Academic vocabulary is the language used at school across all the content areas. For most students, this language must be learned in order to reach academic success. Needless to say, it is much more difficult for students to learn new concepts if they are taught in a foreign language. Teaching students academic vocabulary gives them the keys to unlock the language of learning.
Experienced teachers consistently note that too many students comprehend their content area texts poorly, with the lack of vocabulary knowledge often posing a major challenge. Formal tests of reading comprehension and of vocabulary confirm teacher impressions, showing that students in urban schools, especially those from non-English speaking homes, are often far behind where they need to be in vocabulary knowledge. If students recognized more of the words they encountered in their texts (or knew how to learn about those words), then content area teaching would be much more successful.
