Research School Network: Building Word Consciousness Mark Miller looks at the role of word consciousness in vocabulary learning

Do you have a favourite word?

It might be ​‘serendipity’, which topped the poll in 2000 for the UK’s favourite word. This word was coined by Horace Walpole in 1754, inspired by the fairy tale ​“The Three Princes of Serendip”. [source]

Or ​‘nincompoop’, voted Britain’s favourite sounding word in 2007. This was probably a made up word, despite it sounding similar to the latin non compos mentis. [source]

Words are interesting. And taking the opportunity to explore the way that words work can be a crucial step in developing ​‘word consciousness’. Graves (2008) writes, ​“Simply stated, word consciousness refers to awareness of and interest in words and their meaning…This awareness involves an appreciation of the power of words., an understanding of why certain words are used instead of others, and a sense of the words that could be used in place of those selected by the writer or speaker.”

Alex Quigley, in Closing the Vocabulary Gap, argues that, ​“when children develop word consciousness, it initiates a new way of thinking that can prove of life-long worth for our students.”

Stahl and Nagy (2006) explain that word consciousness Is a multifaceted process, which involves:

• Feel for how written language works.
• Sensitivity to syntax.
• Awareness of word parts.
• In depth knowledge of specific words.
• Activities for promoting word consciousness.

Graves (2008) identifies ways that we can do this:

• Modelling, recognising and encouraging adapt diction
• Promoting word play.
• Providing rich and expressive instruction.
• Involving students in original investigation.
• Teaching students about words.

Taking the opportunity to look at how words originate is a fruitful way of building word consciousness. 

It can be planned. The geography teacher who is looking at maps can tell the story of Atlas. They might choose to look at the latin roots of longitude (length), latitude (breadth) and link it to altitude (height). Or even the fact that the word ​‘map’ originally comes from the latin for napkin. Sometimes these word histories help to reinforce conceptual understanding, and other times they just serve to reinforce that this is something we can do, and should do, with words.

And it can occur spontaneously, if we as teachers are word conscious. Way back in early 2020, the word ​‘quarantine’ was suddenly on our lips, so in class we found the entry in etymonline.com, a website I’ve already referenced a few times:

Looking at how words originate also allows us to focus on root words, prefixes and suffixes. As Kimberley Wilson explores in her blog Hundreds and Thousands and Millions of Words, once we start to explore etymology, we unlock the access to many other words. Let’s imagine you just take the opportunity to look at the word predict. The prefix ​‘pre’ unlocks lots of words of course, but what about the root word ​‘dict’. Well, it turns out that it’s the root of the following: dictate, dictionary, digit, indicate, judge, predicament and verdict among many many others.

There are many other ways of building word consciousness. Here is one more. The Gift of Words research project lasted 7 years and aimed to develop word consciousness. There were many approaches taken, but one simple approach was to talk about language used by good authors, and to provide scaffolded opportunities to experiment with language as authors. (As recounted in Scott & Nagy, 2004)

And while this can be done with classroom texts well, I like the idea of pupils identifying the gift of words in their own reading books.

I’ve just looked at my current book (The Skeleton Key by Erin Kelly) with a ​‘Gift of Words’ mindset. The following words jump out: ​‘lull’ ​‘peppy’, ​‘sleuthing’, ​‘en route’. All of which I can imagine repurposing in writing in different ways. Asking pupils to do their own sleuthing to identify their own words from their own reading helps their writing but also builds ​‘word consciousness’.

The reality is, there are only so many words that we will be able to teach. Most will be encountered in reading and through talk. But building a little word consciousness can help build a big vocabulary.

Graves, M (2008). The Vocabulary Book. Learning & Instruction. Teachers College Press.

Quigley, A (2018) Closing the Vocabulary Gap. Routledge.

Scott, Judith & Nagy, W.E.. (2004). Developing word consciousness. Vocabulary instruction. research to practice. 201 – 217.

Stahl, SA & Nagy, W.E.. (2008), Teaching Word Meanings. L. Erlbaum Associates.