2-028 - Beyond Book-Reading: Promoting Vocabulary Development Through Innovative Activities

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

How can scientists help teachers to integrate effective vocabulary instruction into their everyday classroom practices? Research tells us that children’s early vocabulary knowledge powerfully predicts their later language and literacy outcomes (e.g., NELP, 2009; NICHD ECCRN, 2005) and that shared book-reading can spur children’s vocabulary growth (e.g., NELP, 2009). Yet, there is a pressing need to find effective opportunities for language learning that extend beyond book-reading to incorporate best practices for vocabulary learning (e.g., repeated word exposures and clear definitions; Harris et al., 2010) into other activities. This symposium addresses this crucial gap.

Paper 1 presents an intervention that combined shared storybook-reading with “guided play.” Results suggested that targeted play can increase preschoolers’ vocabulary growth beyond gains associated with storybook-reading without play. Paper 2 demonstrates the effectiveness of a similar approach using informational books to promote vocabulary words organized in taxonomies. Paper 3 describes effects of children’s independent use of electronic books that incorporate automated vocabulary support. Paper 4 examines a professional development intervention that led to substantial changes in teachers’ child-directed language use during center time. Changes in teachers’ behaviors were accompanied by increases in children’s use of target vocabulary words. Together, these papers reveal effective methods for supplementing effects of book-reading, supporting language without direct teacher engagement, and improving teachers’ vocabulary support during unstructured classroom periods.

Sub Unit

• Education, Schooling

Chair

• Tamara Spiewak Toub, Temple University

Individual Presentations

• Playing to Learn: How Book-Reading + Guided Play can Improve Vocabulary for Low-Income Preschoolers - Presenting Author: Brenna Hassinger-Das, Temple University; Tamara Spiewak Toub, Temple University; Hande Ilgaz, Bilkent University; Deena Skolnick Weisberg, University of Pennsylvania; Kimberly Turner Nesbitt, Vanderbilt University; Molly Fuller Collins, Vanderbilt University; Jessica Eye; Elizabeth Burke Hadley, Vanderbilt Univ, Peabody College; Bretta L. Rivera; Katherine Newman, Vanderbilt University; Kathryn A Hirsh-Pasek, Temple University; Roberta M Golinkoff, University of Delaware; David K Dickinson, Vanderbilt University; Ageliki Nicolopoulou, Lehigh University

• Fostering Conceptual Word Knowledge in Preschoolers Through Informational Books and Play - Presenting Author: Elizabeth Burke Hadley, Vanderbilt Univ, Peabody College; David K Dickinson, Vanderbilt University; Kathryn A Hirsh-Pasek, Temple University; Roberta M Golinkoff, University of Delaware

• The Promise of Living Books for Narrowing the Gap in Early Literacy Skills - Presenting Author: Adriana Bus, Leiden University; Rachel Dominique Plak, 360KID; Inge Merkelbach, Leiden University; Carienke Kegel, Leiden University

• Examining Adult-Child Dialogue Strategies During Center Time That Promote Vocabulary Development in Children - Presenting Author: Barbara A. Wasik, Temple University; Annemarie H Hindman, Temple University; Emily Keller Snell, Temple University