The Vocabulary Gap Vocabulary knowledge involves more than knowing word definitions or that the car is red. It is also about knowing how to find the meanings of unknown words and phrases, interpret literal vs. nonliteral language and understand shades of word meaning.
What is the vocabulary gap in the United States?
By 3 years of age, there is a 30 million word gap between children from the wealthiest and poorest families. A recent study shows that the vocabulary gap is evident in toddlers. By 18 months, children in different socio-economic groups display dramatic differences in their vocabularies.
Is the “vocabulary gap” widening between low-income children?
In recent years there has been growing concern about the “vocabulary gap” widening between children from different socioeconomic groups. By age three, it is believed that children growing up in poor neighborhoods or from lower-income families may hear up to 30 million fewer words than their more privileged counterparts.
Is there a vocabulary gap between rich and poor children?
By age 3, it is believed that children growing up in poor neighborhoods or from lower-income families may hear up to 30 million fewer words than their more privileged counterparts. A broad range of advocates, organizations, and researchers are tackling the vocabulary gap between rich and poor children.
Is there really a 30 million word gap?
Let's Stop Talking About The '30 Million Word Gap' : NPR Ed It's one of the most famous studies ever done on kids. It's often cited as a reason children from poor families struggle in school. But it may be neither 30 million words, nor exactly a gap.
How do you close a vocabulary gap?
But we can close the gap: by explicitly teaching a mere few hundred words well in the classroom, children grow their vocabulary exponentially by learning the related word families and having more tools to read independently with success. Children can go on to learn around 3,000 to 4,000 words annually.
What are the 4 types of vocabulary?
Vocabulary refers to the words we must understand to communicate effectively. Educators often consider four types of vocabulary: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Listening vocabulary refers to the words we need to know to understand what we hear.
What's the 30 million word gap?
When extrapolated to the words heard by a child within the first four years of their life these results reveal a 30 million word difference. That is, a child from a high-income family will experience 30 million more words within the first four years of life than a child from a low-income family.
What are the 3 types of vocabulary?
What are the Different Types of Vocabulary?Reading Vocabulary. A major part of vocabulary building is reading. ... Speaking Vocabulary. Speaking vocabulary comprises words you use while speaking. ... Writing Vocabulary. Your knowledge of spelling heavily influences your writing vocabulary. ... Listening Vocabulary.
What causes poor vocabulary?
Limited exposure to words The more words kids are exposed to, the stronger their vocabulary skills become. This includes being exposed to spoken and written words. Just talking with your child is one way to build vocabulary.
What is vocabulary example?
Vocabulary is the all the language and words either used or understood by a person or group of people. An example of vocabulary is all the words that a toddler understands. An example of vocabulary is the language used by doctors. noun. 11.
How many words does a child usually say by age 2?
Most kids say 1–2 words by 15 months and 3 or more words by 18 months. By 2 years old, most toddlers are saying even more words and can put together 2-word sentences. No matter when they say their first words, it's a sure bet they already understand much of what you say.
How many vocabulary words should be taught each week students?
For weekly vocabulary instruction, work with students to choose three to five new words per week. Select words that students will use or see most often, or words related to other words they know.
Why does the word gap exist?
The term 30-million-word gap (often shortened to just word gap) was originally coined by Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley in their book Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children, and subsequently reprinted in the article "The Early Catastrophe: The 30 Million Word Gap by Age 3".
What are the 5 types of vocabulary?
And the five types are academic words or multi-syllabic words, phrases, phrasal verbs, idioms and collocations. So these five things, these five vocabulary types are best learned through listening actually, not through reading.
How can I test my vocabulary level?
To find your vocabulary, count how many words you know among the words numbered 1 through 40, and multiply by 150. Then count the number of words that you know among words 41 through 70 and multiply by 600. Add the two subtotals together and this is your vocabulary.
How can we improve our vocabulary?
