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com/about/> How Many Words Should A Child Know? By Paul <http://languagefix.wordpress.com/author/ptnomads1971/> on February 2, 2009 *Comparing Estimates of Vocabulary Acquisition* Many estimates of vocabulary size exist, with variability being their one constant. The difficulties inherent in measuring vocabulary size have not stopped multiple researchers from coming up with their own numbers, some of which I've summarized below. vocabulary-estimates Despite the almost inevitable variation, the studies that support these estimates have told us some important things, such as * School age language acquisition occurs primarily through incidental experience more than formal teaching. * Word learning shifts from concrete and functional to abstract and unusual. This shift occurs gradually from third grade through the high school years. * Environment matters. Extreme environments extremely matter. There are many more of these studies than even what I've listed, and while I'm not saying I've seen it happen, it is possible that people could cherry pick ones that most support the point trying to be made. Also, there is no consensus among anyone really, of what exactly counts for a word in these studies. Does /examine/, /examines/, /examined/, etc. count as different words or variations of the same word? Ultimately the numbers themselves aren't as important as are examining what's possible and what's actually occurring. We know from these studies that it is possible to learn many, many words at rates of up to 14 words a day according to at least two sources. Methods of teaching vocabulary such as teaching categories, word webs, and using reading to facilitate vocabulary acquisition can be helpful, but ultimately nothing works like an enriched experience. Keep reading for more information about the sources of these studies. Anglin (1993) from Wagovich and Newhoff; The Single Exposure: /Partial Word Growth Through //Reading/; The American Journal of Speech Language Pathology, November 2004. Beck and McKeown (1991) from Beck, I.L. and McKeown, M.G. (1991). Social studies texts are hard to understand: Mediating some of the difficulties. Language Arts, 68, 482-490. from http://balancedreading.com <http://balancedreading.com/> Goulden, Nation, and Read (1990) from this link: http://www.fltr.ucl.ac.be/fltr/germ/etan/bibs/vocab/cup.html

Lipsett/ Mehrabian and Owens numbers are from/Language Development An Introduction/; Robert E. Owens, Jr.; Allyn and Bacon; 1996 Hart and Risely (1995) taken from American Educator, Spring 2003, excerpt from their 1995 book, /Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experiences of Young American Children/; Brookes Publishing// Miller and Gildea (1997) from /Later Language Development/; Marilyn A. Nippold; Pro-Ed; 1998 About these ads <http://en.wordpress.com/about-these-ads/> Like this: Like Loading... /Related/ *On Teaching Vocabulary </2009/02/02/how-many-words-should-a-child-know/?relatedposts_to=301&relatedpost s_order=0>* In "Language Teaching" *High Fives... Language Acquisition Studies - "Wugs" </2009/02/02/how-many-words-should-a-child-know/?relatedposts_to=217&relatedpost s_order=1>* In "Language Acquisition" *Should Children Watch TV? </2009/02/02/how-many-words-should-a-child-know/?relatedposts_to=846&relatedpost s_order=2>* In "Recent Research" Posted in: Extra Stuff <http://languagefix.wordpress.com/category/extra-stuff/>, Language Acquisition <http://languagefix.wordpress.com/category/language-acquisition/> | Tagged: studies <http://languagefix.wordpress.com/tag/studies/>, vocabulary estimates <http://languagefix.wordpress.com/tag/vocabulary-estimates/>, vocabulary size <http://languagefix.wordpress.com/tag/vocabulary-size/> Post navigation Older <http://languagefix.wordpress.com/2009/01/27/following-directions/> Newer <http://languagefix.wordpress.com/2009/02/07/recent-research-body-language-and-s es/> Leave a Reply Cancel reply </2009/02/02/how-many-words-should-a-child-know/#respond> Please log in using one of these methods to post your comment: * <#comment-form-load-service:WordPress.com>

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