L.7.6: Learning and Using Academic and Domain-Specific Words
In plain English: L.7.6 is the Common Core grade 7 ELA standard that asks students to learn and accurately use seventh-grade general academic words and the terms of each subject, from history to math. When a word or phrase matters for understanding a text or for their own writing and speaking, students gather knowledge about it: its meaning in that subject, related words and a reliable source.
Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy · Domain: Language Standards · Cluster: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use · Official standard
Students grow the two kinds of vocabulary that seventh-grade classes depend on. General academic words appear in many subjects with much the same meaning, such as derive, approximately, whereas and significant. Domain-specific words belong to one subject, or domain, such as cuneiform in history, keystone species in science and constant of proportionality in math. The standard names phrases as well as single words. Students acquire (learn) these words with their word families, the related forms such as analyze, analysis and analytical, and use them accurately: with the meaning that fits the subject, in the right form, and without claiming more than the facts show.
The standard also asks students to gather vocabulary knowledge when a word or phrase is important to comprehension (understanding a text) or expression (saying or writing what they mean). Students learn to judge which words matter and to collect the meaning in that subject, related words, examples and a checked source on a gathering card. They practice with an excerpt on the invention of writing from H. G. Wells's A Short History of the World (1922), an original science passage about sea otters and kelp, and an invented student math journal.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Tell general academic words and phrases from domain-specific ones, including words with a different meaning in each subject
Use academic and domain-specific words accurately, with the right meaning, the right form and a claim that fits the facts
Decide which words and phrases are important to comprehension or expression and explain why
Gather vocabulary knowledge about a key word: its meaning in the subject, related words, an example and a checked source
Prior Knowledge Required
Students should already be comfortable with:
Sorting general academic and domain-specific words and keeping a vocabulary log L.6.6
Using context clues, Greek and Latin roots and reference materials to find meanings L.7.4
Telling nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs apart in a sentence
Recognizing proportional relationships in tables and graphs 7.RP.A.2
"Here are three sentences. (1) Earth makes one revolution around the Sun each year. (2) The American Revolution began in 1775. (3) The invention of the printing press started a revolution in how people shared ideas. Does revolution mean the same thing in each? Which class would you hear each sentence in?"
Collect answers. Sentence 1 is science: one full trip around the Sun. Sentence 2 is social studies: the overthrow of a government. Sentence 3 uses a general meaning, a big change in how people do something. Remind students of two labels from grade 6: a general academic word is used in many subjects with much the same meaning (analyze, significant, consequently), and a domain-specific word belongs to one subject, or domain (photosynthesis, republic, coefficient). Some words, like revolution, are both, with a different meaning in each domain. Today students learn more of both kinds, use them accurately and decide which words are worth gathering knowledge about.
Direct Instruction15-20 minutes
Part 1: Acquire grade 7 words and phrases. Seventh-grade reading brings longer academic words (perspective, derive, approximately), linking phrases (as a result, in contrast, according to) and more subject terms, many of them phrases (constant of proportionality, keystone species, city state). Learn a word with its word family, the forms built on the same base (analyze, analysis, analytical), and with the words it usually travels with (conduct an experiment, draw a conclusion, cite evidence). Diagram 1 shows how school words make everyday ideas more precise.
Part 2: Use them accurately. Accurate use means three things: the meaning fits the subject (a base in chemistry is not a base in geometry), the form fits the sentence (the verb affect, the noun effect), and the word claims no more than the facts show (one experiment suggests; it rarely proves).
Part 3: Gather vocabulary knowledge. A word or phrase is important to comprehension when the main idea depends on it: it names the topic, appears in a heading or in bold, or keeps coming back. It is important to expression when you need it to say exactly what you mean in your own writing or speaking. For such a word, gather its meaning in this subject, related words, an example and a non-example, and the source you checked, then write your own sentence (Diagram 2). Check old texts against a current source, since knowledge changes.
A general academic word in three subjects
Many English words derive from Latin. (English) Plants derive their energy from sunlight. (science) Historians derive their picture of Sumer from clay tablets. (social studies)
Result: In all three, derive means to get something from a source. Because the meaning stays the same, learning it once pays off in every class. Its word family helps too: a derivation is where a word comes from. A student who writes "Plants derive sunlight" has misused it; the accurate form is "derive energy from sunlight."
One word, two domain-specific meanings
Earth completes one revolution around the Sun in about 365 days. Compare: The American Revolution lasted from 1775 to 1783.
