Why Teaching Academic Vocabulary Matters Today

A usual dilemma among teachers in Singapore at the start of every school year is how they can implement innovative teaching methods while upholding their academic priorities. One of which is enhancing their students’ academic vocabulary. To succeed in their academic journey, students should invest in building a rich vocabulary, as it gives them the ability to enhance their reading comprehension and critical thinking skills.

Importance of Academic Vocabulary

Say, for instance, students take an upper primary school SAT exam, and encounter a given passage containing words such as ‘ceased’, ‘wainscot’, ‘frill’, and ‘grave’. As every word has a significant impact on the overall meaning of the passage, students should have strong vocabulary skills and deep comprehension for them to explain in detail every nuance and meaning of what they read. 

Students in Singapore can usually speak two to three languages, making it even more challenging to teach academic vocabulary in school.  The more a language is used in day-to-day conversations, the more it shows the uniqueness of its academic vocabulary. Some words of a language tend to be vague or complicated to explain. Thus, it is vital to teach academic vocabulary to students, for them to understand and excel in subjects such as literature and geography. 

Three Ways to Improve Vocabulary

According to studies, the three vital pillars of vocabulary instruction are explicit vocabulary teaching, incidental vocabulary learning, and cultivating word consciousness. Each of these provides a strong foundation for teachers to come up with ways to promote intensive and continuous learning among their students.

Explicit Vocabulary Teaching

If you tend to select keywords to easily understand the academic content you are reading, then you are applying the explicit teaching of vocabulary. For instance, you are learning geography. The best way to understand each lesson is to familiarize yourselves first with the meaning and usage of words like ‘afforestation ‘ and ‘glacier’. That way, you can easily understand the materials as you go along. In reading literature, it is best to learn words like ‘grave’ or ‘pierce’ first, so you can understand the context, themes, and ideas of the stories. 

Incidental Vocabulary Learning

Another pillar of vocabulary instruction is incidental vocabulary learning.  It is often a useful tool to pick up words that we encounter unintentionally in a passage or random message. This can be done by reading more, so we can encounter and remember new words. Also, teachers promote incidental vocabulary learning by urging their students to maintain vocabulary journals, use the new words they learn in class, and keep a record of the unfamiliar words they encounter through reading. Thus, structured reading opportunities are promoted in Singapore to enhance the vocabulary of their students. 

Cultivating Word Consciousness

Educators teach vocabulary to enhance their student’s curiosity and awareness of words, or what we call ‘word consciousness’. This helps students understand the history and structure of language, as well as how to identify root words, conjugations, and word families. For example, when students encounter an unfamiliar word like ‘despotism’, they can identify its suffix ‘ism’ and can think of other related words such as ‘nepotism’.

Enriching word consciousness can help students develop means to learn and enhance their vocabulary. Given the demanding education system in Singapore, it is a huge help for students to learn these three strategies for them to achieve academic success. These techniques can also inspire students to learn the complexities of language which can be useful in pursuing higher education. 

In Singapore, students bank on having a rich academic vocabulary for them to succeed in their academic journey. Teachers encourage their students to familiarize themselves with explicit teaching, incidental learning, and word consciousness to improve their vocabulary. Having a solid foundation of academic vocabulary will not just enhance students’ comprehension, but will also help them excel in subjects with specialized language such as geography and literature. Students can reach their full potential if they further boost their vocabulary either from school or through engaging in private English tuition.