Chapter 3: Vo-kab-you-lair-e.

When I use to think about vocabulary, it wasn't anything I worried about. I always thought, you have a word, you study (aka: memorize) the definition, and you were fine! But as time went by and I was the one actually teaching the subject, I realized that vocabulary is much more complex than what I had thought.
Vocabulary is knowledge of words and the meaning of those words. I learned that there are two different types of word knowledge: receptive and productive. Receptive vocabulary are those words that we recognize when we hear or see them. These would be the words I just picked up on in my past. Productive vocabulary are those words that we use when we speak or write.   The book states that Receptive vocabulary is larger than or Productive vocabulary. I completely agree.

--- For example, I was teaching a short vocabulary lesson to my 3rd grade student that I tutor every Wednesday. The word was "sharp". I knew the meaning of that word. She knew the meaning of that word. I asked her to give me a definition, and she said," When something is sharp, you know, like scissors, they are sharp." Well, she wasn't completely wrong. So I said, "Yes, that is correct. But, how do you define the word "sharp"? About 20 seconds went by, I decided I was going to tell her the answer. "Sharp means..." My mind went blank. "Sharp is when something is pointy and ... can, hmm... poke through things?" REALLY?  I knew that if I saw that word or heard that word I would know what it meant (receptive) but when it came to speaking the meaning of the word (productive) I could not do it. This has happened to me several times; I never really thought or cared to look more in to it.

However, this is extremely interesting to me and makes me wonder if maybe the way I was taught as a kid has hindered my range of vocabulary? Also, what can I do to make sure my students are able to use and understand words in both a receptive and productive way?