Context versus Isolation Methods of Word Instruction: Efficiency Assessed by Paralleling Assessment Modes

Abstract

Several studies conducted over the past two decades have attempted to determine how pictures, oral sentences and/or written sentences effect learning of sight words. Singer, Samuels and Spiroff (1973-1974) compared the effects of teaching beginning readers words presented alone, with pictures, within the context of an English sentence or in a sentence-picture combination. Learning of words was more easily accomplished when words were presented alone. A decrease in subjects' word learning efficiency was noted as cues paired with the word changed from picture to sentence and increased to sentence plus picture. Hartley (1970), on the other hand, taught first grade subjects to read lists of similar words (ie. ken, men; know, snow) and dissimilar words [ken, snow) by one of three methods: alone; with picture; or in the context of an orally delivered sentence. Barring list type, no significant difference in learning and 24 hour retention of words was found among any of the three methods. However, some interactions between list type and method were noted. The word alone method facilitated learning and retention of similar word lists and depressed performance on dissimilar lists. With respect to dissimilar lists, the oral context method produced better learning and retention than the picture method and the word alone method respectively. In another study in which context free words (nouns and adjectives) and context dependent words (functors and prepositions) were taught with or without oral context cues (Ehri, 1976), context free words were learned at a faster rate than context dependent words, but providing a defining context cue did not facilitate learning of either type. Subtle variations in the experimental methodology employed may in part account for the contradictory results of the above studies. Yet with respect to any of these studies, generalizing