ABSTRACT
Since the time of Edward L. Thorndike (1917), about the time that scientific methodology was first applied to the study of human thought, psychologists and educators have studied people’s knowledge of word meanings and how they relate to other aspects of human thought. Perhaps much of this interest derives from the centrality of vocabulary knowledge in so many aspects of mental behaviors. Vocabulary knowledge is related to reading comprehension, intelligence, content area knowledge, and reasoning. Much of the research conducted since Thorndike’s time has centered around four questions:
What is the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension?
How many words do people know?
What does it mean to “know” a word?
How do people learn words from context?
