How the Words We Teach English Language Learners Changed
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Differences between “essential vocabulary” lists, 1953 vs. 2023
Look through the words scattered around this page. Every one of them is among the most commonly used words in the English language. They come from a 2023 list of about 2,800 words, shown to cover over 90% of general English use, intended for people learning the language. This 2023 list is an update of an earlier one, made in 1953, which identified about 2,300 words as the essential vocabulary to everyday life at the time. Between the two lists, 70 years apart, about 600 words were dropped, and over 1,100 were added. The rest remained as is. Some of the changes make immediate sense:…
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