• Interactive Book Reading
  • What does this look like?: Reading books with a student that include new vocabulary words, and providing explicit instruction/specific activities about the new vocabulary words during the reading activity.
  • In my clinical practice:
    • This mode of treatment might not be appropriate for all students. I am more likely to use interactive book reading-based treatment with a student who is relatively comfortable "sounding out" new words independently.
    • Intensity matters! While it might not be possible to adhere to strict limits regarding the number of exposures to a target vocabulary word during my own sessions, if a student does not demonstrate knowledge of multiple new vocabulary words after approximately 40 exposures to them during interactive book reading-based treatment, the treatment is likely not an appropriate intervention for said student.
      • Rationale: Not all children benefited from this mode of treatment per Storkel et al. (2017). To an extent, children with higher levels of phonological awareness and a stronger ability to repeat nonwords (per pre-treatment testing) were more likely to respond positively to treatment, but this trend was not statistically significant and did not adhere to a pattern. Additionally, for those study participants who responded to treatment, vocabulary learning plateaued after 36 exposures to target words.

• Strategic Education Research Partner's (SERP's) free Word Generation (WordGen) programs
  • What does this look like?: Week-long units. At the beginning of the week (Monday), students are introduced to five target words embedded in a controversial passage. Tuesday through Thursday, the students perform activities including the target words in different content areas (math, social studies, etc). At the end of the week (Friday), the students write essays detailing their opinions on the controversial passages introduced at the beginning of the week.
    • WordGen Weekly: for grades 6-8
    • WordGen Elementary: for grades 4 & 5
  • In my clinical practice: WordGen is not so much a means of treating a delay or a deficit related to vocabulary acquisition as it is a means of teaching target vocabulary across multiple academic disciplines. As such, a grade's, class's, or school's curriculum would need to be structured around WordGen-selected vocabulary to make proper use of the WordGen program. By design, WordGen needs to be implemented on a large scale.
    • If implemented, WordGen activities could potentially be utilized across tiers (with additional accommodations or modifications as necessary).
  • WordGen techniques may not be the best means of acquiring new vocabulary for every student. I would not use WordGen as a means of attempting to help those with poorer reading skills and/or sparser vocabulary "catch up" with students who have stronger reading skills and a richer vocabulary.
    • Rationale: Per Lawrence, Rolland, Branum-Martin, and Snow (2014) students with and without IEPs benefited similarly from participation in the WordGen program, but the difference between the two groups in terms of vocabulary acquisition (based on pre- and post-test data) remained constant.

Additional Consideration: What vocabulary words should be targeted?

Gray & Yang (2015) presented six approaches to target selection. Of these approaches, the authors reason that targeting useful words and building academic vocabulary and vocabulary for the CCSS are the most reasonable approaches to choosing vocabulary and the approaches most likely to lead to improvements academically.

• Other approaches to target selection per Gray & Yang (2015): targeting sight or high frequency words; using vocabulary from games, videos, and other teaching activities; using the next words in acquisition sequences.

References

Gray, S., & Yang, H. (2015). Selecting vocabulary words to teach. Perspectives on Language

Learning and Education, 22(4), 123-130. doi:10.1044/lle22.4.123

Lawrence, J.F., Rolland, R.G., Branum-Martin, L., & Snow, C. E. (2014). Generating vocabulary

knowledge for at-risk middle school readers: Contrasting program effects and growth

trajectories. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR), 19(2), 76-97.

Storkel, H.L., Voelmle, K., Fierro, V., Flake, K., Fleming, K.K., & Romine, R.S. (2017). Interactive

book reading to accelerate word learning by kindergarten children with specific language

impairment: Identifying an adequate intensity and variation in treatment response.

Language, Speech & Hearing Services in Schools, 48(1), 16-30. doi:10.1044/2016_LSHSS-16-

0014