Result: In science, a revolution is one complete orbit, one trip of one body around another. In social studies, a revolution is the overthrow of a government by the people it governs, here the thirteen colonies against British rule. Readers use the subject to choose the meaning, and writers must not mix them: Earth's daily spin is a rotation, not a revolution.
A domain-specific phrase in math
A printer prints 90 pages in 3 minutes. The number of pages p is proportional to the number of minutes m.
Result: The unit rate is 90 ÷ 3 = 30 pages per minute, so p = 30m. The phrase constant of proportionality names the 30: the number that multiplies m every time. Accurate use keeps the phrase for proportional relationships only; in a plan that charges a $10 fee plus $2 per game, the $2 is a rate, but the relationship is not proportional.
Using academic words accurately in a claim
A student writes: Our experiment proves that plants always grow better with music, because the music effected them.
Result: Three problems: one small experiment cannot prove that something always happens, effected should be the verb affected, and grow better is vague. Accurate revision: Our results suggest that music may affect plant growth: the three plants that heard music grew an average of 15 centimeters, and the three that did not grew an average of 13 centimeters. The revision claims only what the data show.
Deciding what to gather
In medieval Europe, most people lived under feudalism, a system in which kings and lords granted land, called fiefs, to nobles in exchange for loyalty and military service. Peasants called serfs worked the land and could not leave it without permission.
Result: Feudalism is the most important word: it names the topic, and every other sentence explains a part of it. Fief and serf matter too, since each is a part of the system, and the paragraph defines both. A reader gathers the meaning, the related words (lord, vassal, manor), an example (a knight granted land in return for fighting), a non-example and a source, as in Diagram 2.
Guided Practice15 minutes
Read the excerpt aloud. H. G. Wells, an English novelist, wrote this history for general readers in 1922. Sumeria (today usually called Sumer) was the land of the Sumerians in southern Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in what is now Iraq. Model how to gather knowledge about the words in the table: first what the text itself tells you, then what a current source adds. Pairs complete the last rows; the teacher key is in the right column.
1At first writing was merely an abbreviated method of pictorial record. Even before Neolithic times men were beginning to write. The Azilian rock pictures to which we have already referred show the beginning of the process. Many of them record hunts and expeditions, and in most of these the human figures are plainly drawn. But in some the painter would not bother with head and limbs; he just indicated men by a vertical and one or two transverse strokes. From this to a conventional condensed picture writing was an easy transition. In Sumeria, where the writing was done on clay with a stick, the dabs of the characters soon became unrecognizably unlike the things they stood for, but in Egypt where men painted on walls and on strips of the papyrus reed (the first paper) the likeness to the thing imitated remained. From the fact that the wooden styles used in Sumeria made wedge-shaped marks, the Sumerian writing is called cuneiform (= wedge-shaped).
[...]
2The invention of writing was of very great importance in the development of human societies. It put agreements, laws, commandments on record. It made the growth of states larger than the old city states possible. It made a continuous historical consciousness possible. The command of the priest or king and his seal could go far beyond his sight and voice and could survive his death. It is interesting to note that in ancient Sumeria seals were greatly used. A king or a nobleman or a merchant would have his seal often very artistically carved, and would impress it on any clay document he wished to authorize. So close had civilization got to printing six thousand years ago. Then the clay was dried hard and became permanent. For the reader must remember that in the land of Mesopotamia for countless years, letters, records and accounts were all written on comparatively indestructible tiles. To that fact we owe a great wealth of recovered knowledge.
H. G. Wells, Sumeria, Early Egypt and Writing, from A Short History of the World (excerpt: the invention of writing) (1922). Public domain (published 1922). Source text.
Gathering knowledge about history words in the Wells excerpt (teacher key in the last column)
Word or phrase (paragraph)
What the text tells you
What a current source adds (teacher key)
pictorial record (1)
A record kept with pictures, the first step toward writing
Pictorial means made of pictures; historians call the earliest picture signs pictographs.
Neolithic (1)
A time in the distant past
The New Stone Age, when people began farming and using polished stone tools; in Southwest Asia it began about 10,000 B.C.
styles (1)
Wooden tools that made wedge-shaped marks in clay
The usual word today is stylus (plural styluses or styli): a pointed tool for writing on clay or wax.
seal (2)
A carved object a king, noble or merchant pressed into clay
Sumerians used cylinder seals, small carved stone cylinders rolled across wet clay to leave a picture, much like a signature.
city states (2)
The small states that existed before writing let larger ones grow
A city-state is a city that governs itself and the land around it as an independent state; Sumer had many, such as Ur and Uruk.
