Running head: VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT 0
Vocabulary Development
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Running head: VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT 1
Vocabulary Development
Vocabulary includes familir words, phrases or knowledge within a particular language,
which identifies members of one dialectical group. In particular, vocabukary develops with age
where children gain wider scope of words, phrases and their contextual use as they grow.
Basically, vocabulary is developed in a person through constant communication where the range
of words and other language contexts expands with more interaction to peers or members who
share the same dialect. The process of acquiring more knowledge on use of words, phrases and
other contextual language parts is called vocabulary development.
Basically, vocabularly development helps individuls to communicate well and relate
with others on various topics or concepts that involve particular phrases or words. Vocabularly
development begins at an early age of one where infants begin to babble and gradually build on
two-lettered words extensively to more complex phrases (McDonough & González, 2019). In
this case, children gradually understand the four types of vocabularly, listening, speaking,
reading and writing while in school. Developing vocabulary in children s crucial as its growth is
closely associated with achievement in school. In particular, the scope of vocabulary acquisition
in children denotes their ability to read or learn different concepts in the language and other
disciplines.
Problem Statement
Acquisition of vocabularly is quite challenging in most children as the scope widens, especially
in school since they have to relate to others and their teachers. In this case, school children
encounter difficulties in comprehending new words or phrases, which slows down the process of
gaining the vocabulary in a given language.
Problem Background and Causes
For successful academic achievement in school, children need to acquire basic
vocabulary in the language as words lay foundation on which various disciplines are built on.
Children often face difficulties in reading and writing exercises if their vocabulary is limited,
therefore, more effort by instructors is often required at lower grades. Occasionally, children are
considered to have reading difficulties although the underlying problem in them related to
limited vocabulary acquisition (Oakhill & Cain, 2018). Comprehension skills in children
determine the level of vocabulary they acquire at a particular age where those with difficulties in
understanding meaning of words gain less knowledge on various contexts. In this case, children
with limited vocabulary can be identified when they show difficulties in either reading or writing
that is appropriate to their own level. Vocabulary is an outcome of comprehension in learners,
therefore, students who have difficulties in acquiring new phrases or words often experience
challenges in understanding language.
Limited vocabulary in children is attributed to various causes, which are mostly
associated with communication and interaction levels both at home and school. In particular,
lack of ommunication at home negatively affects how children acquire phrases and contextual
words, which leads to limited vocabulary as they grow (Ricketts et al., 2019). For instance,
children who are read to or encouraged to talk at a young age acquire wide range of expressions
and communication skills. Parents’ language use directly impacts the vocabulary acquisition in
their children since infants try to learn from the common phrases or words used at home.
However, failure of parents to communicate regularly at home hinders learning about language
in children who end up striving to relate and express themselves to peers and other people.
On the other hand, when a different language is involved, children often encounter
challenges towards acquiring a repertoire of phrases and knowledge on communication or
writing. Generally, learning a new language is challenging given the variety of words and
phrases that may apply in different contexts. In this case, learners who encounter new languages
in school different from the one spoken at home have difficulty in acquiring relevant word usage
and phrases for various settings. Students who learn a foreign language fall behind the others in
improving vocabulary and communication skills (Ricketts et al., 2019). When learners encounter
new languages different from the native ones, they experience challenges in finding correct
phrases to describe feelings or circumstances. The learners may have gaps in the language where
vocabularies lack to express themselves, which impends their knowledge and communication.
Research Questions
How does school experiences contribute to the development of vocabulary in children?
Topic and Problem Conclusion
Most children encounter challenges in developing vocabulary in their native and foreign
languages, especially in school. In this case, parents and teachers can help children develop more
vocabulary in school by encouraging communication in th language (Stoller & Grabe, 2018).
Also, since many children encounter problems in learning words and phrases, especially in
foreign languages, it is essential to converge school experiences towards developing vocabulary.
As a brosd concept, vocabulary development can be achieved to many students in class through
language lessons to improve communication skills in them.
Overview of the Literature
Vocabulary development is usually integraed into the curriculum and taught by teachers
through verbal communication skills. The skills are aimed at increasing literacy in children given
their difficulty in learning diverse phrases or concepts in the language. For instance, the English
Language Learners (ELL) whose native language is different often lag behind in reading or
writing certain words and phrases. Precisely, harmon (1999) describes vocabulary development
as application of extensive information through strategies that promote comprehension of variety
of words and phrases in a particular language. From the collection of words, children can
develop understanding of their use and contextual application through learning experiences. In
the school curriculum, vocabulary development can be incorporated through various exercises,
such as reading aloud, narrative analysis, deriving definitions of words, and reading
comprehension.
