Vocabulary Links: Helping Children Develop Word Knowledge (1999). By Jean Hamersky. Thinking Publications, 424 Galloway St., Eau Claire, WI 54703. 172 pages, $40/US, $64/CAN. Reviewed by Janet Cosaro, Thousand Oaks, CA.
Vocabulary Links is a book that includes 10 lessons to help students achieve the ability to organize and relate words. This resource targets seven areas of word relationships. The "links lessons" start with an introductory lesson and move through the semantic relationships of object-action, part-whole, antonym, spatial, temporal, synonym, and group/member categories. Elementary aged students grades 3 6 can utilize the activities in large or small groups or in individual lessons.
The lessons are concrete, using objects, pictures, and literature to help students understand how words are related. Students use active participation to think about how they are organizing and linking words. Link and Sort is an activity where the student is given 12 cards to organize and determine relationships between the cards in the set. A second set of 12 cards is used to "sort" or group the cards into categories. The student' s ability to identify word relationships is based on their reasons for the links and groups formed. This strategy is used throughout the program to document progress.
Each lesson includes the following components: objectives, materials needed, procedures to follow, and linking strategies to classroom contexts. Lessons also contain graphic organizers and a "Homeword" page for extension of the lesson. A character, "Linkin", is used to add interest and motivate students. The book also lists curricular vocabulary words in the areas of social studies and science. The appendices include picture cards which can be reproduced, Link and Sort Recording Form, names goals and objectives, vocabulary lists by grade level, and "link to the classroom" reproducibles. It also provides a customized lesson as an example of how the word relationship strategies and the Link and Sort activity could be incorporated in the general education curriculum to help students learn new vocabulary.
Vocabulary Links is an additional resource tool for use in teaching vocabulary. A hierarchy of development is addressed naturally through the 10 lessons. The therapist can begin at a very concrete level and move to a more abstract level by removing the concrete referents. At about 7 years of age, there is a shift from the agent-action understanding of word relationships to that of semantic classifications. This book fills a need on how to help students increase vocabulary understanding and strengthen retention by hooking new words to prior knowledge in a systematic approach. The lessons focus on teaching students a strategy for learning new words beyond using a dictionary, stating a definition, and relying on contextual clues.
The lessons should be taught in sequence and in the manner developed by the author. The materials and game mat provided would need to be laminated for durability. The Link Record Form and Sort Record Form provides the therapist with a baseline functioning level and a good system for record keeping as the students move through the lessons. Observations and groups formed are noted anecdotally and would work for small groups, but would be more difficult in large group situations. If used as a basis for classroom collaboration, students would need to record their own sorts. Multiple sets of the picture cards could be reproduced for classroom sets. The appendices also contain valuable reproducibles for the therapist. Suggested scripts and how to redirect students' thinking are also helpful additions to the book. The pictorial representation of vocabulary concepts is an excellent technique to encourage students to discover how words are related.
Vocabulary Links is a very useful addition to help children develop their word knowledge and extend that knowledge into curricular material. The format could be used successfully in individual lessons, small groups, or in classroom collaboration.