Vocabulary tiers
Not all words are equal. Sorting vocabulary into three tiers helps you decide which words to teach, and when.
Where the tiers come from
The three tiers come from Isabel Beck, Margaret McKeown and Linda Kucan’s book Bringing Words to Life (2002). They sort words by how often they appear and where students meet them.
Tier 1: everyday words
The words of daily life: table, lunch, happy, run, sister. Most students arrive knowing them, so they are rarely taught directly.
For new arrivals they are the first priority. A student can’t follow a lesson without the words for the classroom, the day and basic needs. For students at bands 4 and 5, Tier 1 words are a low priority, because they already have them.
Tier 2: academic words
Words used across subjects in academic talk and writing: analyse, however, evidence, significant, compare. They are rarely explained, because teachers assume students know them, and they carry the argument in most academic texts.
For middle and high school, Averil Coxhead’s Academic Word List (2000) is a useful place to choose from. It lists 570 word families that appear across academic texts in many subjects.
Tier 3: subject words
Words tied to one subject or topic: photosynthesis, hypotenuse, monarchy, crescendo. Subject teachers usually teach these, and they often have direct translations that bilingual glossaries can provide.
They matter because students can’t learn the content without them, and they are usually taught well already. English learners also need the Tier 2 words that link them together.
Choosing what to teach
For a new arrival, start with Tier 1 and the handful of Tier 3 words needed for this week’s lessons. From band 3 onwards, shift the focus to Tier 2: five to seven words per unit, taught directly and used often.
Across all bands, a small number of words taught well is worth more than a long list.