Concept development and vocabulary

The most important predictor of vocabulary learning is the number of words that children hear from adults (for example during interactions, conversations, play, book reading).

As children learn new words, they begin to understand and describe increasingly complex concepts (for example concepts to do with space, size, quantity, categories and time).

The importance of concept development and vocabulary

The words in our vocabulary are the building blocks for understanding and expressing ideas. As children are exposed to complex language (refer to the Grammar section), they begin to use more advanced vocabulary. They also begin to use more complex words to explain concepts, describe their observations, and make predictions.

Children’s vocabulary and concept development is dependent on consistent, nurturing and interacting learning experiences with adults and peers. Children need to have a large and varied vocabulary that continually grows.

Thus, concept development and vocabulary are key components for language learning. Developing these skills can pave the way for learning in language, the arts, sciences, technology, and mathematics.

Key developmental milestones

The following ages and stages (adapted from Munro and McGregor, 2017) are a guide that reflects broad developmental norms, but does not limit the expectations for every child (refer to VEYLDF Practice Principle: High expectations for every child). It is always important to understand children’s development as a continuum of growth, irrespective of their age.

There is wide variation in the first words that children produce. However, data from English-speaking countries reflect the following general milestones for spoken (expressive) vocabulary:

12 months: 2 words plus mummy and daddy (or equivalent in languages other than English)
18 months: 10-50 words
2 years: 300 words
2.5 years: 450 words
3 years: 1000 words
4 years: 2000 words
5 years: 5000 plus words
17 years: 36 000 to 136 000 words.

The words that children tend to say first are naming words (Nouns and Proper Nouns). Then action words (Verbs) are the second earliest type of word. Other words which are learnt early on are a few examples of modifiers (for example ‘more’), and personal-social phrases (for example ‘please’, ‘no’).

Word types

There are eight main types of words. Each word type is learned at different stages, and do different “jobs” when used in sentences. The speed and order that children learn word types is dependent on age, but also on their language-learning experiences. Children need to learn different word types, so they can start building their own sentences.

These include:

nouns (including Proper Nouns) - for example, Mum dog idea rainbow question Alex
pronouns - for example, I you they him she this these some their his myself ourselves each other
determiners - for example, the a an her their our those this that many more neither another
adjectives - for example, long pointy childish imaginary sisterly
verbs - for example, run play decide sorted thinking
adverbs - for example, slowly foolishly very mostly
prepositions - for example, in at on off into onto towards to about as with
conjunctions - for example, and or but because whenever after before.

Nouns, adjectives, and verbs are the most commonly encountered word types.

But there are also prepositions, pronouns, adverbs, determiners, and conjunctions.

Concepts

Concepts are the ‘’big ideas’’ that children learn as they engage in a range of experiences.

For example, a baby drinks milk. As the baby grows older, the baby drinks water as well. The concept of ‘liquids that can be drunk’ expands as the child drinks different liquids.

Later, the concept that some things can be drunk but others cannot adds to the concept of liquids. This also shows how concept development supports reasoning skills.

Encouraging concept development in children is an important step in building knowledge of the arts, mathematics, science, and technology, and other aspects of everyday life.

Understanding the concepts—for example ‘’measurement’’—needs to come before learning the procedures of measurement.

Helping children to learn the words that represent the concept helps children to learn procedures later on:

spatial - for example, inside/outside behind/in front around/through side/middle between/either side of
directional - for example, in/out up/down
numerical - for example, numbers and counting once twice
ordinal - for example, first, second, third … last next one by one
shapes - for example, circle triangle rectangle curve straight pointy
measurement - for example, describing items according to size, weight, volume, height, length, speed, temperature etc.
This will involve comparison: for example big/bigger/biggest/ tall/taller/tallest
pattern and structure - for example, patterns on clothes, in pictures, music, speech (rhyming)
temporal - for example, before/after, while/during, today/yesterday/tomorrow, 10:00am/half past two days of week/months of year etc.
categorical - for example, types of fruit, clothes, vehicles, animals, plants, actions, shapes, feelings etc.
comparative - for example, big/bigger/biggest/tall/taller/tallest
descriptive - for example, describing items according to colour, pattern, texture, size, smell, taste, hardness/density etc.

