Collecting and Processing Words
Collecting and Processing Words is a two-part vocabulary routine in which students first gather meaningful or high-utility words from texts they read (collecting) and then actively work with those words by sorting, categorizing, mapping, and analyzing their meaning, morphology, and relationships to other words (processing). The collecting phase builds word consciousness and student ownership, while the processing phase moves words from passive recognition toward deep, usable knowledge through active categorization rather than memorizing isolated definitions. Common tools include personal word banks or vocabulary notebooks, word-sort cards, semantic maps, and concept charts. The strategy treats vocabulary as a network of related concepts to be organized and used, not a list to be copied.
How it’s typically applied
- 1Choose a rich text and clarify the collecting target: tell students whether they are gathering general high-utility (Tier Two) academic words, content-specific (Tier Three) words, cognates, or words tied to a unit concept. Model collecting one word aloud first.
- 2Have students collect words into a personal word bank or vocabulary notebook as they read, recording the word, where they found it, and a first-attempt meaning or sketch. Invite them to flag cognates and home-language connections.
- 3Pool and curate the collected words as a class or in small groups, narrowing to a manageable set of high-payoff words worth deeper study so the task does not become an overwhelming copy-the-definition exercise.
- 4Lead the processing phase with an active categorization task: open word sorts (students invent the categories), closed word sorts (teacher-given categories such as root, meaning, or part of speech), semantic feature analysis, or concept maps that group words by relationship.
- 5Add a morphological and cross-linguistic layer: have students break words into roots and affixes, connect Latin or Greek roots to Spanish or other home-language cognates, and group word families together.
- 6Push toward generative use: students write, speak, or illustrate using the processed words in new contexts and explain why they sorted the words the way they did, making their reasoning visible.
- 7Cycle the words back: revisit the word bank across the unit through quick re-sorts, word walls, and retrieval games so words are encountered multiple times in varied contexts.
Why it works for emergent bilingual students
Emergent bilingual students arrive with a rich linguistic repertoire, and this strategy is powerful precisely because it lets them mobilize it. The categorization phase invites cross-language transfer: students connect English words to cognates and to concepts already established in their home language, drawing on what Cummins describes as a common underlying proficiency, so a concept known in Spanish or another language can support learning of the English label. Collecting words from authentic text keeps input meaningful and comprehensible, and the sorting and mapping work creates the kind of repeated, active processing across multiple contexts that research identifies as more effective than copying definitions. Morphological sorting with Latin roots is especially generative for Spanish-speaking students, whose home language shares a large Latinate academic vocabulary, so one root can become a key that unlocks many related words across both languages.
Adapting it across proficiency levels
Pre-Production
At the silent, receptive stage, students collect by pointing to or selecting picture-supported word cards rather than by writing. They sort a small set of highly concrete, illustrated word cards (with an L1 translation or sketch on the back) into teacher-given picture categories, responding nonverbally by placing, matching, or pointing. The teacher names each word aloud as it is sorted, and home-language labels and realia are welcomed.
Beginning
Students collect a short list of concrete, high-frequency words supported by images and L1 cognates. They complete closed (teacher-defined) word sorts using picture-and-word cards, copy words into a simple word bank with a drawing, and produce the words in short phrases or labels. Bilingual glossaries, cognate charts, and a sentence frame such as 'This word goes with ___ because ___' scaffold their categorization talk.
Intermediate
Students independently collect Tier Two and content words from grade-level text into a vocabulary notebook with their own initial definitions. They move into open word sorts where they invent their own categories, build semantic maps, and begin basic morphological sorting (root plus affix) and cognate analysis. They explain their groupings in a few connected sentences, using provided academic frames as needed.
High Intermediate / Advanced
High Intermediate and Advanced students self-select sophisticated academic and abstract words and justify why each is worth studying. They conduct multi-criteria sorts (by root family, connotation, register, or shades of meaning), use semantic feature analysis, and trace morphological and etymological links across English and their home language. They use the processed words generatively in extended academic writing and speaking, and they critique or redesign the categories themselves, reasoning about nuance and word choice with minimal scaffolding.
