Exploring Explicit Vocabulary Instruction during Kindergarten Informational Text Read-Alouds

Several researchers have claimed that low-achieving students, especially second language students, need explicit academic vocabulary instruction to “catch up” with their age peers (e.g., Nagy & Townsend, 2012). Two possible paths to vocabulary growth – free reading and explicit vocabulary instruction – were compared in terms of their efficiency (Mason, 2007) in words acquired per minute by analyzing data from a large corpus (1.1 million words) of young-adult novels taken from the Harry Potter series (Rowling, 2016), and from seven large-scale academic vocabulary intervention studies. The Harry Potter novels contain 85% of all the words on the Academic Word List (AWL), which is thought to include the most important word families needed for success in school. Reading all seven Harry Potter novels is predicted to result in the acquisition of between one-fifth and one-half of these AWL words. This vocabulary gain is 1.6 to four times more efficient than what has been achieved so far through explicit instruction.

Vocabulary learning and teaching has been of central concern in the field of foreign language learning. This study was aimed at investigating the effects of two different methods of vocabulary instruction through reading on EFL learners' vocabulary development: explicit vocabulary instruction through presenting definition of vocabulary before reading and implicit vocabulary instruction through narrow reading. For this purpose, 30 intermediate students from Applied- Sciences University in Bandar abass were chosen. At first, the students took an explicit vocabulary pre-test, then received explicit vocabulary instruction and vocabulary definitions were taught before reading followed by explicit vocabulary post-test. After taking an implicit vocabulary pre-test, students received narrow reading and an implicit vocabulary post-test was conducted. The findings of this study revealed that both methods (explicit and implicit vocabulary instruction) were effective but the effect of implicit vocabulary instruction was more efficient and the instruction's difference was significant.

Purpose: Many children begin school with limited vocabularies, placing them at a high risk of academic difficulties. The goal of this study was to examine the effects of a vocabulary intervention program, Story Friends, designed to improve vocabulary knowledge of at-risk preschool children.Method: Twenty-four early-childhood classrooms were enrolled in a cluster-randomized design to evaluate the effects of a revised Story Friends curriculum. In each classroom, three to four preschoolers were identified as having poor language abilities, for a total of 84 participants. In treatment classrooms, explicit vocabulary instruction was embedded in prerecorded storybooks and opportunities for review and practice of target vocabulary were integrated into classroom and home practice activities. In comparison classrooms, prerecorded storybooks included target vocabulary, but without explicit instruction, and classroom and home strategies focused on general language enrichment strategies without specifying vocabulary targets to teach. Intervention activities took place over 13 weeks, and 36 challenging, academically relevant vocabulary words were targeted.Results: Children in the treatment classrooms learned significantly more words than children in the comparison classrooms, who learned few target words based on exposure. Large effect sizes (mean d = 1.83) were evident as the treatment group averaged 42% vocabulary knowledge versus 11% in the comparison group, despite a gradual decline in vocabulary learning by the treatment group over the school year.Conclusions: Findings indicate that a carefully designed vocabulary intervention can produce substantial gains in children’s vocabulary knowledge. The Story Friends program is feasible for delivery in early childhood classrooms and effective in teaching challenging vocabulary to high-risk preschoolers.Supplemental Material S1. Figure of listening center arrangement, examples of storybooks, classroom, and home materials.Supplemental Material S2. Listening center observation checklist.Supplemental Material S3. Teacher attendance and procedural fidelity checklist.Kelley, E. S., Barker, R. M., Peters-Sanders, L., Madsen, K., Seven, Y., Soto, X., Olsen, W., & Goldstein, H. (2020). Feasible implementation strategies for improving vocabulary knowledge of high-risk preschoolers: Results from a cluster-randomized trial. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_JSLHR-20-00316

The study examines the effects of repetition on vocabulary learning within the context of three types of explicit aural vocabulary instruction – second language (L2) vs. codeswitching (CS) vs. contrastive focus-on-form (CFoF) – among 98 Chinese secondary school learners of English as a foreign language. It also explores how the effects of repetition on vocabulary learning were moderated by learners’ listening proficiency and preexisting levels of vocabulary knowledge. Within a 12-week pre–post test quasi-experimental design, learners listened to explicit vocabulary instruction for 20 target words, five of which were repeated four times, five repeated five times, five repeated seven times, and the remaining five repeated nine times. Findings suggested that regardless of the type of explicit instruction, vocabulary learning gains were positively correlated with repetitions but that at least seven repetitions were needed for significant gains to take place. In addition, the effects of repetition were moderated only by learners’ listening proficiency but not by their preexisting levels of vocabulary knowledge. Less proficient listeners benefited significantly more than more proficient listeners with every unit increase of the number of repetitions. The study illuminates important relationships between repetition and listening proficiency, factors useful to consider when designing pedagogical activities to enhance vocabulary learning through listening to explicit instruction.

Schema instruction improves word-problem solving for students with mathematics difficulty (MD; e.g., Powell et al., 2015 ); however, prior research suggests that students need word-problem-specific language comprehension in addition to schema knowledge to build word-problem models ( Fuchs et al., 2015 , 2018 ). Students have general word knowledge (e.g., more, less) but require word-problem-specific word knowledge to solve word problems successfully (e.g., more than, less than; Kintsch & Greeno, 1985 ). Prior word-problem schema interventions have not provided explicit instruction in word-problem vocabulary to support students’ development of word-problem models. We aimed to determine if word-problem vocabulary instruction combined with schema instruction provided an advantage to word-problem solving for third-grade students with MD. We randomly assigned 75 third graders with MD to three conditions: Word-problem intervention with explicit vocabulary instruction (WP + V), word-problem intervention without explicit vocabulary instruction (WP-only), and business-as-usual intervention (BAU). Students in the treatment conditions received 22, 50-min lessons provided virtually in small groups. On a word-problem vocabulary measure, students in the WP + V condition significantly outperformed students in the WP-only (ES = 0.43) and BAU (ES = 0.83) conditions. On a word-problem measure, students in the WP + V condition outperformed students in the WP-only (ES = 0.08) and BAU conditions (ES = 0.43), although these were not statistically significant. These findings provide preliminary support for the benefits of incorporating explicit vocabulary instruction in a word-problem schema intervention; future research is needed to fully understand the effect of vocabulary instruction on word-problem outcomes.

Poor word learning is a hallmark characteristic of students with specific language impairment (SLI). Explicit vocabulary instruction has shown to positively improve word learning in this population. Mobile technology has many advantages making it conducive for addressing the word learning needs of students with SLI. The current study utilized a within-subjects design to investigate the effects of reading paired with explicit instruction delivered through videos viewed on an iPod to reading alone (i.e., traditional) on the novel word learning of fifth- and sixth-grade students with SLI. The order of exposure to the two conditions was counterbalanced across students. The video condition consisted of the students watching a 15-min video twice in 1 week that taught three words critical to comprehending fictional text. A new video was watched each week for 4 weeks. No explicit instruction was provided under the traditional condition. Results show that students learned more words at the expressive and receptive levels under the video condition than under the traditional condition regardless of order of conditions. Specifically, students learned approximately two novel words after viewing vocabulary videos for 30 min in a single week compared to no words under the traditional condition on four of the five measures.

Middle school students with learning disabilities often struggle with reading and literacy skills, including vocabulary, and require support in content‐area classes such as mathematics where weak vocabulary knowledge can negatively affect learning, achievement, and deep understanding. However, in general, middle school mathematics teachers do not receive training in literacy instruction, much less in explicit vocabulary instruction. Additionally, relatively few studies have examined content‐area vocabulary instruction at the middle or secondary school level. This study addressed these gaps in the research by examining the effect of a performance feedback and coaching intervention on middle school mathematics teachers’ use of explicit mathematics vocabulary instruction. Results of the study indicate that performance feedback and coaching had moderately positive effects on teachers’ use and quality of explicit mathematics vocabulary instruction.

There is a growing need for the inclusion of direct, explicit vocabulary instruction in the early elementary grades. Young children are entering school with a wide range of early literacy experiences, including vocabulary knowledge. Those students who are limited in their vocabulary knowledge are at a greater risk for later language and reading difficulties. When providing intensive vocabulary instruction to students who are at risk for language and reading difficulties, it is important to use features of effective instruction and intervention, including (a) direct, explicit instruction that includes extensive teacher modeling; (b) teacher and material scaffolding that carefully controls the level of task difficulty (e.g., moving from easier to more difficult tasks throughout the instruction); and (c) numerous practice opportunities with immediate and specific feedback.

This action research aimed to evaluate the impact that explicit vocabulary instruction delivered through Schoology had on the vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension of fifth graders at an urban elementary school in the southeastern United States. A convergent mixed-method approach was applied. The vocabulary and reading comprehension scores and the learner experience survey accounted for the quantitative data. Furthermore, qualitative data gathered from semi-structured interviews were analyzed inductively. Findings show that students' vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension significantly increased after receiving explicit vocabulary instruction, and results marked instruction regarding Latin and Greek roots as areas needing attention. For elementary educators, the study's practical implications highlight the importance of teaching explicit vocabulary strategies, including morphology and context clues, to students.

Purpose Many children begin school with limited vocabularies, placing them at a high risk of academic difficulties. The goal of this study was to examine the effects of a vocabulary intervention program, Story Friends, designed to improve vocabulary knowledge of at-risk preschool children. Method Twenty-four early-childhood classrooms were enrolled in a cluster-randomized design to evaluate the effects of a revised Story Friends curriculum. In each classroom, three to four preschoolers were identified as having poor language abilities, for a total of 84 participants. In treatment classrooms, explicit vocabulary instruction was embedded in prerecorded storybooks and opportunities for review and practice of target vocabulary were integrated into classroom and home practice activities. In comparison classrooms, prerecorded storybooks included target vocabulary, but without explicit instruction, and classroom and home strategies focused on general language enrichment strategies without specifying vocabulary targets to teach. Intervention activities took place over 13 weeks, and 36 challenging, academically relevant vocabulary words were targeted. Results Children in the treatment classrooms learned significantly more words than children in the comparison classrooms, who learned few target words based on exposure. Large effect sizes (mean d = 1.83) were evident as the treatment group averaged 42% vocabulary knowledge versus 11% in the comparison group, despite a gradual decline in vocabulary learning by the treatment group over the school year. Conclusions Findings indicate that a carefully designed vocabulary intervention can produce substantial gains in children's vocabulary knowledge. The Story Friends program is feasible for delivery in early childhood classrooms and effective in teaching challenging vocabulary to high-risk preschoolers. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.13158185.

<p class="apa">Studying explicit vocabulary instruction effects on improving L2 learners’ writing skill and their short and long-term retention is the purpose of the present study. To achieve the mentioned goal, a fill-in-the blank test including 36 single words and 60 lexical phrases were administrated to 30 female upper-intermediate EFL learners. The EFL participants were asked to write a composition titled 'A Cruel Sport' after a reading activity on 'Bull Fighting'. Comparing this writing to the one written after target vocabulary instruction, it caused a significant increase in the number of vocabularies used productively in learners’ writing. The statistical analysis revealed that in delayed writing, the participant retained the newly-learned vocabularies even sometimes after the instruction. Based on the obtained results, this research offers below suggestions for L2 instructors: 1) productive use of words is not guaranteed by word comprehension per se, 2) learners are not only able to increase the active vocabulary under their control but also use the words they just learned, 3) in a writing task which was immediately fulfilled through explicit vocabulary instruction, vocabulary recognition is converted into a productive one, improving retention and leading to productive use of newly learned vocabulary at the same time. This productiveness, however, is loss prone and more practice is needed in producing newly learned vocabulary.</p>

Academic vocabulary development is critical to the success of all learners—particularly English language learners (ELLs). This article presents a framework for integrating explicit academic vocabulary instruction for ELLs into middle school classrooms. The framework embodies five research-based principles and serves as a vehicle for structuring meaningful vocabulary interactions on a consistent basis throughout the school year.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of explicit vocabulary instruction during shared reading experiences on the acquisition of receptive academic vocabulary for children with complex communication needs. A single-subject, multiple-probe design was used. Three preschool-aged children (i.e., one with autism spectrum disorder, one with developmental delay, and one with a rare genetic disorder) were each taught two sets of vocabulary words. Intervention consisted of explicit vocabulary instruction associated with shared reading of academic texts. All three children acquired 10 targeted academic vocabulary items receptively and maintained vocabulary knowledge for at least 4 weeks. Data also suggest probable generalization to new representations. Additionally, participants became more adept at learning via this method, acquiring the second vocabulary set in significantly less time. Results indicate that explicit vocabulary instruction during shared reading experiences can be effective for teaching receptive vocabulary to children with complex communication needs.

The schema theory, cognitive load theory, interactive model of reading, and lexical quality hypothesis recognizes the primacy of vocabulary in reading comprehension. Substantial empirical research affirms this relationship. Despite these, vocabulary teaching in the classroom remains sparse. The present study sought to find out if explicit instruction in contextual and morphemic analysis would improve vocabulary and reading comprehension. It also examined which aspects of vocabulary and reading comprehension would improve the most. This study used a quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest within-subjects design. Participants were 38 students from two comparable Grade 4 classes. Explicit instruction in contextual and morphemic analysis was given through twelve expert-validated lesson plans that were implemented across 18 weeks. The tools used were the expert-validated and field-tested Researcher-Constructed Vocabulary Test and Researcher-Constructed Reading Comprehension Test. Dependent-samples t-test results revealed a significant increase in the students’ vocabulary and reading comprehension scores. These results are generally consistent with most theoretical and empirical literature. In terms of vocabulary, contextual analysis-wise, the biggest gain was in example clues, while morphemic analysis-wise, the largest increase was in the over/under word part family. In terms of reading comprehension, the biggest increase was in the integrative level. Overall, the findings suggest that explicit instruction in contextual and morphemic analysis is an effective method of teaching vocabulary strategies which impacts not only vocabulary but also reading comprehension. This has implications for instruction, curriculum planning, pre-service and in-service teacher training, and research.

This action research study explores explicit vocabulary instruction in an L2 (English) content-area course with a group of university student teachers. The study reviews several positions on the treatment of vocabulary in L2 contexts. The researcher takes up the teaching of explicit vocabulary through class activities and the students’ completion of vocabulary entries in a Word Study notebook. The data collection procedures included the teacher´s lesson plans, the students´ Word Study entries, and their opinions on both their vocabulary learning and their notebook completion through a final interview. Research findings reveal that the Word Study notebook did contribute to students’ learning since they had a grasp of the vocabulary used in the class in terms of participating in the instructional conversations led by the professor and doing the class activities.