Resource for Educators: Vocabulary Instruction in a Balanced Reading Program

Vocabulary Instruction in a Balanced Reading Program
By William H. Rupley, John W. Logan, and William D. Nichols

Rupley, W.H., Logan, J.W., Nichols, W.D. (1998). Vocabulary instruction in a balanced reading program. The Reading Teacher, 52, pp. 336-345.

Many educators are guilty of sticking to two distinctive ends of the vocabulary instruction continuum. Some feel that having students write definitions and memorize them is the secret to increased vocabulary banks. Others see it quite differently, believing that students will simply learn vocabulary through context clues while they are reading. If you are either of these teachers, you need to expand your horizons! Vocabulary instruction can not be solely defining words, nor reading for meaning; however, it must be a part of a balanced approach to reading.

Rupley, Logan and Nichols (1998) believe that vocabulary and reading comprehension are intertwined. The better a student understands the words that he is reading, the better he is going to be able to connect to both the text and author. This type of connection easily allows for increased comprehension of the text at hand (Rupley et. al., 1998). Reversely, as a student reads for understanding, they are going to be coerced into learning new words! Therefore, providing students with strong vocabulary instruction that is balanced is key.

The researchers found that students who only learn definitions have a hard time relating the meaning to the text that they are reading. The definition memorized by the student does not always fit nicely within the context of the story or article the student is reading. On the contrary, teachers who pull sentences from current readings in their classroom, and ask students to derive meaning, could cause misconceptions. Many difficult words are not provided with enough contexts within sentences to help students understand their true meaning. Thusly, both of these ideas need to be combined with other active vocabulary lessons.
Educators need to make sure that they select words that are within classroom readings. This enables students to make meaning, and connections with the words as they read. Students should be provided with exciting ways to engage with words that help them to understand the word’s definition and how to appropriately use it in context. Having students create pictures, songs, or even stories about words are great ways to foster meaning making experiences. Teachers should also use analogies, synonyms, and other activities that show relationships between words which will ultimately provoke vocabulary learning.

Overall, it is important that instructors use a variety of techniques to promote active vocabulary instruction. Teachers, who are still using the old school way of defining words from the dictionary, or asking their students to gain meanings of words by reading them in context, need to move to a more balanced approach. Through thoughtful, meaning making activities that help students see word relationships, and the importance of learning vocabulary words, educators can increase students’ lexicons, while increasing their reading comprehension. The balanced approach to vocabulary instruction truly makes a well balanced reader.