Discuss: Wells says that "even before Neolithic times men were beginning to write." What does a current source say? (Historians today date the first true writing to Sumer around 3200 B.C., long after Neolithic farming began, and call older rock pictures art or symbols, not writing. Gathering vocabulary knowledge includes checking an old text against a current, reliable source.) Which words from the excerpt would you need to use accurately in a paragraph about why writing mattered?
Independent Practice10-15 minutes
Students complete each sentence with the right form of a general academic word from its word family, then write one sentence of their own that uses a different form. Remind them to check the job each blank does in the sentence: a verb, a noun or an adjective. Students fill in the middle column; the teacher key follows.
Word families: choosing the accurate form (teacher key)
Sentence
Word family
Accurate form (teacher key)
The team's ____ of the survey results showed that most students walk to school.
interpret, interpretation, interpretive
interpretation (a noun, after the team's)
Rainfall was low for three years; ____, many wells went dry.
consequence, consequently, consequential
consequently (an adverb that links the two clauses)
The invention of writing was a ____ change in human history.
signify, significance, significant
significant (an adjective describing change)
Scientists ____ that the new vaccine will prevent the illness, and they test that idea.
hypothesis, hypothesize, hypothetical
hypothesize (a verb, what the scientists do)
The author gives two different ____ on school uniforms.
perspective, perspectives
perspectives (a plural noun, after two different)
Our ____ of the temperature data took most of the class period.
analyze, analysis, analytical
analysis (a noun, after our)
Closure5 minutes
Exit ticket: (1) Write one domain-specific word or phrase you learned today and use it accurately in a sentence. (2) Name one word from another class this week that was important to comprehension, and tell how you gathered knowledge about it.
Teacher note on the texts: The Wells excerpt is quoted exactly, including his spelling "Sumeria" and his use of men for people, which was usual in 1922. Some of his facts are out of date. Historians now date the first true writing to about 3200 B.C., in Sumer in southern Mesopotamia, with Egyptian hieroglyphs appearing soon after; older rock pictures and marks are not counted as writing. Sumerian cylinder seals first appear about 5,500 years ago, and seals pressed on written clay documents date from after writing began, not six thousand years ago. His phrase for papyrus, "the first paper," is also not accurate by today's definitions; Quiz Question 2 asks students to check it, and its explanation gives the correction. Use these differences as teaching points about checking current sources, not as errors to hide. The math journal draft and its prices are invented for this page.
Science note: Sea otters eat sea urchins, and urchins graze on kelp, so the otters indirectly protect the kelp forest. Ecologists call a chain of effects like this, passing from a predator through its prey to the producers below, a trophic cascade; the otter, urchin and kelp system is one of the best-known examples.
For the quiz: Questions 1-4 use the Wells excerpt in Guided Practice. Questions 5-9 use "The Otters and the Kelp Forest" below, and Questions 10-13 use the math journal draft after it. Paragraph numbers are shown beside each text; in the draft, paragraph 1 is the title line.
1Off the Pacific coast of North America, forests grow underwater. Giant kelp, a large brown seaweed that is a kind of algae, can grow as tall as a ten-story building from its anchor on the rocky sea floor. Like a plant, kelp is a producer: it uses energy from sunlight to make its own food. The kelp forest is the habitat, or natural home, of hundreds of species of fish, snails, crabs and other animals.
2Sea urchins are spiny animals that graze on kelp. They are consumers, organisms that get their energy by eating other organisms. Sea otters, in turn, are predators that hunt urchins as their prey. Each link in this food chain passes energy from one organism to the next: from kelp to urchins to otters.
3In the 1700s and 1800s, fur hunters killed so many sea otters that the animals nearly disappeared from much of the coast. As a result, urchin populations grew rapidly, and in many places the urchins ate the kelp down to bare rock. Scientists call these areas urchin barrens. Where otters later returned, urchin numbers fell and the kelp grew back.
4Because one predator has such a large effect on its whole ecosystem, ecologists call the sea otter a keystone species. The term is borrowed from architecture. A keystone is the wedge-shaped stone at the top of an arch that locks the other stones in place; remove it, and the arch falls apart.
Written for this page (a model science passage), The Otters and the Kelp Forest. Original passage written for this page.
