| FEATURE |
DESCRIPTION |
RESEARCH BASE |
BENEFITS |
| High Utility Words |
The program includes vocabulary
words selected from widely referenced English word lists including
the Harrison-Jacobson, Francis Kucera, Dolch, and Fry BasicWords
of the English Language. |
Research shows that students should
betaught words that they encounter often in print.The National Reading
Panel (NRP, 2000) reportsthat the more thoroughly students learn
highutility words, the better they will be ableto comprehend text
that contains these orsimilar words. |
Research shows that students should
betaught words that they encounter often in print.The National Reading
Panel (NRP, 2000) reportsthat the more thoroughly students learn
highutility words, the better they will be ableto comprehend text
that contains these orsimilar words. Student mastery of these words
is reinforced as they see these words in print.Since the words are
characteristic of a core set of word families, the learning of one
word unlocks themeaning of many other new words. |
| Multiple Exposures to Words
and Meanings |
Each lesson teaches word meanings
incrementally and repeatedly. Students apply each new vocabulary
word at least seven times, ensuring mastery of new words. |
Studies show that for students
to understand aword’s meaning, they must experience rich,
effectiveinstruction around the word (Beck, McKeown & Kucan,
2002; Block 2004). |
Students retain newly taughtwords
because they understand their meaning and have had the requisite
number of exposures to the word to insure mastery. |
Combined Instructionof Word-Learning
Principles and
Vocabulary-Building
Strategies |
The program teaches wordlearning
principles and vocabulary buildingstrategies together inevery lesson. |
Students who are taught word-learning
principlesand vocabulary-building strategies togetherincrease their
vocabulary more rapidly than whenthey learn only either one word
learning principleor one vocabulary-building strategy a week (Block
and Mangieri, 1995/6). |
Students increase their vocabulary
more rapidly. Students develop word consciousness, including theability
to think independently about words and use them in meaningful contexts
in their school and outside experiences with text. Thusvocabulary
learning becomes an on going process. |
Context-Based
Vocabulary Instruction |
Every lesson teaches wordsin context
so that vocabularyand comprehension are builtsimultaneously. |
Research findings consistently
show thatvocabulary instruction is most effective whenlearners receive
both definitional and contextualinformation (Stahl, 1998). |
Content-based instructionimproves
reading comprehensionas well as students’ positive attitude
towards reading.As students learn more words, their reading abilities
advance to higher levels. |
Multi Modal
Instruction |
Lessons and activities arepresented
across severallearning modalities. Studentshave the opportunity
to use words in meaningful ways—through reading, listening,
speaking writing, dramatizing, and illustrating. |
The National Reading Panel (2000)
reported thatdependence on a single vocabulary method, suchas visual,
auditory or tactile will not result in optimalvocabulary growth.
For maximum learning toresult, students must receive multimodality-sensitiveinstruction.
This finding holds true, especiallyfor the development of English
vocabulary inEnglish Language Learners, as reported by theCenter
for Research of the Education of StudentsPlaced at Risk (August
2004) |
All students, regardless oflearning
modality preference,are able to benefit. |
| Think Alouds |
Each lesson in the Teacher’sEdition
presents Think Alouds. |
Think Alouds research has demonstrated
that theyare one of the best methods of mentoring studentsinto understanding
the meanings of words, strategies to use, and word learning principles
(Block &Israel, 2004; Galda, 1998). Students learn to fill gapsin
knowledge with text-bound inferring, resulting inincreased metacognition,
and ability to monitortheir own learning during independent reading.(Block
& Israel, 2002; Baumann, 1992; Seifert-Kessel & Jones, 1992;
Payne & Manning, 1992) |
Makes the word-learning process
visible and explicit. |
