Teacher Language: The teacher’s oral language use in the school setting for instruction as well as conversation is especially important in the middle school years as students tend to experiment with slang and trendy vocabulary and speech patterns. The temptation for the teacher is to adopt “youth-speak” to stay connected to the students and to build rapport. By resisting this temptation and actually raising the quality of their vocabulary and sentence structure, teachers will have strong positive effects on students’ knowledge of vocabulary and more complex sentence structures.
Students’ Oral Language: The most effective way for students to improve their oral language vocabulary is by reading and by listening to text read to them. Since vocabulary learning is incremental, another effective way to deepen students’ understandings of word meanings is by listening carefully to their definitions and explanations of words and concepts then elaborating and correcting misconceptions. Immersing students in words is effective in improving student vocabulary as well as increasing their awareness, interest, and attitude toward words.
Additional useful information:
Communicative interaction with adults facilitates word learning. (McGregor, 2004)
Learning concepts and vocabulary in one’s native language can be utilized to foster vocabulary growth in English speaking, listening, reading and writing.
Students with learning disabilities in the area of reading and/or spelling may be more successful with vocabulary acquisition through speaking and listening rather than reading and writing.