New to this topic? Start with our companion article: What Are Tier Two Words? Why Vocabulary Teaching Matters | Brisbane Speech Pathologist
Knowing that Tier Two words matter is one thing. Knowing how to teach them effectively is another. The good news is that vocabulary instruction doesn't have to be complicated or time-consuming — but it does need to be intentional. Research tells us that simply exposing children to new words isn't enough. They need multiple encounters with a word, in multiple contexts, with explicit explanation and opportunities to use the word themselves. The children who build vocabulary fastest are the ones whose parents weave new words naturally into everyday conversation — at the dinner table, in the car, at the shops.
In our previous article, we introduced Beck's three-tier vocabulary framework and explained why Tier Two words — those high-utility, broadly useful words — are the sweet spot for teaching. Now let's get practical.
Step One: Choosing the Right Words
Not every unfamiliar word deserves dedicated teaching time. Beck, McKeown, and Kucan (2013) suggest choosing Tier Two words based on three criteria:
Frequency and Utility
Will the child encounter this word often, across different subjects and contexts? Words like compare, reluctant, absurd, generate, and essential come up again and again in books, classroom instructions, and everyday academic language. These are higher priority than words a child might only encounter once.
Instructional Potential
Can you teach this word in a way that connects to concepts the child already knows? The best Tier Two words can be defined using language children already have. For example, "reluctant" can be explained as "when you really don't want to do something" — your child already understands that feeling, so you're giving them a more precise word for it.
Conceptual Value
Does the word help children understand important ideas or make finer distinctions? Teaching "enormous" alongside "big" helps a child express degrees of size. Teaching "insisted" alongside "said" gives them a word that carries emotion and determination.
A practical starting point: when you're reading with your child and come across a word that's important for understanding the story, broadly useful beyond this one book, and definable in child-friendly terms — that's a good Tier Two candidate.
Step Two: Explicit Instruction That Works
Research consistently shows that effective vocabulary instruction involves much more than giving a definition. Graves (2016) outlined the key components of robust vocabulary instruction, and here's what that looks like in practice:
Student-Friendly Definitions
Dictionary definitions are often confusing for children — they use other unfamiliar words and abstract language. Instead, give a student-friendly definition: an explanation in everyday language that describes the word in context.
For example:
- Dictionary definition of "reluctant": unwilling and hesitant; disinclined
- Student-friendly definition: When someone is reluctant, it means they really don't want to do something. They might do it eventually, but they're not happy about it.
Notice how the student-friendly version uses words the child already knows and gives a sense of what the word feels like in practice.
Rich Contexts
Don't just define the word — show it in action. Give multiple examples of how the word is used:
- "The dog was reluctant to go outside in the rain."
- "I was reluctant to try the new food, but it turned out to be delicious."
- "The reluctant swimmer stood at the edge of the pool for ages before jumping in."
The more varied the examples, the richer the child's understanding of the word becomes.
Multiple Exposures
Children need to encounter a new word many times before it becomes part of their own vocabulary. Research suggests that 10 to 12 meaningful encounters with a word are needed for it to stick (Beck et al., 2013). This means it can be helpful to revisit words across days and weeks — not just teach them once and move on.
Active Processing
Children learn words better when they have to think about the meaning, not just hear it. Activities that require active processing include:
- Deciding whether the word fits a given scenario ("Would you be reluctant to eat your favourite food? What about food you've never tried?")
- Comparing the new word to words they already know ("How is 'reluctant' different from 'scared'?")
- Using the word in their own sentences
A Few Activities That Work Well
Examples and Non-Examples
Give your child scenarios and ask them to decide whether the word applies. Target word: commotion — "Ten children are playing a noisy chasing game in the playground." (Yes!) "A cat is sleeping on a sunny windowsill." (No!) "Everyone at the market is shouting about a loose chicken." (Definitely!) This helps children develop a precise understanding of what a word does and doesn't mean.