Everyday interactions and planned experiences can be opportunities for learning about different concepts, and the words we can use to describe them.

Word relationships

Another way to look at vocabulary is to think about how words relate to other words. Semantics is the study of word meanings. Semantic relationships are the ways that words are related to each other. Semantic knowledge is an important part of children’s language development, that helps them understand and express more complex concepts and ideas.

Here are some examples of types of word/semantic relationships.

Antonyms

A pair of words with opposite meanings, for example:

hot/cold
fast/slow
big/small.

Antonyms can be gradable (on a continuum):

you can use very or not very on these words
young/old, long/short, empty/full.

They can be complementary:

these antonyms mean one thing or another (there isn’t an in between)
for example sleep/wake,right/wrong, alive/dead.

Or they can be relational:

these opposites are about how concepts are related to each other
for example parent/child, brother/sister, doctor/patient, predator/prey.

Synonyms

Words that have the same or similar meaning to each other, for example:

hop/bounce/leap/spring/bound
nice/good/kind/lovely/fine
yummy/good/tasty/delicious.

Theory to practice

Learning vocabulary is a continual process of language and literacy development, which begins in the early years of life, and continues through schooling and beyond. .

Knowledge of vocabulary meanings affects children’s abilities to understand and use words appropriately during the language acts of listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
- Sinatra, Zygouris-Coe, and Dasinger (2011, p. 333).

It is crucial that children have rich, implicit and explicit opportunities to learn new, and more advanced vocabulary.

Vocabulary knowledge “influences the complexities and nuances of children’s thinking … and how well they will understand printed texts" (Sinatra, Zygouris-Coe, and Dasinger, 2011, p. 333). Having more complex language allows children to make meaning from what people say, and engage with new concepts. These are relevant for early numeracy, science, and literacy (and other disciplinary) knowledge, as well as for equipping children to share their own thoughts and feelings.

According to Cambourne’s Conditions of Learning (1988) and brain-research principles, children’s cognitive and language development is maximised when they are provided with meaningful opportunities to engage in independent and shared discussions, and exposed to many different forms of text that are appropriate to their world (Rushton, Eitelgeorge and Zickafoose, 2003).

A literature-based and print-rich classroom allows for different forms of texts that are created by children and reflects the real world … providing ample opportunity [for children] to see and experience the language.
- Rushton, Eitelgeorge and Zickafoose, 2003, p.13.

Evidence base

Research shows that when young children have meaningful interactions and are exposed to lots of words, they quickly develop wider vocabularies. The landmark research by Hart and Risley (1995) revealed the importance of interacting with children and exposing them to a high quantity and quality of language learning experiences. They also demonstrated that having more advanced vocabularies in the early years led to greater educational achievement in the middle years of primary school (Hart and Risley, 1995). Later research has echoed this importance of adult interacting for children’s vocabulary and general oral language development (for example Weisleder and Fernald, 2013).

It is important to embed opportunities for children to engage with various concepts (including shapes and spatial thinking). This enables children to “rehearse” the language needed to explore various concepts (Cohrssen, de Quadros-Wander, Page, and Klarin, 2017).

Making sure to pause is an important strategy during concept development experiences. Pausing gives children a chance to think about more complex concepts, and allows educators to listen closely to children, and respond to them more supportively (Cohrssen, Church, and Tayler, 2014). Refer to the teaching practices for interacting with others for more pedagogical strategies.

Getting started

First words

Use lots of language with children in every interaction
Turn everyday situations into opportunities for discussion and description
Repeat and reward each time a child attempts a word, giving them attention and affection.