Building College Vocabulary Strategies

PURPOSE Strong vocabulary knowledge and word acquisition skills are necessary for reading success. This book presents both general and content-specific vocabulary that is common to college texts. Also, given the amount of information students need to acquire, they need to be efficient in their approach to new material; therefore, this book has a dual purpose. The primary purpose is to present words and vocabulary skills that are important for reading success. It is our goal to give students information and word attack skills that they can apply to future reading. The second purpose is to help students be more efficient in their vocabulary learning. Therefore, besides vocabulary instruction, we have included information on learning styles and memory development. It is our hope that students will transfer the strategies presented in this text to all of their learning situations. SPECIAL FEATURES This text has several features that make it unique among vocabulary textbooks. The first is the inclusion of the VARK Learning Inventory. Through this inventory, students will better understand how they learn. As a result, they will be able to adapt their learning style to a variety of situations that will enable them to be successful. The inventory is reproduced in the first chapter. (A website with self-scoring is provided as well.) Chapter review exercises are specifically designed to accommodate individual learning styles. Second, the book provides students with information about memory improvement techniques. Memory tips are based on John Langons's "Seven Steps to a Powerful Memory" fromReading and Study Skills.The seven memory tips are introduced in Chapter One and are further explained in Part One: Word and Word Elements. Again, these tips will help students effectively learn the new vocabulary and will give them information that they can transfer to other academic and nonacademic learning situations. Each chapter also includes a Learning Strategy. These strategies are specifically designed for vocabulary, but students are encouraged to incorporate these strategies in other learning situations. The vocabulary words are presented in the format that effective readers use to determine the meaning of unknown words--SSCD: See and Say, Structure, Context Clues, Dictionary. In a reading situation, the primary goal is to keep reading and not lose comprehension. The words are first presented with their pronunciation to give students the necessary information so that they cansaythe word. Students may be able to identify the word using the pronunciation key, or they may go to step two, understanding wordstructure.Throughout the text, students will develop an extensive knowledge of word parts that will help them in future reading situations. Next, the words are presented incontextso that students can determine the word meaning in an authentic reading situation. Context clues are clearly indicated, and information about this strategy is presented in the text. Finally, adictionarydefinition is given with another sentence to help the reader understand how the word would actually be used. The dictionary definitions are from theAmerican Heritage Dictionary, www.bartleby.com/am . CHAPTER ORGANIZATION There are two sections to this text. The first nine chapters contain general vocabulary words and word elements. The last four chapters focus on content-specific words chosen from common academic areas. In Part One, each chapter begins with a memory tip and a learning strategy that can be applied to learning vocabulary as well as other information. The format for the vocabulary presentation is: A memory tip A learning strategy A list of words to learn A list of structural elements A pronunciation guide for the highlighted wordsPabis, Darlene Canestrale is the author of 'Building College Vocabulary Strategies', published 2004 under ISBN 9780130493651 and ISBN 0130493651.