"I Don't Understand, Teacher"... 66% of Teachers Say Students’ Limited Vocabulary Greatly Hinders Class Comprehension

98.5% of Teachers Say "Lack of Vocabulary Affects Classes"

Students Report "Most Difficult Words in Social Studies and Korean Language"

Two out of three elementary and middle school teachers believe that students’ lack of vocabulary has a significant impact on their understanding of lessons. Likewise, students reported encountering the most difficult words in their social studies and Korean language textbooks.

According to Yonhap News on August 2, which cited a report released by the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation titled “Exploration of Learner-Friendly Vocabulary Teaching and Learning Support Strategies and Content Development,” an online survey conducted in November last year targeting 334 elementary and middle school teachers found that 65.9% (220 teachers) responded that a lack of vocabulary among students “greatly affects” lesson comprehension.

Another 32.6% (109 teachers) answered that it “somewhat affects” comprehension, while only 1.5% (5 teachers) said that it “does not affect much.” In summary, 98.5% of all respondents believe that students’ vocabulary skills do impact learning.

Students conducting classes using digital devices at an elementary school in Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

The methods for explaining unfamiliar words to students are also changing. In this multiple-response survey, 96.4% of teachers said they “explain the meaning they know in a way that suits the students’ level.” Additionally, 57.2% reported “looking up words together in an online Korean dictionary with students,” while 27.8% said they “utilize online resources such as blogs, YouTube, or card news.” In contrast, only 1.2% answered that they “look up words together in a paper Korean dictionary,” indicating that digital resources have essentially become the standard learning tools.

The subjects in which students actually experience the most difficulty are also concentrated in social studies and Korean. According to a survey of 2,338 students from fourth grade in elementary school to third grade in middle school by the research team, the subjects perceived to contain the highest number of difficult words were social studies (2.84 points), Korean (2.81 points), and science (2.63 points). Mathematics had the lowest score at 1.82 points.

Differences also appeared according to school level. Elementary school students found the vocabulary in social studies most difficult, while middle school students struggled most with vocabulary in the Korean language subject.

The research team stated, “There is a strong need for vocabulary support in social studies, Korean, and science subjects, which contain many conceptual explanations and lengthy texts,” and added, “Since elementary students struggle most with social studies and middle school students with Korean, customized support by school level is needed.”

They further suggested that “various support measures to strengthen vocabulary education in public schools should be prepared, such as enhancing support functions for multicultural students and introducing a reward system according to learning history.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.