Vocabulary Instruction: Effects on Word Knowledge and Reading Comprehension

Abstract

Three experiments were conducted to assess the effects of vocabulary instruction on word knowledge and reading comprehension. Treatments varied in the amount of direct instruction, ranging from meaning derivation from context to drill on synonyms. In Experiment 1, subjects were “average” fourth-grade readers, whereas subjects in Experiments 2 and 3 were learning disabled and remedial readers. Results of Experiments 1 and 2 indicated that the treatments were differentially effective in teaching synonyms for unfamiliar words. More meanings were acquired as a result of increased direct instruction. Average students learned some word synonyms under all conditions except a noninstructional control condition. However, learning disabled students acquired fewer meanings across all conditions and seemed to require more direct instruction in order to produce learning. In both experiments, procedures which were differentially effective in teaching synonyms also produced differential transfer to sentence comprehension. The third experiment examined the effect of vocabulary instruction on comprehension of connected discourse. Again, vocabulary training transferred to comprehension of single sentences; however, on two of three measures of passage comprehension no effects were observed that were attributable to vocabulary instruction.