Oh no! My child is not learning on grade level! Is it their vocabulary? Vocabulary is essential to understanding what is read. Is this hurting my child’s comprehension? Learning how to read is essential to be successful in school and to achieve a successful lifestyle. Whether a child elects to attend a 4-year college, community college, technical college, or military, reading is necessary.
So you ask, what is vocabulary, really? It is knowledge of a word that not only implies a definition, but also how the word fits into the world. As a parent, your child should be adding from 2,000 to 3,000 words each year to their reading vocabulary, according to Michael Graves, Vocabulary Book Learning and Instruction. I know you are thinking, WOW, how are they going to do that?
This would include words such as do, did, does, etc. That counts as three words. These are called word families.
There is a correlation between word knowledge and reading comprehension. If a student doesn’t understand vocabulary words, understanding what is read is going to be difficult. However, it is important to understand that vocabulary knowledge is never mastered. It just continues to deepen over a lifetime. Learning vocabulary helps you to communicate in a more powerful, persuasive and creative way.
There is a difference between oral vocabulary and written vocabulary. A child may understand a word that is spoken by mouth but may not have any idea what it looks like written. The opposite may happen, they may know what it is written, but may be mispronouncing and not know what the word is spoken.
It was once thought that learning words indicated you were to look them up in a dictionary and that was the end of the learning. However, more and more instructors are using vocabulary strategies such as linking words to images. Teachers begin to present words using images of what the word could be and what it is not. Word knowledge improves when student is able to connect the word with an image. The brain then stores the picture of the word. Then the word is learned with associations and connections.
A mom or dad, can help your child learn vocabulary words with multiple exposures which will significantly increase their word knowledge. The child needs to see the words in different texts and just talking about the word. This gets the child involved and really thinking about the meaning of the word.
Let’s look at the word: DRIVE. There are several definitions, but we will discuss three main ones.
1. Drive: to drive a car.
2. Drive: a computer hardDRIVE.
3. Drive: to force your point across in a discussion.
Ensuring a student is aware of each definition and when to use the word is important in comprehension.
Adequate reading comprehension is understanding 90-95% of the words you read. To achieve this goal, the more you read, the more vocabulary you obtain.
So, what can a parent do? Pleasant Valley Elementary School in Groton, CT has excellent parent tips for helping your student build their vocabulary knowledge. Some of their tips include: read daily, play verbal games, have your student to classify and group words. Vocabulary strategies for a parent to help their student are not difficult and need absolutely no preparation.
Dr. Johnson has taught reading for elementary and middle school students for over 20 years. She has information on vocabulary strategies on G.A. Educational Learning Center, LLC G.A. Educational Learning Center, LLC. To have the opportunity to work more closely with your child, you may want to join Empowernetwork.Empowernetwork
