More to Know: Students Read Their Way into a Robust Vocabulary According to the research, the majority of vocabulary growth occurs not as a result of direct instruction, but as the result of reading voluminously (Cunningham and Zibulsky, 2014). Effective teachers of reading know that for students to own a word, they need to see it used in meaningful contexts multiple times. By reading voluminously, students are frequently exposed to words in meaningful contexts, thus increasing their opportunities to learn new words. Even a moderate amount of daily independent reading of trade books has a positive impact on vocabulary growth. Students at all levels who read independently acquire thousands of new words as the result of reading more. Cunningham and Zibulsky explain: It is estimated that an 18-month-old learns an average of five new words a day in order to develop a receptive vocabulary of around 8,000 words by the time the child is six years old. At the time of high school graduation … the average student knows approximately 40,000 words. In order for a child to increase his vocabulary from 8,000 to 40,000 words in roughly 12 years, he needs to learn approximately 32,000 words between first grade and twelfth grade (i.e., seven words a day, every day of the year for 12 years) … When we consider that the average school program of direct vocabulary instruction covers only a few hundred words and word parts per year, it seems evident that the type of vocabulary development that is necessary for skilled reading is beyond the scope of even the most intensive programs of vocabulary instructio n. Effective teachers of reading know that encouraging their students to read trade books, both in and out of school, is the best way to bolster their vocabulary. As books are rich in academic language, the extended reading of trade books not only increases vocabulary in terms of quantity, but it also enhances vocabulary in terms of quality. “Written language, including the language found in children’s books, is far more sophisticated and complex than is spoken language, even that of college educated adults” (Scharer, 2018; Cunninghamand Zibulsky, 2014; Allington, 2012; Hayes, 1988). Compared towritten language, spoken language is “lexically impoverished.” Decontextualized Language Why is written language so different from conversational language? Shelebine (2001) provides two primary reasons that involve differences in function and degree of contextualization: • Though a common purpose of conversational language entails “the negotiation of interpersonal relationships,” written language more often seeks to communicate novel or cognitively demanding information (Snow, 1991). • The task of written communication is further complicated because it is decontextualized. Writers do not know their readers, are not speaking to them in person, cannot use contextual cues such as gestures and intonation, and cannot negotiate meaning interactively; therefore, written language in general, and vocabulary, in particular, must be explicit.
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CHAPTER 2: READING
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