Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Importance of vocabulary in English
Importance of vocabulary in English
The importance of learning vocabulary
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Importance of vocabulary in English
Vocabulary is very important to everyday reading because it is all of the words in a language. According to Bursuck and Damer (2010) students “learn to decode harder text, they are more likely to encounter words that are not part of their oral language” (p. 231). Being familiar with words and the meaning of the word assists student’s fluency as well as comprehension. According to the National Institute of Literacy (2007) vocabulary is “words used in speech and print to communicate” (p. 14). Vocabulary can be divided into two categories “oral or spoken words and written words” (National Institute of Literacy, 2007, p. 14). The National Institute of Literacy (2007), agree with Bursuck and Damer (2010), stating that “vocabulary knowledge is important to reading because the oral and written words promote comprehension and communication” (p. 14). Since vocabulary is extremely important Pullen, Tuckwiller, Konold, Maynard, & Coyne, 2010 used a “three tier model for students at risk for a reading disability” (p. 110). Pullen et al. (2010) states that vocabulary development occurs through incidental learning and home environment before formal schooling” (p. 111) The intervention created by Pullen et al. (2010) was meant to increase students’ vocabulary of at risk students. The intervention (2010) participants “were 224 first grade students in elementary schools in a diverse population and moderate percentage of students in socio-economic status” (p. 114). The intervention (2010) itself created by ___________________ was a three-tier system: Tier 1 consisted of classroom instruction and “students who do not respond to tier 1 will receive tier 2 instruction and tier 3 is the most intensive level and if student do not respond to this level they are referred to a special education evaluation” (p. 114). To identify students who may be at risk of disability, the intervention (2010) used the PPVT-4 as a standardized test. Pullen et al. (2010) used the test to asses the baseline level “of receptive vocabulary and identify participants as either at risk of not for reading failure” (p. 115). The authors of the intervention (2010) selected the PPVT-4 because “it demonstrated reliability, indicating that is a sound measure for measuring receptive vocabulary” (p. 115). For a post-test, the authors (2010) used a researcher-developed measure to asses students’ acquisition of target words used in the intervention (p. 115). Pullen et al. (2010) had a three-tier system where tier 1 and tier 2 were designed “around two story books appropriate for first grade students” (p.
This is a reading intervention classroom of six 3rd grade students ages 9-10. This intervention group focuses on phonics, fluency, and comprehension. The students were placed in this group based on the results of the DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency assessment. Students in this class lack basic decoding skills.
The Wilson Language program has a precise structure to function as an intervention and is able to assist second through twelfth grade struggling readers to learn the construction of words by directly instructing students to decode and encode confidently. Natalie Hill, a Wilson Language Program assessor, said, ‘“There is a frequent change of pace, students will see as well as hear, multiple opportunities for students to be engaged and participate in activities, extensive controlled text methods and materials to “see” critical word components, like vowels, digraphs, etc., stop “guessing habit”, reading and spelling taught simultaneously, hands on, multisensory methods, no glossy pictures”’ (Hi...
These DIBELS screening assessments were developed to help educators identify struggling, at-risk readers, so that appropriate types and levels of support can be implemented within the school system. They were designed to support efforts at the primary grade levels (K-6th) to prevent reading struggles as the learn progress through the school system. Furthermore, this test was to aid in the elimination in remediation lessons inside of the classroom.
In Tier II, secondary interventions are used to help the students that are not making adequate progress towards developing appropriate literacy skills, despite the Tier I interventions (Smetana 2010). These students are classified with the color yellow, and are given more intense interventions that are targeted to their need. These interventions help determine if the student can eventually go back down to green, or if they...
According to research, over the period of the 1984-2012, the Reading Recovery program resulted in over 77% of participants who completed the intervention met the grade-level expectations in reading and writing. In addition to Reading Recovery, Brian received adjusted spelling tests where the number of correct letters were credited rather than correct words. Although, the continuous progress classroom consists of third, fourth, and fifth graders, the Reading Recovery program is specifically for younger children; therefore, appears inappropriate given Brian’s grade. Since Brian demonstrates no conspicuous progress in his reading difficulties based on the instructional modifications administered, the author concludes the modifications as ineffective; therefore suggests further
From the Glass Castle, Jeannette’s mother read picture books with Jeannette and her siblings in their early childhood. This activity established good reading habits for Jeannette and her siblings. When she was older, after dinner, her father read the dictionary with the kids, looked up the words they did not know, and discussed the definitions (Walls 56). Because of the reading habits her parents gave her, every time Jeannette did not understand a word, she looked up the word in the dictionary. The routine of reading dictionary after dinner and the habit of looking up an unknown word in the dictionary helped Jeannette build up her vocabulary. With abundant vocabulary and excellent reading skills, Jeannette did not have problem with her college admission test. Studies show that having good reading habits not only increase the volume of children’s vocabulary but also help them perform well on their exams. In the Educational Testing Service (ETS) Policy Information Center 's report, The Family: America 's Smallest School, the author points out the importance of reading to children:
Assessments should guide instruction and material selection. Any likely manner, assessments should measure student progress, as well as help, identify deficiencies in reading (Afflerback, 2012). One important indicator of reading deficiencies is spelling. Morris (2014), advocated the importance of administering a spelling assessment in order to have a better understanding of a student’s reading abilities. My school uses the Words Their Way spelling inventory to assess students’ reading abilities at the beginning of the year and throughout the reading year.
