Abstract
Vocabulary plays an important part in learning to read. Beginning readers must use the words they hear orally to make sense of the words they see in print. Children who hear more words spoken at home learn more words and enter school with better vocabularies. This larger vocabulary pays off exponentially as a child progresses through school. Students who have strong oral vocabularies appear to have a distinct advantage during phonemic awareness and phonics lessons. These students are more familiar with the words and their individual sounds and corresponding letters (National Reading Panel, 2000). Research documents the strong link and reciprocal relationship between vocabulary knowledge and text comprehension (Beck et al., 2002). In addition, students who do not understand some words in texts tend to have difficulty comprehending and learning from those texts. Vocabulary knowledge in kindergarten and first grade is a significant predictor of reading comprehension in the middle and secondary grades.
Research shows there is a correlation between students with a strong vocabulary and their ability to comprehend the stories they read. This project shows many strategies used to strengthen vocabulary. There are examples from second grade students using direct vocabulary instruction. This type of instruction is vital to the needs of the students within my school due to their being English Language Learners or low socioeconomic status. This project helped me to see the value of direct vocabulary instruction. The results throughout show, that students were engaged during the process of learning new vocabulary words and the positive effect on reading comprehension. I found many strategies to implement direct vocabulary instruction within the classroom.
The goal throughout the process was to determine if student reading comprehension increased after implementing direct vocabulary instruction. The findings support the research on vocabulary instruction. The students comprehension of content area vocabulary and text reading increased as a result of direct vocabulary instruction.
Research shows there is a correlation between students with a strong vocabulary and their ability to comprehend the stories they read. This project shows many strategies used to strengthen vocabulary. There are examples from second grade students using direct vocabulary instruction. This type of instruction is vital to the needs of the students within my school due to their being English Language Learners or low socioeconomic status. This project helped me to see the value of direct vocabulary instruction. The results throughout show, that students were engaged during the process of learning new vocabulary words and the positive effect on reading comprehension. I found many strategies to implement direct vocabulary instruction within the classroom.
The goal throughout the process was to determine if student reading comprehension increased after implementing direct vocabulary instruction. The findings support the research on vocabulary instruction. The students comprehension of content area vocabulary and text reading increased as a result of direct vocabulary instruction.
References
Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., & Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction. New York: Guilford.
National Reading Panel. (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.