Once upon a time, there was a pulchritudinous princess . . .: The role of word definitions and multiple story contexts in children's learning of difficult vocabulary

Abstract

The close relationship between children's vocabulary size and their later academic success has led researchers to explore how vocabulary development might be promoted during the early school years. We describe a study that explored the effectiveness of naturalistic classroom storytelling as an instrument for teaching new vocabulary to 6-to 9-year-old children. We examined whether learning was facilitated by encountering new words in single versus multiple story contexts, or by the provision of age-appropriate definitions of words as they were encountered. Results showed that encountering words in stories on three occasions led to significant gains in word knowledge in children of all ages and abilities, and that learning was further enhanced across the board when teachers elaborated on the new words' meanings by providing dictionary definitions. Our findings clarify how classroom storytelling activities can be a highly effective means of promoting vocabulary development.Children's oral language skills, including their listening comprehension, are intricately linked with aspects of reading and writing ability, including reading comprehension (Keenan, claim that many of the skills children require for comprehending text are parasitic upon their early spoken language skills. The implication of such claims is that the development of reading comprehension difficulties might be prevented in some cases by interventions that specifically

Learning Word Meanings from Teachers’ Repeated Story Read-Aloud in EFL Primary Classrooms

“…These findings were further confirmed by a recent study by Wilkinson and Houston-Price (2012) who examined whether 7-and 9-year-old English-speaking children's learning of difficult words was facilitated by presenting words in a variety of story contexts, rather than repeatedly in the same story context. One-half of the children heard three stories which contained the same target vocabulary on three occasions, while the other half heard the same story repeatedly for three times.…”

“…The multiple-choice format only assessed whether the children was broadly familiar with the meaning of each target words, but it is limited in its ability to reveal the depth of children's word knowledge (Wilkinson & Houston-Price, 2012). Further, word learning involves an array of skills including the recognition of a word's speech sounds and orthographic composition or spelling, the awareness of its grammatical, lexical, and semantic properties, and the ability to use it in context (Cook, 2008).…”

“…Apparently, repeated exposure to story read-aloud sessions did not appear to overcome the "Matthew Effect", as the higher-ability children still made greater vocabulary gains from story read-aloud interventions than did the lower ability children across all conditions (Penno et al, 2002;Sénéchal et al, 1995;Wilkinson & Houston-Price, 2012). The researcher suggested that ELL children with higher initial English vocabulary may have more well-developed working repertoire, higher motivation to learn new words, and better working memory.…”

“…Substantial research has shown that children of different age groups learn new words from listening to stories, such as children in preschool (Karweit & Wasik, 1996;Sénéchal, Thomas, & Monker, 1995;Wasik & Bond, 2001), in kindergarten (Eller, Pappas, & Brown, 1988;Robbins & Ehri, 1994), and in primary grades (Brabham & Lynch-Brown, 2002;Brett, Rothlein, & Hurley, 1996;Elley, 1989;Nicholson & Whyte, 1992;Penno, Wilkinson, & Moore 2002;Wilkinson & Houston-Price, 2012). One of the earliest studies on vocabulary learning from listening to stories was conducted by Elley (1989) who provided empirical evidence of vocabulary learning from listening to stories read aloud by classroom teachers.…”

When the daffodat flew to the intergalactic zoo: Off-line consolidation is critical for word learning from stories.

“…Although previous studies have supported a role for consolidation when children learn new words from listening to stories (e.g., Senechal & Cornell, 1993;Wilkinson & Houston-Price, 2013;Williams & Horst, 2014) they have relied upon explicit measures of new word knowledge (e.g., recognition and recall).…”