Recent numbers on English Proficiency Index (2018) indicate that Sweden is in the lead ofEnglish proficiency, whereas Turkey is lagging far behind. Vocabulary plays a vital role inlanguage learning, and research confirms that learners become more confident and proficientusers of English when they receive enough support to expand their word knowledge. Thiscomparative study is twofold: one aspect focuses on how the steering documents in Swedenand Turkey support integration of vocabulary teaching through a content analysis, and theother is on what teachers, in qualitative interviews, report they do to help their learnersincrease their vocabulary knowledge. Although Sweden is in the lead of proficiency, thesupport for vocabulary teaching in the syllabus is relatively absent, whereas the Turkishsyllabus puts an emphasis on teaching and learning words. Furthermore, Swedish and Turkishteachers incorporate vocabulary in their classrooms differently as a result of how theyinterpret what the respective syllabus require. However, neither of these syllabuses areexemplary in describing vocabulary teaching and learning, and one could argue for combiningthe approaches in the two syllabuses, which could perhaps lead to a decrease in the gapbetween “word poor” learners and “word rich” learners.