By Gavin Mackintosh And Sheila Mckenzie-
Parents and primary school teachers can do a lot more to encourage pupils to expand their vocabulary.Although guidelines from the Department Of Education and Ofsted have set the development of vocabulary as one of their requirements, research conducted by The Eye Of Media.Com suggests that not enough primary schools are doing this.
Sixteen schools in London, Essex, and Yorkshire have been found not to have a system that adequately tests and stimulates the vocabulary of their pupils. Vocabulary building requires schools to frequently ensure that pupils are building their communication skills by taking note of new words, learning them, and using them appropriately in a sentence.
Behind the scenes investigation undertaking by interviewing pupils from sixteen different primary schools in the Uk has shown insufficient emphasis in this respect. Pupils in those primary schools are not trained or exercised in mastering new words they are expected to have learned by reading stories or literature in text books. Our research also included examining pupils in seven secondary schools, all of whom stated that they had not received any exercise in developing their vocabulary in their primary schools, or their new secondary schools.
TRAINED
The finding shows that teachers in many schools are not being adequately trained to bring the best out of their pupils. The building of vocabulary helps primary schools pupils to establish a solid foundation on which to build in secondary school and their educational years ahead. It also creates an atmosphere of stimulated intellectual growth , thereby developing the written skills of pupils before they commence secondary school education.
The research consisting of exactly 100 pupils over a one month period also showed that only 23% of Uk primary school children aged 10-11 were able to construct a fairly well written and coherent letter expressing their thoughts on a given matter. Bearing in mind their age, a comparison was made with pupils of similar age in Norway, North Korea, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Ghana. The children sampled in the Uk schools generally fell behind in the quality of English, punctuation, and presentation.
However, children in the top 1% of performance in the Uk PERFORMED better than the limited sample of those sampled in Nigeria and Norway. The research is still ongoing and to be conducted along a wider spectrum of pupils in those countries.
Chris Williamson, who led the research told The Eye Of Media.Com:
” The study so far shows that more can be done in the Uk to build the vocabulary of primary school pupils whose standard of English really should be the best in the world. One explanation for the relatively low success in the Uk may be because of the different levels of parental encouragement, the environment, and the many inaccurate claims of dyslexia among pupils that allow many kids to be written off instead of being paid greater attention to address their weaknesses.
It is also worth noting that so far, private school pupils in the Uk have not been sampled in the research, whereas many of the children in the schools abroad learn under a system where alot of private investment is put int their education, with a higher percentage undertaking private tuition to meet a highly tested system.
With more resources, a similar test will be conducted with our privately schooled pupils , who will be expected to perform well. Pupils in private schools in the Uk whose parents intend to register them with private schools or notable mainstream secondary schools are often trained in a highly academic and motivated environment. Such students are usually made up of motivated and highly driven students who are taught by highly trained and result orientated teachers”.
PARTICULAR
Many of the best mainstream schools in the Uk are very particular about which pupils they admit to their primary and secondary schools. They can be strict about the commitment of the parents to supervise their children’s response to their education training, and even the professional background of parents who want their children in their school. Most of the best schools will not even accept children with ADHD, dyslexia or behavioural problems. They have strict codes and conduct, as well as a high demand for admission. Bright children in primary and secondary schools are many, but the standards they use needs to be applied right across the board of schools in the Uk.
Both authors Contributed To This Article