Teaching vocabulary
I've been noticing that my students have been struggling with vocabulary for many years. When I did my master's degree (through Walden University back in the last century), I did my master's project on effective vocabulary instruction, so I read a lot of vocabulary research back then. It turns out, things haven't really changed. In "Young Children" July 2010, Tanya Christ and and X. Christine Wang tell us Some children come to school know- ing far fewer words than others. Hart and Risley (1995) studied young chil- dren’s vocabulary development and found that when children from families with low incomes were 3 years old, they knew 600 fewer words than children the same age from families with upper incomes. By grade 2, the gap widens to about 4,000 words (Biemiller & Slonim 2001). At my school, they are so concerned about the gap that they've purchased a new amazing vocabulary instructional program that only takes ...