Front-load Tier 1 vocabulary before the science lesson and teach embedded scientific vocabulary in the lesson's context¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

Montebello teachers learned to distinguish Tier 1 words (Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2002)—basic, everyday words not typically emphasized in instruction—from embedded vocabulary that emerges from the lesson. Tier 1 words, such as names of objects to be studied and some descriptors, are front-loaded before the lesson to give English learners a foundation to engage and participate actively in the Explore phase. Embedded terms conveying scientific meaning, such as density, opaque, and mass, are taught in the lesson's context.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Teachers first identify Tier 1 words, then identify the embedded vocabulary to be used in the Explore and Explain phases

Constraints¶

Target Learners¶

• elementary English learners

Target Learning Goals¶

• academic science vocabulary
• participation in hands-on exploration

Related Strategies¶

• Use backward design: complete the concept column first, mapping prior-knowledge, connecting, and application concepts before planning activities
• Assign a language function to each 5E phase (describe, compare and contrast, classify, classify with justification) and align language objectives with science objectives
• Front Loading Vocabulary
• Pre-Teaching Vocabulary
• Tiered Vocabulary Instruction
• Tier Two Vocabulary Instruction
• Teaching Academic Vocabulary in PBL
• Teach Academic Vocabulary
• Vocabulary Instruction
• Vocabulary Instruction Small Groups
• Focus vocabulary instruction on Tier 2 words drawn from content-area materials

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• DiRanna, K., & Gomez-Zwiep, S. (2013). High-Quality Science Instruction: Building Conceptual Understanding and Language Skills for English Learners. San Francisco: WestEd. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED580368