What's in a Word? : Vocabulary Development in Multilingual Classrooms

Developing children's word-power in the classroom is the focus of this book. It offers practical approaches and strategies, based on the linguistic, cognitive and social principles affecting children's use of words and their meanings in English as an additional language.

What's in a Word? aims to develop teachers' understanding of how words and their meanings underpin all children's learning in all curriculum areas. It explores a neglected but crucial aspect of additional language acquisition: the dependence of children's academic achievement on lexicon - vocabulary - and provides a guide for teachers to plan and resource a "word-aware" curriculum.

This groundbreaking book is essential for all teachers of children for whom English is an additional language and also for linguists, educational policy-makers and teacher educators.