According to McArthur, Konold, Glutting and Alamprese (2010), many adults in the United States have difficulties with basic literacy. A solution to this situation has been the founding of adult basic education (ABE) programs by the U.S Department of Education which helps and serves more than 2 million adults annually (U.S Department of Education, Division of Adult Education and Literacy, 2002, 2006). Mellard and Patterson (2008) found that ABE students differ in skill from zero or minimal reading skills to reading simple stories, books and descriptions on familiar subjects so new vocabulary can be determined by context. According to Mellard and Pattersen (2008) ABE literacy program is divided in to four levels which range from “beginners” to “high intermediate”. Scaffolding theory provides a promising method of providing support to students with learning challenges, e.g. dyslexia and short term memory deficit. As stated by Larkin (2001) the main purpose of scaffolding is to support students and slowly reduce help until they are able to apply the new skills and strategies independently. Students receive support to complete particular task and eventually demonstrate task mastery.
...h retaining the low literacy achieving students because the majority of the students do achieve grade-level standard in 12-20 weeks. The cost of the placement in special education classes is significantly higher than the cost of the 20-week class. Even though not all 100% of the students achieve the desired results, early intervention helps schools find future support services and lower the cost of the individual tutoring. Finally, the Federal IDEA funding requires the children to receive an early intervening service in order to reduce unnecessary testing cost.
Reading Methods and Learning Disabilities. (1998, April). Learning Disabilities Association Newsbrief, 38(4). Retrieved December 18, 2013
The five key elements are one, Phonemic Awareness. This is when a teacher helps children to learn how to manipulate sounds in our language and this helps children to learn how to read. Phonemic Awareness can help to improve a student’s reading, and spelling. With this type of training the effects on a child’s reading will last long after training is over. The second key is Phonics. Phonics has many positive benefits for children in elementary schools from kindergarten up to the sixth grade level. Phonics helps children who struggle with learning how to read by teaching them how to spell, comprehend what they are reading, and by showing them how to decode words. The third key is Vocabulary. Vocabulary is important when children are learning how to comprehend what they are reading. Showing children, the same vocabulary words by using repetition will help them to remember the words. The fourth key is comprehension. Comprehension is when a child’s understanding of comprehension is improved when teachers use different techniques such as generating questions, answering questions, and summarizing what they are
The ability to test a student’s language skills is essential to have as a teacher. Over the years, classrooms have become much more diverse with a wide variety of impairments being presented on a daily basis. Often, these disabilities contain a language impairment that appears as a side effect of the main disability. Unfortunately, assessing language is not as easy as one may think because it is not clearly defined and understood. Kuder (2008) writes that “…language is not a unitary phenomenon- it is ‘multidimensional, complex, and dynamic; it involves many interrelated processes and abilities; and it changes from situation to situation” (pg. 274). Language also develops at different times for different individuals, thus making language assessment an even harder task for test administrators to grade and evaluate. In order to further understand the language impairment that students present, teachers need to be aware of appropriate language tests that could be administered. In order to assure that the best language test is being issued to a student, several various tests exist to choose from. To test a student’s overall language capability, a comprehensive language test, such as the Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language (CASL) or the Oral and Written Language Scales (OWLS), could be administered. If a teacher wanted to test a specific language skill such as pragmatics, phonology, syntax, or semantics, the teacher would need to find the best test for the student’s unique situation.
Reading is an essential skill that needs to be addressed when dealing with students with disabilities. Reading is a skill that will be used for a student’s entire life. Therefore, it needs to be an important skill that is learned and used proficiently in order for a student to succeed in the real world. There are many techniques that educators can use to help improve a student’s reading comprehension. One of these skills that needs to be directly and explicitly taught is learning how to read fluently for comprehension. “To comprehend texts, the reader must be a fluent decoder and not a laborious, word-by-word reader” (Kameenui, 252). Comprehension can be difficult for students with learning disabilities because they tend to be the students that are reading below grade level. One strategy is to incorporate the student’s background knowledge into a lesson. This may require a bit of work, but it will help the students relate with the information being pres...
How can what we know about the development of readers inform reading comprehension instruction? Reading instruction typically starts in kindergarten with the alphabetic principle, simple word blending, and sight word recognition. Texts read by early readers usually include very little to comprehend. As children develop reading ability, they are able read more complex texts requiring greater comprehension skills. Separate and explicit instruction in reading comprehension is crucial because the ability to comprehend develops in its own right, independent of word recognition. The ability to read words and sentences is clearly important, but as readers develop, these skills are less and less closely correlated with comprehension abilities. (Aarnoutse & van Leeuwe, 2000) While no one would argue that word blending and sight word reading skills be omitted from early reading instruction, vocabulary and listening comprehension may be at least as important in achieving the even...
Good reading skills are very important in learning languages. Reading improves spelling because as students learn to sound out letters and words, spelling comes easier. It helps to expand the vocabulary, since the best way to acquire a large vocabulary is to read. Students learn new words as they read and put them in their mind for later use. . They also unconsciously absorb the information about things like how to structure the sentences, how words are used in different contexts, and it gives a better understanding of the word usage and definitions than the cold facts of a dictionary. It improves a person’s vocabulary and knowledge without the person even knowing it. Even if students do not understand every word, they will hear new sounds, words and phrases which they can then try out, copying what they have heard. They can comprehend ideas, follow arguments and detect implications. Reading texts also provide good models for English writing. Krashen (2004) found that reading is extremely important in learning English, since it is the only way to “become a good reader, develop a good writing style, an adequate vocabulary, advanced grammar” and the only way to “become a good speller”.