Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-m8qmq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T11:26:21.328Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 February 2012

KATHRYN S. WILKINSON  and
CARMEL HOUSTON-PRICE
KATHRYN S. WILKINSON
Affiliation:
National Foundation for Educational Research, UK
CARMEL HOUSTON-PRICE*
Affiliation:
University of Reading
*
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE Carmel Houston-Price, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Earley Gate, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6AL, UK. E-mail: c.houston-price@reading.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 34 , Issue 3 , May 2013 , pp. 591 - 613
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Akhtar, N. (2004). Contexts of early word learning. In Hall, O. G. & Waxman, S. R. (Eds.), Weaving a lexicon (pp. 485–507). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Archibald, L. M. D., & Gathercole, S. E. (2006). Visuospatial immediate memory in specific language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 49, 265–277.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beck, I .L., & McKeown, M. (1991). Conditions of vocabulary acquisition. In Barr, R., Karmil, M. L., Mosenthal, P., & Pearson, D. D. (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (Vol. 1, pp. 789–814). New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., & Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Best, R. M., Dockrell, J. E., & Braisby, N. (2006). Lexical acquisition in elementary science classes. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98, 824–838.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biemiller, A. (2005). Vocabulary development and instruction: A prerequisite for school learning. In Neuman, S. & Dickinson, D. (Eds.), Handbook of early literacy research (Vol. 2). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Biemiller, A., & Boote, C. (2006). An effective method for building meaning vocabulary in Primary grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98, 44–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Briscoe, J., Bishop, D. V. M., & Norbury, C. F. (2001). Phonological processing, language and literacy: A comparison of children with mild-to-moderate sensorineural hearing loss and those with specific language impairment. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 42, 329–340.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Briscoe, J., Gathercole, S. E., & Marlow, N. (2001). Everyday memory and cognitive ability in children born very prematurely. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 42, 749–754.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cain, K., Oakhill, J. V., & Elbro, C. (2003). The ability to learn new word meanings from context by school-age children with and without language comprehension difficulties. Journal of Child Language, 20, 681–694.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carey, S. (1978). The child as a word learner. In Halle, M., Bresnan, J., & Miller, G. A. (Eds.), Linguistic theory and psychological reality (pp. 264–293). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Carlo, M. S., August, D., McLaughlin, B., Snow, C. E., Dressler, C., Lippman, D.N., et al. (2004). Closing the gap: Addressing the vocabulary needs of English-language learners in bilingual and mainstream classrooms. Reading Research Quarterly, 39, 188–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collins, A. M., & Loftus, E. F. (1975). A spreading-activation theory of semantic processing. Psychological Review, 82, 407–428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coyne, M. D., Simmons, D. C., Kame'enui, E. J., & Stoolmiller, M. (2004). Teaching vocabulary during shared storybook readings: An examination of differential effects. Exceptionality, 12, 145–162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cunningham, A. E., & Stanovich, K. E. (1997). Early reading acquisition and its relation to reading experience and ability 10 years later. Developmental Psychology, 33, 934–945.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Department for Children, Schools and Families. (2009). Breaking the link between disadvantage and low attainment: Everyone's business. London: DCSF. Retrieved from http://publications.teachernet.gov.ukGoogle Scholar
Dickinson, D. K. (1984). First impressions: Children's knowledge of words gained from a single exposure. Applied Psycholinguistics, 5, 359–373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dockrell, J. E., Braisby, N., & Best, R. M. (2007). Children's acquisition of science terms: Simple exposure is insufficient. Learning and Instruction, 17, 577–594.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dockrell, J. E., & Messer, D. (2004). Lexical acquisition in the early school years. In Berman, R. A. (Ed.), Language development across childhood and adolescence. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Dumay, N., & Gaskell, M. G. (2007). Sleep-associated changes in the mental representation of spoken words. Psychological Science, 18, 35–39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dunn, L., Dunn, M., Whetton, C., & Burley, J. (1997). British Picture Vocabulary Scale (BPVS-II, 2nd ed.). Windsor: NFER-Nelson.Google Scholar
Elley, W. B. (1989). Vocabulary acquisition from listening to stories. Reading Research Quarterly, 24, 174–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ewers, C. A., & Brownson, S. M. (1999). Kindergartners’ vocabulary acquisition as a function of active vs. passive storybook reading, prior vocabulary, and working memory. Reading Psychology, 20, 11–20.Google Scholar
Funnell, E., Hughes, D., & Woodcock, J. (2006). Age of acquisition for naming and knowing: A new hypothesis. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 59, 268–295.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hoff, E. (2003). The specificity of environmental influence: Socioeconomic status affects early vocabulary development via maternal speech. Child Development, 74, 1368–1378.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Joshi, R. M. (2005). Vocabulary: A critical component of comprehension. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 21, 209–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Justice, L. M., Meier, J., & Walpole, S. (2005). Learning new words from storybooks: An efficacy study with at-risk kindergartners. Language, Speech & Hearing Services in Schools, 36, 17–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Karweit, N., & Waisk, B. A. (1996). The effects of story reading programs on literacy and language development of disadvantaged preschoolers. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 1, 319–348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keenan, J. M., Betjemann, R. S., Wadsworth, S. J., DeFries, J. C., & Olson, R. K. (2006). Genetic and environmental influences on reading and listening comprehension. Journal of Research in Reading, 29, 75–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kispal, A. (2008). Effective teaching of inference skills for reading: Literature review. Nottingham: DCSF.Google Scholar
