The Truth About Word Study: Behind the Scenes with Our Curriculum Writer
What if vocabulary instruction wasn't about getting students to memorize more words, but about giving them the tools to figure out words they've never seen before?
In this episode, Caitlin sits down with EB Academics curriculum writer Pat for a behind-the-scenes look at the thinking behind EB's Word Study program.
They're breaking down why traditional vocabulary memorization often doesn't stick, how roots, prefixes, suffixes, and syllable types help students tackle unfamiliar words, and why movement, prediction, discussion, and application are built into the program.
Whether you're already using EB's Word Study program or simply looking for a more meaningful way to approach vocabulary instruction, this episode will give you practical ideas for helping students become more confident with words.
HERE ARE THE 3 KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE:
1. Teach students how words work, not just what individual words mean.
Memorizing a vocabulary word and its definition might help a student pass Friday's quiz, but it doesn't necessarily help when that student encounters an unfamiliar word next month.
Word study shifts the focus to transferable tools. By learning common Greek, Latin, and Old English roots along with prefixes and suffixes, students build a toolkit they can use to make sense of words they haven't explicitly been taught.
Syllable types add another piece to that toolkit by helping students break apart and decode longer, multisyllabic words before working out their meanings.
2. Get students actively working with new words.
Instead of immediately giving students a word and its definition, EB's Word Study routine asks students to think first.
Students use a physical gesture and clues from familiar word parts to predict a word's meaning before seeing the actual definition. Then they compare their prediction with the answer.
The goal isn't to guess correctly every time. It's to get students actively reasoning about language instead of passively receiving information.
Those gestures continue throughout the year, giving students a physical memory hook they can connect to each word whenever it appears again.
3. Give students repeated opportunities to apply what they know.
Learning doesn't stop once students know a definition.
Students encounter vocabulary in custom passages, discuss the words with classmates, use gestures, combine familiar and new word parts, and complete application activities that require them to reason about how words are constructed.
Some activities even ask students to determine when a familiar-looking word part isn't actually functioning as expected or invent entirely new words using prefixes, roots, and suffixes.
The goal is to move students from simply recognizing a definition to actually thinking, experimenting, and problem-solving with language.
RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
- EB Academics Word Study Program for Grades 5–8
- Word Parts Reference Charts
- Vocabulary Gesture Videos
- Custom Word Study Passages
- Word Study Application Activities
- EB Academics Vocabulary Program
- EB Teachers ELA Portal
MORE FROM EB ACADEMICS
At EB Academics, we help middle school ELA teachers create engaging, rigorous classrooms without spending every evening and weekend planning.
Inside the EB Teachers ELA Portal, you'll find ready-to-use resources for reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary, and more. Pro and All-Access members also have access to the Word Study program discussed in this episode.
Want to learn more or join the priority list for the EB Teachers ELA Portal? Visit ebteacher.com/portal.
SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW
If this episode gave you a new way to think about vocabulary and word study, make sure you're subscribed to the Teaching Middle School ELA Podcast so you don't miss next week's episode, where Caitlin and Pat continue the conversation by breaking down how word study changes across grade levels.
And if you're enjoying the podcast, we'd love for you to leave a quick review. Your reviews help more middle school ELA teachers discover practical strategies they can use in their classrooms.
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