This article reflects a metaview of the work of the three research projects funded through the Institute for Education Sciences under the Reading for Understanding competition that addressed ...middle‐grade through high school readers (grades 4–12). All three projects shared the assumption that instruction is necessary for successful reading to learn just as it is for learning to read. Through multiple studies conducted independently, the three projects arrived at common themes and features of productive instruction for reading for understanding with adolescent readers. These common themes are elaborated with instructional examples and include the following: (a) Students purposefully engage with multiple forms of texts and actively process them, (b) instructional routines incorporate social support for reading through a variety of participation structures, and (c) instruction supports new content learning by leveraging prior knowledge and emphasizing key constructs and vocabulary.
To date, no studies have examined vocabulary outcomes of children meeting all 3 components of the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) guidelines (hearing screening by 1 month, diagnosis ...of hearing loss by 3 months, and intervention by 6 months of age). The primary purpose of the current study was to examine the impact of the current EHDI 1-3-6 policy on vocabulary outcomes across a wide geographic area. A secondary goal was to confirm the impact of other demographic variables previously reported to be related to language outcomes.
This was a cross-sectional study of 448 children with bilateral hearing loss between 8 and 39 months of age (mean = 25.3 months, SD = 7.5 months). The children lived in 12 different states and were participating in the National Early Childhood Assessment Project.
The combination of 6 factors in a regression analysis accounted for 41% of the variance in vocabulary outcomes. Vocabulary quotients were significantly higher for children who met the EHDI guidelines, were younger, had no additional disabilities, had mild to moderate hearing loss, had parents who were deaf or hard of hearing, and had mothers with higher levels of education.
Vocabulary learning may be enhanced with system improvements that increase the number of children meeting the current early identification and intervention guidelines. In addition, intervention efforts need to focus on preventing widening delays with chronological age, assisting mothers with lower levels of education, and incorporating adults who are deaf/hard-of-hearing in the intervention process.
This paper explores the vocabulary acquisition of 143 middle school students from an East
Malaysian school, examining its correlation with gender, attitudes, and perceived
problems faced in ...vocabulary learning. Using the Contextualised Word Family
(CONTEXTUALISED WORD FAMILY) model, the study tested the effectiveness of explicit
vocabulary instruction over 30 sessions. The study utilised a one-group pretest-posttest
design, measuring the learners’ vocabulary size through the Productive Vocabulary Levels
Test (PVLT) and a questionnaire. The results showed an increase in vocabulary size with
no significant difference based on gender, a very weak negative correlation with attitudes
towards vocabulary learning, and mostly weak positive but significant relationships with
three of the learners’ perceived problems faced in vocabulary learning. This study
provides some important pedagogical implications for teacher practice and
recommendations for future research.
This study intended to examine L2 young learners' vocabulary learning (i.e. form, meaning, and use). The research design involved a 2 (advance-organizer strategy: present vs. absent) × 4 (caption ...type: glossed full captions, glossed keyword captions, full captions, keyword captions) between-subjects design. A total of 240 Chinese ESL primary school students were recruited and randomly and equally assigned to eight conditions. Findings revealed that captioned videos produced significant effects on learning regarding the three dimensions of vocabulary knowledge. Glossed full captions were found to be the most effective caption type. Administration of the advance-organizer strategy also resulted in better gains in learning form, meaning, and use than the absence of this strategy. The combination of the advance-organizer strategy and glossed full captions led to the best learning performance for each dimension of vocabulary knowledge. Relevant pedagogical implications, including use of the advance-organizer strategy and captions, are provided.
This study examines the relationship between developing writer's vocabulary breadth, vocabulary depth, and writing abilities. Participants were EFL Chinese junior-high students, of whom there were ...120 Grade 8 and 147 Grade 9 students. Measures included tests of vocabulary size, word association, and morphological awareness. Students' writing samples were coded with a five-point rubric covering six categories: focus and idea generation, organization, word choice, grammar, sentence fluency, and length of writing samples. Standard multiple regression analyses showed that vocabulary breadth made a bigger contribution to writing performance among the EFL 8th and 9th graders, whether the outcome variable was the overall writing quality or individual groups of scoring components. In addition, some aspects of vocabulary depth such as adjective synonyms were only related to the 9th graders' writing performance, suggesting that depth of vocabulary may exert a growing impact on EFL learners' writing development. These findings support the need for systematic vocabulary instruction in EFL classrooms, as it can optimize the strong relationship between vocabulary breadth and depth and their impact on writing development.
