Many years ago an incidental observation of a struggling child reader provided me an opportunity to observe how a limited vocabulary has an impact on literacy skills.
Having worked with a child experiencing literacy difficulties for 30 hours of one-to-one intervention using the Phonology with Reading Programme, I noted that the child often struggled with vocabulary. In other words, in addition to her expected problems with phoneme weaknesses and letter knowledge, she also showed weaknesses in oral language (e.g. vocabulary).
She would attempt to give lots of information about an object in order to describe it but could not include key words. For example, when saying what a banana was she said "white, skin is yellow". She seemed unable to say "a fruit".
Over the past half a century, much research has taken place on what factors affect literacy development of young children and what factors hinder its development. This research continues because in spite of it many children are still not reaching the expected national standards at the end of key stage 1 and key stage 2 exams.
Between 2007 and 2011, 15 to 16 per cent of young children did not reach the expected standard for reading during the key stage 1 assessments. This increased to 18 to 20 per cent for key stage 2 examinations. This suggests that the number of children falling behind in reading increases with further schooling. It appears to be that the "rich get richer while the poor get poorer".
According to the Reading Panel (2000), the core components of reading include phonemic awareness, phonics and word study, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. Limited reading practice is said to inhibit vocabulary development, which increases the difficulty with reading and can lead therefore to a reduction in reading satisfaction.
It is therefore critical that as professionals we increase the opportunities for reading with our young children. This includes being read to.
Much research has been carried out with regard to teaching reading and it has established a definite link between developing phonological skills and learning to read. Phonological awareness has been one of the most widely studied predictors of reading. As a result of this evidence, certainly in the UK, the teaching of phonics has become the norm and is taught daily to beginner readers. However, vocabulary is also one of the five components of reading instruction essential to teaching children to read.
Vocabulary can be described as the "glue" that holds stories, ideas and concepts together. It allows us to express our ideas and communicate effectively. The direct teaching of vocabulary is not a daily occurrence in the vast majority of schools within the UK, albeit there is evidence to support the advantages of vocabulary teaching.
There is a high correlation between academic success and vocabulary size. If children do not adequately and steadily grow their vocabulary knowledge, reading comprehension will be affected. As a result, teachers need to carry out more vocabulary instruction. It is suggested that the number of new words to be learned each year is exceedingly large and on average children should be learning 2,000 to 3,000 words annually.
This is challenging for some pupils in our schools who have significant hurdles in their path: those with limited or no knowledge of English, those who do not read outside of school.
The Texas Reading Initiative (2002) suggests that those who read for 21 minutes per day out of school read almost two million words per year compared to those who read for less than a minute outside of school where 8,000 to 21,000 words per year are read. From the first year of school, high-performing students know twice as many words as low performing students. This is the challenge facing us.
This is supported by the National Institute of Literacy (2001) which discusses socio-economic backgrounds and language use in the home, which can significantly influence opportunities to expand vocabularies.
Good oral language is directly linked to later success in reading. Pupils, who come to school with a reduced vocabulary find it more challenging to access meaning from reading and therefore read less because they find it more challenging.
As a result they learn fewer words. On the other hand, pupils with wider vocabularies read more because it is less challenging and as a result further increase their vocabularies.
That said, teachers in an everyday classroom can only focus on what they can do within the class. It is possible that with the requirement for the teaching of phonics daily and the year 1 phonics check that explicit teaching of vocabulary has been overlooked.
So how can we teach vocabulary in class? There are two methods of teaching vocabulary: direct and indirect. Direct teaching means teaching specific words such as pre-teaching vocabulary prior to reading or writing. It is estimated that pupils can be taught 400 words per year in school using this method.
For example, children can be explicitly taught synonyms based on words currently found in their reading text. Initially check that children understand the meaning of the "original" word and then introduce the synonym. The teaching should be multi-sensory wherever possible, for example using chalk to write words in the playground or using letter cubes to make word or alternative methods subject to age. Children that have taken part in this have enjoyed learning new words and have as a result increased their "word consciousness".
Word consciousness refers to their interest and enjoyment of learning and finding out about words. On a visit to a castle, one of the children involved in direct teaching said to the teacher "you would have to be wealthy to live here", two weeks after having looked at synonyms for the word "rich".
During their spare time the children were drawing pictures and writing about what they had drawn using the new vocabulary. One child drew a picture of her and her father racing in a park and wrote "My dad is nimble". Nimble being one of the synonyms taught for fast. Another child wrote "the cat is nimble and enormous and beautiful and it canters". This child managed to use three of the learned vocabulary words in one sentence (canters being the synonym taught for run).
The children experiencing direct teaching were keen to talk and use the new words. Children were using their natural curiosity and showing an interest in the language/vocabulary. The development of good oral skills not only leads to success in reading (as previously mentioned) but also to the development of life communication skills. Direct instruction also includes the analysis of word roots, suffixes and prefixes.
Indirect instruction includes exposing pupils to lots of new words and having them read a lot. It includes helping pupils appreciate new words and experience enjoyment and satisfaction in their use. The classroom can have a vocabulary board and children can be surrounded by vocabulary.
It is therefore recommended that:
- Vocabulary should be taught directly and indirectly.
- Repetition and multiple exposure to vocabulary are important.
- Learning in rich context is valuable for vocabulary learning.
- Teachers should not be dependent on a single vocabulary learning strategy.
What is not in debate is the fact that vocabulary teaching needs to take place in schools, although it has not occupied a leading role in most classes. As mentioned, this may be because of the current emphasis on phonics teaching. Although it may also be about seeing the connections between pedagogy and research and how to execute or implement it during already busy days. What we must remember is that simple activities can enhance vocabulary opportunities and can be done daily.
For example, a single book reading is enough to significantly improve children's new expressive vocabulary. Of 10 target words in the stories it has been found that after one week five-year-olds remembered more than four-year-olds. Therefore ensuring that story reading across all key stages continues in an already pressed timetable is critical. This should be planned for.
Storybook readings help teach children meanings of unfamiliar words. Allowing children time for independent reading with a dictionary helps build up vocabulary knowledge. You can then ask them to find three to five new words and share their favourite with the class.
When reviewing how to teach reading, schools need to consider beyond simply teaching phonics. This is of particular significance when teaching children who enter school with a limited vocabulary and/or do not read out of school. To overcome these barriers, teachers need to consider carefully the strategies in place to enhance the development of vocabulary.
- Frances Robertson is the headteacher of St Joseph's Catholic Primary school in Kingston. She recently completed a Master's in specific learning difficulties (dyslexia) and has been a SENCO.