1Math Journal, Draft: Apples at the Farmers Market
2At the farmers market, 2 pounds of apples cost $5.00, 4 pounds cost $10.00, and 6 pounds cost $15.00. I think the cost and the weight go together in a special way.
3The rate is 2 over 5. The number you multiply the pounds by to get the cost stays the same every time.
4When I graphed the three points, they made a straight line. The line starts at the beginning of the graph, so the relationship is fair.
5My equation is c = 2.5 + p, where c is the cost in dollars and p is the number of pounds.
Written for this page (an invented student draft with invented prices), Math Journal, Draft: Apples at the Farmers Market. Original passage written for this page.
Differentiation Strategies
For Struggling Students
Give a partly filled gathering card with the subject meaning written in, so students add only the related words, example and source
Pair each Wells paragraph with a picture of a clay tablet, a stylus and a cylinder seal
Provide sentence frames for accurate use: "In science, ___ means ___." and "The data suggest that ___."
For Advanced Students
Have students compare Wells's 1922 claims about the first writing with a current encyclopedia article and list what has changed
Ask students to build a word family chart for five general academic words, with a sentence for each form
Have students write a glossary of eight key terms for a younger class, with an example and a non-example for each
Assessment Guidance
What to Look For
For acquiring words, check that students can give the meaning a word has in a named subject, not only its everyday meaning. For accurate use, look for the right meaning, the right form (verb, noun or adjective) and claims that fit the evidence. For gathering, look for a reason the word matters to comprehension or expression and a gathering card that names a reliable source and ends with the student's own accurate sentence.
02
Classroom Activities
3 Activities
1
One Word, Two Meanings
15 minPairs
Each pair gets 8 word cards. Each word has a domain-specific meaning and a second meaning in another subject or in everyday life. Partners write both meanings, name the subject of each, and write one sentence for each meaning.
Partner A reads a card and gives one meaning; Partner B gives a second meaning and names the subject for each
Partners check a textbook glossary for any meaning they are unsure of, then write the two sentences
Teacher key: volume, the amount of space inside a solid (math) and loudness (everyday); plate, a huge moving slab of Earth's outer layer (science) and a dish (everyday); current, a flow of water or electric charge (science) and happening now, as in current events (social studies); range, the difference between the greatest and least values in a data set (math) and a line of mountains (geography); mass, the amount of matter in an object (science) and a large amount or crowd (everyday); power, a number written with an exponent to show repeated multiplication, as in 2 to the third power, 2 × 2 × 2 = 8 (math) and the authority to control others (social studies); legend, the key that explains a map's symbols (geography) and a traditional story (English); scale, the ratio of map distance to real distance (math and geography) and a tool for weighing (everyday and science).
Discussion Questions
Which card was hardest to explain in its domain-specific meaning, and why?
How can the rest of a sentence tell a reader which meaning of range or current is meant?
2
Is This Word Worth Gathering?
15 minGroups of 3
Each group gets 3 paragraph cards from three subjects. For each card, the group marks the words and phrases most important to comprehension, gives a reason for each, and makes a gathering card like Diagram 2 for one of them.
Paragraph Cards
Card A (science): Every living thing is made of cells. In a plant cell, the nucleus controls the cell's activities and holds its DNA. The cell membrane controls what enters and leaves the cell, and a stiff cell wall outside it gives the cell its shape. Chloroplasts capture energy from sunlight so the plant can make food.
Card B (social studies): From the 1200s to the 1400s, the Mali Empire controlled much of West Africa. Its wealth came from the trans-Saharan trade, in which camel caravans carried gold from West Africa north across the Sahara and brought salt south from the desert mines. Its ruler Mansa Musa helped make the city of Timbuktu a center of learning.
Card C (math): A store buys a jacket for $40 and sells it for 25% more. This increase is called a markup. The markup is 25% of $40, or $10, so the selling price is $50.
Procedure
One student reads the card aloud; each student marks the words he or she thinks are important, and the group compares
For every word they keep, the group writes the reason: topic word, in bold, repeated, defined in the text or needed for the main idea
Teacher key: Card A, cell (the topic, used five times), then nucleus, cell membrane, cell wall and chloroplasts (bold, each defined by its job); Card B, Mali Empire (the topic) and trans-Saharan trade (the source of its wealth; trans- means across); Card C, markup (bold, defined, and the whole problem depends on it) and percent. The group's gathering card should include a current source, such as a science glossary or a social studies atlas.
Discussion Questions
Which card's key word would you need for your own writing, not only for reading? Why?