7 Ways to Improve Your VocabularyDevelop a reading habit. Vocabulary building is easiest when you encounter words in context. ... Use the dictionary and thesaurus. ... Play word games. ... Use flashcards. ... Subscribe to “word of the day” feeds. ... Use mnemonics. ... Practice using new words in conversation.
What are the 5 types of vocabulary?
And the five types are academic words or multi-syllabic words, phrases, phrasal verbs, idioms and collocations. So these five things, these five vocabulary types are best learned through listening actually, not through reading.
What are the major types of vocabulary?
There are four main types of vocabulary. These are reading, writing, listening and speaking vocabularies. A vocabulary means both a list of words and the range of words known by any one person. A person's vocabulary develops with age and learning.
What are the parts of vocabulary?
4 Components of Effective Vocabulary InstructionWord Connection. Students need to be able to connect the words they are trying to acquire with words and concepts with which they are already familiar. ... Significance. ... Context Clues. ... Word-Rich Environment.
What are the two types of vocabulary knowledge?
Vocabulary in English can be categorized into two types, namely- active and passive. The words that we use and understand in day-to-day language are termed as active vocabulary while the ones which we know but use rarely are said to be passive vocabulary.
The Vocabulary Gap
Vocabulary knowledge involves more than knowing word definitions or that the car is red. It is also about knowing how to find the meanings of unknown words and phrases, interpret literal vs. nonliteral language and understand shades of word meaning.
Putting the Pieces Together
Throughout the CCSS, vocabulary development is interwoven and often feels like a jigsaw puzzle with thousands of pieces. This can be daunting, however when educators learn how to put the pieces together, it creates a coherent picture of student success.
How to teach vocabulary?
The key to effective vocabulary instruction is to get creative and find ways to bring words to life. The use of interactive mini-games can be used with word lists to do so.
Who said that comprehension is 63% vocabulary?
Roger Farr , a former president of the International Reading Association and prominent author and researcher, has said that, “reading comprehension is 63% vocabulary.” (Full disclosure: in 2008, Flocabulary hired Dr. Farr’s research firm to design an instructional validation study for our vocabulary program.)
How many words do low income kids know?
According to Hirsch, by second grade, a child in the middle of the family income spectrum will know, on average, 6,020 words. A child in the bottom 25% of the income range will know just 4,168 words. This gap is caused in part by a lack of exposure to adult conversation in low-income households. These adults often work two or three jobs, which limits opportunities for reading stories at bedtime or having discussions around the dinner table. A 1995 study by Betty Hart and Todd Risley showed that, in a typical hour, the average child in a welfare home will hear only 616 words. A child in the average professional home will hear 2,153 words. This disparity creates a significant testing disadvantage for the low-income child.
Why is achievement so low?
Many researchers attribute the lower achievement to “opportunity gaps” such as a lack of educational resources at home, limited access to health-care, and even more subtle factors like test bias, stereotyping, and peer pressure. With so many social and cultural factors at play, the problem can seem insurmountable.
Is the socioeconomic achievement gap a vocabulary gap?
But according to Eric D. Hirsch, a prominent researcher and literary critic, the socioeconomic achievement gap is in part a vocabulary gap. Research suggests that greater vocabulary knowledge leads to higher test scores.
What is gap in a list?
gap Add to list Share. A gap is the space between two things. It can be physical (like "the gap between your two front teeth") or philosophical (like "the generation gap " between you and your parents).
What is a water gap?
water gap. a pass in a mountain ridge through which a stream flows. wind gap. a pass in a mountain ridge with no stream flowing through it. type of: mountain pass, notch, pass. the location in a range of mountains of a geological formation that is lower than the surrounding peaks.
What is the gap in the subway?
Gap is a small word that packs a lot; it can be used in a straightforward manner: in England, the signs in the subway station say, "Mind the gap" — in hopes that passengers will not wander into the space between the train and the platform. The American retailer, "The Gap," is said to have taken its name from the generation gap. The clothes were designed for teenagers and young adults, and therefore nothing your middle-aged parents would be caught dead in. Times change.
