281 CONTENT/DISCIPLINE AREA LITERACIES Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 58(4) Dec 2014 / Jan 2015 doi:10.1002/jaal.356 © 2014 International Reading Association (pp. 281–287) T he connection between vocabulary and comprehension is well documented (Anderson & Freebody, 1981; Nagy & Scott, 2000). National education standards including the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), College and Career Readiness Standards (National Governors Association, Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010), and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013) emphasize the importance of vocabulary knowledge. But vocabulary knowledge is not a simple thing. Knowing a word involves the degree to which a word is known, the dimensions of the word, and the interrelatedness of that knowledge. Some words have multiple meanings, which can be problematic. Research indicates that students need repeated exposure in several contexts as well as op- portunities to develop multiple connections among vocabulary terms in order to develop deep vocabu- lary knowledge (Nagy & Scott, 2000). With all the other demands on their instructional time, how can content teachers develop this deep vocabulary knowledge? In the early years of my career, I had my science students look up 10 words each night and write the definition. I was not a sadist (though former stu- dents may beg to differ). I just didn’t know what to do instead. Since I first began using literacy in the service of teaching science I have encountered many secondary content area teachers who, like me, just didn’t know any other way to “do vocabulary.” In this month’s Disciplinary Literacy Department, I offer several strategies that I, and the teachers I have worked with over the years, have found particularly effective in providing students repeated exposure to vocabulary and opportunities to develop connections among them. The learning cycle is a useful way to orga- nize instruction, including vocabulary instruction (Alvermann, Gillis, & Phelps, 2013). Learning cycles emerged independently in reading, science, and math- ematics (Gillis & MacDougal, 2007 ; Marshall, Horton, & Smart, 2009). Although there are a variety of learn- ing cycles described in the literature, they can all be summarized in a cycle composed of preactive, inter- active, and reflective phases. In the preactive phase, teachers help students develop the concepts through exploratory activities, and then provide the label or technical term for students. This “experience first” ap- proach is particularly important in science and mathe- matics. Once students have constructed the important concepts under consideration, they will need to refine their knowledge of the technical vocabulary terms as- sociated with those concepts in the interactive phase. In the reflective phase, students need opportunities to deepen their knowledge by forming multiple connec- tions among the technical terms (see Figure 1). In the following discussion, I present strategies to accomplish two important tasks involved in vocabulary instruc- tion: refining knowledge and developing connections among the vocabulary terms in a conceptual domain. Strategies for Refining Vocabulary Knowledge The online Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word refine as “to improve or perfect by pruning or polishing” and “to make improvement by introduc- ing subtleties or distinctions” (www.merriam-web- ster.com/dictionary/refine). This is precisely what Talking the Talk Vocabulary Instruction Across the Disciplines (or what to Do Instead ) VICTORIA GILLIS The department editor welcomes reader comments. Victoria Gillis is Professor and Wyoming Excellence in Higher Education Endowed Chair in Literacy Education at the University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA; e-mail vgillis@ uwyo.edu.