Teaching Vocabulary: Frequently Asked Questions

Here at Primary English HQ, we’ve talked about, written about, and led training on vocabulary for several years. As a consequence of all those conversations about words, we’ve collated some of the FAQs we’re asked about vocabulary. Most of these questions have arisen during or after our Vivacious Vocabulary training, which puts the work of Isabel Beck and the tiered approach to vocabulary learning front and centre in the course.

We use the tiered approach to vocabulary learning. Can you suggest a list of words we should teach in each year group?

Isabel Beck advises not to do this. Words cannot be assigned to year groups as this doesn’t reflect the nature of vocabulary and creates false barriers between words. You wouldn’t want to tell a child in Year 1 that they can’t use fortune because it’s a Year 3 word, for example. The context the word appears in, the children’s existing knowledge, their ability to understand the meaning of the word and the potential of the word for enhancing their understanding across a range of contexts should be your guidance for selecting words for study.

We’ve always had WOW word walls. Can I still do this if we’re focussing on Tier 2 words?

You should definitely display words you’ve been learning about with the class – think of your classroom as a shared vocabulary journal that you all use to refer back to words you’ve encountered, collected and studied over time. Resist the temptation to download and print off words and display them without teaching. It might make your classroom look beautiful, but you need to explore words with children before displaying if they’re going to get a sense of ownership over the vocabulary displayed in the classroom. Once you’ve become accustomed at choosing words using the tiered approach, you’ll probably want to alter your WOW words wall so that it reflects your new knowledge about words.

Should I make the Tier 2 words my spelling words too?

Probably not. Of course you want children to be able to spell the words they use but you’ll be following your school’s spelling programme to teach children about phonemic spellings, morphological spellings and the etymology of words already and you need to follow this programme closely to ensure that children don’t have gaps in their learning. When a word arises that uses a pattern you’ve learned, use it to revisit that pattern or morphological knowledge.

I think x is a Tier 2 word, but my Deputy Head thinks it’s Tier 3. Who’s right and what should we do?

There are no defined barriers between the tiers. A lot of it is instinctive and relies on your understanding of the utility and versatility of words as well as your knowledge of the children and the vocabulary they already possess. It may well be that the word feels somewhat specialist and remote in one year group but as the children grow and learn more, it begins to feel more transferable and Tier 2-like in a later year group. Remember, you’ll still want to teach lots of Tier 3 vocabulary as part of your topic work and many of the more formal academic words we want children to use fit within the Tier 3 criteria. It’s worth taking a look at Coxhead’s Academic Word List if you’d like a list of Tier 3 academic words.

What do you think about Word of the Day/ Word of the Week?

Great! I like to see vocabulary getting attention. BUT, the research shows that vocabulary teaching needs to be direct and robust. Simply displaying a word without learning about its meaning and having the chance to use it in different contexts is not likely to have a positive long-lasting effect. Think carefully about the words you choose – maybe choose academic words from Coxhead’s list or find words that link to your topic or the text you are reading. Don’t just choose words because they sound whizzy and clever – have a solid reason for their selection.

How many words should I choose for study?

Beck recommends 3-5 words. She also says that children need multiple exposures to these words so it’s not likely that you’re going to choose 3-5 words a day. It’s more likely that you’ll explore those 3-5 words over a series of days so that children get ownership of the words and use them lots of times in different ways. Ultimately, you know your children and what other vocabulary demands are being made of them across the curriculum each day.

I’ve got a newly arrived pupil who doesn’t speak English yet. What should I do?

First off, follow your school’s policy for newly arrived pupils and get the advice of your ESL teacher or professional. Label key places and objects in the classroom and school in English and the child’s L1. If there is another child who speaks the L1 encourage them to sit together, to talk together and bond. Don’t be put off by them using L1 or a mixture of the two – think of all those children who speak Spanglish and other hybrid language with their peers! Once they’re conversing with their peers in English, start teaching the Tier 2 words you’d be teaching with the rest of the class. Just be prepared to adapt any resources to use the L1 where and when the child needs it.

Can you advise on a scheme for teaching vocabulary?

Ultimately, the programme you use to teach reading is the best source material you also have to teach vocabulary. After all, you want to teach vocabulary in context and your reading texts provide you with great context. Some reading programmes, such as Collins Big Cat, include vocabulary lessons for each book in the series (I know this as I was one of the authors of the Big Cat Guided Reading Handbook). If you’d like to be guided through the process of choosing and then teaching target words as part of your reading lesson, we do this as part of our Vivacious Vocabulary courses.

Can you recommend any good books about vocabulary?

The absolutely essential read is Bringing Words to Life by Isabel Beck. This book forms the foundation of the training we do with colleagues and is vital to understanding the principles of the tiered approach to vocabulary learning. Next up we recommend Creating Robust Vocabulary by Isabel Beck, which builds on the previous title and gives you some great examples to inform classroom practice. Closing the Vocabulary Gap by Alex Quigley is an easy-to-read summary of Beck’s work and also ideas for teaching Tier 3 vocabulary and approaches for using morphology and etymology to help children come to understand the meaning of parts of words such as prefixes, suffixes and root words. Finally, do take a look at our article Vivacious Vocabulary: books to support playful language learning where we point you in the direction of fantastic books for children that celebrate vocabulary and language in playful and metaphorical usage (click below).

And finally…

When we’re working with teachers, we regularly pick up on the anxiety that ‘I might not be doing it right’ or ‘am I going to have any impact?’. Our advice? Stop worrying, give it a go and feel secure in the knowledge that just a small amount of vocabulary input is going to make a difference. Because here’s the thing, until only the past few years vocabulary teaching simply didn’t get the attention it gets today. Just doing a small amount of direct vocabulary instruction is going to have more impact than doing none. You are going to make a difference and your work is going to have a positive impact.

If you liked this article, why not take a look at these other posts about vocabulary teaching:

Originally written in June 2021, this article was updated in June 2022.