Explicit Instructional Techniques Used in Teaching Vocabulary through Reading

Abstract

Numerous researchers have indicated the importance of explicit vocabulary teaching for developing reading, (Fisher & Frey, 2008; Schmitt, 2000; Stahl, 1999). The objective of this action research was to find out the instructional techniques used in class to teach vocabulary items that are encountered in reading passages. The researcher initially made a list of the direct instructional techniques used in class to explain vocabulary items and later incorporated additional vocabulary building techniques into the teaching approaches. As a participant observer, the teacher analyzed her teaching with an objective of adding variety, improving the style of teaching and helping the students to expand their vocabulary learning effectively. A combination of both quantitative and a qualitative data collection methods was used. Primary data was collected through self-observation and attentive classroom observation supported by record keeping in the form of note taking. A checklist of techniques was used for recording direct vocabulary instructions. The checklist was based on the sample checklist of ‘Techniques for Direct Vocabulary Instruction’ published in Teaching and Researching Reading (Grabe & Stoller, 2002). Other teachers in similar teaching environments were consulted to find out how they teach vocabulary to their students and those approaches were added to the checklist. The vocabulary items encountered in the reading passages using the explicit instructional approaches were discussed in class, followed by tests which evaluated students’ acquisition of vocabulary items. The data was analyzed to find out the trends in the use of certain vocabulary –teaching techniques and to understand why certain approaches had been preferred over certain others by the teacher. Moreover, this study will reveal which explicit approaches had been effective for the students.