Reading aloud
The school curriculum should include sessions where learners conduct activities of reading
pieces of texts aloud to their peers. Basially, the sessions should ast between 30 to 45 minutes
to enhance comprehension snd participation by all students. Reading aloud texts in the
language makes the words and phrases more familiar to the learners and encourage
understanding of their meaning.
Narrative analysis
Teachers should encourage learners to identify new words and phrases in given texts so that
the meaning can be searched for. Through the analysis, children can easily relate the contexts
under which such words are used and their deductive meaning. The activity should last for
about 30 minutes in a day to encourage fast recognition and search of new words identified.
Reading comprehension
Teachers should carry out exercises on reading comprehension texts to students to expose them
to a variety of words in the language. In this case, the students are introduced to various
narrations that cover different aspects of life, which induces understanding in the language
(Oakhill & Cain, 2018). Also, few exercises on writing from the texts can be given to learners as
a method of encouraging comprehension. As a result, the students adopt different grammar usage
skills and reading phrases that seem difficult to understand at their level.
Summary
From the language acquisition methods applied in school, learners can understand diverse
vocabulary when school experiences are channeled towards understanding words and phrases. In
this case, the suggested approaches can be applied by the teachers to students in different levels.
Gradually, the procedures can build on the few words the learners may have adopted from texts
or literary works. Further, teachers can employ these methods and reinforce learning through
constant communication with the students, especially the ELL ones.
Discussion and Conclusion
Overview
Based on the review of the methods applicable in developing the vocabulary in children,
learners will diversify their knowledge in the languages taught in school. In this case, teachers
should stimulate the students’ interests in learning the language in school to build vocabulary in
them. exposure to comprehensive texts and reading out loud the words and phrases stimulates
learning and expands the vocabulary in the students over time (Wasik et al., 2016). By giving the
learners exercises, the teachers also promote self practice where students familiarize themselves
with new words or phrases. Besides, constantcommunication in school and at home triggers
understanding of contextual meaning of words that native speakers use. When children are
allowed to identify the difficult words from a text, they are encouraged to be autonomous in
learning and improving their vocabulary with little or no help.
Problem Solutions
Basically, the solution to the difficulties that children encounter involve the initiative by
teachers and parents who should help them understand new words. In this case, the teachers
should encourage and assist learners in reading texts in the language, which accounts for the
most part of acquisition. Also, parents should have constant communication with their children
to expose them to wide language use, especially through verbal means (O’rourke, 2019). At
school, the curriculum should be channeled towards practical exercises that will engage learners
towards improving language and vocabulary. Home assignments given to children will
encourage self acquisition of concepts in the language as the learners practice on spelling and
reading on their own. Similarly, parents can help their children to complete the assignments and
teach more words or phrases.
Strengths and Weaknesses
The strengths of the content analysis method applied in the research includes access to
unbiased information concerning vocabulary development. Further, the method availed data on
past experiences by teachers and learners in attempts to develop more vocabulary in children.
For instance, the data on challenges faced by the ELL students in school reflected similar
concerns in other language learners across the country. In this case, the data obtained was
reliable in the research as conclusions obtained echoed the problems speculated before the study
was conducted. However, the data collection method presented limited information on the
challenges that teenagers face as they build complex vocabulary concepts. For this reason, the
early stages of vocabulary development wee covered.
Further Investigation
From the research conducted in children at early school ages, vocabulary development
can be improved through collaboration of school administrators and teachers. As an
advancement to this study, vocabulary development can be investigated across different schools
to assess the contribution of administrators in the course. In this case, further studies can cover
the number of sessions allocated for foreign language learners, which impacts on vocabulary
development over time.
References
McDonough, K., & González, T. H. (2019). Collaborative Prewriting Discussions and ESL
Students’ Vocabulary Development: LREs and Depth of Engagement. In Evidence-Based
Second Language Pedagogy (pp. 105-122). Routledge.
O’rourke, J. P. (2019). Toward a science of vocabulary development (Vol. 183). Walter de
Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.
Oakhill, J. V., & Cain, K. (2018). Aspects of vocabulary development.
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Ricketts, J., Lervåg, A., Dawson, N., Taylor, L. A., & Hulme, C. (2019). Reading and Oral
Vocabulary Development in Early Adolescence. Scientific Studies of Reading, 1-17.
[Link]
Stoller, F. L., & Grabe, W. (2018). Innovative Strategies for Vocabulary Development. The
TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching, 1-8.
[Link]
Wasik, B. A., Hindman, A. H., & Snell, E. K. (2016). Book reading and vocabulary
development: A systematic review. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 37, 39-57.
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