Vocabulary

After reading over the text as well as the articles this past week there were a few matters that concerned me due to personal experiences. The text mentions that students acquire word knowledge from the wide reading they do and from teaching read alouds and shared readings. I find it hard to believe that one of the main styles of learning vocabulary was failed to be listed. This particular learning style is through conversation. It is very well true that students acquire word knowledge through readings etc, but what happens when the student accomplishes the reading material by completing the text, but according to standarized test the child's vocabulary level is extremely low. So, is it really true that students learn through these styles of teaching or is it really through conversation. As a child, I was one who loved to read and understood what I was reading, however when it came to standarized testing my vocabulary level was very low. As years passed by I became less interested in reading and was not required to use any of the vocabulary words that were learned at school and through text. Recently, I have acquired a range of vocabulary through general conversations with friends and professionals. We all are familiar with the line "use it or lose it", which is true. How do you really teach a child vocabulary words, is it just learning the definition and being able to apply it to a test question? Or is it so that the child maybe able to use the word over and over again years later when they are apply for a job or teach another child vocabulary.