Vocabulary Quiz 1

Why might discussing the etymology of a word encourage word consciousness?

• It encourages thinking about the meaning of a word in new ways.

• It develops an understanding of the role a word plays in a sentence.

• It makes students more likely to be able to predict word meanings in the future.

• It reveals how prefixes and suffixes affect the word's meaning.

Answer explanation

Learning the etymology, or source of a word, often shows the meaning of a word from a new angle and helps the reader understand why the word means what it means. It may not specifically be necessary to understand a word's meaning, but it is interesting and word consciousness is primarily about fostering an interest in and curiosity about language

Which of the following is not a goal teaching word consciousness?

• expanding awareness of syntax

• encouraging interest and excitement about words

• developing dictionary skills

• expanding vocabulary

Answer explanation

Students could have an opportunity to practice dictionary skills, but improving those skills is not a specific goal of word consciousness.

Which of the following best describes a way that a teacher could use student writing to develop new vocabulary?

• requiring students to use five new words in each writing activity

• instructing students to use a thesaurus during journal writing

• requiring students to use the editing process to intentionally vary the vocabulary used in the piece of writing.

• requiring the students to create acrostic poems using their weekly vocabulary words

Answer explanation

This would be a good way to encourage students to vary their word usage during the writing process.

A teacher designs a vocabulary activity to help students better understand word structures. Students receive two lists: one with root words and one with common affixes. They create new words and explain their meanings. Which instructional goal does this activity best support?

• building morphemic awareness through word construction and analysis

• measuring memorization skills using time-based vocabulary drills

• increasing fluency through oral repetition of vocabulary lists

• encouraging discussion about word origins and etymology

Answer explanation

Constructing and analyzing words from roots and affixes promotes morphemic understanding.

What is the difference between academic vocabulary words and high-frequency vocabulary words?

• Academic vocabulary words are only useful in the school setting, but high-frequency vocabulary words will be encountered in all settings.

• Academic vocabulary words are chosen based on how frequently they are used in print. High-frequency vocabulary words are defined by their importance to a student's speaking and listening vocabulary.

• Academic vocabulary words are specific to particular content areas or necessary for comprehension-related tasks. High-frequency vocabulary words are selected based on how often students will encounter them in texts.

• Academic vocabulary words are chosen by the teacher to challenge students, while high-frequency words are defined by the likelihood of them being used across content areas.

Answer explanation

Specialized, academic vocabulary is important to analyzing information and expressing knowledge. These words will be specifically applicable in the school setting even if they are not encountered at a high frequency outside of school during childhood. High-frequency vocabulary words are those that are used often, and are chosen based on specific academic needs.

When choosing vocabulary words for his sixth-grade students, a teacher has been purposefully selecting academic and high-frequency words. He already has various strategies and routine activities in place to facilitate the use of and interaction with high-frequency words. He is now focused on expanding his students' experiences with the academic vocabulary specifically. Which of the following would best support this goal?

• requiring the students to use the new academic vocabulary in their journal writing

• completing word searches that include the new academic vocabulary

• requiring students to use the new academic vocabulary outside of school a certain number of times

• deliberately using the new academic vocabulary terms in questions and activities outside of reading instruction

Answer explanation

Reinforcing these terms across different content areas will expose them to the words in a new setting and increase the likelihood that they remember the words, their meaning, and how to use them in a sentence.

A fourth-grade class is reviewing previously studied vocabulary terms. Which of the following activities would work best?

• assigning students to complete a cloze activity

• focusing vocabulary instruction on memorization

• reviewing terms aloud with the class

• asking students to write out dictionary definitions

Answer explanation

Cloze activities require students to use context clues and think critically about how to use newly learned words.

A fifth-grade teacher has asked her class to collect interesting and unfamiliar words from their independent reading. At least once a week, the students are given the opportunity to share the words with their classmates. What does the teacher intend to develop with this activity?

• sight-word recognition

• word consciousness

• structural analysis

• decoding skills

Answer explanation

Word consciousness approaches vocabulary instruction by encouraging curiosity about words.

A first-grade teacher is planning a science lesson about weather. He is reviewing the reading selection and realizes there are a few words students will likely not recognize. Which of the following strategies is most effective?

• reading the passage after students show mastery of the new words

• offering a simplified definition for new words as they come up

• selecting a passage students will have less trouble understanding

• teaching students the prefixes and roots of each new word before reading the passage

Answer explanation

Offering a simple definition of the word helps students build meaning.