re teachers are asking for guidance on instructional approaches, strategies, and materials. Internet and media are available in most schools that teachers could harness now to improve vocabulary learning, tools that capture the interest of pupils and that provide scaffolds and contexts in which to learn with, and about, words more profitably.on research-based principles of vocabulary instruction and multimedia learning, this paper presents 10 strategies that use free digital tools and Internet resources to engage pupils in vocabulary learning. The strategies are designed to support the teaching of words and word learning strategies, promote pupils strategic use of on-demand web-based vocabulary tools, and increase pupils 'volume of reading.
1. Learn from visual displays of word relationships within text
Developing breadth and depth of vocabulary depends on building connections between words and developing elaborate webs of meaning [5]. Graphic organizers and visual displays highlight the relationships between words [8]. Two words mapping tools that support visual representation are Wordle and Wordsift.
Wordle lt; # center gt; 2. Take a digital vocabulary field trip
In the original vocabulary field trip [15], the teacher begins with a large poster of a topic, such as weather. Students are seated on the carpet, and the teacher leads a field trip that includes having pupils observe and record what they saw as they read books and other materials. As pupils volunteer weather words, the teacher records them on sticky notes or tag board and puts them up beside the poster. After the observations are concluded, the teacher returns the pupils attention to the words, repeating them and linking them to the poster. Next, pupils sort the weather words into conceptually related groups and engage in other semantic activities.can create a digital version of a vocabulary field trip using a free online program called TrackStar [12]. TrackStar allows you to collect a series of websites and annotate them so that pupils follow the online journey. On the left side of the figure you can see the questions and multiple websites that we selected to guide pupils in finding out about weather in Alaska, where the Iditarod takes place. We selected a context where weather is extreme to heighten pupils interest and to provide a dramatic contrast to their own local weather. We begin with a website featuring photos and video of dog sledding in Alaska and asked pupils to respond with descriptions of the weather conditions., Pupils visit a website on the aurora borealis and look for connections between the aurora and Alaskan weather. They complete the virtual field trip with a visit to a website on weather comparisons, where they examine the differences between local weather and Alaskan weather. Throughout this process, they visit several teacher-selected websites and gain knowledge about words through multiple exposures in different contexts and through different media, including reading, viewing, writing, and conversation.
3. Connect fun and learning with online vocabulary games
No list of technology applications for vocabulary would be complete without mention of the vocabulary games that are available for free on the Internet. We recommend two sites that offer a variety of activities to engage pupils in playing with words and word meanings: Vocabulary Games lt; # center gt; 4. Have pupils use media to express vocabulary knowledge
The previous Internet-based strategies all require pupil interaction, from manipulating a visual word map to taking an online vocabulary field trip. This strategy focuses on pupils 'vocabulary representations in multiple modes-writing, audio, graphic, video, and animation. The first set of examples draws on promising research with universally designed digital text, suggesting the benefit of having pupils develop word meaning as they read a definition, view graphics, listen to the word, write or audiotape a personal connection to the word, create a caption for a graphic, and complete an interactive word map. Figure 2 illustrates how pupils communicate word knowledge as they create a caption for an image. These types of activities offer pupils different modes of representation and expression and can be created with a variety of composing tools and formats, such as digital stories, photo essays, podcasts, and so on.
Figure 2: Students create captions to illustrate their understanding of contribute
A multimedia composing and presentation tool that is often underused is PowerPoint. We have certainly seen many poor PowerPoint examples (eg, the ubiquitous three bullet points and s...
