Context+Plus

“Context Plus” is a vocabulary strategy that utilizes a graphic organizer to make meaning of new words. Merely writing down definitions is not enough for students to literally become owners of the words, and simply looking at context clues keeps the vocabulary word captive in its sentence. The “plus” of this strategy is that it brings in many other facets associated with vocabulary, like etymology and connotations. Using this framework, students will become aware of the etymological similarities between words, and build their own personal associations with the vocabulary, particularly through using the “I Associate This Word With…” section.
 * Context Plus ** (A Vocabulary Strategy)

In my secondary English classroom, I would not limit vocabulary to just the typical freshman-year vocabulary lessons. I would incorporate regular vocabulary exercises, using “Context Plus,” while we are reading novels, and before we discuss literary periods and movements. Regularly, I would assign words in their readings that they would have to do a map for, or I would just say something like, “pick one for the night.” This example shows what a student might put down for the word “ostentation,” which appears on page ten of Jane Austen’s __Pride and Prejudice__. It is a good example of a word that students might already have a sense of, but could use further clarification on just how it is properly used.



// “Ostentation // // Ostentatious means showy // //People on the stage and obnoxious children// Something that’s showy; what an ostentatious person puts forth
 * Target Word: **
 * What I Know… **
 * I Associate This Word With… **
 * Structural Analysis: **
 * Ostentio- “To show” (Latin) **
 * Prediction for Meaning; **

“Being candid without ostentation or design” (Pg. 10 of Austen’s __Pride and Prejudice__) So something is being put forth or showed purposefully
 * Information From Context: **

“A gaudy, outward display.” (freedictionary.com)
 * Target Word Definition: **

Beers, K., Probst, R. K., Reif, L. (2007). //Adolescent Literacy: Turning Promise into// // Practice //. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.