There are so many different ways to talk about—and teach—vocabulary.
There’s Tier 2 vocabulary.
There’s teaching word meaning through context clues.
There’s breaking words down into prefixes, suffixes, and roots.
And honestly? It can be easy to feel a little lost in all of it and wonder, Am I actually teaching vocabulary the way the evidence says works best?
If you’re anything like me, part of your brain still remembers seventh-grade-you sitting on the floor with a stack of flashcards, flipping them over again and again, hoping the definition would magically stick this time. (Spoiler alert: turns out… that wasn’t it.)
The good news is that research tells us so much more now about how students learn new words—especially Tier 2 vocabulary—and, more specifically, how explicitly teaching context clues helps students figure out what words mean while they’re reading.
In this post, I’m excited to break down a research article that identified three key strategies students use to learn new words. We’ll look at what those strategies are, how they support vocabulary development, and why teaching context clues on purpose plays such a powerful role in word learning—especially in speech therapy and language intervention.
A Quick Note on Vocabulary Resources
Before we dive in, a quick note—because vocabulary instruction is not one-size-fits-all.
- If you’re looking specifically for Tier 2 vocabulary resources, we’ve absolutely got you covered with our Tier 2 Vocabulary Curriculum, designed to help students learn high-utility words they can apply across texts and settings.
👉 Check our the Tier 2 Vocabulary Curriculum Here - If you want to dig deeper into the research behind Tier 2 instruction, you can also check out our evidence-based guide to Tier 2 vocabulary instruction + Free Curriculum Pages!
👉 See the Tier 2 Research Here! - And if you’re teaching vocabulary through morphemes (prefixes, suffixes, roots), we’ll also link our favorite speech therapy activities for teaching morpheme awareness.
👉 Here are your Resources for Morpheme Research + Activities!
If you ever have questions about vocabulary instruction or want help figuring out which approach best fits your students, reach out. This is something we’ve been diving deeply into over the past year to make sure SLPs feel confident teaching vocabulary using evidence-based strategies that actually translate into practice.
Three Ways Students Learn New Words
The research article The Effects of Comprehensive Vocabulary Instruction on Title I Students’ Metacognitive Word-Learning Skills and Reading Comprehension identified three distinct strategies students use when learning new vocabulary:
- Memory
- Context
- Structure
Let’s break each one down.
Needing a basic place to start? This post outlines the 17 Best Vocabulary Goals for Speech Therapy! These IEP goals are clear and concise – they come from our IEP Goal Bank with 432+ Goals and Objectives.
1. Memory: Using What Students Already Know
The first strategy focuses on memory, specifically helping students draw on partial knowledge when they encounter an unfamiliar word.
In the study, this was referred to as the “Mine Your Memory” strategy. Students were encouraged to pause and ask themselves questions like:
- Have I seen this word before?
- Do I recognize part of it?
- Does it remind me of another word I know?
Rather than skipping over unknown words, students learned to retrieve and clarify meaning based on what they already knew.
Why this matters:
- – It builds confidence, because students realize they already have tools to work with
- – It increases engagement with text
- – It supports metacognitive word learning—students become more aware of how they learn new words
Memory strategies alone aren’t enough, but they create an important foundation for deeper vocabulary work.
2. Context: Learning New Words Through Meaningful Text
Using context clues to determine word meaning was identified as the most complex strategy in the study—but also one of the most beneficial when students received explicit instruction and practice.
Context clues require students to:
- 1. Pay attention to surrounding words and sentences
- 2. Use comprehension skills to infer meaning
- 3. Integrate multiple pieces of information from the text
This is exactly why teaching context clues explicitly is so important in speech therapy and language intervention.
Rather than asking students to guess, effective instruction includes:
- – Teaching different types of context clues (definition, example, contrast, cause/effect)
- – Providing intentional sentences where clues are clear and supportive
- – Modeling how to pause, think, and test possible meanings
- – Practicing with real, meaningful text—not isolated word lists
When students are taught how to use context clues—and are given structured opportunities to practice—they’re better able to:
- – Learn new vocabulary independently
- – Apply strategies across settings
- – Improve overall reading comprehension
The research highlights that while context-based word learning is demanding, it becomes increasingly effective with guided practice and structured vocabulary instruction.
P.S. Keep your eye out for an amazing Context Clue Resource that was created with this research in mind – coming next week!
3. Structure: Using Word Parts to Unlock Meaning
The third strategy identified was structural analysis, or learning new words by examining how they’re built. The research shows that instruction in prefixes, suffixes, and root words helps students recognize familiar components within unfamiliar words.
Structural strategies support vocabulary acquisition by:
- – Helping students break longer words into manageable parts
- – Connecting new words to known meanings
- – Strengthening decoding and comprehension at the same time
This strategy pairs especially well with context clues, giving students multiple entry points for understanding word meaning.
P.S. If teaching vocabulary through word parts is something your students need more support with, we’ll link our favorite morpheme-based speech therapy resources here. Structural strategies and context clues work best when they’re taught together.
Why Structured Vocabulary Instruction Matters
Taken together, these findings underscore the importance of comprehensive, structured vocabulary instruction.
Rather than relying on exposure alone, students benefit when we:
- – Teach word-learning strategies directly
- – Model how to use them in real texts
- – Provide repeated, supported practice
This is especially impactful in speech therapy, where vocabulary growth supports broader language, literacy, and academic outcomes.
The Speech Therapy Store Membership Bridges the Gap between Research and Real Therapy Sessions
If you’re curious how this research actually shows up in real speech therapy sessions, this is exactly the work behind the Speech Therapy Store Membership.
The membership was intentionally designed after spending hours upon hours digging into what the evidence says about how things like language, vocabulary, comprehension, narratives and more should be taught.
Each month, members receive 575+ pages of differentiated, themed speech therapy materials, intentionally designed to make evidence-based instruction feel doable, engaging, and organized.
Inside the membership, you’ll find:
- 📚 Language & Vocabulary resources that are interactive, engaging and tiered at 3 levels for all learners
- 🗣️ An Articulation Hub with games, flashcards and wordlists that fits seamlessly into mixed groups
- ✨ Interactive, student-friendly materials that are fun to use and easy to implement
- 📄 Clear, consistent layouts so you spend less time figuring out how to use resources and more time working with students (our digital planner is a game changer!)
- 🔗 Direct connections back to the research, so strategies aren’t taught in isolation—they’re applied across activities
The goal is simple: to bridge the gap between research and real therapy sessions.
Free Evidence-Based Guide: Key Findings Poster
To make this research easy to reference and apply, we’ve created a free Evidence-Based Research Key Findings Poster that summarizes the main takeaways from this study.
You can use it to:
- 🗂️ Guide therapy planning
- 🎯 Support IEP goal selection
- 🧠 Reference research during team discussions
- 📌 Keep evidence-based strategies front and center