The English Teacher’s Guide to Word Choice in the Classroom
Small changes in the way we speak to students can improve rapport and engagement.
When I first stepped into the classroom eight years ago, I quickly found myself overwhelmed. In between creating lesson plans, assessing work, and managing behavior, thinking about word choice was one of the last things on my mind.
Once I found my rhythm, however, I was better able to reflect on the nuances of my teaching practice. As an English teacher, one of the practices that caught my attention involved the way I spoke to my students. Like most teachers, I understood that tone matters; whether in school or at home, how information is delivered can sometimes trump what information is delivered. At the same time, I was beginning to recognize the importance of word choice in the classroom. More specifically, I realized that the words I used with students — and the words I didn’t — had a significant impact on rapport and engagement.
Over the years, I’ve created a list of classroom words and phrases with more negative connotations that I routinely swap for words and phrases with more positive connotations. The most common changes I make include:
- Assignment to Activity
- Conference to Coaching Session
- Homework to Prep
- Log to Field Journal
- Requirement to Expectation
- Review to Refresh
- Rubric to Performance Criteria
- Work to Exploration
- Worksheet to Graphic Organizer
- Work Time to Exploration Time
Intentional word choice can also promote inclusion (e.g., using gender-neutral language like “scholars” instead of “ladies and gentlemen”) and emphasize agency (e.g., instructing students to “choose from a list of questions” instead of “answer the questions”). While these changes are subtle and might never shift from the unconscious to conscious minds of students, they help to create a positive classroom culture and motivate students to engage in the content.
As we make these changes, however, we must ensure that our word choice reflects reality. If a worksheet is truly a graphic organizer, for example, then it must feature visuals that enable students to determine the relationship between ideas. To do otherwise is to euphemize the actual classroom experience and patronize our students.
Novelist Natsume Soseki once remarked, “Words are not meant to stir the air only: they are capable of moving greater things.” Let’s make sure we’re deliberate about using words that empower our students.
