Vocabu-Lit
Grades 6-12
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(O’Connor, 1937)
Johnson O’Connor was an American psychometrician, researcher, and educator.
He is most remembered as being the father of modern education research and aptitude testing.
Having a robust vocabulary is the single best predictor of student
and career success.”
OVERVIEW
Why Teaching Vocabulary
Is Important
Vocabulary is key to reading comprehension.
Readers cannot understand what they are reading without knowing what
most of the words mean. A robust vocabulary allows students to understand
the nuances word meanings to better understand the exact meaning of an authors writing.
(Torgesen and Wagner, 2006)
Vocabulary exposure boosts confidence when tackling advanced literature and texts.
The more words that students have been exposed to the more confident they are when
tackling new and more complex literature.
Vocabulary knowledge usually comes before achievement, not because of it.
Academic Success
Deep vocabulary knowledge leads to strong reading comprehension demonstrated by success in all academic subjects.
Students with a robust vocabulary tend to score higher in all sections of the ACT, SAT, and other standardized tests.
— National Reading Panel
"Vocabulary plays an important role both in learning to read and in comprehending text: readers cannot understand text without knowing what most of the words mean.”
Reading
Writing
— Stahl and Kapinus, 2001
Vocabulary is the paint that creative writers use to construct a vivid literary picture. Vocabulary knowledge enables students to write in more interesting and creative ways. This encourages students to experiment and unlock their imaginations. (Laufer, 2013)
“When children ‘know’ a word, they not only know the word’s definition and its logical relationship with other words, they also know how the word functions indifferent contexts.”
Vocabulary is directly responsible for the ability to effectively communicate.
The more robust a student’s vocabulary the better they are at understanding what is being communicated and in turn, the better they are at being able to effectively communicate their own thoughts and ideas.