"Vocabulary Practices in PreKindergarten and Kindergarten Classrooms"

Early vocabulary exposure has shown to predict literacy skills down the road. Rebecca Silverman and Jennifer DiBara Crandell sought to explore what prekindergarten and kindergarten teachers were implementing in their classrooms to help promote vocabulary growth and which practices had the greatest effects on children learning vocabulary. Additionally, they wanted to look at the timing of such practices, whether they were during read-aloud time or during non-read-aloud time, as well as which practices helped students with higher initial vocabulary skills and lower initial vocabulary skills. 

In their article "Vocabulary Practices in PreKindergarten and Kindergarten Classrooms," Silverman and DiBara Crandell first reviewed a great deal of research on what vocabulary practices were being implemented in early elementary classrooms. They grouped about seventeen practices into five general categories of practices that teachers used, during read-aloud, non-read-aloud, or both times. The practices included: acting or illustrating to support learning the word (AI), analyzing the word by comparing and contrasting the word, looking at multiple meanings, or providing synonyms and antonyms (AN), contextualizing the word by guiding children to use the word in different contexts than in which the word was introduced (CN), explicitly defining the word in the context in which in appears (DF), and word study in which children are prompted to use a vocabulary word in instruction of spelling, phonics, or writing practice (WS). 244 four-, five-, and six- year olds at 16 different prekindergarten and kindergarten classrooms participated in the study over the course of the year. 16 teachers participated in the study. The teachers attended a presentation on the reviews that Sliverman and DiBara Crandell had found on vocabulary practices and were asked to use certain books (based on teacher recommendation) and focus on target vocabulary words during their instruction. Teachers were asked to teach as they normally would but just to include the requested books and vocabulary words. To pretest and test the students, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test III was administered in the fall and spring to participating students (children were shown four pictures and asked to point to the picture that represented the word). 

Silverman and DiBara Crandell found that Contextualizing (1) and Defining (2) were used the most during read-aloud and non-read-aloud times. Word Study happened frequently during read-aloud time as well as non-read-aloud time while Acting/Illustrating, Analyzing, and Defining occurred more frequently during non-read-aloud time. Acting/Illustrating was positively related to vocabulary growth for students with low initial vocabulary knowledge but not for students with high initial vocabulary knowledge. Analyzing words was used the least, so researchers felt that they could not determine its effects on students' learning. They predicted that analyzing words might be beneficial with students of higher initial vocabulary knowledge because of the exploration of the word and prior word knowledge necessary to do so. Contextualizing benefited both students with high and low initial vocabulary knowledge but had a greater benefit for those students with high initial vocabulary knowledge. Defining words benefited students in the same way that contextualizing words did: benefiting both groups of students but having a greater benefit for students with high initial vocabulary knowledge. Word study benefitted both groups of students when utilized in both read-aloud and non-read-aloud times. Students with low initial vocabulary skills seemed to benefit more from Acting/Illustrating during read-aloud time whereas students with high initial vocabulary skills seemed to benefit more from Contextualizing and Defining during non-read-aloud time. 

Silverman and DiBara Crandell's goals were to add to the research showing effective vocabulary instruction during read-aloud and non-read-aloud times. Based on their findings it is important for teachers not only to consider which practices work for all students (Contextualizing, Defining, and Word Study) but which practices works the best for different students and at which times (Acting/Illustrating during read-aloud for low initial vocabulary knowledge; Contextualizing and Defining during non-read-aloud for high initial vocabulary knowledge). By implementing multiple types of practices in the classroom, more students can benefit from vocabulary instruction in greater ways than if only using one or two vocabulary practices. Since Analyzing words could potentially be another highly beneficial vocabulary practice, more research should be conducted on Analyzing words to help with vocabulary instruction. This practice was shown to be used widely in other studies but was not used enough in this study to indicate its usefulness in increasing vocabulary knowledge. 

Source: Silverman, R., & DiBara Crandell, J. (2010). Vocabulary Practices in Prekindergarten and Kindergarten Classrooms. Reading Research Quarterly. 45(3), 318-340. 

Teaching tips:

-Always try to help all students improve their vocabulary, not just students with low initial vocabulary skills. 
-Ask students what helps them learn!
-Implement various vocabulary practices during each vocabulary lesson so that each students can receive the instruction that works best for them.