Content area
Full Text
Contents
Figures and Tables
Abstract
In sessions conducted individually, kindergartners who were nonreaders listened to an adult read the same storybook twice, 2–4 days apart, and then completed a posttest measuring their knowledge of the meanings of 22 unfamiliar words, half of which had appeared in the story. Some target words occurred twice in the story and some only once, so children heard some words four times and some words twice. Children recognized the meanings of significantly more words from the story than words not in the story, thus indicating that storybook reading was effective for building vocabulary. Gains were greater among children with larger entering vocabularies. Four exposures to words appeared to be necessary but not sufficient for higher rates of word learning. Findings confirm that story listening contributes modestly to young children’s vocabulary growth.
The vocabulary growth occurring in elementary school children is substantial and significant and has received attention from a number of researchers (Anderson & Freebody, 1981; Beck, Perfetti, & McKeown, 1982; Becker, 1977; Calfee & Drum, 1986; Chall, 1987; Graves, 1986; McKeown & Curtis, 1987). Estimates of both average vocabulary size and yearly growth vary considerably (Dale, 1965; Joss, 1964; Lorge & Chall, 1963; Nagy & Anderson, 1984; Rinsland, 1945; M. E. Smith, 1926; M. K. Smith, 1941; Templin, 1957). However, all studies show that children continue to acquire new words beyond the initial language acquisition years and that children’s vocabularies grow by thousands of words each year during the elementary school years. Moreover, vocabulary size is strongly correlated with children’s overall school achievement (Wells, 1986). Because vocabulary plays an important role in both communication effectiveness and academic success, it is important to understand how young children achieve their vocabulary growth.
According to Werner and Kaplan (1950a, 1950b), children learn the meanings of words under two conditions: (a) through direct and explicit reference by adults when...