Research syntheses have demonstrated that morphological instruction can improve the literacy skills of poor readers and spellers. However, studies have used a wide variety of training methods. ...Questions remain about what type of morphological instruction is most effective and under which circumstances. In this study, we conducted a randomized controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of Structured Word Inquiry for poor readers and spellers. Structured Word Inquiry teaches students the logic of the English spelling system via instruction in morphology and etymology. Students in grades 3 and 5 with poor reading and spelling skills were randomly assigned to receive either Structured Word Inquiry instruction or a comparison instruction method involving robust vocabulary instruction and reciprocal teaching. Instruction was delivered by teaching assistants over the course of a full school year. After training, there were few differences between the groups in terms of literacy or vocabulary skills. However, teaching assistants found Structured Word Inquiry instruction challenging to deliver, which is likely to have impacted the results. Our findings have implications for the nature and content of morphological instruction for poor readers and spellers, and for future attempts to scale up the delivery of morphological interventions.
Drawing on research‐informed principles for primary‐grade vocabulary instruction, the authors developed a series of engaging vocabulary units for a first‐grade class. The units, focused on the ...explicit teaching of target words and the efficient highlighting of larger sets of semantically related words, involved five complementary elements: reading aloud, explicit teaching of word meanings, rich discussion, independent extension activities, and informal assessment. These elements were implemented within whole‐class, small‐group, and independent center structures, worked synergistically to support students’ word learning, and promoted active student engagement. The authors describe three of the vocabulary units, present data used to document student learning, and discuss implications from the project for teachers searching for feasible, flexible ways to implement rich vocabulary instruction within densely packed daily schedules.
Learning a foreign language requires interaction with language input while involved in a task. Given that problem‐based learning (PBL) offers hands‐on application in realistic contexts, and that ...virtual reality (VR) enables learners to interact with multiple modalities of information, this study examines how the integration of VR technology into PBL contexts affects students' motivation for, problem‐solving during, and vocabulary acquisition in learning English as a foreign language (EFL). A total of 84 engineering majors who enrolled in a course of English for specific purposes were randomly assigned to either an experimental group or a control group. Students in the experimental group participated in a VR‐assisted PBL context, in which they were to view a PBL scenario using VR technology and then to create VR videos about solving the given problems. Those in the control group participated in a PBL context without the use of VR technology for viewing and solving the identical scenario. After the intervention, all the students wrote a problem‐solving analysis, took a vocabulary knowledge test, completed a learning motivation questionnaire, and participated in individual interviews. The results showed that the students in the experimental group significantly outperformed those in the control group in terms of vocabulary acquisition, and were more motivated to learn English related to their future careers, whereas there was no significant difference in the problem‐solving performance of the two groups. Implications of these findings highlight the value of engaging EFL learners in immersive environments for contextualized learning through the integrated use of VR and PBL.
Lay Description
What is already known about this topic?
Virtual reality (VR) technology has been shown to enhance students' knowledge and skills in STEM fields.
Problem‐based learning (PBL) has been widely used in medical education but not so much in foreign language education.
English as a foreign language (EFL) students usually have very limited access to the target language beyond the classroom, thus lack a motivating reason for them to learn English after graduation.
What this paper adds?
The VR‐assisted PBL approach proposed in this study was found to significantly enhance the EFL students' specialized vocabulary knowledge.
The VR‐assisted PBL approach was found to motivate and sustain the EFL students' interest in career English.
Exposing the EFL students to PBL contexts was capable of developing their problem‐solving performance, regardless of VR integration.
Implications for practice and/or policy
The proposed approach has the potential to facilitate student learning in EFL education, particularly English for occupational purposes.
EFL educators may apply the VR‐assisted PBL approach to narrow the gap between language classrooms and workplace contexts by immersing students in authentic contexts that were relevant to their occupational knowledge and workplace English.
Published work on vocabulary assessment has grown substantially in the last 10 years, but it is still somewhat outside the mainstream of the field. There has been a recent call for those developing ...vocabulary tests to apply professional standards to their work, especially in validating their instruments for specified purposes before releasing them for widespread use. A great deal of work on vocabulary assessment can be seen in terms of the somewhat problematic distinction between breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge. Breadth refers to assessing vocabulary size, based on a large sample of words from a frequency list. New research is raising questions about the suitability of word frequency norms derived from large corpora, the choice of the word family as the unit of analysis, the selection of appropriate test formats, and the role of guessing in test-taker performance. Depth of knowledge goes beyond the basic form-meaning link to consider other aspects of word knowledge. The concept of word association has played a dominant role in the design of such tests, but there is a need to create test formats to assess knowledge of word parts as well as a range of multi-word items apart from collocation.
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