Vocabulary Influences Reading Proficiency
Vocabulary is directly related to reading success. Understanding the vocabulary used in a text is a crucial element in the intricate tapestry of reading impacting student success in the classroom. Vocabulary instruction must be seamlessly integrated into every aspect of the curriculum, influencing all subjects that a student studies during their education.
Researching the Connection Between Vocabulary Knowledge and School Success.
Regardless of a child’s age, the act of being read and hearing new words to plays a critical role in nurturing vocabulary development.
A significant study conducted by researchers at Ohio State University (Logan, Justice, Yumus, & Chaparro-Moreno, 2019) reveals the profound impact that daily reading can have on young children.
Their findings indicate that a child who is read just one book each day is likely to hear approximately 290,000 more words by the time they reach age five compared to peers who do not frequently engage in shared reading experiences with their parents or caregivers.
Over the last decade, scholars have increasingly acknowledged vocabulary as a significant factor in school success. The size of a student’s vocabulary contributes to the achievement gap observed between students from advantaged backgrounds and those from disadvantaged circumstances (Baumann and Kameenui, 1991; Stanovich, 1986).
This disparity has prompted states and school districts to prioritize vocabulary instruction across all grade levels as a vital component of effective teaching.
Research conducted by Stahl and Nagy in 2006 demonstrated a strong correlation, ranging from .85 to .95, between a person’s vocabulary knowledge and their ability to comprehend texts.
Ryder and Graves (1994) identified limited vocabulary knowledge as a key factor contributing to academic failure among students. Enhancing vocabulary is not merely a supplementary aspect of education but rather a fundamental necessity for student success.
How Does Reading Impact Vocabulary?
One of the most effective strategies for enriching students’ vocabulary is through extensive reading. Research shows that 25% to 50% of an individual’s vocabulary growth arises from incidental learning gained through context while engaging with reading materials (Nagy, 1987; Anderson and Nagy, 1991).
Encouraging extensive reading among students is vital for closing the vocabulary gap that exists in our education system.
For instance, consider a 5th grader who dedicates an hour each day to independent reading, occurring five days a week, at a conservative pace of 150 words per minute.
Over a school year, this routine could facilitate exposure to a staggering total of around 2,250,000 words. If such a student encounters 5% to 10% new words within their reading materials, it could result in the addition of at least 2,250 new words to their vocabulary, significantly enhancing their linguistic abilities (Herman, Anderson, Herman, Pearson, & Nagy, 1987; Nagy, Anderson & Herman, 1987; Nagy, Herman & Anderson, 1985).
On average, students typically acquire around 2,000 to 3,000 new words each year, translating to approximately six to eight new words daily (Anderson & Nagy, 1991).
Even reading for just ten minutes a day can lead to an impressive growth in vocabulary, with students potentially learning about 1,000 new words within a year (Cunningham and Stanovich, 1998).
A student who reads an average of 3,000 words daily could experience exposure to about 10,000 new words per year, and if only 2% to 5% of these words are unfamiliar, the total would result in an exposure range of approximately 45,000 to 112,500 new words each year.
For high school students, the potential for vocabulary growth is even more significant. If a student takes five subjects each day and learns ten new words in each class, they could acquire a remarkable total of 1,800 new words during the school year solely from content-related reading. This level of vocabulary expansion would greatly contribute to their overall linguistic development.
The Type of Text Read Matters
Researchers have discovered that informational texts tend to include a greater variety of rare words compared to narrative texts.
Before the revision of state standards beginning in 2009, research indicated that elementary and middle school teachers relied on informational texts a mere 7% to 15% of the time during instruction (Hoffman et al., 1994; Moss and Newton, 2002; Yopp and Yopp, 2006).
This practice resulted in missed opportunities for exposing students to richer and more diverse vocabulary experiences. In recent years, there has been a commendable effort among educators to improve this aspect of instruction.
Vocabulary and Reading Success Through Wide-Reading
Research has linked wide reading as a key instructional strategy to help students develop the comprehensive vocabulary they need for success in college and career.
When direct, systematic vocabulary instruction is thoughtfully combined with what students learn through reading complex, grade-level texts, robust vocabulary growth is achieved, facilitating increased success in their academics and career opportunities.
If you liked this article, you may like: Academic Vocabulary in the Classroom or 5 Tips for Building Student Vocabulary.
If you want more information on helping students expand their vocabulary in the classroom, check out Karen’s book, Literacy Strategies for Grades 4-12: Reinforcing the Threads of Reading.
