The Multifaceted, Comprehensive Vocabulary Instructional Program: Quantitative Findings from a Three-Year Formative Experiment

ABSTRACT

This article reports on a 3-year formative experiment involving the implementation and testing of a long-term, multifaceted vocabulary instruction program in fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms in three demographically distinct schools. The quantitative findings indicate that the students, across the 3 years of the project, showed accelerated growth in general vocabulary knowledge in comparison to the large norming sample of a standardized vocabulary test frequently used in research. Additional analyses compared the performance of limited-English-proficient students to that of native English-speaking and redesignated fluent-English-proficient students on the standardized vocabulary test and several researcher-designed assessments. The authors conclude by discussing the significance and the limitations of the findings and the ways that this uniquely successful intervention contributes to research and practice aimed at enhancing elementary-school students’ vocabulary knowledge.

KEYWORDS:

• Vocabulary
• instructional strategies and materials
• elementary schools
• English-language learners (ELL)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The preparation of this article was supported in part by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305A090163 to the University of Missouri, University of Wyoming, and National Louis University. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute of Education Sciences