Implications for teaching
Teaching sophisticated vocabulary from storybook read- ing and discussions of words requires that adults know the words and their variations across contexts. Helping children to use words beyond the story-reading context requires
expanding instruction, or “thinking outside the book.”
Knowing what to know
Children need to know the basic definition of a word in its most typical or general form. The basic meaning gives children a working understanding of the word’s most com- mon meaning and use (Stahl & Nagy 2006). Knowing a word includes understanding how its meaning varies. This contributes to depth of word knowledge and
requires exposures across several contexts. When the same word is used in different scenarios, it strengthens children’s understandings of its meaning. An umbrella’s fabric repels water. Magnets also repel one another when like poles are aligned. Bug spray repels insects. Although these ideas dif- fer, all mean to “push away from” or “ward off.” Exposure to the same word across settings can also teach differences in meaning. A shirt can have crisp folds. Crisp crackers break easily. Morning air can feel crisp. To know words means to learn variations. This requires early, continued exposure across contexts. Knowing a word also means knowing its mechanics, such as its pronunciation, the slot it fills in a sentence (noun, verb, adjective, and so on), and the meaning of its parts (e.g., in untidy, the prefix un means not). Soon-to-be readers learn mechanics from adults’ modeling. For example, a person can have many interests. Interest can be shown. Being interested dif- fers from being interesting. Children have access to this type of knowledge about words when adults use words with them.