Vocabulary

Research shows a direct and positive relationship between vocabulary and academic success.  The more words a child knows the better they do in school and the quicker they pick up new words. (Resnick, 2009, pp.15) The sensitive age growth period is 4 to 9 years of age. Each person has three facets to vocabulary, breadth, depth, and speed.

1. Breadth
Breadth is how many words you know.  Most 2 1/2 year old children have 500 words, 3 year old children learn 6+ words per day, and most 6 year old children know about 6,000 words.


Rare Words is a special case of breadth.  Rare word density can quite vary from families, settings, and ages. 

2. Depth
Depth is how much you know about the words you know.  To know a word you need to understand the concept, what work the word does, and the various situations it is used.

3. Speed
Speed is how fast you can get to the words you know.  For use of language, a child needs speedy access to use words in receptive and expressive language acts.

• RAN (Rapid Automatic Naming) is recall of common well known (over-learned) words.  You uses RAN (Vocabulary speed)when learning to read.

Cultural Differences


There is no distinction between Mainstream English and African American English.  Distinguishes between children with typically developing language and atypically developing language.

Parental Activities/Suggestions:

• Do not be hesitate to use words your child has not heard before
• Help your child understand new words
• When reading, talk about vocabulary, new words and what they mean
• Go someplace new and use words and new vocabulary related to the experience.

ACTIVITIES FOR BUILDING VOCABULARY

1. Vocabulary Toss

http://childparenting.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=childparenting&cdn=parenting&tm=16&f=20&su=p1097.10.147.ip_p284.13.342.ip_&tt=2&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/04/lp328-05.shtml

References

Griffin, P. (2012).  Language Vocabulary[Powerpoint Presentation]. Retrieved from lecture notes.

Resnick, L. B. et. al. (2008). Speaking and listening for preschool through third grade. University of Pittsburgh and The National Center on Education and the Economy. Washington, D.C.