What is the generation gap?
The American retailer, "The Gap," is said to have taken its name from the generation gap. The clothes were designed for teenagers and young adults, and therefore nothing your middle-aged parents would be caught dead in. Times change.
Who is dedicated to closing the vocabulary gap?
In October 2013, Hillary Clinton, who is dedicated to closing the vocabulary gap, wrote:
What are the factors that contribute to the income gap in school?
The two factors that most explain the income-related gaps in school readiness are parentingstyles and home learning environments . This is actually good news because it means that if we can better equip parents with the knowledge and tools to succeed as their children’s first teachers—and mobilize them to act on that knowledge and use those tools—we could see a significant decline in both the vocabulary and school readiness gap.
What is the achievement gap between poor middle income and wealthy students?
According to researchers, most of the high school achievement gap between poor, middle-income and wealthy students is already visible by kindergarten and the children who have weak pre-literacy and numeracy skills in kindergarten are, on average, the same children with weak vocabulary and math skills in seventh grade.
How to build vocabulary for kids?
Talk morewith your child using lots of descriptive words to build his or her vocabulary.
Why Does Vocabulary Matter?
Vocabulary matters because readers cannot understand what they read without understanding what most of the words mean. Vocabulary is the foundational block upon which comprehension is built, and as such, is of critical importance to every content area and grade level throughout the entirety of a students’ academic career. In fact, one can hardly think of any academic activity that does not require word knowledge!
How to teach vocabulary in context?
One of our favorite ways to teach vocabulary in context is with Concept Maps.
What is the role of vocabulary in reading comprehension?
The study found vocabulary knowledge played a primary role in explaining individual differences in adolescent reading comprehension, with a correlation to lower achievement to race and lower SES.
What is a concept map?
Concept maps (also called webs or mind maps) are graphic organizers designed to help students link prior knowledge with new concepts by recalling or learning concept meanings, essential attributes, and characteristics. This strategy is especially effective prior to read passages of new information. After finishing the map, students will be able to read more efficiently, build new knowledge, and form a process for the recall of the information.
Is there research that supports teaching words in isolation?
There is no research that supports teaching words in isolation or having students look up their meanings in a dictionary, then memorizing their meaning and spelling. However, there is research that shows the harm of these practices to students’ desire to learn.
Do students need to close their gaps in vocabulary?
These findings corroborate the current understanding that students who start school with significant deficits in their word knowledge may need more to close their gaps than simply parents and caregivers who have been trained how to approach vocabula ry building at home.
Is there a word knowledge gap between students who come from economically advantaged backgrounds and those who live in poverty?
Despite the fact that researchers have closely tied vocabulary to reading comprehension for nearly a century (W hipple, 1925), there remains an alarming word-knowledge gap between students who come from economically advantaged backgrounds and those who live in poverty (Hart & Risley, 1995).
What is the 30 million word gap?
With all that in mind, here are six things to know about the 30 million word gap. 1. The original study had just 42 families. During the War on Poverty in the 1960s, Betty Hart, a former preschool teacher, entered graduate school in child psychology at the University of Kansas, working with Todd Risley as her adviser.
How many words do kids in poverty hear by age 3?
Did you know that kids growing up in poverty hear 30 million fewer words by age 3? Chances are, if you're the type of person who reads a newspaper or listens to NPR, you've heard that statistic before.
Do you need a reframing for the word gap?
Some boosters agree with critics that the "word gap" may need a reframing.
Is speech free?
Speech — unlike books or housing or health care — is free. If we could somehow get poor parents to speak to their children more, could it make a huge difference in fixing stubborn inequities in society?
Does the NPR commenter disagree with the idea that there is variation in how much adults speak to children?
She doesn't disagree that "there's variation in how much adults speak to children," but, she tells NPR, there shouldn't necessarily be a value judgment placed on that.