Central to comprehension is vocabulary knowledge. To understand a text (oral or written) students must have adequate knowledge of the words within it.
All children begin to develop their vocabulary starting at birth. However, students arrive at school with varying levels of language proficiency due to a multitude of factors.1 Vocabulary can be a determinant of later comprehension.2 Thus, it is important that practitioners provide explicit vocabulary instruction to support all students’ development of language.
Although students can learn vocabulary incidentally (through sheer exposure), students learn more words when teachers explicitly teach them.3 Explicit vocabulary instruction generally entails the intentional introduction of select words using student-friendly definitions, repeated meaningful exposures in varied contexts to target vocabulary, and instruction to support ‘solving’ unknown words such as the use of morphological elements to determine the meaning of a word.4
Vocabulary words can be categorized into three tiers:
While some students, especially those whose first language is not English, may need explicit support with Tier 1 words, practitioners should focus on teaching Tier 2 and 3 words.5 Teaching words across content through the use of text-sets and/or content-rich ELA instruction can help students make connections across topics and words.
1 Cabell, S. Q., Neuman, S. B., Terry, N. P., Dickinson, D. K., Rowe, M. L., Romeo, R. R., & Leech, K. A. (2023). Early Environmental Influences on Language. In Handbook on the science of early literacy (pp. 23–25). essay, The Guilford Press.
2 Pearson, P. D., Palincsar, A. S., Biancarosa, G., & Berman, A. I. (Eds.). (2020). Reaping the Rewards of the Reading for Understanding Initiative. Washington, DC: National Academy of Education. p. 49
3 Zucker, T. A., Cabell, S. Q., & Pico, D. L. (2021). Going nuts for words: Recommendations for teaching young students academic vocabulary. The Reading Teacher, 74(5), 581-594.
4 Kamil, M. L., Borman, G. D., Dole, J., Kral, C. C., Salinger, T., & Torgesen, J. (2008). Improving adolescent literacy: Effective classroom and intervention practices (NCEE 2008-4027). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance. Retrieved from https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/PracticeGuide/8
5 Zucker, T. A., Cabell, S. Q., & Pico, D. L. (2021). Going nuts for words: Recommendations for teaching young students academic vocabulary. The Reading Teacher, 74(5), 581-594.
Search the directory for instructional resources such as activities, strategies, practices, student platforms, supplemental curricula, and interventions as well as assessments to target listening comprehension in the classroom.
Sign up and we’ll update you as we add new resources to support your classroom listening comprehension instruction.
Read Charlotte is a community initiative that unites educators, community partners, and families to improve children’s reading from birth to third grade. We don’t run programs. We are a capacity-building intermediary that supports local partners to apply evidence-based knowledge about effective reading instruction and interventions, high-quality execution, continuous improvement, and data analysis to improve reading outcomes.
Read Charlotte is a civic initiative of Foundation For The Carolinas.
Reference in this website to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm, or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the public and does not constitute endorsement or recommendation by Read Charlotte or the Foundation For The Carolinas. Our office is not responsible for and does not in any way guarantee the accuracy of information in other sites accessible through links herein. Read Charlotte and/or the Foundation For The Carolinas may supplement this list with other services and products that meet the specified criteria. For more information contact: charlotte@readcharlotte.org.