The importance of vocabulary

Why is vocabulary so important?

Vocabulary, much more than grammar, is the key to your child understanding what she hears and reads in school. It is also the key to communicating successfully with other people.

For this reason it is very important for her to quickly build up a large store of words. Research studies have shown the strong links between having an extensive vocabulary and achieving school success.

Which words should my child learn first?

The first words for your child to learn are those which she will hear in class everyday. In this vocabulary group I include phrases as well as single words. Knowing common phrases facilitates comprehension and communication. There are several quizzes on school words and phrases in the School section of the Topic-based vocabulary drop-down menu on the Vocabulary index.

Most of the topic-based and other quizzes in the vocabulary index contain words that your child should know by the end of the second or third year of learning English.

The next essential type of vocabulary to learn is the key words in each of the subjects. This vocabulary is quizzed in the School subject vocabulary section of the Vocabulary index.

The final type of vocabulary to learn is general academic vocabulary. Words in this category are harder to learn than most of the other vocabulary types. But they are essential for academic and examination success. Here you can find a list of academic vocabulary and read more about its importance.

How can I help my child learn words?

Research studies have shown that in most cases words have to be met 5-7 times before they are admitted to long-term memory. This is how, through reading, we learn the words of our own language.

Words are also more easily learned if your child is active: drawing a picture of the word, writing her own definition of it in English or the mother tongue, thinking of an example sentence to use it in. This is better than simply writing the word and its native language equivalent.

You can help by encouraging your child to read at home. More than this, you can test your child on the words she has collected on cards or in a vocabulary book.

There is a page of advice to students about how to learn vocabulary and study for vocabulary tests. That page has more detailed suggestions than those summarised here. You might find it useful to be aware of these suggestions when helping your child.