(This entry expands on the previous Types of Vocabulary post.)
One of the things that has fascinated me since I started reading about literacy is the word count estimations I come across. I think I'm going to start compiling a list of the number estimations that different texts contain (like I did with recommended WPM for grade-levels - drastically varying data!)
- Usually I see the figure 600,000 for words in the English language.
I just read (in my friend's "Just Read, Florida!" material) that the typical 5 year old child:
- Has an expressive vocabulary (words she can use in speech) of around 2,200 words.
- Has a receptive vocabulary (words she can understand when listening) of more than 20,000 words.
- She will learn about 3,000 words in a year. (I'm not sure here whether this means speaking or listening mastery.)
Rudolf Flesch's 1955 "Why Johnny Can't Read" contains this factoid:
- a typical third-grader has a receptive vocabulary of 44,000, according to researchers. (So it doubles in the three years since Kindergarten.)
- Flesch also wrote that the vocabulary of a college freshman was estimated to be 158,000 words.
And finally, the most fascinating estimation (to me), from MCGuinness' "Why Our Children Can't Read." It comes from chapter 3, where she discusses the origins of the written language and the need for an alphabet:
- "When people are asked to memorize what word goes with which abstract visual symbol . . . the upper limit is around 1,500 to 2,000, not enough for any language. (p. 38)
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