Supporting English-related teaching and learning at all levels

P. L. Thomas, Misreading Cause and Effect in Literacy Instruction: Vocabulary Edition

This American blog post, recommended on Twitter by Barbara Bleiman, explores the importance of a rich literary experiences:
“Like grammar instruction, vocabulary instruction is deeply misguided when it is in isolation and vocabulary-for-vocabulary’s sake. People are confused and tend to invert erroneously what people with high literacy and large vocabularies mean. Vocabulary is a consequence of rich and extended literacy experiences; cramming vocabulary INTO students is not how you make someone highly literate. In short, if you care about vocabulary, reduce dramatically time and energy spent on vocabulary instruction and focus on rich literacy experiences, notably reading by choice and vibrant discussion.”