Describes the structured overview, a chart that helps students associate known terms with new terms. Discusses a method of introducing the structured overview. The author then presents two exercises that reinforce learning of vocabulary and the relationship between key concepts: the scrambled overview and label-object matching. More advanced…

Extracts guidelines from research for incorporating vocabulary instruction into the everyday routines of the classroom. (EL)

Students can become competent spellers given a teacher with patience and energy capable of developing an awareness of the way the English writing system works; a good reason for accurate spelling; the willingness to attempt to spell independently; and a multistrategy approach using graphophonics, visual and meaning systems, self-corrective…

Presents a word identification exercise that can be used with students who have no prior knowledge about the teaching of reading. (FL)

Describes one teacher's systematic inquiry into the effectiveness of strategies to increase students' vocabularies. A research-type approach indicated that use of clarity statements and interchanges that encouraged connections to the students' own lives seemed more effective in helping students incorporate their understanding of concepts with…

Describes an exercise to help students break their dependency on the dictionary and to trust themselves to derive the meaning of unfamiliar words from the surrounding context. Students read a sentence containing an unfamiliar word, infer the meaning from the context, then design a new sentence using the word. (HTH)

Discusses (in question/answer format) criteria to use when evaluating language arts software. Also reviews four programs illustrating principles/ideas considered in these criteria. Programs include: "Story Maker" (grades 3 and above); "Suspect Sentences" (Grades 7-12); "M-ss-ng L-nks" (grades 2 and above); and…

Offers practical activities that make spelling drill more interesting and more applicable to vocabulary development. (FL)

Discusses the need to focus on fixed expressions in English and gives a summary analysis of the various types. Reviews 13 dictionaries and reference works to ascertain their coverage of fixed expressions and provides an annotated bibliography for assessing the utility of selected reference works for both teacher and learner. (EKN)

Examines the relationship between reading ability and spelling proficiency, assesses the predictability of English spelling, and suggests ways in which the teacher of reading can encourage spelling accuracy. (KS)

The goal of this document is to provide the information that teachers and other colleagues in the school need to implement an integrated and comprehensive approach to vocabulary instruction. By integrated, it is meant that vocabulary is a core consideration in all grades across the school and in all content areas across the school day. By…

The improvement of college students' reading rate and comprehension is a major educational concern. Many students arrive at college unprepared for the massive amount of required reading. This study presents several attempts to improve vocabulary, reading rate, and comprehension and addresses tangential issues related to the improvement of reading…

After reviewing the literature, this paper seeks to show the importance and significance of direct vocabulary instruction on students' critical literacy skills; specifically, reading comprehension. Although some may suggest that the greatest amount of vocabulary growth occurs through incidental word learning in wide reading, research indicates…

This book provides a research-based framework and practical strategies for vocabulary development with children from the earliest grades through high school. It emphasizes instruction that offers rich information about words and their uses and enhances students' language comprehension and production. The book guides teachers in selecting words for…