Special Education

Teaching Students with Learning and Behavioural Differences
A Resource Guide for Teachers

Appendix 1: Key Vocabulary

Key Vocabulary is a technique designed to use the most meaningful words in a child's world to develop literacy. It is a structured process that can be used with individuals or classes to expand reading vocabulary. As a student accumulates a bank of key words, he/she develops confidence as a reader.

The Basic Process

  1. Each child is asked to come up with a "favourite word" every day. The teacher may select a category from which the word must be chosen. For example, a favourite sport, television show, food or colour. Alternatively, the teacher could ask for the "best word" in a category such as the scariest or most repulsive word. The word must have emotional importance to the student so that he/she will remember it.
  2. The student tells the word to the teacher who prints it on a large card. The student should be positioned so that he/she can watch the adult print the word. If the student can identify the letters, he/she should read them as the adult prints. If not, the adult should read the letters and ask the student to repeat them.
  3. The student should trace over the word with his/her finger or crayon while repeating the letters and then reading the word to the adult.
  4. The student is then asked to do something with the word independently. Ideally, a number of prearranged choices are established and selected from each day. For example: draw a picture, use magnetic letters to build the word, or use the word in a sentence. The student may wish to complete one of these activities on the back of the card.
  5. The child should review the key words every day. Words that are not instantly recognized should be discarded because those words lack the emotional significance needed to be remembered.
  6. The words should be stored in a way that enables students to access them for review. Current words can be hole punched and put on a ring. As words accumulate they can be stored in a recipe box, scrap book, or photo album.

Once a child or a group of children have accumulated a number of key words, the teacher can use them to extend literacy learning. For example, students can be paired to teach their key words to each other or to use a combination of their key words to tell a story. When teaching specific reading skills such as initial consonants or vowel sounds, students can be asked to:

  • scan their key words to find examples.
  • find words that rhyme with one or more of their key words or
  • find words that have letter patterns similar to those found in one or more of their key words.

The Key Vocabulary process can be used to teach words that have not been selected by the student. Begin by using words that will have emotional impact. For example, students who enjoy art may find words that describe colours interesting to learn. Students who participate in sports may want to learn to read the vocabulary associated with the sports they play.

As the student becomes confident that he/she can learn words using this process, words that are commonly used but do not have emotional impact, for example Dolch Words or other lists of commonly occurring words, can be interjected once in while. In this way, the teacher can use the Key Vocabulary process to teach words that children will encounter in their reading.

Used with permission from: Key words to reading. 2nd Edition. Toronto: Charles Merrill Publishing