Fostering the Development of Vocabulary Knowledge and Reading Comprehension Though Contextually-Based Multiple Meaning Vocabulary Instruction

The primary purpose of this study was to assess the effects of contextuallybased multiple meaning (i.e., words with multiple meanings) vocabulary instruction on the vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension of students. Third and 5th grade students received either contextuallybased multiple meaning vocabulary instruction embedded in the standard language arts instruction offered to all students over a three-month period or the standard language arts instruction alone (i.e., non-specific treatment). Students who received the contextually-based multiple meaning instruction generally showed statistically and educationally significant gains in their vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension relative to students who did not. These gains were most evident in reading comprehension. Additionally, students with low initial vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension achievement tended to show greater gains than those with average to high achievement. These effects were more pronounced in the case of 3rd grade students. The results and limitations are discussed. V knowledge plays a critical role in people’s lives and future possibilities (Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2002). In fact, “it is clear that a large and rich vocabulary is the hallmark of an educated individual. A large vocabulary repertoire facilitates becoming an educated person to the extent that vocabulary is strongly related to reading comprehension in particular and school achievement in general” (Beck et al., p. 1). Armbruster, Lehr, and Osborne (2003) reported two ways in which vocabulary is learned: indirect and direct vocabulary instruction. Indirect vocabulary building pertains to learning words Copyright 2007 West Virginia University Press.