What made a word not worth a full gathering card?
Modification for Distance Learning
Share the cards on a slide; each group highlights its chosen words and fills in a digital gathering card with a link to the source it checked.
3
Fix the Claim
15-20 minGroups of 4
Each group gets 6 claim cards. Each card uses a general academic or domain-specific word inaccurately. The group finds the problem word, explains what it really means, and rewrites the sentence so it is accurate.
Claim Cards
1. The median of 3, 8, 4, 10 and 5 is 4, because it is the middle number in the list.
2. An astronaut on the Moon has less mass than on Earth.
3. The long drought effected the wheat harvest.
4. The Mali Empire traded gold and salt, whereas camel caravans carried both across the Sahara.
5. A hypothesis is just a random guess.
6. The map's legend shows that 1 inch stands for 100 miles.
Procedure
Each student takes a card, underlines the inaccurate word, and says what the word really means
The group agrees on a rewrite and checks it with a glossary or dictionary
Teacher key: 1, the median is the middle value after the numbers are put in order, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, so the median is 5; 2, the astronaut has less weight, since mass, the amount of matter, stays the same; 3, the verb is affected; 4, whereas signals a contrast, so use and: "traded gold and salt, and camel caravans carried both"; 5, a hypothesis is a testable prediction based on what is already known; 6, the scale, not the legend, shows distance; the legend explains the symbols.
Discussion Questions
Which mistake would confuse a reader most, and why?
Why do scientists and historians care so much about using words accurately?
Challenge Variation
Each group writes two new claim cards from a science or social studies chapter, each with one inaccurate word, and trades them with another group.
03
Diagrams & Visual Aids
2 diagrams
Diagram 1: From Everyday Words to Precise School Words
Each row names one idea at three levels. General academic words, in the middle, are more precise than everyday words and work in many subjects. Domain-specific words, on the right, are the most precise and belong to one subject; all three examples here come from life science.
Diagram 2: A Gathering Card for a Key Word
When a word is important to comprehension or expression, a gathering card collects what a reader needs: the meaning in this subject, related words, an example and a non-example, and the source checked, followed by a sentence of one's own. The example is feudalism from Worked Example 5; a farmer who owns land outright is a non-example, because under feudalism land was held in return for loyalty and service.
04
Homework Assignment
~30 min
L.7.6 Homework: Acquire, Use Accurately and Gather
Directions: Complete all six problems. You may use a textbook glossary and a print or online dictionary. Use Diagram 2 as a model for Problem 5.
Part 1: Acquire (Problems 1-2)
Sort these words into general academic and domain-specific. For each domain-specific word, name its subject and write its meaning in that subject: perspective, tariff, coefficient, consequently, adaptation, convey, monsoon, acknowledge.
Over the next week, collect four important words or phrases from two different classes (two from each). For each, record the sentence where you found it, why it is important, its meaning in that subject, one related word and the source you checked.
Part 2: Use Accurately (Problems 3-4)
Each sentence uses a word inaccurately. Rewrite it accurately and explain the difference in meaning: (a) Photosynthesis is how animals break down food for energy. (b) The mode of 4, 6, 6, 9 and 10 is 10 because it is the largest number. (c) The Magna Carta was a law that gave every person in England the right to vote. (d) The data concluded that recess helps students focus.
Write an explanation of 5-7 sentences for a fourth grader of a process from one of your classes, such as how a volcano forms, how to find a percent of a number, or how a bill becomes a law. Use at least four domain-specific words or phrases and three general academic words. Underline them, and end with a short glossary that defines each domain-specific word in words a fourth grader would understand.
Part 3: Gather Vocabulary Knowledge (Problems 5-6)
Read the paragraph: The Moon's gravity pulls on Earth's oceans, raising the water in bulges on two sides of the planet. As Earth rotates, a coastline passes through the bulges, causing high tides, and between them, causing low tides. When the Sun, Moon and Earth line up at the new moon and the full moon, the tides are strongest; these are called spring tides. Choose the two words or phrases most important to comprehension, explain why, and make a gathering card for one of them with its meaning, a related word, an example, a non-example and your source.
You will give a one-minute talk in science class about why people should recycle aluminum cans. List three precise words or phrases you would need, gather the meaning of each from a reliable source (name the source), and write the first four sentences of your talk using all three accurately.
