Closing the word gap: accelerating vocabulary at secondary school

We know that having a limited vocabulary, a word gap, can have a lasting impact on a child’s life, their attainment and exam results, their self-esteem, and even their future employability.

Recent school closures and remote teaching (due to Covid-19) are likely to have exacerbated the problem further and reversed some of the progress that has been made to close the word and attainment gap.

By accelerating students’ vocabulary development, we can help to address the impact of learning loss, build confidence, and improve lifelong outcomes by helping classroom teachers in all secondary subjects to close the word gap.

Taking inspiration from tried and tested approaches to teaching vocabulary, you will find a range of games, teaching ideas, and strategies to raise students’ word consciousness, increase classroom talk, and develop students’ oracy.