Working With Words - How to Learn Vocabulary

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Working with words

Word Maps. Related terms: Word Families, Word Building, Word Formation.
We can use visual organizers to work with words, and we can use them in different fields:

Semantics
You present the word and its connection to other words/ideas in terms of meaning. These are usually presented in word maps. The new term goes in the middle of the map. You fill in the rest of the map with a definition, synonyms, antonyms, and a picture to help illustrate the new concept. Examples: From Reading Quest dot org in pdf: Word Map 1 , Word Map 2 ; from Read Write Think, Word Map 3 . Evaluating your word map, in pdf: Word Map Rubric from Read, Write, Think dot org .
Another way to do it is writing a list of words that are related by meaning: page, volume, journal, publication, author, publisher, publishing house, title, edition, paper, cover, backcover, table of contents, indexes, chapter, contents, novel, textbook, literature, literacy, bookseller, bookshop, bookshelf, library, read, write, consult, collect.

Morphology
Word families that share a similarity in form. We consider the root word and the derivational affixes (prefixes and suffixes). These are usually presented in tables (see example below). Example: On-line fill-in-the-gaps activity by secondary teachers in isabelperez dot com.

Phonetics
Word families grouped according to common sounds.