Vocabulary for the Common Core. Robert J. Marzano
their framework of dual coding theory, Mark Sadoski and Allan Paivio (2001) suggested that information is stored in the brain in two forms: logogens and imagens. Logogens are storage packages that use language; imagens are storage packets that use pictures or images. For example, information about the vocabulary word narrator could be stored in both ways. A logogen might contain sentences that use the word, other words related to the word, titles of stories or plays that feature a prominent narrator, or other language-based information, such as that shown in figure 2.2 (page 20).
In contrast, a student’s imagens would contain image-based information about the word narrator. These images are often very rich and might include sounds and smells associated with a concept, in addition to mental pictures. Imagens will be discussed more fully in step 3.
Notice that in figure 2.2, each bit of information is connected to other bits of information. This is referred to by linguists as a propositional or semantic network (Clark & Clark, 1977; Kintsch, 1974, 1979; Tulving, 1972; van Dijk, 1977, 1980; van Dijk & Kintsch, 1983). Over time, as students accumulate experiences and store them in propositional networks, the networks become increasingly generalized (Tulving, 1972). For example, a student who has seen Our Town performed might associate the word narrator with that particular experience until he or she sees A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which also features a narrator figure. Then, the same student might hear or see a musical piece with narration such as Benjamin Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra or Camille Saint-Saëns’ The Carnival of the Animals. As his or her experience broadens, the information that the student attaches to the idea of narrator becomes more generalized.
Figure 2.2: Language-based information (logogens) for the word narrator.
As noted previously, step 2 focuses on the linguistic side of description and explanation; students create logogens for a term by describing, explaining, and exemplifying it in their own words. If students have trouble formulating their own descriptions, explanations, or examples of a term, the teacher can help in several ways. Perhaps the simplest is to offer further description and explanation to the students. The teacher might ask questions that prompt the student to think of examples from his or her own life that exemplify the term. Additionally, the teacher could ask students to form pairs or small groups to discuss the term and share examples of it in their own lives. If a student is still stuck, the teacher might ask him or her to complete step 3 (creating a nonlinguistic representation for the term) before returning to write a linguistic description of the word.
Vocabulary Notebooks
Vocabulary notebooks are a place where students can record and revise information about vocabulary terms. Many teachers and schools ask students to keep academic notebooks in which they record information related not only to vocabulary but to all the information presented in their classes. Whether students keep academic notebooks or vocabulary notebooks (or a combination of both), the purpose is the same: students record new information using words and images and return to revise and augment that information as their knowledge about a topic or term grows and deepens. Research has shown that the use of notebooks positively affects student achievement (Dunn et al., 2007; Gifford & Gore, 2008; Marzano, 2005, 2006).
Vocabulary notebooks can be created and organized in various ways. We recommend that the area (which may be a quarter-page, a third of a page, a half-page, or a whole page) for each vocabulary term include a place to record the following elements:
• The term
• The academic subject the term is associated with, if applicable (for example, ELA or mathematics)
• The category or measurement topic (discussed in chapter 3) the term is associated with (for example, Transform, Themes and Central Ideas, or Shapes)
• The student’s current level of understanding of the term (for example, 4, 3, 2, 1)
• The student’s linguistic description of the term
• The student’s nonlinguistic representation of the term
• Words related to the term, such as synonyms or antonyms
Figure 2.3 shows one example of a vocabulary notebook page. Visit MarzanoResources.com/common core for a reproducible version of this figure.
Figure 2.3: Sample vocabulary notebook page.
The level of understanding indicator for each term is based on Marzano and Pickering’s (2005) four-point scale for self-evaluation of knowledge of vocabulary terms:
| 4 | I understand even more about the term than I was taught. |
| 3 | I understand the term, and I’m not confused about any part of what it means. |
| 2 | I’m a little uncertain about what the term means, but I have a general idea. |
| 1 | I’m very uncertain about the term. I really don’t understand what it means. (p. 32) |
We discuss other methods for tracking students’ vocabulary knowledge in chapter 4. As described here, vocabulary notebooks are designed to capture students’ thinking about each term so they can revise and refine their understandings during steps 4, 5, and 6 of the six-step process.
Step 3: Ask Students to Construct a Picture, Symbol, or Graphic Representing the Term or Phrase
As explained previously, nonlinguistic processing deepens students’ understanding of terms and creates image-based information packets (imagens) in their brains. For example, consider a student who remembers seeing a live performance of Peter and the Wolf, an orchestral composition of a children’s tale that is typically narrated. The student has a mental picture of the concert hall with the orchestra fanned out on stage and the narrator of the piece standing next to the conductor, facing the audience, telling the story of Peter and his animal friends defeating the wolf. The student connects that image of a narrator with other narrators he has encountered. He remembers the voice of Nick in a movie version of The Great Gatsby that he saw. If his grandfather told him stories when he was little, he includes the sound of his grandfather’s voice, the smell of his pipe, and an image of the room or chair he sat in when telling stories. These are all examples of imagens, which should be recorded in some form in the student’s vocabulary notebook.
Teachers and students should recognize that different words may require different types of representations. Table 2.3 depicts five different ways terms can be represented nonlinguistically.
Table 2.3: Methods for Nonlinguistic Representation
Even with these five methods, some students may still have trouble creating nonlinguistic representations for terms, saying that they don’t know how to sketch or aren’t good at drawing. Others may try to overdraw terms, creating such detailed pictures that they lose sight of the term itself. Still others may feel like a description is enough and they don’t need a picture. Teachers can use several techniques to help these students. First, teachers can model appropriate sketches for vocabulary terms. This will help students see the appropriate level of detail to include in their pictures and also provide an opportunity