Explores vocabulary development, literary discussions, and development of instructional units through webbing (a method for graphically and visually displaying relationships among ideas and concepts). Focuses on the use of historical fiction and nonfiction written about World War II. (RS)

Describes an activity used with fifth graders to keep the children using new vocabulary acquired during a shared literature study. (PRA)

Assesses whether preschool children learn new vocabulary from a single reading of a storybook and whether certain conversational devices used by parents during joint book reading facilitate vocabulary growth. Finds that, although receptive vocabulary learning was robust, there was no evidence of differential learning of vocabulary under different…

Compares Possible Sentences with traditional vocabulary instruction to examine the effect on student ability to pronounce and define targeted basal words. Finds that subjects were able to correctly pronounce many terms when they were presented in story context prior to actual instruction, but they could not define them. Encourages supplementing…

Describes investigations into 12-year-old students' use and understanding of specialized mathematical vocabulary. Identifies three stages of use of the terms zero, square, rectangle, difference, area, digit, face, horizontal, volume, decimal point, vertical, and edge. (MKR)

Finds that students in prekindergarten classes who received sign instruction tested significantly higher on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test than students in prekindergarten classes who did not receive sign instruction. Suggests that simultaneously presenting words visually, kinesically, and orally enhances a child's vocabulary development. (SR)

Discusses the use of the El Nuevo Herald, the Spanish section of the Miami Herald, in providing advanced intermediate level Spanish students with material that is vocabulary building, topical, interesting, and culturally informative. (GLR)

Vocabulary acquisition is one of the most complex aspects of both theory and practice of foreign language teaching and learning. A content-based approach to curricular development is advocated that incorporates four elements: starter (brainstorming), treatment, "good language learner" awareness training, and critical analysis. (Contains…

Effective group discussion needs to involve as many students in the classroom as possible. This article describes split information tasks, their design, and their usefulness in the classroom, with particular reference to mathematics vocabulary. (Contains seven references.) (LB)

Two experiments explored the tendency of preschoolers to map novel nouns and verbs onto unfamiliar rather than familiar objects or actions. This disambiguation effect has been interpreted as evidence that youngsters expect object or action labels to be mutually exclusive. The effect was stronger for object than for action words. (MDM)

Describes a vocabulary lesson in a seventh-grade language arts class that incorporates making predictions with vocabulary acquisition. (SR)

Studies fourth-grade children's lexical acquisition ability for aurally taught words. Finds that reading ability predicted facility at learning novel phonological sequences, while intelligence was the only factor which accounted for performance level for the semantic content of the words. Suggests that vocabulary deficits of less-skilled readers…

Two experiments examined preschoolers' ability to apply multiple labels to representational objects and to people. Found that preschoolers reliably produced or accepted several words per entity and accepted a high percentage of class-inclusive and overlapping word pairs. The mean number of words produced in labeling task was related to receptive…

Investigates the effects of pictorial and textual glosses and a combination thereof on incidental vocabulary growth of foreign language learners. Subjects from second-semester German classes read a narrative text passage under one of three marginal gloss conditions: textual gloss (English translation); pictorial gloss; and text and pictures in the…

Reports on a project in which science vocabulary was systematically taught to two classes of students ages 9-10 in order to improve their performance in science courses. Outlines strategies for teaching vocabulary, consolidation, and evaluation of student progress. (DDR)