Closing the word gap: a whole-school approach

What we know about vocabulary Language opens doors. It unlocks the world of reading and the imagination, and the excitement of writing. It builds the capacity to explore new subjects. It releases our potential to learn and grow as an individual. In schools, it underpins progress and impacts on attainment. Throughout school, it affects self-esteem and behaviour, and plays a huge role in a child’s future life chances. Poor vocabulary – the word gap – leaves too many children seriously limited in their enjoyment of school and success beyond. (Harley, OUP, 2018)

Teachers’ perceptions: a widening word gap OUP’s research found that the word gap represents a significant and widespread challenge to both primary and secondary schools. Teachers surveyed believe the word gap is already large and increasing: Primary respondents believe that 49% of year 1 children have a limited vocabulary that affects their learning. Secondary respondents believe that 43% of year 7 children have a limited vocabulary that affects their learning. (OUP, 2018)

Teachers’ perceptions: the academic impact of the word gap Primary teachers noted that the word gap has a significant impact on a child’s academic progress and contributes to: children having weaker comprehension skills children making slower than expected progress in reading and writing children finding it very or extremely challenging to read national test papers. (OUP, 2018)

Teachers’ perceptions: the academic impact of the word gap Secondary teachers identified that a low vocabulary affects students’ achievement and progress throughout secondary school, and that: students have difficulty working independently and following what is going on in class students make slower than expected progress in English and in other subjects students achieve worse results in national tests. (OUP, 2018)

The wider impact of a word gap OUP’s research also found that teachers believe that the word gap affects students’ wider life chances and contributes to: lower self-esteem and poorer behaviour difficulty making friends, joining in activities, and expressing feelings worse school attendance difficulty getting work after leaving school students being less likely to stay in education. (OUP, 2018)

The wider impact of a word gap Wider research also suggests that children with early language difficulties are: more likely to have reading difficulties in adult life more likely to experience mental health problems more likely to be unemployed. (EIF, 2017)

The wider impact of a word gap Research has identified a link between income and vocabulary development. At the age of five, vocabulary test scores for low-income children were nearly a year behind those of more affluent children. (The Sutton Trust, 2010) New analysis of the OECD’s PISA results shows that disadvantaged students in England are performing less well than in other developed countries such as Canada and Denmark. (EPI & UCL IOE, 2018)

What we know about vocabulary ‘Language variation in children is complex and difficult to attribute to a single cause. Regardless of the causes, low levels of vocabulary set limits on literacy, understanding, learning the curriculum and can create a downward spiral of poor language which begins to affect all aspects of life.’ Kate Nation (OUP, 2018)

Why closing the word gap matters Education Secretary Damian Hinds recently shared his concerns about the ‘persistent scandal’ of children starting school unable to communicate in full sentences or read simple words: ‘Because when you’re behind from the start you rarely catch up, because, of course, your peers don’t wait, the gap just widens and this has a huge impact on social mobility.’ Government data indicates that 28% of four- and five-year-olds do not meet expected communication and literacy levels by the end of reception. (DfE, 2018)

Why closing the word gap matters ‘This collective mission around vocabulary really isn’t so difficult. And the rewards are significant. Because when we talk of closing the word gap, we … mean welcoming a child into a world of new ideas, insights and emotions … That empowerment that comes through vocabulary should be the birthright of every child, whatever their background.’ Geoff Barton (OUP, 2018)

What can we do to close the word gap? Whole-school strategies Use context to deepen understanding: Be playful with words. Introduce a range of meaningful contexts to deepen students’ understanding of significant words. Use word clues to unpick meaning. Break words into parts. Model how to use dictionaries and thesauruses. Explore affective vocabulary so students can express emotions.

What can we do to close the word gap? Whole-school strategies Explore word structures and actively engage with words: Identify words within words. Explore prefixes and suffixes to understand how words are put together. Play word games.

What can we do to close the word gap? Whole-school strategies Encourage reading for pleasure: A lack of time spent reading for pleasure is believed to be a root cause of the word gap by 93% of primary teachers and 95% of secondary teachers. ‘Pupils who do well in school generally read a lot both in and out of school.’ Dr Ian Thompson and Nicole Dingwall (OUP, 2018)

What can we do to close the word gap? Whole-school strategies Encourage reading for pleasure: Engage parents in your reading culture – celebrate reading. Train staff to become reading advocates. Develop the reading environment, and invest in libraries, book areas, and displays. Use a wide range of reading materials and texts. Build time for students to read in school. (Oxford School Improvement, 2017)

What can we do to close the word gap? Whole-school strategies Teach through reading: Introduce and spend time exploring challenging words. Give weaker readers additional support. Increase students’ opportunities for individual reading. Read in volume in class. Read aloud, clearly and expressively.

What can we do to close the word gap? Whole-school strategies Teach subject-specific vocabulary explicitly: Celebrate original and active ways to learn words. Create, share, and display vocabulary lists and word maps. Use a range of different texts in the classroom. Work together to understand new words. Collaborate on class writing activities.

What can we do to close the word gap? Whole-school strategies Classroom talk: Use rich vocabulary. Model and scaffold precise use of words. Expect students to answer in full sentences. Structure and scale questions, moving from low- to high-demand. Explore different tiers of vocabulary to challenge students.

Reference list Hinds, D. (2018) ‘Education Secretary sets vision for boosting social mobility’. Department for Education. www.gov.uk/government/speeches/education-secretary-sets-vision-for-boosting-social-mobility Jerrim, J., Greany, T., & Perera, N. (2018) Educational disadvantage: How does England compare? Education Policy Institute & UCL Institute of Education. https://epi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Educational-Disadvantage-England-EPI-IOE.pdf Law, J., Charlton, J., & Asmussen, K. (2017) Language as a child wellbeing indicator. Early Intervention Foundation. www.eif.org.uk/report/language-as-a-child-wellbeing-indicator/ Oxford University Press (2018) Why Closing the Word Gap Matters. http://fdslive.oup.com/www.oup.com/oxed/Oxford-Language-Report.PDF?region=uk Oxford School Improvement (2017) Building an Outstanding Reading School. https://cdn.oxfordowl.co.uk/2017/04/21/10/51/51/265/bp_osi_buildingoutstanding.pdf Waldfogel, J. & Washbrook, E. (2010) Low income and early cognitive development in the U.K. The Sutton Trust. www.suttontrust.com/research-paper/low-income-early-cognitive-development-u-k/