The strategies used by children in word recognition are examined. A critical review of some of the classical research which has influenced current thinking about how words are recognized is presented along with a discussion of some of the errors which can be found in these studies. A five-stage model of how beginning readers learn to recognize…

Studied the effects of two methods of instruction in teaching the conceptual meaning of 15 unfamiliar words. (HOD)

Reviews "The Nature of Vocabulary Acquisition" by Margaret G. McKeown and Mary E. Curtis. Focuses on three questions involving vocabulary acquisition: (1) What does it mean to know the meaning of a word?; (2) How does knowledge about word meanings develop?; and (3) What is the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and comprehension? (MM)

A study compared two groups of second grade children (one receiving code-emphasis reading instruction and the other receiving eclectic reading instruction) on their ability to generate target words deleted from sentence frames, given minimal graphemic information. Target words were either a high-frequency word or low-frequency synonym while…

A GUIDE FOR PLANNING SPECIFIC INSTRUCTION FOR DEVELOPING INDEPENDENT WORD ATTACK PRESENTS THE SKILLS NECESSARY FOR MASTERING SIGHT VOCABULARY, WORD RECOGNITION, AND THE USE OF THE DICTIONARY. SPECIFIC DEFINITIONS OF TERMS AND EXAMPLES OF TEACHING TECHNIQUES WITH THE SEQUENCE OF INSTRUCTION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF PHONETIC AND STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS…

One hundred thirty-eight second graders, identified by their teachers as "poor readers with incomplete phonics skills" were given four specially constructed tests of phonics skills: a context test over meaningful but visually unfamiliar words, an isolated sounds test, a McKee type multiple choice test, and a word completion test. Eighty…

Describes three experiments exploring the learning of new words by university students. Among the findings are (1) students can learn word spellings while reading them in context, and (2) instructions to learn words and additional representations of a word facilitate learning. (HOD)

Reviews numerous meaning-based vocabulary methods that use comparing, contrasting, making analogies, or developing examples of concepts and relates them to the adult basic education setting. (JOW)

Describes a study which examined the effectiveness of four methods for teaching word meanings. The context method was found to be more effective than the use of category labels and dictionary practice. Associating new words with familiar synonyms was also supported. (MKM)

Taking a psycholinguistic approach, this paper presents an overview of vocabulary and word identification instruction. Sources for instructional procedures are discussed rather than detailed suggestions for teaching procedures. Five approaches to word identification are examined: sight vocabulary development, phonic analysis, structural analysis,…

Investigates the effectiveness of the Vocabulary Overview Guide in improving vocabulary comprehension and retention. Concludes that, compared to traditional methods of listing words and studying definitions, the guide increases vocabulary comprehension, retention, and metacognitive awareness. (MM)

Examines how spelling-to-sound irregularity affects pronunciation latencies when words are presented in a sentence, and concludes that pronunciation latencies are strongly affected by the type of preceding sentence, with the specific sentences producing shorter latencies than the general sentences. (HOD)

This book is designed to provide teachers with the information necessary to help their students to cope successfully and independently with unfamiliar words. Three sources of aid in word identification are discussed, to provide a balance to the current overemphasis on phonics decoding as the only way for children to identify words. The three areas…

Studies context as a significant aid to the learning and retention of words. (RB)