The Importance of a Rich Vocabulary

As we continue to identify areas where our students need to improve, we often come back to the fact that many students today are weak in vocabulary.  What exactly does that mean?  As children grow and develop, their brain is acquiring knowledge through everything they see, do and hear.  When children go on vacations and experience new foods and places, they learn new words.  As children hear adults talk, they learn new words and ideas.  When children read books, hear stories and engage in conversation, they are learning new words.
In the fast paced technological society in which we live and as poverty is growing throughout the country, children often do not have a vast range of experiences.  Conversations are more limited as technology takes the place of face to face interactions.  Children watch movies while traveling which may limit the number of "what's that" questions as they see unfamilar sights out the car window.  The list could go on, and this is not to say that technology is a "bad" thing.  It has changed the dynamics of learning which, like everything, has a ripple effect.
As the curriculum today becomes more rigorous, students are introduced to many complex concepts.  Students must have a vocabulary that gives them the words needed to understand the concept.  We have noticed that often when a test question on a national or standardized test is missed, it is because of a student's lack of vocabulary.  The student may have known the skills needed to solve the problem or answer the question, but the student did not understand the question because of unfamiliar words.
So...what can we do?
As teachers we need to make vocabulary acquistion about more than a list of words each week.  New vocabulary terms must be first taught and then used in context many times throughout the week.  Students need to see the vocabulary words used in books or other literature, and they need to hear the words used appropriately in dialogue.
As parents we need to constantly be exposing our children to new words and to new experiences.  We need to encourage them to look around and find things that are unfamiliar.  Use the Internet to show your child videos of historical events or important places or even "things" that they may have never seen.  In a third grade story our students read about the Wright Brothers first flight, this sentence is used:  "The Flyer was launched into the sky."  "Launched" is one of the vocabulary words.  Many students have never seen anything launch.  Think about how much more powerful this sentence is if the student has seen an airplane leave the ground.  You might be surprised at how many students have never actually seen an airplane take off and/or land.  Experiences that you and I might take for granted or might not associate with learning are important to vocabulary development.
Let's all work to increase our own vocabulary and to help children increase theirs.


One forgets words as one forgets names. One's vocabulary needs constant fertilizing or it will die.

Evelyn Waugh