Language and Learning under the Microscope

In any content area, teachers have opportunities to help their students develop more robust vocabularies; however, many content area teachers know relatively little about effective instructional practices for vocabulary development (Fisher & Frey, 2008). This article offers content area teachers three examples of rich opportunities for word work: prime the descriptive pump, go beyond the words in bold, and make connections with connectors. The article describes how content area teachers can use these opportunities to further their content teaching, and also how they can use research–based strategies to support word acquisition in each case.