The Invisible Bridge: Why Oral Vocabulary is the Secret to Fluent Reading
Multiple studies have shown that we learn to read a word before we have first seen it. Wegener et al (2017), Beyersmann et al (2022) and more recently Ataman (2026) have all supported the importance of oral knowledge of a word in supporting reading. These articles look at ages from 8-year-olds to university students.
In each experiment, participants were given sets of invented words (such as vish). For some of these terms, the participants were given oral training where they would rehearse the words and use them in context. For other terms, they were given no oral training. They were then asked to read passages that included the new words and derivations of those words (for example, vished for the past tense of vish).
In every experiment, they found that those participants who had orally rehearsed with this word had prebuilt an orthographic skeleton of the word in their mind. The skeleton is a mental prediction of the word’s spelling based on its sound, so it is most useful when the word is spelt the way the participant would expect. The skeleton allowed them to read the word more fluently when they were first exposed to it in print.
Beyersmann (2023) and Ataman (2026) added to the research by finding that hearing a complex word (like vishing or visher) actually helps you read the base stem (vish) more quickly later. This suggests that our brains automatically strip away the suffixes (/ing/, /er/, /ed/) during oral learning to create a mental map of the core root word. This even applies when the word changes grammatical category from a verb to a noun (e.g. vish to visher), which suggests that the mental model of the orthographic skeleton is quite sophisticated.
What does this mean for us?
- Read to children often. By listening to stories, children are exposed to a wealth of vocabulary. This helps them develop a mental image of a word's structure long before they encounter it in a book.
- Be adventurous with language. Don’t shy away from "big" words. Encourage children to use them in context; the more they say them, the easier they will eventually find them to read.
Use meaningful choral response. When introducing a new word in class, ensure you meet the three key strands of word acquisition:
- Define the meaning
- Use the word in context
- Rehearse the word through choral response to build that vital oral foundation.
References
- Beyersmann, E., Wegener, S., Spencer, J. and Castles, A. (2023) ‘Acquisition of orthographic forms via spoken complex word training’, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 30(2), pp. 739–750. doi: 10.3758/s13423-022-02185-y.
- Wegener, S., Wang, H.-C., de Lissa, P., Robidoux, S., Nation, K. and Castles, A. (2018) ‘Children reading spoken words: interactions between vocabulary and orthographic expectancy’, Developmental Science, 21(3), e12577. doi: 10.1111/desc.12577.
- Ataman, E., Beyersmann, E., Castles, A. and Wegener, S. (2026) ‘Oral vocabulary and learning to read morphologically complex words’, Reading and Writing. Doi: 10.1007/s11145-026-10802-8.