McGregor, K. K., Sheng, L., & Ball, T. (2007). Complexities of expressive word learning over time. Language, Speech & Hearing Services in Schools, 38, 353–364.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McKay, A., Davis, C., Savage, G., & Castles, A. (2008). Semantic involvement in reading aloud: Evidence from a nonword training study. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition, 34, 1495–1517.Google ScholarPubMed
McKeown, M. (1993). Creating definitions for young word learners. Reading Research Quarterly, 28, 16–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mol, S. E., Bus, A. G., & de Jong, M. T. (2009). Interactive book reading in early education: A tool to stimulate print knowledge as well as oral language. Review of Educational Research, 79, 979–1007.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagy, W. E., Anderson, R. C., & Herman, P. A. (1987). Learning word meanings from context during normal reading. American Educational Research Journal, 24, 237–270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagy, W. E., & Herman, P. A. (1987). Breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge: Implications for acquisition and instruction. In McKeown, M. G. & Curtis, M. E. (Eds.), The nature of vocabulary acquisition. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Nagy, W. E. & Scott, J. A. (2000). Vocabulary processes. In Kamil, M. L., Mosenthal, P. B., Pearson, P. D., & Barr, R. (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (Vol. 3). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Nation, K., & Angell, P. (2006). Learning to read and learning to comprehend. London Review of Education, 4, 77–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nation, K., & Snowling, M. J. (2004). Beyond phonological skills: Broader language skills contribute to the development of reading. Journal of Research in Reading, 27, 342–356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Early Literacy Panel. (2008). Developing early literacy: The report of the National Early Literacy Panel. A scientific synthesis of early literacy development and implications for intervention. Jessup, MD: National Institute for Literacy. Retrieved from http://www.nifl.gov/earlychildhood/NELP/NELP09.htmlGoogle Scholar
Ouellette, G. P. (2006). What's meaning got to do with it? The role of vocabulary in word reading and reading comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98, 554–566.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearson, P., Hiebert, E. H., & Kamil, M. L. (2007). Vocabulary assessment: What we know and what we need to learn. Reading Research Quarterly, 42, 282–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Penno, J. F., Wilkinson, I. A. G., & Moore, D. W. (2002). Vocabulary acquisition from teacher explanation and repeated listening to stories: Do they overcome the Matthew effect? Journal of Educational Psychology, 94, 23–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reese, E., & Cox, A. (1999). Quality of adult book reading affects children's emergent literacy. Developmental Psychology, 35, 20–28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robbins, C., & Ehri, L. C. (1994). Reading storybooks to kindergartners helps them learn new vocabulary words. Journal of Educational Psychology, 86, 54–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rush, K. L. (1999). Caregiver–child interactions and early literacy development of preschool children from low-income environments. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 19, 3–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Senechal, M. (1997). The differential effect of storybook reading on preschoolers’ acquisition of expressive and receptive vocabulary. Child Language, 24, 123–138.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Senechal, M., & Cornell, E. H. (1993). Vocabulary acquisition through shared reading experiences. Reading Research Quarterly, 28, 361–373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Senechal, M., Thomas, E., & Monker, J. (1995). Individual differences in 4-year-old children's acquisition of vocabulary during storybook reading. Journal of Educational Psychology, 87, 218–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snow, C. E., Burns, M. S., & Griffin, P. (1998). Preventing reading difficulties in young children. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Stanovich, K. E. (1986). Matthew effects in reading: Some consequences of individual differences in the acquisition of literacy. Reading Research Quarterly, 21, 360–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stanovich, K. E., Cunningham, A. E., & Feeman, D. J. (1984). Intelligence, cognitive skills, and early reading progress. Reading Research Quarterly, 19, 278–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Takashima, A., Petersson, K. M., Rutters, F., Tendolkar, I., Jensen, O., Zwarts, M. J., et al. (2006). Declarative memory consolidation in humans: A prospective functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 103, 756–761.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Waisk, B. A., & Bond, M. A. (2001). Beyond the pages of a book: Interactive book reading and language development in preschool classrooms. Journal of Educational Psychology, 93, 243–250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walsh, B. A., & Blewitt, P. (2006). The effect of questioning style during storybook reading on novel vocabulary acquisition of preschoolers. Early Childhood Education Journal, 33, 273–278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitehurst, G. J., & Lonigan, C. J. (1998). Child development and emergent literacy. Child Development, 69, 848–872.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed