How many words do you know?

I agree wholeheartedly with the authors Schmitt and Carter when they affirm that reading "should be a key component in most language learning programs"(8). Acquiring a large vocabulary in a second or third language takes time and can not be done through memorization of word lists, even when presented in authentic context. As the authors point out, for effective language usage one needs to know many more words than those that can be taught (4). It was interesting to learn that knowing 2000 words enables a person to function orally for everyday life, but the knowledge of 10000 words is required to read academic texts. I was interested to evaluate my own level of vocabulary knowledge. Being a francophone and a future English teacher, I felt I should have a real portrait of my skills, at least in terms of lexical competency. According to Test Your Vocab.com, which is relying on participants' answers and data, "most Native English adult speakers who have taken the test fall in the range 20,000–35,000 words". I was thus relieved to see that I attained the level of 22,400 words. There are many words that are not used in everyday life and that one finds in literature or academic reading. I must say that I acquired my knowledge of English through considerable reading over the years.
I had the great chance to be stimulated to read in English by my mother who had learned English as a second language as a young adult (German being her native language and French, her third one). She always had a passion for reading and still does. She introduced me to different authors, some that she was discovering herself. She read from varied genres and authors of different origins. She introduced me to beginner reading books, and later to native English-speaking teen and adult books. She would arouse my curiosity with a brief outline of a novel and encourage me to read it. Reading a second language text can be discouraging if the reader doesn't have the "prerequisite vocabulary necessary to read them, as mentioned by the authors Schmitt and Carter. They argue that narrow reading (Krashen, 1981), which is reading on the same topic over the course of a number of texts, facilitates reading experiences. Their article explains very well how to incorporate narrow reading into a ESL syllabus. Finally, it could be said that reading several books by the same author (for example, Agatha Christie) can also be considered narrow reading since there is also repetition of vocabulary, even if the topics vary.

http://testyourvocab.com/

PS: Test your vocab: The nitty gritty page of this test provides information on the test, the sample words chosen and the margin of errors.

STRATEGY: Time to write down anything in relation to the text. (Course notes guidelines)
ARTICLE : Norbert Schmitt; Ronald Carter (2000).The Lexical Advantages of Narrow Reading for Second Language, Learners. TESOL Journal. 9 (1) 4-9.