book and you come across an interesting word, you know, just saying, ooh, that's an interesting word. I don't hear that very often. I uh, you know, you know, those kinds of

Building Curiosity And Word Awareness

SPEAKER_00 41:00

those kinds of moves that just um shows that like we can love words, like some words are really fun, and and I oh I really like the way they said that, you know, those kinds of things um that build that like feeling of like words are cool and words are fun and um you know we can play with words and you know, all those kinds of things. And then for the metalinguistic um and metacognitive, um, I think it's helpful to uh, you know, an example of one of those moves was um I think I think actually with the severe weather, they were talking about um, has anybody heard um anybody the teacher said, you know, has anybody heard your parents maybe or on the news talk about severe weather, right? So that was like a think about have you heard this word before? Um, and gave them the opportunity to consider like, um, do I know it? How you know how much do I know it? It's not really the case um with kids that we like know it or we don't know it, right? So there's a great analogy, and I don't remember who to attribute this to, but um, with vocabulary, we don't want to think about it as like a light, light switch that's like on or off. I know it or I don't know it, right? But like that kind of um more of like a dimmer switch, um, where you know, the more encounters and the more understandings, right? Um, and so helping kids kind of evaluate for themselves like I think I've heard that before, you know, either I've never heard it or I think I've heard it, but I can't really explain it. Or actually, like I play soccer and I know that a goalie does this, this, this, this, right? Like that's different levels of understanding, um, and having kids just be aware of that as part of that, building that metalinguistic metacognitive awareness as well.

Melissa 42:33

I actually just heard something similar at a conference about that. Um, like what have you heard instead of what do you know? Which is like they're talking about the KWL chart. And they're like, change that K from from what do you know about this to what have you heard about this? And like one takes a little pressure off, but like you said, it's not like a yes or no. It's like, you know, there's there's many things. I may have heard it over here, I might know a little bit, I might know something about it or an example, but I I don't know it fully. So I I like that example of like changing that wording to what have you heard about this word instead of what do you know? Like, do you know this word?

SPEAKER_00 43:06

Yeah. Yeah. And I think, you know, often if we ask kids like, do you know this word? Like most kids are a lot of kids are gonna say, yeah, like, well, or you know, like if you're trying to help them think about like what words should we focus on. Yeah, like they know them all, right? Like I've I've sat next to fourth graders who are like, I know all these words. So if you phrase it though, of like, can you explain this word, right? That changes that too. So it's just a like a similar example of changing the phrasing a little bit, but like you may know it in the sense of you've heard it in these ways or you've heard it in certain contexts, but like, do you know it well enough to explain it? And and that, you know, slight difference, but often you get a different response from kids then.

Lori 43:43

That's what I was thinking about when you were talking is how even how many times as an adult have like I've gone to explain a word to my child, and I have trouble finding the words to explain this meaning. And sometimes I end up giving an example or a non example. Or right, like a synonym. And I'm like, well, it's kind of like this. And then I'm like, it's I just there's so much complexity in vocabulary that even to like say some word, say some definitions in a way that a kid would understand is really tricky because you have to kind of like think about it and then scaffold it down. So sometimes giving that example or not. So I love that idea of like, can you explain it? Because it really does open the door more broadly to understanding, which is the ultimate goal, right? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 44:31

Yes. Yeah. I think that's a a little tweak for um we know we're so used to talking about definitions. Um and so I think like that explanation really gets us closer to what we want is that kids can connect to the meaning.

Melissa 44:45

Well, yeah, these talk moves are priceless and so helpful for teachers. And like I would walk away from today feeling like I can do this. So I think that that is the best part of everything you've shared today. Is there anything else that you just want to share with our listeners?

Resources Research Paths And Closing

Melissa 45:00

Anything that they should know?

SPEAKER_00 45:01

Yeah, well, um I know that many of your listeners are very interested in the research, and that's why they're literally you know seeking out your podcast. And so um, for anybody who's kind of been thinking like, I'm considering a PhD, uh, I think I think doing this kind of research might be interesting. Um, I just want to shout out um I'm at the University at Buffalo, and so um we have uh literacy and um English education PhD. Um and so if if this sounds like fun and you would like to read a lot of research and do research um as well, like um, you know, check out our program, um, connect with me, um, and and I would love to talk to anybody who's who's thinking along those lines.

Melissa 45:41

We'll have you on the podcast one day.

Lori 45:43

Yeah, we love hearing uh good places to go for great learning and for our for our teachers. So thank you.

SPEAKER_00 45:52

Yeah, thank you.

Lori 45:54

Yeah, and thank you for being here and talking about these talk moves. Um we heard you on another podcast and then totally scooped you up for ours. And we're just so grateful that you uh gave us some time and shared with our listeners all of these awesome talk moves and um just it took so much time to explain them. So we appreciate you.

SPEAKER_00 46:12

All right, well, thank you so much. It was so fun. Like I said, I'm always happy to talk about vocabulary learning.

Melissa 46:21

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Lori 46:31

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Melissa 46:40

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Lori 46:52

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