An 18 month-old needs to learn an average of
new words a day to have an average vocabulary of approximately
words by the time he or she is 6 years old. (Senechal & Cornell, 1993)
The average high school graduate knows approximately
words. (Nagy & Herman, 1985)
To go from
to
words in 12 years, a child needs to learn 32,000 words or
a day.
Children typically learn
words a year (over 8 words a day) between 3rd and 12th grades. (Nagy & Anderson, 1984)