Rubric
Criterion
Full Credit (2 pts)
Partial Credit (1 pt)
No Credit (0 pts)
Acquiring Words
All eight words sorted with subjects and meanings; four complete entries from two classes
Most words sorted, or entries incomplete
Sorting or entries missing
Accurate Use
All four sentences fixed with clear explanations; explanation uses seven underlined words correctly with a glossary
Two or three sentences fixed, or some words misused
Words misused throughout
Gathering Knowledge
Strong reasons for the two key terms; gathering card complete with a named source
Card missing a part or reasons thin
No gathering card
Expression
Three precise words gathered with sources and used accurately in the talk
Words gathered but one misused or unsourced
Words not gathered
05
Quiz: 20 Questions
Interactive, with answers
Instructions
Questions 1-4 use the Wells excerpt in Guided Practice, Questions 5-9 use "The Otters and the Kelp Forest" in Closure, and Questions 10-13 use the math journal draft right after it; paragraph numbers are shown beside each text. The other questions use new sentences. Your score updates as you answer, and Reset quiz clears everything so you or your students can try again.
Multiple choice: pick an option to check it. Short answer: write your answer, then reveal the model answer.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In paragraph 1 of the Wells excerpt, what does the word cuneiform name?
Answer: B
Wells defines the word in the same sentence: the wooden styles "made wedge-shaped marks," so "the Sumerian writing is called cuneiform (= wedge-shaped)." A describes papyrus, which Wells mentions just before cuneiform. C describes the rock pictures earlier in paragraph 1. D describes a seal, from paragraph 2.
Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In paragraph 1, Wells calls papyrus "the first paper." A student checks a current encyclopedia. Which fact would it add?
Answer: C
Wells's phrase is a helpful clue, but a current source makes it precise: Egyptians made papyrus by pressing together thin strips of the reed's stem, while true paper, made from plant fibers mashed into pulp, was invented in China about 2,000 years ago. The English word paper comes from papyrus. A confuses papyrus with the clay of paragraph 1. B reverses where each material came from. D confuses papyrus with cuneiform.
Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In paragraph 2, a king or merchant would impress his seal "on any clay document he wished to authorize." What does authorize mean here?
Answer: A
The seal was a sign of the owner's approval, like a signature: pressing it on a document made the document official. Authorize is a general academic word used in history, science and law. B is a trap from the word author, which looks similar but does not fit a seal pressed on an agreement. C describes how the seal was made, not what it did. D describes the next sentence, "Then the clay was dried hard."
Question 4 of 20 · Short Answer
In paragraph 2, Wells writes that writing "made a continuous historical consciousness possible." Explain what this phrase means, and use one other detail from paragraph 2 to support your explanation. Then tell how you would check your meaning.
Model answer:Historical consciousness means people's awareness of their own past, and continuous means unbroken. Before writing, people could remember only what someone told them; with writing, records of laws, agreements and events lasted from one generation to the next, so people could know their history without gaps. Wells supports this when he says a king's command "could survive his death" and that clay records became "permanent," giving us "a great wealth of recovered knowledge." I would check the meaning by looking up consciousness in a dictionary and rereading the sentence with my definition in place. Rubric: 2 points for an accurate meaning, a supporting detail and a way to check; 1 point for an accurate meaning only.
Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which of these from "The Otters and the Kelp Forest" is a general academic phrase rather than a science term?
Answer: B
As a result (paragraph 3) signals cause and effect in any subject: history, math, science or English. The other three name ideas that belong to ecology, the science of how living things interact: a keystone species (paragraph 4), a food chain (paragraph 2) and urchin barrens (paragraph 3).
Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to paragraph 2, what is a consumer in science?
Answer: D
The passage defines it right after the word: consumers are "organisms that get their energy by eating other organisms." A is the everyday and social studies meaning, a reminder that the same word can mean different things in different subjects. B defines a producer, like kelp in paragraph 1. C is too narrow: urchins are consumers but not top predators.
Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In paragraph 3, what are urchin barrens?
Answer: A
The sentence before the term gives its meaning: urchins "ate the kelp down to bare rock," and "Scientists call these areas urchin barrens." The everyday word barren (empty, unable to grow things) is a clue too. B describes a healthy kelp forest. C and D add places the passage never mentions.
Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice
A student has time to study only one term before a quiz on "The Otters and the Kelp Forest." Which term is most important to comprehension of the whole passage?
Answer: C
The whole passage builds to the idea that one predator, the sea otter, holds the ecosystem together, and paragraph 4 names that idea: a keystone species. The term explains why the otters' loss in paragraph 3 turned forests into barrens. A, B and D are useful science words, but each explains only one sentence, not the main idea.
