Bona lectio discipulos non solum vocabula nova, sed etiam artem disputandi docet.

The core structure is:

• bona lectio = a good lesson / a good reading → the subject
• docet = teaches → the verb
• discipulos = students → the person being taught
• vocabula nova = new words / new vocabulary
• artem disputandi = the art of arguing/discussing/debating

So the sentence means, literally:

A good lesson teaches students not only new words, but also the art of disputing.

A very important point is that docere can take two accusatives in Latin:

• the person taught
• the thing taught

That is exactly what is happening here.

Latin does not have articles like English a, an, the.

So:

• bona lectio can mean a good lesson, the good lesson, or simply good instruction/reading, depending on context.
• discipulos can mean students or the students.

English has to choose an article, but Latin usually leaves that idea to context.

Because lectio is:

• feminine
• singular
• nominative

Since it is the subject of the sentence, it must be in the nominative case. Its adjective has to agree with it, so bona is also:

• feminine
• singular
• nominative

So:

• lectio = nominative singular feminine
• bona = nominative singular feminine

Bonum lectio would be wrong because bonum is neuter, not feminine.

Because with docere, the person taught is often put in the accusative.

So:

• discipuli = students as a nominative subject
• discipulos = students as an accusative object

Here, the lesson is doing the teaching, and the students are receiving that teaching, so Latin uses discipulos.

This is natural in Latin, even if English learners sometimes expect a different construction.

Yes. Docere is one of the classic Latin verbs that can take a double accusative.

In this sentence:

• discipulos = the people taught
• vocabula nova and artem disputandi = the things taught

So the full idea is:

A good lesson teaches the students new words and also the art of disputing.

English can do something similar:

• The teacher teaches students grammar.

Latin does this very comfortably.

This is a very common Latin pair meaning:

not only ... but also ...

In this sentence it connects the two things being taught:

• non solum vocabula nova
• sed etiam artem disputandi

So the sense is:

teaches students not only new words, but also the art of disputing

It is a set phrase, so it is worth memorizing as a unit:

• non solum = not only
• sed etiam = but also

Because vocabula is neuter plural accusative, and nova must agree with it.

Breakdown:

• vocabulum = a word / term / vocabulary item
• vocabula = words / vocabulary items

Since it is one of the things being taught, it is in the accusative plural. Because it is neuter plural, the adjective must also be neuter plural accusative:

• vocabula nova = new words

So:

• vocabula = neuter plural accusative
• nova = neuter plural accusative, agreeing with vocabula

It means literally:

the art of disputing

Here:

• artem is the accusative singular of ars = art, skill
• disputandi is a gerund in the genitive

So disputandi means of disputing / of discussing / of debating.

Together:

• ars disputandi = the art of disputing
• artem disputandi = the accusative form, because it is another object of docet

This is a very common Latin pattern:

• ars + genitive gerund
• meaning the art/skill of doing something

Because after a noun like ars (art, skill), Latin very often uses a genitive gerund to express the art of doing something.

So:

• ars disputandi = the art of disputing
• literally, the art of disputing

Using an infinitive here would be much less idiomatic. Latin strongly prefers the gerund construction in this kind of phrase.

English often uses:

• the art of arguing
• the skill of speaking
• the habit of reading

Latin does something very similar.

It can mean several related things, depending on context.

Common possibilities are:

• lesson
• reading
• lecture

In an educational sentence like this, lesson is often the most natural translation. But lectio can also carry the idea of a reading passage or something studied/read aloud.

So a learner should not assume it always means just one English word. Latin words often cover a wider range than a single English equivalent.

Latin word order is much more flexible than English word order because the endings show the grammatical roles.

English depends heavily on position:

• The lesson teaches the students
• The students teach the lesson mean different things because the word order changes.

Latin, however, shows those roles through case endings:

• lectio is nominative, so it is the subject
• discipulos is accusative, so it is an object

That gives Latin writers freedom to arrange words for emphasis, style, and rhythm.

In this sentence, the order highlights:

• the subject first: bona lectio
• then the students
• then the two things taught, linked by non solum ... sed etiam
• and the verb at the end: docet

Ending with the verb is especially common in Latin.

Because they refer to different kinds of things:

• vocabula nova = many individual words
• artem disputandi = one skill or discipline

So the sentence says that a good lesson teaches:

• many new words
• and also one broader art/skill

That contrast is perfectly natural:

• vocabulary items are counted individually
• a skill like debating is treated as a single art

Yes, often it can.

Depending on context:

• vocabula nova could be translated as new words
• or new vocabulary

If the English translation is trying to sound natural in a classroom context, new vocabulary may sound smoother. If it is trying to stay close to the Latin form, new words may be better.

Both are reasonable, depending on what nuance you want.