Learning About Vocabulary Learning: How Perceptual Accessibility Can Inform Target Selection and Intervention Design

• In Event: 3-070 - Choosing Words to Teach: A Theory-Informed Approach

Integrative Statement

Although the design of vocabulary intervention for preschool children has been informed by a robust body of research, there is continued debate about the best approaches for the selection of vocabulary targets. Information about word frequency, age of acquisition, and form class has been considered to guide the selection of appropriate vocabulary words to teach in explicit intervention. Many explicit vocabulary intervention approaches have been guided by the tiered framework of Beck et al., (2013). In the iterative development of the Story Friends program, a supplemental classroom-based vocabulary and comprehension intervention for children, vocabulary targets were selected to be likely to be new words for preschool children, to be words that will be useful to preschool children, and to be words that could be effectively taught in brief, explicit instruction (Kelley & Goldstein, 2015). Multiple studies of the Story Friends intervention have been conducted (e.g., Kelley et al., 2015; Goldstein et al., 2017) and large treatment effects have been observed for vocabulary learning of preschool children who have limited oral language skills. However, despite use of similar criteria for the selection of words, there has been wide variation in the rates of learning of individual vocabulary targets (e.g., 76% of children learned soaked versus 4% learned decide). A better understanding of the relation between word characteristics and learning in intervention can inform the selection of appropriate vocabulary targets as well as the design of intervention to support learning of a broad range of word types.

Developmental theories of word learning (e.g., Emergentist Coalition Model; Hollich, Hirsh-Pasek, Golinkoff, 2000) have highlighted ways in which characteristics of words may influence ease and order of vocabulary acquisition. In this paper, we hypothesize that perceptual characteristics of vocabulary targets are related to learning, and thus, better understanding of these characteristics can inform the selection of vocabulary targets and the design of interventions. In this paper, we present an analysis of the perceptual accessibility continuum (e.g., shape, concreteness, and imageability) of 27 vocabulary targets in one series of the Story Friends intervention program and the relation between perceptual accessibility and learning of vocabulary by > 80 preschool children. Children participated in a small-group listening centers in which explicit vocabulary lessons were embedded into pre-recorded storybooks. Preliminary analyses indicate a significant, positive correlation between components of perceptual accessibility (e.g., concreteness) and children’s learning in the intervention. The potential contributions of the perceptual accessibility coding system to the selection of vocabulary targets and the design of future interventions will be discussed.

Authors

• Elizabeth Spencer Kelley, University of Missouri
  Presenting Author

• Howard Goldstein, University of South Florida
  Non-Presenting Author