The Role of Poverty in Vocabulary Development

As a teacher in inner-city Philadelphia, I see this problem everyday.

Although it is a sad reality, many of our students from low socioeconomic backgrounds are far behind in their vocabulary development. I strongly believe that poverty can play a large role in this gap for several reasons.

To start, many of my students' vocabulary is not reinforced at home. This can be for several reasons. To start, many of these children's parents are working several jobs in order to make ends meet and support their families. Because of this, they are not spending as much time with their children and reinforcing what they are learning during the school day. Also, some of these students' parents do not have the vocabulary themselves to support their children's vocabulary development at home.

Also, many students attending schools in low socioeconomic areas do not experience teacher stability. There is a high turnover rate. Without teacher stability, professional and collaborative relationships are not developed. These relationships are crucial in developing strong, stable curriculums that challenge and engage students.

Finally, many of these children are attending schools with little resources and high student-teacher ratios. The majority of the classrooms have 30+ children and very little supplies. Without the proper tools, many of these children are not receiving the same quality education as students in higher socioeconomic areas.

The Need for Informational Texts

Informational texts are an integral piece of ALL classrooms. In my opinion, they are the most important type of texts because they have the most real-world application.

In saying this, I believe that informational texts need to be introduced at a younger age. As a middle school English Language Arts teacher, I find that my students struggle with reading informational texts and find them "boring." I believe this is because the majority of their elementary education revolved around fiction texts. Although I am not an elementary certified teacher, I believe there is a solution to this. Although students need basic skills that can be easily taught through pattern books, these pattern books can be easily supplemented with informational texts and thematic units. For example, a theme could be "Animals on the Land" where all of the stories and informational texts revolve around different types of animals. One story could be, "The Hungry Caterpillar." When reading this story, the basic comprehension, spelling, and writing skills can be taught. Then, informational texts about caterpillars and butterflies could be supplemented throughout to build background knowledge.

Our students need to know how to read and understand informational texts because it is critical to the real world. Students will be need to interpret this information and use it as needed. I believe they will find it less boring if they can connect to it and truly understand how to read it.