In the classroom
During a seventh-grade science unit on ecosystems, students read an informational text and collect words into their vocabulary notebooks, flagging Spanish cognates as they go (for example, organism/organismo, predator/depredador, consume/consumir). The class curates the lists down to twelve high-payoff words. Students then do an open word sort, grouping the words however they choose; most create categories such as 'living things,' 'actions in a food web,' and 'roles.' The teacher then leads a closed morphological sort around the root consum- (consume, consumer, consumption), and Spanish-speaking students connect it to consumir. Finally, each pair writes two sentences explaining a food-web relationship using their sorted words, then presents their categories and explains their reasoning to the class.
Research basis
Robust vocabulary instruction for emergent bilingual adolescents should engage students in deep processing of high-utility academic words through morphological analysis emphasizing Latin roots and by making connections among semantic clusters of related words, rather than presenting isolated word-definition pairs.
Crosson, A. C., McKeown, M. G., Robbins, K. P., & Brown, K. J. (2019). Key elements of robust vocabulary instruction for emergent bilingual adolescents. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 50(4), 493-505. https://doi.org/10.1044/2019_LSHSS-VOIA-18-0127 [link]
Effective vocabulary instruction targets high-utility Tier Two words and requires students to encounter and actively use words in multiple contexts; presenting lists of words with definitions or synonyms is less effective than rich, active processing.
Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., & Kucan, L. (2013). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.
Sorting words into categories by sound, pattern, and meaning is the core activity of word study, and word study can be adapted to build on the home-language knowledge that English learners bring.
Bear, D. R., Helman, L., Templeton, S., Invernizzi, M., & Johnston, F. (2007). Words their way with English learners: Word study for phonics, vocabulary, and spelling instruction. Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall.
A comprehensive vocabulary program teaches word-learning strategies and fosters word consciousness so that students become independent word learners who take a personal approach to building their vocabularies.
Graves, M. F. (2016). The vocabulary book: Learning and instruction (2nd ed.). Teachers College Press.
A common underlying proficiency links a bilingual student's languages, so concepts, literacy skills, and vocabulary knowledge developed in one language can transfer to and support development in the other.
Cummins, J. (1981). The role of primary language development in promoting educational success for language minority students. In California State Department of Education (Ed.), Schooling and language minority students: A theoretical framework (pp. 3-49). Evaluation, Dissemination and Assessment Center, California State University.
The SIOP model supports English learners by emphasizing vocabulary development, including having students self-select and record key words in personal dictionaries or word banks alongside explicit, contextualized vocabulary teaching.
Echevarria, J., Vogt, M. E., & Short, D. J. (2017). Making content comprehensible for English learners: The SIOP model (5th ed.). Pearson.
Beginning in the 2026-2027 school year, the updated Texas English Language Proficiency Standards expand from four to five proficiency levels (Pre-Production, Beginning, Intermediate, High Intermediate, and Advanced) to support more nuanced, targeted instruction for emergent bilingual students.
Texas Education Agency. (2025). English language proficiency standards (ELPS) update: 2026-2027. https://www.txel.org/media/atraqi0g/elps-update-2026-2027.pdf [link]
Collecting and Processing Words is a named, field-tested instructional strategy (Strategy 7, "Collecting and Processing Words: Making Vocabulary Your Own"), which Herrell and Jordan trace to their own 2001 work: students chart the unfamiliar words they meet in text and then actively process the meanings through discussion, dramatization, synonym-building, and vocabulary journals.
Herrell, A. L., & Jordan, M. L. (2020). 50 strategies for teaching English language learners (6th ed.). Pearson. [link]
Sources reviewed by an independent second-language-acquisition specialist and an adversarial citation audit.
Ask Verónica about Collecting and Processing Words
Verónica is our AI tutor, and she knows this strategy. Tell her about your classroom, your mix of proficiency levels, or a specific TEKS you are planning to teach, and she will help you put Collecting and Processing Words to work.
These strategies are part of the free ELPS Online Helper. Learn the 2026 ELPS and earn 1 hour of CPE credit.
Explore the free course