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Tier two words are the most important words for direct instruction
because they are good indicators of a student’s progress through school.
Examples of tier two words are: masterpiece, fortunate, industrious,
measure, and benevolent. There are about 7,000 word families in English
(or 700 per year) in tier two.
Tier three consists of low-frequency words that occur in specific domains. Domains
include subjects in school, hobbies, occupations, geographic regions, technology, weather, etc.
We usually learn these words when a specific need arises, such as learning amino acid during a
chemistry lesson. Examples of tier three words are: economics, isotope, asphalt, Revolutionary
War, and, crepe. The remaining 400,000 words in English fall in this tier.
It important to remember that tier two and three words are not all clear-cut in their tier
classification. There is more than one way to select the words. Word knowledge is subject to
personal experience.
Students may struggle to increase vocabulary because of poor memory skills, difficulty
using word learning strategies, or lack of instruction. This may be a result of a language and/or
learning disability, or poor instruction. Under these situations, schools can administer a response
to intervention program (RtI). RtI will then determine if the student requires additional instruction
or special education services. Contact your school district to find out its current response to
intervention program.
Resources
Beck, Isabel L., McKeown, Margaret G., and Kucan, Linda. (2002). Bringing words to life. New York, NY: The Guilford Press
Montgomery, Judy K. (2008). MAVA-Montgomery assessment of vocabulary acquisition. Greenville, South Carolina: Super Duper
Publications, Inc.
Montgomery, Judy K. (2007). Vocabulary Intervention for RTI: Tiers 1, 2, 3 Retrieved October 28, 2008, http://74.125.45.104/
search?q=cache:VjfiwE6PJYEJ:convention.asha.org/2007/
handouts/1137_1757Montgomery_Judy_106716_Nov05_2007_Time_122121AM.ppt+three+tiers+of+vocabulary&hl=en&ct=clnk&
cd=6&gl=us
3 Tier vocabulary words. Retrieved October 28, 2008 http://t4.jordan.k12.ut.us/cbl/images/CBL_Documents/3tiervocab.pdf
Tier 3—Low-Frequency, Context-Specific Vocabulary
Students with Limited Vocabulary