Based on its coincidence with a significant period in language development for children, preschool provides a favorable setting to foster vocabulary growth. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of two instructional conditions and an incidental exposure condition for teaching targeted vocabulary words to preschool students…

No previous empirical study has investigated whether the learning disabilities (LD) identification decisions of proposed methods to operationalize processing strengths and weaknesses approaches for LD identification are associated with differential treatment response. We investigated whether the identification decisions of the…

We describe findings from a series of longitudinal studies utilizing a response to intervention framework implemented over 3 years with students in Grades 6 through 8 with reading disabilities and poor reading comprehension. Students were identified based on reading comprehension scores in Grade 5 (n = 1,083) and then randomized to treatment or…

This project examined the words selected for instruction from fourth-grade English/Language Arts (ELA) and science programs with the goal of describing the unique words in these two text types. Seven features of the words were established: (a) length, (b) frequency, (c) frequency of a word's morphological family, (d) familiarity, (e) dispersion…

Describes three experiments exploring the learning of new words by university students. Among the findings are (1) students can learn word spellings while reading them in context, and (2) instructions to learn words and additional representations of a word facilitate learning. (HOD)

Results of five experiments in which adults and children were exposed to two study strategies for vocabulary learning: (1) repetition of words with meanings and (2) associative elaboration (the keyword method). Subjects were asked to choose one of the two study methods for learning a 24-item list of new vocabulary words. (SL)

Specifies some of the different word learning tasks students face, describes different levels of word knowledge, notes three types of costs involved in instruction, and discusses the costs and benefits of some specific methods of vocabulary instruction. (HOD)

As part of a larger effort to develop a test battery for diagnosing difficulties with various word recognition subskills among mainstreamed students in grades 2 through 5, four experiments were conducted to compare the abilities of good and poor readers to read a frequency-graduated series of irregularly spelled words first in isolation and then…

Based on college students' grade point averages (GPA) and their scores on the Nelson-Denny Reading Tests and the Joy Combining Forms Test, a multiple classification analysis of variance was performed to determine the effects of three different methods of vocabulary instruction on student achievement in a reading and study skills course. The…

Four experiments with 132 seventh graders, 162 eighth graders, 75 fourth graders, and 52 third graders compared the mnemonic keyword method with various other vocabulary learning strategies. Mnemonic keyword students outperformed sentence-context and free-study counterparts and generally outperformed others on tests of vocabulary usage. (SLD)

Describes a study whose purpose was to identify the relative contribution of the nature of instruction and the frequency of encounters in bringing about word knowledge proficiency in fourth-grade children. Results suggest that instruction based on definitional associations is sufficient to affect word knowledge. (HOD)

The present study replicated the original evaluation of the Howard Street tutoring model (Morris, Shaw, & Perney, Perney, 1990), an intervention for struggling readers in second and third grade. It also evaluated the effectiveness of supervised paraprofessionals (Title I aides) in delivering that tutorial. For an entire school year, teachers or…

This article discusses second language vocabulary learning strategies and includes an analysis and classification of possible strategies and the report of a study conducted among second language learners in Japan. Research on vocabulary learning strategies is synthesized into two lists of strategies: 14 methods for initial learning of a new word's…

The four 1986 issues of the journal on suggestive and accelerative learning and teaching (SALT) include articles on these topics: SALT components in English composition instruction; music therapy for moderately retarded students; the brain and accelerated learning; accelerated learning and self-concept; remedial reading; versions of the concert…