To understand what vocabulary is, think of a tasty bowl of soup. We would need all the right ingredients cooked at a suitable temperature to make it. Similar is the case with language proficiency. It requires a command of vocabulary that is placed in a sentence in a logical sequence.
Making soup is a serious matter for a soup lover. There are vegetables required, fresh and crispy (if you are making vegetable soup), and then a right combination of spices (if you like a hot soup) to bring that bowl of simmering liquid to a level of the desired perfection.
It won’t taste the same if any one of the required ingredients or spices doesn’t go in that cooking pot. The order in which the ingredients are put in is also important. What takes longer to cook must go in first, and if you are planning a garnish, then that has to be the last.
Language development is no different from making soup. The verbs (action words) and adjectives (describing words) are much like ingredients that are mixed with prepositions (spices) to create the appropriate sentence structure.
Research shows that learners of a second language would require vocabulary of seven different kinds to make a sentence. These seven types of vocabulary are used in almost all the sentences that we speak or write. A minimum vocabulary of each kind can help a speaker (or writer) to express him or herself at a basic level.
Research in the English language has identified the most frequently used words of each kind. These words make up most of the commonly used words of the English language. We will discuss the most commonly used vocabulary of each kind of little later in this article, but first, let’s see the seven kinds of vocabulary we need to have in order to acquire a minimum proficiency of a language.
Sentence Starters and Prepositions
These words are often needed to start a sentence (subject) or glue the vocabulary together (prepositions) in a sentence. Sentence starters usually tell the listener about the person, place, or thing that we are talking about. They are like the generals in an army, as much of the rest of the sentence is about them, while the prepositions are tiny soldiers who serve the general and keep the army moving forward.
Common Vocabulary
The second kind consists of the most commonly used words of English learning. These words are the building blocks that are needed to construct a sentence, regardless of the topic being discussed. These words belong to everyday life and are part of all cultures (more or less). The list of these words is not too long. As a matter of fact, the 100 words in this list make up 80% of an everyday language.
Action Words
Then come the verbs. There are actions we perform in everyday life. They are the works we do and the activities we perform. They are needed to describe the types of action being done by someone.
Opposites
Next are the describing words that help us explain a subject’s properties or qualities. Their purpose is to help the reader to understand the nature of a person, animal, place, or object.
Spatial
Spatial is the relationship of a subject to a certain place or object. It is the description of a position. This kind of vocabulary helps us to understand the location of something in reference to something else.
General Knowledge or thematic vocabulary
They are nouns (naming words) related to our environment and life. There can be a number of words under this category belonging to a topic or subject. For example, there can be fruits and vegetables if we talk about the market or the name of colors if we talk about an art activity.
Question Words
The seventh type is the question words. These words help us to form questions.
With this description of each of the seven kinds of vocabulary words, let’s turn to the number of words that make up each kind. There is a list of the most frequently used words for each of the seven kinds. Since these are the most often used words (up to 80%), they help a speaker to communicate a message to an audience at a satisfactory level.
The remaining 20% of the words are usually related to a profession. The list of that 20% is long, and it is difficult to master them all, as they vary from one profession to another.
What is important is to know the words used most commonly in each of the seven headings.
So how many words are there all together that make the seven kinds of vocabulary? The answers are simple. It’s 243.
Around 243 words of English makeup, 80% of the English learning to use these 243 words; a person can have the word bank to convey 80% of their thought to others.
These 243 words should be the ‘first’ vocabulary of a learner of English language learning. Much emphasis should be on making children use these words.
The activity around these 243 words should include all four areas of language development. Children should listen to these 243 words. Then there should be opportunities for them to speak these words.
After that, there should be an opportunity for them to read these words. Finally, they should be encouraged to use these words in their creative writings.
Finally, let’s look at the number of words found under each of the seven kinds of vocabulary:
1. Sentence starters and preposition: 18 words
2. Common vocabulary: 103 words
3. Action words: 33 words
4. Opposites: 15 words
5. Spatial: 16 words
6. General Knowledge / Thematic: 54 words
7. Question words: 4 words
Conclusion
Approximately 80% of the common English language is made of 243 words. These words fall under seven categories.
These 243 words should be the foundation of language development. All listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities at the initial level of language development should incorporate these 243 words.
(Butterfly and Friends English Workbooks Series pre-year three is based on the 243 frequently used English words.)