Topic: Vocabulary

Pre-School

10-second review: Facts about developing pre-school vocabulary that I sure did not know.

Title: “Missing in Action: Vocabulary Instruction in Pre-K.” SB Neuman and J Dwyer. Reading Teacher (February 2009), 384-392. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).

Summary/Quote: “Talk may be cheap, but it’s priceless for developing young minds. Research confirms the importance of language interaction and its profound influence on vocabulary development and reading proficiency.” p. 384.

“In Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of young American Children, Hart and Risley’s (1995) landmark study of early language development, children who scored highest in reading and math at age 10 were reported to have heard 45 million words from birth to age 3 or about 30,000 words per day, compared with those children who scored lowest, at 13 million words.” p. 384.

“Trends in the amount of talk—the actual trajectory of vocabulary growth—and the styles of interaction were well established at 3 years old, only a harbinger of greater gaps to come.” p. 384.

“It’s not only the quantity but the quality of talk that plays such an important role in children’s lives and future possibilities.” p. 384.

Comment: Those statistics certainly jump out at me. How did the researchers learn those statistics? They should make parents of young children sit up and think. RayS.