Essential For Some, Beneficial For All

Sarah March, SSAT re-accredited lead practitioner / SRP Manager at St. Ignatius College, leads Specialist Resource Provision (SRP) for students who have an EHCP with a primary need of Developmental Language Disorder (DLD).

Research shows it is essential for students with Speech Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) to be explicitly taught tier 2 and tier 3 vocabulary, yet this is a strategy that all students benefit from: if we want our students to confidently speak like scientists, linguists, mathematicians, artists, musicians, historians, we must provide them with the vocabulary to do so.

I grew up in a household that was full of books but without a dictionary, a thesaurus or encyclopaedia. I widened my vocabulary through a love of reading that I shared with my mother. Whilst a relatively high achieving student, learning ambitious vocabulary through reading led to placeholder pronunciation and some incomplete understanding of the words – something I am still conscious of today. I joined the teaching profession knowing I wanted to make a difference and recognised relatively quickly that one way I could do this was through the explicit teaching of vocabulary. When I had the chance to make this a whole school strategy, I relished the opportunity.

Inclusive teaching is at the heart of our teaching and learning policy, and I have overseen the whole school initiative to embed ELKLAN Wave 1 universal teaching strategies in our practice. Firstly, I choose three strategies that could be applied to all areas of the curriculum and would support students in making maximum gains in their learning. These were Blank Level Questioning, the use of visuals, and explicit teaching of tier 2 and tier 3 vocabulary. I will focus on the latter in this article.

I worked with a focus group to trial different ways of teaching vocabulary, incorporating Alex Quigley’s research, the Frayer model and ELKLAN strategies. Through evaluation, I introduced that at least one tier 2 or tier 3 word would be taught explicitly in most lessons by providing students with the following:

• A dictionary definition – student friendly where possible
• The etymology of the word – where appropriate
• A visual to support students’ understanding of the word.
• A glossary at the back of students’ exercise books for them to record the key word and definition.

This was launched in conjunction with our new ‘Knowledge Rich’ curriculum at Key Stage 3, which required extensive planning, so vocabulary slides were added to centrally planned resources in all curriculum areas.

A consistent approach across the school

It was important to explain to staff why this was being introduced and the impact we wanted it to have on students. It was also reiterated to staff that this was not in addition to the teaching and learning policy which is based on Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction – it was a perfect example of how to share new material in small steps, check student understanding and daily and weekly review. I undertook many learning walks, specifically with a focus of explicitly teaching vocabulary and ‘drip fed’ key messages through sharing examples of good practice, alongside key reminders, during regular staff briefings. The ELKLAN focus group also cascaded information and examples during their department meetings. It took an academic year to be in a position where I could confidently say that no matter what lesson, no matter what class, you would see a glossary in the back of students’ books and vocabulary being taught explicitly.

It has been three years since the explicit teaching of vocabulary was launched, and we have continued to refine our practice. Students use their glossary as a self-help resource to recall definitions; they recall definitions in ‘do now’ activities; they are expected to use subject specific vocabulary in their written and oral answers; they hear the word multiple times throughout a lesson as staff model the pronunciation and how to incorporate it in a sentence.

This has been celebrated through a peer review where a key finding was that ‘provision for speech and language needs was a strength’ and our dissemination of ELKLAN strategies was ‘commendable.’

Local Authority reviews of the SRP have credited this whole school policy and our 2025 Outstanding OFSTED inspection highlighted that

‘Reading is prioritised across the school. Staff model reading strategies consistently and support pupils to enhance their vocabulary. Exceptionally effective systems ensure that pupils needing additional help with their reading receive the right level of support swiftly. As a result, these pupils read with increasing fluency and comprehension. This enables them to access the wider curriculum very successfully.’

The only strategy I had to develop my vocabulary was reading, yet we know that a huge number of students are no longer reading. The National Literacy Trust has just launched the Year of Reading in 2026 to try and combat this as the number of children reading for pleasure is at a twenty-year low. Without explicitly teaching vocabulary, how will students widen their vocabulary and have the confidence to speak like scholars?