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Learning Vocabulary Through Reading
Abstract
This study examined the hypothesis that new vocabulary knowledge can be acquired through incidental learning of word meanings from context. Fifth graders of two reading abilities read passages containing unfamiliar words. Students were randomly assigned to different numbers of context presentations: 0, 2, 6, or 10 passages read over several days. Half of the unfamiliar words were informally taught before their appearance in the passages. Word meanings were learned from context, and more frequent presentation in context increased learning. Also, better readers profited more from context than did less skilled readers, and prior exposure (informal teaching) resulted in greater learning. Vocabulary effects were also observed on a measure of reading comprehension. Whether incidental learning accounts for vocabulary growth is discussed.
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Citations
Cited by
Stanovich, K. E. (1986) · Reading Research Quarterly · doi:10.1598/rrq.21.4.1 · Cited by 5,222
The Effects of Repetition on Vocabulary Knowledge
Webb, S. (2007) · Applied Linguistics · doi:10.1093/applin/aml048 · Cited by 807
Learning Word Meanings From Context During Normal Reading
Nagy, W. E., Anderson, R. C., & Herman, P. A. (1987) · American Educational Research Journal · doi:10.3102/00028312024002237 · Cited by 757
Lonigan, C. J., & Whitehurst, G. J. (1998) · Early Childhood Research Quarterly · doi:10.1016/s0885-2006(99)80038-6 · Cited by 702
RECEPTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE VOCABULARY LEARNING: The Effects of Reading and Writing on Word Knowledge
Webb, S. (2005) · Studies in Second Language Acquisition · doi:10.1017/s0272263105050023 · Cited by 527
Metadata
- Authors
- Jenkins, J. R., Stein, M. L., & Wysocki, K.
- Venue
- American Educational Research Journal
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 1984
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 767
- ISSN
- 0002-8312 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2152882873
- Cited by
- 390
- References
- 0
- FWCI
- 6.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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Data sources
Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.