Preparing a few essential words before reading can stop decoding difficulty from blocking access to the lesson. The aim is to make the words readable and recognisable, while subject teaching supplies their full meaning.

Select three to five essential terms

Choose words that pupils must recognise to follow the text or lesson. Prioritise terms that are:

• Central to the new concept.

• Difficult to pronounce from their written form.

• Built from useful syllables, roots or affixes.

• Likely to appear repeatedly.

Do not pre-teach every unfamiliar word. Too many words create another memory demand and reduce time for the subject itself.

Prepare each word

Use the same brief routine:

1. Display and pronounce the complete word.

2. Ask the pupil to repeat it.

3. Divide it into manageable spoken sections.

4. Mark one helpful spelling pattern, root, prefix or suffix.

5. Rebuild and read the complete word.

6. Give the concise subject meaning.

7. Return to the word when it appears in the text.

For photosynthesis, the teacher might rehearse its pronunciation, mark manageable sections and identify photo as a part connected with light. This supports recognition, but the science explanation must still establish the full concept.

Keep pronunciation and meaning connected

Word structure can support pronunciation, spelling and meaning, but these are not interchangeable. A pupil may pronounce a term without understanding it, or understand the spoken term while struggling to recognise it in print.

Check both:

• “Can you read the word?”

• “What does it mean here?”

Keep the prepared terms visible during the lesson, then remove the support when they are recognised independently.

Protect access and dignity

Use real subject vocabulary and age-respectful presentation. If analysing a word would interrupt the lesson, supply the pronunciation and continue. Direct reading support can take place separately.

Text-to-speech, teacher reading or paired reading may still be needed for a demanding passage. Preparing vocabulary should improve access, not become a condition pupils must meet before learning the content.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Preparing long lists detached from the actual text.

• Using childish examples or presentation.

• Treating syllables and meaningful word parts as the same thing.

• Assuming a root provides the complete definition.

• Spending longer on word analysis than on the subject concept.

• Removing wider reading access until decoding improves.

What the evidence says

The DfE Reading Framework identifies support for older pupils' word reading as a continuing responsibility and highlights the role of subject teachers in making unfamiliar vocabulary accessible. EEF secondary literacy guidance similarly recommends explicit teaching of disciplinary vocabulary.

Research on morphological instruction, mostly with primary-aged pupils, suggests the clearest benefits are often found for words that are directly taught. Transfer to wider reading and comprehension is less certain, so word preparation should sit within broader subject and literacy teaching.

Sources and further reading

• The DfE Reading Framework
  Includes guidance on older pupils, reading across the curriculum and unfamiliar vocabulary.

• EEF: Improving Literacy in Secondary Schools
  Guidance on disciplinary literacy and explicit vocabulary teaching in every subject.

• Morphological instruction and literacy outcomes: systematic review and meta-analysis
  Reports the strongest effects for directly taught reading and spelling items, with less certainty about wider transfer.