The Bridge of Vocabulary: Evidence-Based Activities for Academic Success

The Bridge of Vocabulary applies five practices shown to be essential in teaching vocabulary skills to general and special education students: (1) engage students often with a wide selection of books; (2) enjoy word games and word play; (3) teach word learning strategies; (4) be explicit; and (5) be redundant.

Benefits

• Helps specialists, teachers, and parents systematically plan explicit word encounters.
• Encourages fast mapping and provides slow mappers with extended exposure to vocabulary.
• Demonstrates phonotactic probability and neighborhood density, two important factors in vocabulary growth.
• Incorporates student-friendly definitions that use spoken vocabulary words instead of reading vocabulary words.
• Equally useful for typical students as for ELL students, students with language and learning disabilities, students with complex communication disabilities, and low/high achiever students.

Features

The Bridge of Vocabulary  helps educators create linguistic environments that allow students to succeed as listeners, speakers, readers, and writers.

• Includes about 100 activities that target a full range of vocabulary skills and concepts (e.g., listening, speaking, reading, writing, language processing, word play, etc.)
• Proven techniques reviewed and tested by classroom teachers and SLPs.
• A curriculum standard, with explicit teaching instructions.
• Guided and independent practice activities.

Sample Activities

The following sample activities are available.

• Book Activity Sample
• Guided Practice Activity 1 Sample
• Guided Practice Activity 2 Sample

The following resources are available for The Bridge of Vocabulary.

• Publication Summary
• Bridge of Vocabulary Brochure
• Take a Tour: Learn More
• Interview with Author Judy Montgomery

Frequently asked questions follow. Click on a question to see the response.

Two-Minute Talks with Dr. Judy Montgomery