How thoughtful teaching and modelling of vocabulary can make a real difference to children's outcomes

Educational inequality starts at a very young age, and early language development is at the heart of it.

Children growing up in neighbourhoods with high levels of economic deprivation are likely to score significantly lower in standardised language assessments than their peers (Early Intervention Foundation, 2017). As a result, the prospects for those young children can look bleak. The Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) report that children with poor vocabulary skills at age 5 are more likely to:

• have difficulties learning to read

• experience unemployment and mental health problems as adults

The EIF argue that “allowing less well-off children to fall behind in their language development risks undermining their life chances and perpetuating a cycle of disadvantage and poverty”’.

More positively, however, research evidence tells us that this inequality is not inevitable. There are steps educators can take to help children buck the trend and succeed in school and life.

Researchers also suggest that it’s valuable for us to take an approach which is positive, joyful, and engaging in order to help all children thrive.

Many causes for optimism

The Education Endowment Foundation’s Early Years Evidence Store summarises effective ways to support children’s language development, including their vocabulary. The Store explains that educators should use both explicit and implicit practices to teach and model vocabulary.

We can be optimistic about the impact of these sorts of evidence-informed approaches to teaching children new words and supporting their wider language development. For example, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (Roulstone et. al., 2007) tells us that:

• children’s understanding and use of vocabulary, and their use of two-three word sentences at 24 months, was very strongly associated with their readiness for school. , (even when adjusted for family income.)

• the communication environment is a more dominant predictor of early language than social background.

Thoughtful, engaging, and joyful

Some possible dangers when we are teaching vocabulary to young children are that we spoil the experience of storytime by constantly stopping to explain new words, or that children become disengaged when we keep repeating new words out of context.

Practice experience tells us that teaching vocabulary to young children is best when it i’s a fun and easy thing, helping children to feel comfortable with new and sophisticated words.

For example, the researchers Isabel Beck and Margaret McKeown (2018) suggest that after explaining what ‘commotion’ means, educators might talk with the children about where they’ve noticed a ‘commotion’ happening. Later in the day, the educator might jokingly say ‘there’s a bit of commotion going on’ during tidy-up time.

Or, we might pause on the word ‘acquire’ and explain that it can mean getting something you really want. Later we might say how we ‘acquired’ a new bike or even comment on one of the children being absent because they ‘acquired’ an illness.

It’s crucial that we ensure that teaching and modelling vocabulary is a positive, joyful, and engaging experience for the children.

Long term impact

Vocabulary knowledge helps children to make progress and enjoy reading as they go through primary school and beyond.

Early language development provides the crucial foundations for later reading comprehension. Just as learning phonics helps children to become fast and accurate in their decoding, having a broad vocabulary helps children to recall speedily the meaning of a word. This enables them to free up their attention to focus on the meaning of the whole sentence or text they are reading.

Looking at the impact of children’s early communication and language over the long term, the British Cohort Study (Shuey and Kankaraš, 2018) found that children who are better communicators at age 5 will go on to:

• become better readers at age 11

• get better exam results at age 16

• gain higher-paid employment as adults

• be more likely to complete a degree by age 30

• be healthier into their 40s and beyond.

Reflective questions

Drawing on the work of Margaret McKeown and Isabel Beck (2018), here are some useful questions to ask yourself about your approach to teaching and modelling vocabulary.

Do you:

• Introduce words through explanations in everyday language?

• Provide and model several contexts in which the word can be used?

• Encourage children to use and interact with word meanings right away?

• Provide examples, situations and questions that are interesting?

• Provide many encounters for the children with target words?

Find out more

You can find out more about teaching and modelling vocabulary in the EEF’s Early Years Evidence Store, including a summary of the research, practice examples, and video exemplification.