Enduring Understandings
 

• Students benefit from vocabulary instruction that includes all three types of information: definitional information (through explicit teaching), contextual information (through wide reading, discussion, listening, and first-hand learning), and usage examples (using frames, organizational models). 

• Reading builds vocabulary when it is dialogic.

• Rereading the same book again or multiple times increases the likelihood that vocabulary and language knowledge will improve.

• Vocabulary learning is supported through natural interactions and meaningful contexts with teachers and peers.

• Proficient readers and writers understand that, through language, they have many choices. They may decide which words are used (vocabulary), the order and relationship of the words to each other (grammar), and the way the words are communicated (oral comprehension).

• Language is inherently connected to culture.