Question 9 of 20 · Short Answer
Using at least three domain-specific words from "The Otters and the Kelp Forest" accurately, explain what would likely happen to a kelp forest if sea otters disappeared from it again.
Model answer: Sea otters are predators that eat sea urchins, their prey. Without otters, the urchin population would likely grow quickly, because nothing would keep it in check. The urchins are consumers that graze on kelp, the producer at the bottom of this food chain, so they could eat the kelp down to bare rock and create urchin barrens. The fish, snails and crabs that use the kelp forest as a habitat would lose their home. This is why the otter is called a keystone species. Rubric: 2 points for a correct chain of effects with three domain words used accurately; 1 point for a correct chain with fewer than three words or one word misused.
Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In paragraph 3 of the math journal draft, the student writes, "The number you multiply the pounds by to get the cost stays the same every time." Which math phrase names this number accurately?
Answer: A
In a proportional relationship written as y = kx, the number k that multiplies x every time is the constant of proportionality; here c = 2.5p, so k is 2.5. B names the grid used for graphing. C names the largest number that divides two numbers evenly. D names the input, p, not the number it is multiplied by.
Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice
The draft says, "The rate is 2 over 5." Which revision states the unit rate accurately?
Answer: D
A unit rate compares a quantity to one unit of another: $5.00 ÷ 2 pounds = $2.50 per pound, and $10.00 ÷ 4 and $15.00 ÷ 6 give the same value. A and B state a rate, but not for one unit. C divides pounds by dollars (2 ÷ 5 = 0.4), which is 0.4 pounds per dollar, and then labels it with the wrong units.
Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which revision of paragraph 4 of the draft uses math words accurately?
Answer: B
A proportional relationship graphs as a straight line through the origin, the point (0, 0), where 0 pounds cost $0. B names both ideas accurately. A replaces one vague word, fair, with another, equal. C confuses the relationship with its unit rate, which is a number ($2.50 per pound). D calls the points proportional and keeps the vague starts at the start.
Question 13 of 20 · Short Answer
The word origin has an everyday meaning and a math meaning. Explain both, tell why the math meaning is important to understanding the draft, and describe how you would gather knowledge about it.
Model answer: In everyday use, an origin is where something begins or comes from, such as the origin of a river. In math, the origin is the point (0, 0), where the x-axis and y-axis cross. It matters to the draft because a straight line through the origin is what shows the apple prices are proportional, and it is the accurate way to say what the student meant by "the beginning of the graph." To gather knowledge, I would read the definition in my math textbook's glossary, look at a graph that marks the origin, and write a sentence of my own, such as The line c = 2.5p passes through the origin because 0 pounds cost $0.Rubric: 2 points for both meanings, the reason it matters and a gathering step; 1 point for the math meaning only.
Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which sentence uses the word approximately accurately?
Answer: D
Approximately means close to but not exactly, so it fits a rounded trail length and a time estimate. A pairs it with an exact count. B uses it for an amount the sentence says must be exact. C uses it where no amount is given.
Question 15 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which sentence uses affect or effect accurately?
Answer: C
In most school writing, affect is a verb that means to influence, and effect is a noun that means a result. C uses the verb correctly: the schedule will influence arrival times. A and D need the noun effect (a serious effect, the medicine's effect). B needs the verb affect.
Question 16 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Read: Baking soda is a base, so a solution of it in water has a pH above 7. Which meaning of base fits this science sentence?
Answer: C
The sentence is about chemistry, and pH is measured for acids and bases: a base can react with an acid and neutralize it, and bases have a pH above 7. A is the math meaning, B the social studies and everyday meaning, and D the sports meaning. The subject of the sentence tells the reader which domain-specific meaning to use.
Question 17 of 20 · Multiple Choice
A textbook says: In this form of government, citizens elect representatives to make laws for them. Which domain-specific word names it?
Answer: A
A republic is a government in which citizens elect representatives who make the laws. A monarchy is ruled by a king or queen who usually inherits the throne. An empire is a group of lands and peoples under one ruler or state. Feudalism is the medieval system, from Worked Example 5, in which land was granted in exchange for loyalty and service.
Question 18 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which sentence uses the general academic word whereas accurately?
