L517: Advanced Study of the Teaching of Secondary School Reading

INSTRUCTIONAL READING STRATEGY: WORD WEBS

COURSE LINKS

Home Page

Syllabus

Calendar

Assignments

Oncourse

 

INDEX OF PAGE CONTENTS

 

bullet Description of Word Webs
bullet Purpose for Using Word Webs
bullet How to Use Word Webs
bullet Word Webs: An Example

Description of Word Webs

Word webs (also known as semantic mapping) illustrate how key words or concepts are related to one another through graphic representations. Creating word webs can be done as a whole-class, small-group, or individual activity.  (Graphic organizers are similar to word webs but are created by the teacher.)

Purpose for Using Word Webs

The primary purpose of word webs is to teach students to see how new concepts can be defined and related to other concepts.  Word webs are particularly useful for prereading instruction because they help to activate students’ prior knowledge of key concepts they will encounter in the text.
How to Use Word Webs

 
1.  Choose a text. This strategy works best with expository texts.
2. 

As a whole-class activity, the teacher writes a word from the text on the board. This word should be related to a key concept or main idea in the text.
3. 

Students free-associate words, terms, or phrases they associate with the word. The teacher writes these on board in the order in which they are shared next to the targeted word. This is done until students run out of ideas.
4.  Students categorize associations and label the categories. This can be done as a class, in small groups or pairs, or individually.
5. Students produce maps for the word and their newly developed categories.
6.  As a class, students present and explain their maps.

 
Word Webs: An Example

Following is an example of a word map that a student or student group might create when preparing to read a text in which “Freedom in America” is a key concept. “Freedom in America” is at the center of the map to indicate that it is the concept about which associations were made. The words and phrases that are not in the boxes are the brainstormed associations. And, the words in the boxes are the categories that the student or student group might identify to organize the associations.

Last updated: 06/07/2006, by Jennifer Conner
URL: http://www.indiana.edu/~l517/word_webs.htm
Comments: jmconner@indiana.edu
Copyright 2006, Jennifer Conner