Books, Not Direct Instruction, Are the Key to Vocabulary Development

Fuente: ERIC Institute of Education Sciences
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Main Author: Shin, Fay
Format: Recurso educativo Open Access
Language:en
Published: 2004
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author Shin, Fay
author_facet Shin, Fay
Shin, Fay
collection Education Resources Information Center
contents Books, Not Direct Instruction, Are the Key to Vocabulary Development Shin, Fay Vocabulary Development Vocabulary Skills Independent Reading Case Studies Grade 6 Teaching Methods Elementary School Students When a child has an extensive knowledge of vocabulary, it is most likely from extensive reading, regardless of whether the reading is from comic books, magazines, or a recommended reading literature list. Teachers who are always trying to find the best strategies for teaching literacy skills such as reading comprehension, vocabulary development, or spelling need to focus more on reading and access to books. Time (or opportunity to read) and access to a wide variety of reading materials has been found to be the most effective reading tool a teacher or educator needs. Researchers estimate that a child who reads one million words a year will encounter 20,000 unfamiliar words. With a 5 percent chance of learning a word (which is a low estimate), 1,000 words a year from reading may be learned. Even more interesting and compelling was that when self-selected or assigned material is not extremely difficult, the chances of learning an unfamiliar word rise to 10 percent or more, making a yearly total of 2,000 words. The researchers also note that these are figures for average readers. Avid readers may be learning two or three times as many words simply from independent reading. To illustrate these findings, this paper describes a case study involving a sixth-grade student who was an avid reader with an extensive knowledge of vocabulary, gained primarily from independent reading rather than classroom vocabulary instruction.
format Recurso educativo Open Access
id eric_EJ754212
institution ERIC Institute of Education Sciences
language en
publishDate 2004
record_format eric
spellingShingle Books, Not Direct Instruction, Are the Key to Vocabulary Development
Shin, Fay
Vocabulary Development
Vocabulary Skills
Independent Reading
Case Studies
Grade 6
Teaching Methods
Elementary School Students
Books, Not Direct Instruction, Are the Key to Vocabulary Development Shin, Fay Vocabulary Development Vocabulary Skills Independent Reading Case Studies Grade 6 Teaching Methods Elementary School Students When a child has an extensive knowledge of vocabulary, it is most likely from extensive reading, regardless of whether the reading is from comic books, magazines, or a recommended reading literature list. Teachers who are always trying to find the best strategies for teaching literacy skills such as reading comprehension, vocabulary development, or spelling need to focus more on reading and access to books. Time (or opportunity to read) and access to a wide variety of reading materials has been found to be the most effective reading tool a teacher or educator needs. Researchers estimate that a child who reads one million words a year will encounter 20,000 unfamiliar words. With a 5 percent chance of learning a word (which is a low estimate), 1,000 words a year from reading may be learned. Even more interesting and compelling was that when self-selected or assigned material is not extremely difficult, the chances of learning an unfamiliar word rise to 10 percent or more, making a yearly total of 2,000 words. The researchers also note that these are figures for average readers. Avid readers may be learning two or three times as many words simply from independent reading. To illustrate these findings, this paper describes a case study involving a sixth-grade student who was an avid reader with an extensive knowledge of vocabulary, gained primarily from independent reading rather than classroom vocabulary instruction.
title Books, Not Direct Instruction, Are the Key to Vocabulary Development
topic Vocabulary Development
Vocabulary Skills
Independent Reading
Case Studies
Grade 6
Teaching Methods
Elementary School Students
url https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ754212