Vocabulary Acquisition from Listening to Stories and Explanations of Target Words

Abstract

In this study we examined the effects of 3 conditions on students' vocabulary acquisition: listening to stories with a brief explanation of the unfamiliar target words, listening to stories with no explanation of the words, and having no exposure to the stories or vocabulary (the control condition). Each story was read over a period of 5 school days. All 3 groups were given a pretest and posttest for each story. 6 weeks later a delayed posttest was administered on the words from both stories. A total of 175 fourth graders from 6 classrooms in 2 urban elementary schools participated in the study. Students who listened to 2 stories along with a brief explanation of target words learned significantly more new words and remembered them better 6 weeks later than students who heard stories with no explanation of the words and students in the control group. Offering simple explanations of words in the context of an interesting story is discussed as a practical and effective method of vocabulary instruction.