How Can Book Reading Close the Word Gap? Five Key Practices From Research

Vocabulary development is critical for children's ability to learn to read and their success at school. Vocabulary has also been identified as a key factor in the achievement gap, with children from low‐income families knowing significantly fewer words when they enter school. Although book read...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Reading teacher 2015-04, Vol.68 (7), p.560-571
Main Authors: Snell, Emily K., Hindman, Annemarie H., Wasik, Barbara A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Achievement
Academic achievement gaps
and materials
Childhood
Class Activities
Definitions
Discussion
Early childhood
Educational activities
exposure
General vocabulary
Instructional Effectiveness
Instructional strategies
Instructional strategies, teaching strategies
Intervention
Kindergarten
Learning Strategies
Low income groups
methods
Practice
Practice, exposure, wide reading
Preschool Children
Questioning Techniques
Reading
Reading Ability
Reading acquisition
Reading strategies
Reading teachers
Story Reading
Strategies
Strategies, methods, and materials
Study strategies
Teachers
Teaching Methods
teaching strategies
Vocabulary
Vocabulary Development
Vocabulary learning
wide reading
Words
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Items that cite this one
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Summary:Vocabulary development is critical for children's ability to learn to read and their success at school. Vocabulary has also been identified as a key factor in the achievement gap, with children from low‐income families knowing significantly fewer words when they enter school. Although book reading has long been celebrated as an effective way for teachers to introduce children to vocabulary words, teachers have received little specific guidance about exactly which strategies are most effective for teaching children words. In this paper, we review the literature on book reading‐focused vocabulary interventions for preschool‐ and kindergarten‐aged children. Findings suggest that teachers should focus on five strategies that boost word learning through book reading, including defining words, discussing and asking questions about the words, rereading books, retelling books, and designing classroom activities that allow children to hear and use new vocabulary throughout the day.
ISSN:0034-0561
1936-2714
DOI:10.1002/trtr.1347