Matt S. Payton
Electronic Research
6/19/02
P. Petty
“Vocabulary Development in Social Studies”
There is an enormous concern today with the vocabulary development of middle and high school students. Studies suggest that students today are not learning the importance of vocabulary like past generations have. The education department is not stressing the importance of vocabulary enough in our society today. One particular subject that is suffering vocabulary development is social studies.
Social studies is the study of past generations accomplishments, culture, development, history, and contributions to today’s world. One aspect of teaching that is not stressed in social studies is vocabulary. Many teachers see vocabulary to be used primarily in English and language arts classes. This is a key mistake by the teachers who believe in this philosophy. “Students should be encouraged to reach beyond superficial examinations of the famous history.” (www.mdk12.org). This statement provides advice saying that students need to further research and go beyond just broadly learning about a character or empire. I do not think that social studies teachers challenge students to do this. I personally was never told to do a deep research on an issue in social studies. Students need to research unknown words or phrases in the research of a historical figure and expand their vocabulary by learning what a term or phrase means.
The learning of vocabulary is most important during the middle school years of each student. “The middle school leaning years are a transition period in students’ development as readers. During these years, emphasis shifts from mastering basic reading skills to using reading to learn.” (www.cdp.mde.state.mi.com). I agree totally with this statement. Studies indicate that students start learning the importance of reading and understanding vocabulary comprehension in the middle school years. The problem pertaining to these students is that middle school highly stresses vocabulary, but once a student reaches high school, there is a dramatic drop off in encouraging vocabulary. I know this from personal experience. All three years I was in middle school, there was a tremendous amount of work and emphasis on vocabulary development and practice. After I reached high school, I never had to do vocabulary exercises or any type of vocabulary assignments.
I believe that the state education department needs to improve the stress of importance of vocabulary in our schools today. Social studies classes are probably in need the most, but I think that all subjects need to address the issue more on vocabulary. “Teachers who teach social studies content through cooperative learning methods promote vocabulary learning because such methods produce greater academic learning.” (www.ncbe.gwu.edu). This is a prime example of a learning method that could be used to promote greater vocabulary knowledge and development. This would be a very beneficial way of all social studies teachers to emphasis and produce results in vocabulary learning.
It is shown in research that the study of social studies is only focused on learning and memorizing historical figures and events, along with their dates of importance. “The social studies program must help students achieve the knowledge, skills and attitudes that will help them integrate experience and knowledge concerning human relations.” (www.bubl.ac.uk.com). I believe this statement to be fully true. The knowledge of not only terms are important, but also the skills, processes, and understanding are important in maintaining a great vocabulary development.
Social studies is one subject in which reading comprehension and understanding the vocabulary is critical to learning the complete aspect of the subject. “Vocabulary development in social studies is integral to gaining facility in reading to learn. The failure to acquire a working knowledge of terms cannot be easily corrected because reading tasks become more complex. (www.broadeducation.com). This is an area in which students have major problems. Students today will not recognize a term and will skip right over it without looking or researching its definition. After a word is missed or skipped, it becomes increasingly difficult to follow what is being read from then on. This is a time when teachers need to emphasize looking up all unfamiliar words and learning their meanings before continuing to read. This would help students develop a better and deeper vocabulary as well as help them understand their readings more.
One problem with the emphasis on vocabulary development is in the teachers’ inability to recognize when a student needs help. Most students are too embarrassed or afraid to ask questions or admit that they do not know a word. This is where teachers need to be more aware and open to their students. Students need to feel comfortable enough in a classroom setting to openly ask questions or ask for help. This is a time when a teacher needs to learn more responsibility in helping out his/her students. “ A definition for middle level educators must address pertinent features of middle school programs as well as the needs of the students who attend these schools. They must also recognize that this is most young adults’ first serious encounter with any formal social studies course of study.” (www.kyoto-su.ac.com). This is very true to all middle school social studies’ classes. I never personally had much experience or formal social studies class in elementary school. Middle school was the first time for a more serious learning atmosphere. I think that teachers need to know that and be able to adapt to it.
One problem with the development of vocabulary is the language used by the student outside of class. “Outside the isolated language classroom students learn language and content at the same time. Therefore we need a broad perspective which integrates language and content learning.” (www.learningdifferences.com). This is very true of students today. Many students have a totally different use of language and vocabulary outside of a classroom. Students learn many slang terms and misused vocabulary with their peers or family members. It is up to the teachers to understand this and learn how to develop the vocabulary of the students to cease the use of misused words or phrases.
Teachers need to express the importance of reading for personal use and entertainment. This needs to be emphasized in order for students to not only gain knowledge, but more importantly, learning a more in depth and expanded vocabulary. I used my emphasis for this research from the guidelines for effective vocabulary instruction:
-Teach vocabulary in context.
-Emphasize students’ active role in learning process.
-Give students tools to expand word knowledge independently.
-Reinforce word learning with repeated exposures over time.
-Stimulate students’ interest in words.
-Build a language-rich environment to support word learning.
-Encourage students to read widely.
This was a great guideline to use in researching this paper of the vocabulary development in social studies. (Readers, Teachers, Learners Textbook pg. 184). These are the problems and responsibilities of the teachers and students in middle school and high school today. A special emphasis needs to be addressed to the vocabulary development in all subjects of study today, especially in social studies.
www.broadeducation.com. “Broad Education in Social Studies”.
www.bubl.ac.uk.com. “Internet Resources: Social Policy in Education”.
www.cdp.mde.state.mi.us.com. “Social Studies Basic Concepts”.
www.kyoto-su.ac.com “Social Focus on Vocabulary Development”.
www.learningdifferences.com. “Learning Vocabulary Content”.
www.mdk12.org. “Vocabulary Often…Appropriate to Social Studies”.
www.ncbe.gwu.edu. “Facilitating Transition to Mainstream”.
www.wordfocus.com. “Understanding Word Origins and Concepts”.