1.1.3

Alex Quigley

Test yourself

Alex Quigley

Alex Quigley is an important education writer, who has interesting ideas about the vocabulary gap.

Illustrative background for Who is Alex?Illustrative background for Who is Alex? ?? "content

Who is Alex?

  • Quigley is the director of Huntington Research School, in York.
  • He is also a Research School developer for the EEF.
  • You can read more from him in his blog The Confident Teacher.
Illustrative background for The vocabulary gapIllustrative background for The vocabulary gap ?? "content

The vocabulary gap

  • A lack of vocabulary makes it more difficult for children to follow the curriculum in schools.
  • There is a massive gap in vocabulary between children of different Socio-Economic Status.
    • This means that, in addition to all the other disadvantages, children from lower social classes also face an extra challenge: understanding and following the lessons when they do not have the necessary vocabulary.
Illustrative background for Mental velcroIllustrative background for Mental velcro ?? "content

Mental velcro

  • The lack of vocabulary demotivates students to learn in school.
  • The mental velcro is the idea that the more words one knows, the more new information gets hooked in their brain and the better they understand it.
  • Schools should have room in their timetables for explicit vocabulary teaching
Illustrative background for Morphology and etymologyIllustrative background for Morphology and etymology ?? "content

Morphology and etymology

  • Morphology and etymology should be taught when teaching a new word.
    • Morphology is the study of how words are structured, such as roots and prefixes.
    • Etymology is the study of the origin of words.
  • It helps students to understand and spell the words.
    • It also helps them to understand and spell future words with similar shape and origin.
  • Etymology will even help them to understand science and maths subjects, as many of the concepts are derived from Latin and Greek.

Jump to other topics

1Important Educational Researchers Currently

2How to Have an Evidence-Informed Classroom

3Interleaving

3.1Optimum Interleaving

4Curriculum

4.1Cognitive Sciences and SEND

4.2Curriculum Design

4.3Christine Counsell: Senior Curriculum Leadership

5Future Questions

5.1Future Questions

Unlock your full potential with Seneca Premium

  • Unlimited access to 10,000+ open-ended exam questions

  • Mini-mock exams based on your study history

  • Unlock 800+ premium courses & e-books

Get started with Seneca Premium