Acting Out Meanings
For many Tier Two words, acting them out makes them memorable and concrete. Children can demonstrate "reluctant" (dragging their feet, pulling a face), "exhausted" (slumping in a chair), or "strolled" versus "dashed" versus "trudged." Physical engagement helps cement word meanings, particularly for children who learn well through movement.
Word of the Week
Choose a Tier Two word each week and make it the family or classroom word. Use it as often as possible in conversation, point it out when you encounter it in reading, and celebrate when anyone uses it. It's a low-effort way to build multiple exposures into ordinary daily life.
How Parents Can Build Vocabulary at Home
You don't need to be a teacher to build your child's vocabulary — some of the most useful vocabulary learning happens through ordinary everyday interaction. The trick is repetition without testing.
During Shared Reading
When you come across a Tier Two word in a book, pause briefly and explain it: "Magnificent — that means really, really wonderful and impressive. The castle was magnificent — it was huge and beautiful." Then keep reading. You don't need to make a big lesson of it — a quick explanation in context is surprisingly effective. Elley's (1989) research showed that children learned significantly more vocabulary from being read to when the adult briefly explained unfamiliar words, compared to reading without any explanation.
During Everyday Conversation
Use richer vocabulary in your everyday chat with your child. Instead of always saying "big," sometimes say "enormous" or "massive." Instead of "nice," try "delightful" or "pleasant." Instead of "said," try "announced," "whispered," or "exclaimed." When you use a more sophisticated word, you can briefly connect it to one they already know: "That was a hilarious joke — hilarious means really, really funny." Across years of working with families, I've found this tiny tag-on habit is the single most sustainable way to build vocabulary at home — it costs nothing and fits into the chatter you're already having. The dinner table, the car, and cooking together are all natural settings: "Let's combine the ingredients — combine means mix them together."
Follow Your Child's Interests
If your child loves dinosaurs, space, cooking, or sport, those interests are goldmines for vocabulary. A child who is fascinated by something is motivated to learn the words that go with it — and many interest-based words are Tier Two words in disguise (ancient, ferocious, enormous, rare, discover, examine).
How Teachers Can Embed Vocabulary Instruction
The Australian Curriculum (ACARA) explicitly expects children to develop and use increasingly sophisticated vocabulary across their schooling. A few things that tend to work well in classrooms: pre-teaching three to five Tier Two words before a new unit or text so students have a head start with the language they'll encounter; using those words consistently across subjects once they've been introduced (if "investigate" is the target word, it shows up in science, English, and maths); and creating a word-rich classroom where target vocabulary is displayed with student-friendly definitions and referred to regularly. Celebrating when students use target vocabulary in their own speech or writing keeps the motivation going.
When Vocabulary Difficulties Need More Support
Some children — particularly those with developmental language differences — find vocabulary learning genuinely difficult. They may need more repetitions, more scaffolding, and more explicit instruction than their peers. Research by Nash and Donaldson (2005) found that children with language difficulties needed significantly more exposures to new words before they could learn them compared to typically developing peers — highlighting the importance of intentional, repeated teaching. If your child consistently struggles to learn and retain new words, or if their vocabulary seems significantly smaller than other children their age, a speech pathology assessment can help identify what's going on and guide the right support.
Vocabulary is one of those areas where small, consistent actions add up to big gains. Whether it's pausing to explain a word during bedtime reading or using a richer word in everyday conversation, you're making a difference. If you'd like guidance tailored to your child, get in touch — Speaking Speech Pathology offers mobile speech pathology in your home across Brisbane's south side and Logan. Any actual clinical work — assessment, diagnosis, or therapy — happens through a proper consultation tailored to your child.
Alexandra Bouwmeester is a Senior Speech Pathologist (MSPA, CPSP) with over 14 years' experience supporting children's vocabulary and language. She offers mobile speech pathology to families across Brisbane's south side and Logan.
References
- Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., & Kucan, L. (2013). Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.
- Elley, W. B. (1989). Vocabulary acquisition from listening to stories. Reading Research Quarterly, 24(2), 174–187.
- Nash, M., & Donaldson, M. L. (2005). Word learning in children with vocabulary deficits. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 48(2), 439–458.
