A review of six articles (1978-present) on vocabulary interventions involving secondary students with learning disabilities found interventions fall into four areas: computer-assisted instruction, fluency-building vocabulary practice activities, mnemonic strategy instruction, and concept enhancement instruction. Overall, positive results were…

Semantic or vocabulary errors were measured among 6 children with autism and mild learning disability (ages 7-8) and 6 with mild learning disability. Vocabulary errors were similar, except under extension, which was not used by children with autism. Children with autism tended to use all mechanisms in order to name something. (Contains…

Three experiments introduced 2- and 3-year-olds to novel adjectives either using full noun phrases and describing multiple familiar objects sharing a salient property or describing nouns of vague reference. Found that both groups mapped novel adjectives onto object properties when given taxonomically specific nouns with rich referential and…

Relates how one teacher used a C-ROM encyclopedia, a concordancer, and a word processor to make concordances suitable for lower-level language learners. These concordances helped overcome the unfamiliarity of 80-character KWIC lines and the difficulties of obscure vocabulary, and were useful in the teaching of grammar and lexis. (Author/VWL)

Examined the effect on lexical acquisition and retention of first language (L1) multiple-choice glosses, second language (L2) text reconstruction with opportunities to recheck input, and combined treatments. Findings suggests that the multiple-choice gloss treatment resulted in significantly deeper productive and receptive word gains immediately…

Describes the English vocabulary learning strategies of two successful language learners in the "input-poor" environment of the Chinese classroom, where the majority of language learning comes from intensive reading of English texts. Results show that, contrary to popular ideas about vocabulary learning in the West, Chinese learners…

Students in three inclusive third-grade classes (n=74 students) were taught story vocabulary using the keyword method, vocabulary words with pictures, or vocabulary with definitions. The keyword method was more effective in increasing vocabulary learning. Using the keyword method, the achievement of students with learning disabilities matched…

Demonstrates the use of concordances to prepare classroom vocabulary materials that are both authentic and relevant, assuming the databases used are pertinent to students, and shows how concordance-based exercises can enhance student competence in both semantic and syntactic elements of language. (nine references) (Author/CB)

Examination of the effect of a manual interference task on deaf and hearing college students' written free recall revealed that the task had a small adverse effect on deaf students' recall. Deaf students' reading levels were very strongly related to their level of word recall. (61 references) (Author/CB)

Suggests that the content and presentation formats of "Sesame Street" are well suited to preschoolers' vocabulary development, independently of parent education, family size, child gender, and parental attitudes. Findings also suggest the feasibility of tutorial uses of the video medium. (RH)

The study, involving 61 learning-disabled junior high students, compared the short-term and long-term effectiveness of definition instruction with interactive vocabulary strategies (semantic mapping, semantic feature analysis, and semantic/syntactic feature analysis). Students participating in the interactive strategies demonstrated greater…

Investigates whether intermediate-grade readers' vocabulary learning and comprehension is affected by displaying texts on a computer screen that provides the meaning of difficult words. Concludes that the results support and help explain previous studies that found increases in comprehension when computer-mediated texts were used to expand or…

A word frequency study of two graded readers and an unsimplified text indicated that graded readers facilitated better foreign-language reading and vocabulary learning than did unsimplified texts. It was found that students needed to read several same-level texts to master vocabulary, and that vocabulary mastery was not necessary for successful…

Results on a multiple choice vocabulary test and a final essay writing activity suggest that teaching vocabulary as a writing prompt was more successful than more traditional forms. (RAE)

A variety of French language classroom activities are described, including a game to familiarize immersion students with Canada; exercises using songs; a teacher-student competitive vocabulary game; communicative activities; three games to practice verb conjugations, previously learned structures, and vocabulary; and a whole-language activity…