We’ve made advancements in many areas - technology, science, and global/social issues, but, as an educator, one area I don’t see great advancements in is language and vocabulary development. As an avid reader I have noticed that when reading classics, such as Jane Eyre, that the intensity of vocabulary usage is such that I either need to carry around my dictionary or load the book on my e-reader so I’ll have dictionary access. When reading more contemporary novels, I don’t seem to have that problem. The National Reading Panel (NICHD, 2000) identified vocabulary as one of five major components of reading. Its importance to overall school success, and more specifically to reading comprehension, is widely documented.
By definition, vocabulary is generally referred to as "words used in language." In the world of education, we think of vocabulary as words and their meanings to help a student to grow academically. We often hear about vocabulary as students prepare for tests such as the SAT. Ideally, vocabulary should be a focus throughout a student’s academic career - not just to prepare for a test.
Educators have always recognized the correlation between vocabulary and reading comprehension. Students who struggle with reading tend to read less because understanding the text is more difficult. Pepper client, EngageNY, cites in an article, Why Teach Vocabulary, “Direct instruction in vocabulary can help arrest this cycle….explicit instruction can help students learn enough words to become better readers. Direct vocabulary instruction is useful for students at all ability levels, but it is particularly useful for beginning students who have a limited reading vocabulary and little exposure to incidental vocabulary learning outside of school.”
The National Reading Panel (NRP) provides eight elements for providing rich vocabulary instruction:
- Provide direct instruction of vocabulary words for a specific text.
- Repetition and multiple exposures to vocabulary items are important.
- Vocabulary words should be those that the learner will find useful in many contexts.
- Vocabulary tasks should be restructured as necessary.
- Vocabulary learning is effective when it entails active engagement that goes beyond definitional knowledge.
- Computer technology can be used effectively to help teach vocabulary.
- Vocabulary can be acquired through incidental learning.
- Dependence on a single vocabulary instruction method will not result in optimal learning.
NRP’s Review of the Current Research on Vocabulary Instruction states, “Vocabulary knowledge is knowledge; the knowledge of a word not only implies a definition, but also implies how that word fits into the world.”
Pepper’s Building Academic Vocabulary in Middle School and Building Academic Vocabulary in High School courses are designed to provide more strategic selection and instruction of vocabulary words to improve students' reading comprehension and deepen understanding of key content area concepts. You can check out this course, as well as other great options, by visiting the Pepper Course Library.
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