Answer: B
Whereas sets two contrasting facts side by side, as in frogs laying eggs in water and lizards on land. A only tells two events in time order (the otters returned, then the kelp grew back), so it needs after, not a word of contrast. C shows cause and effect, which needs so or and as a result. D adds a fact, which needs and.
Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer
Use the words analyze, analysis and analytical accurately in three sentences about one subject (science, math, social studies or English). Then explain how the three forms differ.
Model answer:In science class, we will analyze the temperature data from our experiment. Our analysis showed that the water in the sunny window warmed fastest. Maria's analytical questions helped the group notice a mistake in one reading.Analyze is a verb (to examine the parts of something closely), analysis is the noun for the examination or its result, and analytical is an adjective describing a careful, examining way of thinking. Rubric: 2 points for three accurate sentences and a correct explanation of the forms; 1 point for two accurate sentences.
Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer
A student reads in a history book: The empire collected tribute from the cities it conquered. The student does not know the word tribute. Is it important to comprehension of the sentence? Explain, then describe how the student should gather knowledge about it, and give its meaning in this subject.
Model answer: Yes. The sentence is about what the empire took from the conquered cities, and tribute names it, so the main idea depends on the word. The student should first use context (an empire "collected" it from cities it "conquered," so it is probably payment), then check a social studies glossary or dictionary, because the everyday meaning of tribute (something said or done to honor a person) does not fit. In history, tribute is a payment of money or goods that a ruler or state demands from conquered peoples as a sign that they submit. The student could list related words, such as tax and conquest, and write a sentence of his or her own. Rubric: 2 points for explaining why the word matters, a gathering plan with a reliable source, and the history meaning; 1 point for two of the three.
0 of 20 answered · 0 correct
06
Frequently Asked Questions
10 Questions
What does L.7.6 mean?
L.7.6 means that seventh graders learn and use accurately the academic and subject words of their grade.
It also asks them to gather knowledge about a word or phrase whenever it matters for understanding a text or for saying exactly what they mean.
What is the difference between general academic and domain-specific words?
General academic words work across subjects; domain-specific words belong to one subject.
Approximately, whereas and perspective appear in history, science and math with the same meaning. Cuneiform, chloroplast and coefficient each belong to one class. Some words, such as revolution and base, are domain-specific in more than one subject, with a different meaning in each.
Is L.7.6 the same as L.6.6?
The wording is the same; the words and texts get harder.
Grade 7 reading brings longer academic words, more subject phrases such as constant of proportionality, and more words with different meanings in different classes. Students are also expected to use word families and to check older sources against current ones.
What does "use accurately" mean in L.7.6?
It means the word fits the subject, the sentence and the facts.
A student who writes "the median is the middle number" without ordering the data, or "the experiment proves" after one trial, has used a real academic word inaccurately. Accurate use also means the right form, such as the verb affect and the noun effect.
How do students know which words are worth gathering knowledge about?
A word is worth gathering if the main idea depends on it or if the student needs it to express an idea.
Clues include a word in a heading or in bold, a word that names the topic, a word that keeps coming back, and a word the text stops to define. A word that appears once and does not affect the main idea can usually be skipped.
What goes on a gathering card?
The word's meaning in the subject, related words, an example and a non-example, the source checked, and the student's own sentence.
Diagram 2 shows one for feudalism. The own sentence matters most, because it shows the student can use the word accurately, not only recognize it.
Why does an L.7.6 lesson use a history book from 1922?
Older texts are full of domain-specific words, and they show why a current source matters.
Wells's account of the first writing uses words such as cuneiform, papyrus and seal, but some of his dates are out of date. Checking them against a current reference is part of gathering vocabulary knowledge.
Is L.7.6 only for English class?
No. It is an English standard, but the words come from every subject.
Science, social studies and math teachers teach domain-specific words every day, and the Common Core literacy standards for history and science ask students to determine the meaning of those words in context.
How is L.7.6 assessed?
L.7.6 is usually assessed through reading and writing tasks.
Students may be asked what a word means in a passage, which word fits a subject, or which revision uses a term correctly. In writing, teachers look for precise academic and subject words used correctly.
How can parents help with academic vocabulary at home?
Ask your child to teach you one word from a class each week.
Have your child explain what the word means in that subject, use it in a sentence, and tell you where they checked it. Words with a different everyday meaning, such as mass, current or range, make good conversations.
07
Related Standards
6 standards
These standards connect to L.7.6: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.
Before this lesson
L.6.6Prerequisite
Acquire and use grade 6 academic and domain words; gather vocabulary knowledge
