Alex QuigleyClosing the Vocabulary Gap

This is an excellent handbook which offers practical solutions to bridging the vocabulary gap ( ie the lack of vocabulary and ability to express themselves) in children. Informed and informative, it’s an engaging read for anyone in education interested in addressing an issue which has real implications both for learning, and future life chances. As a Languages and English teacher, I intuitively use many of the suggested strategies, but this book has given me the confidence to make literacy and vocabulary learning a whole school issue in the secondary school I work in and to aim to get everyone on board.What does and doesn’t work is explained,and there’s all the information you need to drive forward policy change or action research, in pleasingly readable and concise form for the time-poor teacher.With summaries of all the points made, word lists and very clear explanations of current research in this area, it’s an essential for every school, primary or secondary, in my opinion. Excellent.

Quigley clearly sets out the science of learning to read and the importance of vocabulary.If you’ve read books such as Lemov’s ‘Reading Reconsidered’ or Murphy and Murphy’s ‘What Every Secondary School Teacher Needs to Know About Reading’, then the first few chapters will be retreading old ground. However, Quigley’s writing is so casual, smooth and understandable, that this will not feel like a chore.Where this book really shines is that there is an entire chapter dedicated to practical solutions for improving vocabulary. Too often these CPD books give you all the science and laud the benefits of a programme of improvement, but leave you scratching your head, wondering what you can do differently, but, ultimately, staring at a blank planning page. Not here, Quigley’s got you covered with a chapter of usable classroom ideas.Which is good, because, as Quigley states in the final chapter, most improvements usually require a whole-school approach, which can’t be realised by the individual teacher. This unfortunately is true of too many of these CPD books and can leave the average teacher frustrated, scratching their head, wondering why they are improving their practice when the people at the top need to pull their finger out and read one of these books themselves, rather than bleat on that the rank and file teacher needs to desperately improve.So if you want a book that adds some activities to your repertoire of teaching, get this book. Just be aware that for major vocabulary improvement, Quigley (and everyone else) knows there must be an institutional response, so don’t get too downhearted if you don’t see major improvements in your students’ vocabulary from your efforts alone.

Fantastic! I work in a city school, with lots of EAL and children from deprived areas - in Quiglys terms - “word poor”. I have found this book invaluable, with such great insight and practical guides of how to improve vocabulary for everyone!

Interesting and helpful read, though a few etymological confusions between Greek and Latin (not a small point, as a whole chapter is on etymology). The interesting root of ‘ostracise’ (Greek) is misattributed to Latin, for example. Great practical steps, and thought-provoking on how words that teachers use themselves can have a big impact.

Very useful for teaching my subject- Science and for research for my course. Recommended.

This book is indispensable. Interesting, varied and knowledge-rich vocabulary is the missing element in literacy learning - especially for those lacking a book culture and rich spoken language experiences at home.

This book was great A really copelling read and lots of ideas which were useful for staff CPD.

This is my book of the year. It’s such an easy read to help primary and secondary colleagues teaching all subjects understand the importance and impact of teaching vocabulary. I have been trialling many of the strategies in the book with my KS3 and KS4 classes and the impact on student progress has been significant. I have also shared some strategies with primary colleagues and they have also found it incredibly useful, particularly when helping KS2 students access challenging fiction and non-fiction texts.A must read for all wishing to ‘close the vocabulary gap!’

This is an outstanding book. Just by downloading the sample I was immediately struck by how information, analysis and advice this book offered. Buying the whole book showed how Alex Quigley is able to synthesize research with his own hard won experience and then develop solutions at all levels are easy to implement. A rare achievement. I will certainly be applying the ideas in this book to both myself and my school. I wholeheartedly recommend this any teacher who wants to make a difference.

This book covers a range of issues in the teaching of vocabulary and stresses the importance of the need for a good academic vocabulary for educational success. While it may not be a handbook that everyone needs, there needs to be at least one teacher in every school who reads this and discusses the ideas with peers.

Super easy read FULL of get information and strategies. Highly recommend for any teacher of any subject because vocabulary is something we all should be teaching!