Word Knowledge and Comprehension Outcomes for the Second Year of Implementation of an Academic Word Vocabulary Intervention

• In Event: Effective Literacy Interventions in Elementary and Middle School

Abstract

The proposed presentation will report findings from the second year of implementation of an instructional intervention designed to teach academic words to middle school students. The purpose of the project was to enhance vocabulary knowledge and comprehension through an intensive, interactive intervention that presented academic words and focused on students’ use and discussion of words in various contexts. The participants were one seventh-grade reading teacher and 106 students (treatment n=63; control n=43) from all five seventh-grade classes in a public school. Eighty-nine of these students had participated in the project as sixth-graders. Results significantly favored instructed students in word knowledge and enhanced comprehension ability on researcher-designed measures, and included a positive trend for a standardized reading assessment.

Authors

• Margaret G. McKeown, University of Pittsburgh

• Amy C. Crosson, University of Pittsburgh

• Isabel L. Beck, University of Pittsburgh

• Nancy Artz, University of Pittsburgh

• Cheryl Sandora, University of Pittsburgh

• Debra W. Moore, University of Pittsburgh