Author: Annie NG
Speech and Language Therapist
Vocabulary learning or word learning from infancy is essential as it lays the foundation for language development, cognitive growth and social interaction. During early childhood, the brain is highly receptive to new information, making it the ideal time to introduce language. As children learn words, they begin to understand and categorize the world around them, which is crucial for cognitive development. They learn to associate words with objects, actions and concepts, and they form mental representations that help them grasp more complex ideas later on. Word learning is also crucial for social and emotional development. It helps children to better communicate their needs and emotions with their caregivers, and supports then in learning about empathy and social cues.
Word learning is not just about language acquisition but it is also about building the cognitive and social skills necessary for lifelong learning and development.
So how can we better support word learning in our little ones?
Some Common Misconceptions about Vocabulary learning
Before we dive into the key principles of word learning or vocabulary development, let’s address some common misconceptions.
設置「正式」的教學機會：教孩子新詞不必以「正式」或結構化的方式進行。在日常生活的各種時刻中都有很多很好的機會——描述你正在做什麼、標記與當前任務相關的事物、談論正在發生的行動，甚至只是與孩子一起計劃下一個任務。只要孩子與你互動，這就是一個好的教學時刻。
- Setting up ‘formal’ teaching opportunities: Teaching new words to your child does not have to be done ‘formally’ or in any structured way. There are so many great opportunities embedded in the everyday moments — describing what you are doing, labeling things that are meaningful to the task at hand, talking about the actions that are happening, or even simply planning for the next task together with your child. A good teaching moment is whenever your child is engaged with you.
- Focusing on nouns: Among the eight parts of speech, i.e. noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection, nouns often feel most ‘obvious’ or ‘natural’ for us to teach to a child. Nouns usually represent concepts that are a lot more concrete compared to the other parts of speech, and therefore we can very easily teach them and do so more frequently. But if you pause for a moment and consider the sentences we use in a conversation, nouns make up a very very small percentage of them. To help a child communicate effectively, we need to ensure they have a wide variety of words in their repertoire. If they only know names of objects, e.g. ball, water and dog, they don’t have the variety to form cohesive phrases and sentences, e.g. roll the ball, not my ball, a sleepy dog under the big tree, etc.
- Confusing ‘teaching’ with ‘testing’: When we ask a child questions such as, ‘What is that?’ or ‘Remember what this is called?’, we are essentially testing them instead of creating a teaching moment. Testing often creates unnecessary pressure on the child and is often not helpful in maintaining a reciprocal conversation, especially if your child finds these questions irrelevant to what they are doing. So instead of testing them, we can simply name the object for them and use the new word in sentences that are relevant to what they are already doing, e.g. ‘You got a shovel! Let’s dig with it. Oh, look! There’s a sticker on the handle!’ Children need to hear a new word used repeatedly in meaningful ways in order to truly understand its meaning and usage.
- Learning is not happening unless they are using the words: We get very excited when a child uses a new word. It is an obvious piece of evidence that they are growing their vocabulary. But just because they are not yet using the words you have been teaching them, it does not mean that they are not already trying to figure out what those words mean. Before children are ready to use a new word, i.e. their expressive language ability, they need to first develop adequate understanding of that word, i.e. their receptive language ability. For example:
- Receptive Language: Your child may understand and respond to simple commands like, ‘Sit down’ or ‘Knock knock’ before being able to use those very words on their own.
- Expressive Language: As their receptive language skills deepen, your child will begin to use words for different functions on their own, e.g. make requests, describe and ask questions.
So if you find that your child is not yet using too many words or the new words you recently started teaching, consider the fact that they might just need more time to deepen their understanding of those relatively unfamiliar words before they are ready to put them to use.
- Replacing interactive communication moments with one-way teaching moments: As parents, sometimes it’s easy for us to focus on creating instructional teaching moments to demonstrate new words and concepts, but this can make the interactions mostly one-way. While we want to make it a consistent habit to model new words to our child, we also need to make sure they have ample opportunities to speak with us and to practice using words, both old and new, in play and throughout the day. Children need many opportunities to hear words and to use them interactively in order to master them.
- Teaching vocabulary in all languages, including the less proficient one(s): Raising a multilingual child has almost become an expectation in every household, bringing some of us to use a language that we may be less proficient in. Children learn language best when they are exposed to rich and consistent input. Using the language(s) you are most proficient in offers the best chance for your child to establish a strong linguistic foundation that will benefit their growth in any additional languages they might learn later in life. Also, we likely feel more comfortable and confident expressing complex emotions and concepts in the language(s) we are proficient in. This creates more authentic and meaningful interactions with our little ones.
Now let’s go into some basic do’s of vocabulary learning.
What Words to Teach First
Choose words that are relevant to your child’s everyday life. Very often, these would be words that your child hears frequently and enjoys using, e.g. those that are related to the daily routines and their interests. The more opportunities your child has to use words to communicate, the better they are at using them, and the more likely they are to want to keep using words to communicate with people around them.
How and When to Teach Them
A great teaching moment is whenever your child is engaged with you because getting your child’s attention is often the hardest part of the task. So if your child is rolling a ball back and forth, join them in that! Be engaged in their play so you can have their full attention. Then pick a word that is fitting for that activity, e.g. roll, stop, catch, fast, slow, oops. If you have to redirect your child to another activity in order to teach a word, you might lose their attention altogether. It is best to minimize the disruption of their flow of play when teaching a new word or concept.
Here are some other everyday examples:
- Grocery Shopping
Imagine you are at the grocery store with your child, and they are very interested in every item you pick from the shelves. This would be a great time to introduce new words. For example, when picking apples, you might say, ‘These are apples. Some are red and some are green! Oh, this one is bruised! Let’s get another one.’ Since your child is already engaged in the shopping experience, they are more likely to focus on and remember the new vocabulary. You can expand this by asking questions like, ‘Which fruit should we get next?’ - Waiting at the Crosswalk
When waiting at a crosswalk, you can point to the red light and say, ‘It’s a red light now, but it will turn green soon!’ Or, ‘Look at the cars! They are slowly stopping.’ - Bath Time
During bath time, you have a perfect opportunity to introduce words related to water, body parts and other adjectives. As you pour water or use soap, you can say, ‘Let’s get the soap bottle and pump.’ or ‘Uh oh! There’s no more soap. The bottle is empty!’
In all of these scenarios, the key is to keep your child engaged by using what they are interested in. Keeping the dialogue interactive also helps to maintain their attention.
I hope this article is useful in demonstrating how teaching vocabulary to your child does not have to be ‘formal’ but it can be easily weaved into the daily routines!
