Basics: Vocabulary

A word is a small magic, a spell that can unlock the world.”

Jane Yolen

Vocabulary learning is all about the words we need to know to both understand what we hear and read, and to communicate clearly and with precision. Educators often consider four types of vocabulary: 

• Listening vocabulary refers to the words we need to know to understand what we hear. 
• Speaking vocabulary consists of the words we use when we speak. 
• Reading vocabulary refers to the words we need to know to understand what we read. 
• Writing vocabulary consists of the words we use in writing.

Vocabulary plays an important part in learning to read. Beginning readers must use the words they hear orally to make sense of the words they see in print. Kids who hear more words spoken at home learn more words and enter school with better vocabularies. This larger vocabulary pays off exponentially as a child progresses through school.

Consider, for example, what happens when a beginning reader comes to the word dig in a book. As she begins to figure out the sounds represented by the letters d, i, g, the reader recognizes that the sounds make up a very familiar word that she has heard and said many times. It is harder for a beginning reader to figure out words that are not already part of their speaking (oral) vocabulary.

Vocabulary is key to reading comprehension. Readers cannot understand what they are reading without knowing what most of the words mean. As children learn to read more advanced texts, they must learn the meaning of new words that are not part of their oral vocabulary.

The scientific research on vocabulary instruction reveals that most vocabulary is learned indirectly and that some vocabulary must be taught directly. Thus, research supports using a combination of both indirect and direct approaches.