Vocab Anchors: Helping Students Grasp Vocabulary

This blog post was written by Karen Dopico, a current undergraduate student at Saint Vincent College enrolled in my course, Reading, Writing, and Differentiation in the Content Area. Read more about Karen at the end of the blog.

Most students dislike learning vocabulary because it has been taught ineffectively. Few students remember vocabulary that was taught through workbooks or worksheets because these methods are impersonal and unengaging. Students best retain information when they can recode the information by drawing a personal connection to the material. Thankfully, numerous vocabulary strategies have been developed in recent years in order to help students expand their repertoire of terminology.

One way vocabulary strategies have improved is by using visuals. According to a study done by Maria Phillips from Marshall University, students who were exposed to images related to their vocabulary had their scores improve by 15% for their posttest. Research has shown that using visuals when introducing new vocabulary is beneficial for students, as they are more likely to retain the new vocabulary. Students who also make a personal connection to their new vocabulary are more likely to remember it. When students use new vocabulary in their own context, they are recoding the information. Through this recoding, new vocabulary can be stored into their long-term memory, which is the overall goal for teaching new vocabulary.

Preparation
For this strategy, you will either need your students to draw a sailboat with an anchor on a blank piece of paper. You can also print out an image for them that looks like the following:

You will also need to know need new vocabulary along with some terminology that you know your students would be familiar with. Students should also be able to come up with familiar synonyms that relate to the new vocabulary. The goal is for students to be able to make a connection with a familiar word to the new vocabulary. This is an example of the recoding method mentioned earlier.

Implementing the Strategy

First, you will have students either draw a sailboat and anchor or provide an image for them. The next step is to introduce the definition of the new vocabulary. Ask your students if they can think of any words that are similar to the one you have provided. If they are unable to, provide some words you know they are familiar with.

Next, write out the new word on or near the ship and have the familiar word be written on or near the anchor. Explain to the students that the new word is now being “anchored” by the familiar word. Afterwards, ask students to illustrate the new word onto the sailboat. This will engage students in having a visual with their new vocabulary, which can only help in retaining that new information.

Have students then write on one side of the paper the similarities between the two words. On the opposite side, have students write about how the new word is different from the familiar word. Now students have a clear distinction between the two, an “anchor,” and a visual. This strategy can be done individually, in groups, or with the class as a whole. This is a great strategy to use for students who struggle with vocabulary because it allows students to learn through visuals and through recoding the information with a familiar word.

Going Forward
This strategy is a unique way for students to be able to recode new vocabulary into their long-term memory. For more on the Vocab Anchor strategy, you can visit the following:
Vocabulary Anchors

Finished Product

 

Citations
Boat rope Cliparts #2681388 (LICENSE: Personal use). (n.d.). http://clipart-library.com/clipart/928789.htm.
Phillips, M. (2016). The Effects of Visual Vocabulary Strategies on Vocabulary Knowledge. Marshall Digital Scholar.
Sailboat Cartoon. GraphicRiver. (2020, January 23). https://graphicriver.net/item/sailboat-cartoon/25577282.

About the Author

Karen Dopico is a junior at Saint Vincent College pursuing a B.A. in History with a minor in Secondary Education and a minor in Theology. Her goal is to create an inclusive environment in her future classroom along with giving students the opportunities to hone the skills of a historian. She believes that studying the human story allows us to understand one another in our present state and hopes to bring this message to her future classroom.  

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