General Information and Findings
"All my life I've looked at words as though seeing them for the first time." -Ernest Hemingway
What's the big deal?
- There is a strong correlation between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension.
- Children with well-developed vocabulary knowledge do better in school and move ahead faster.
- During their school careers, students will be asked to read more than 180,000 words. This means they will need to learn 3,000 to 4,000 words each year.
- Teachers should strive to teach 400 words per year in order to affect comprehension.
- Children need 6 to 12 exposures to a word before they really learn it.
- Traditional instructional methods using a dictionary to define words do not help students learn words. When students are asked to write sentences after looking up words in a dictionary, 60% are found to be unacceptable.
- Introducing words using student-friendly definitions do help students learn new words. Students can use dictionaries and thesauruses to find synonyms and antonyms of the target word.
- When children learn patterns and networks of words, they are building "word schemas". Word Schemas help students infer words from context.
- Rich conversations with adults and peers help students to develop comprehension and extended word networks.
- Vocabulary instruction needs to be intentional and systematic in order to be effective.
Statistics
- The highest rate of vocabulary development occurs during the pre-school years.
- Effective vocabulary intervention can ameliorate reading difficulties later on. Children with resolved vocabulary delays can do on to achieve grade-level expectations in 4th grade and beyond.
- The quality, quantity and responsiveness of teacher and parent talk can effectively mediate socioeconomic status, thereby ensuring children's growth in receptive and expressive vocabulary.
- Gains in oral vocabulary development can predict growth in comprehension and later reading performance.