Since being crowned school Literacy Champion, Mrs Scott is keen to get us all thinking about how we develop vocabulary in our classrooms. Here she presents a few pieces of research on the topic which might prompt discussion about vocab in your subject.

It it incredible to think that “Vocabulary at age 4 is the best predictor of achievement at age 16 out of all measures yet studied” – Roulstone et al 2011

Jean Gross provides an overview of current thinking about what makes a difference to pupils’ vocabulary.

Video won’t load? Access it here: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/developing-vocabulary/0/steps/53714

After watching the video, I have been thinking about how I ‘recast’ sentences in my classroom to include Tier 2 vocabulary.

How could you do this in your subject?

The ‘word gap’ is a phrase that is used mostly in Early Years to describe a pupil who enters school with language significantly below age-related expectations. Oxford University Press have undertaken research to identify whether this word gap is just in the Early Years or can be found throughout primary and secondary schooling.

Their report, ‘Why Closing the Word Gap Matters: Oxford Language Report’ discusses their findings.