Word Learning Strategies

Vocabulary knowledge is a vital factor in students’ development of reading proficiency. Recent research indicates that by the end of high school, students should have learned between 40,000 and 80,000 words—making it essential that students develop the skills to learn new vocabulary independently.

The Word Learning Strategies program teaches fourth and fifth graders strategies for inferring the meanings of unknown words they encounter while reading. The comprehensive 15-week curriculum is built around a superhero theme to keep students engaged and motivated.

Target Audience

• Grades 4 & 5, including ELLs

Program Benefits

• Ensures students learn when and how to use word learning strategies for inferring the meanings of unknown words so that students are able to learn new words on their own
• All materials are included: Teacher’s Guide, Student Activity Books, posters, quizzes, and tests
• Teacher’s Guide provides step-by-step instructions and is easy to use
• Supplemental online instruction is available for ELLs and students needing remediation
• Online teacher training includes videos with experts and teachers who have taught the Word Learning Strategies program

How It Works

WLS Teacher-Led Curriculum:

1. Before teaching the Word Learning Strategies program, teachers take an online training course. The interactive, 90-minute training utilizes video and other multimedia to explain the rationale and guiding principles of the program, introduce the WLS materials and lessons, and provide critical background information about prefixes, suffixes, context clues, and dictionary use.
2. Teachers teach the WLS core curriculum to their students—15 weeks of instruction on four word learning strategies: Word Parts, Context, Dictionary, and Combined. The strategies are taught using a set of guidelines that combine direct explanation and constructivism, two approaches that have proven very successful. The WLS lessons emphasize student motivation and include activities such as teacher modeling, guided practice, and independent practice.

WLS e-Modules:

The WLS e-modules are units of instruction on a variety of word learning strategies: Word Parts, Context, Dictionary, Combined, Idioms (intended for ELLs) and Cognates (intended for Spanish-speaking ELLs.) There are 8 units in all, each containing 3-5 lessons. The units typically take 45-60 minutes to complete.

1. Using the Word Parts Strategy with Prefixed Words
2. Using the Word Parts Strategy with Suffixed Words
3. The Context Strategy, Part I
4. The Context Strategy, Part II
5. The Dictionary Strategy
6. The Combined Strategy
7. Idioms (for ELLs)
8. English/Spanish Cognates (for Spanish-speaking ELLs)