1

Action Research
Initial Meeting with Teacher
Students Chosen
Student A:

This student was chosen by Mrs. M to be in my action research group

because they need to improve in one or more areas of reading learning objectives. This student
especially struggles with vocabulary. She specifically struggles on vocabulary tests. The
suggested vocabulary learning objective for Student A is: identify the meaning of a third grade
vocabulary word presented in isolation. As a result, this students reading comprehension skills
are suffering. My goal for this student is to improve their skills in identifying a third grade
vocabulary word by itself, with no context.
Student E: This student was chosen by Mrs. M to be in my action research group based
on the learning objectives they need to achieve in the area of reading. This student also struggles
with vocabulary in isolation. This effects their reading comprehension. Mrs. M says that often,
this student reads grade-level text and doesnt know what is happening in the story because they
dont understand key vocabulary words. My goal for student E is to improve their skills of
identifying a third grade vocabulary word with no context.
Student S: This student was chosen by Mrs. M to be in my action research group
because they also struggle in certain areas of reading. This student struggles specifically with
using context to identify the meaning of a vocabulary word. Again, this effects their reading

comprehension. My goal for this student is to improve their vocabulary skills, specifically using
context clues to help find the meaning of an unknown word.

The Question:
Once I knew what the focus was going to bevocabularyMrs. M gave me all of the
vocabulary words they have learned so far. She also gave me three weeks worth of vocabulary
which they would be studying. Mrs. M thinks that working with students on their vocabulary is a
great idea. She think it will help them tremendously with reading comprehension. From this
discussion, I determined that my focus question would be: How can these students improve their
vocabulary skills, both vocabulary in context and in isolation, to better their reading
comprehension?

Timeline
Pre Session

Met with Mrs. M

Discussed possible Action Research Students
Narrowed down a focus for the Action Research Project
Identified the focus question
Session 1
Initial Assessments:
Reading Interest Survey/Interest Survey
Word Meanings From Context assessment Identifying vocabulary words with
context
Vocabulary in Isolation assessment choosing the correct meaning when given a

vocabulary word.
Session 2

The Crab worksheet assesses both vocabulary in isolation and using context

clues.
Synonyms/Antonyms pre-assessment assess their ability to identify antonyms and
synonyms.
Session 3

Synonym and Antonym review/mini-lesson students needed to review what

antonyms and synonyms are, based on the results of the previous assessments. This is
necessary for students to understand because it helps them identify vocabulary with

context clues and in isolation.

Synonyms and Antonyms assessment
Session 4

Baloney (Henry, P.) context clues lesson decoding nonsense words through
finding context clues.
Session 5

Weekly Vocabulary Review: Cloze Passage A cloze passage using their vocabulary
words they were given in Mrs. Ms class on Monday.

Session 6
A Bad Case of the Stripes vocabulary anchorsgraphic organizer
A Bad Case of the Stripes vocabulary mini-lesson using context clues to find the
meaning and identifying words in context.
Session 7:Final Assessment
Word Mystery assessment identifying words in context
Vocabulary quiz based on previous two weeks of vocabulary words

Initial Assessment Reflection

My initial assessment was comprised of 3 assessments. The first assessment was a
reading interest and general interest survey. This was an ice breaker assessment which allowed
me to get to know the students better. I also learned their reading interest level. Student A feels
okay about reading. Some genres they enjoy reading are: adventure and fantasy. I learned that
their favorite things include: sports, animals, and music. Student E feels great about reading.
Some genres they enjoy are: action, adventure, and fantasy. I learned that their favorite things
include: sports, video games, and science. Student S feels okay about reading. The genres they
enjoy are: fantasy and adventure. I learned that their favorite things include: art, animals, and
school. I used this assessment to help guide my instruction. I think if I use the interests of the
students to choose the materials and lessons I use for the project, they will be more engaged and
learn more. Also, I want to improve their reading attitudes, which I think will improve as they
make progress with their vocabulary skills. Once they learn the meaning of words, their reading
comprehension will boost, thus they will enjoy reading because they can understand what is
being read. The second initial assessment was the word meanings in context assessment. In
this assessment, students read a sentence that used a particular word (bolded word). Then, they
chose the meaning of the bolded word, based on how it was used in the sentence. This
assessment was chosen to establish base-line data for the students ability to used context to get
the meaning of a word. Student A scored a 2 out of 5 on this assessment. It is clear that they
need to work on not only vocabulary meanings in isolation, but also in context. Student E scored
a 3 out of 5 on this assessment. While they did the best out of the group, they still need to
improve their ability to use context-clues to get the meaning of a word. Student S scored a 1 out

of 5 on this assessment. It is clear that their abilities to use context to find the meaning of a word
needs major improvement. All of my students did poor on this assessment. This tells me that I
need to work with all of them to improve their in-context vocabulary skills. The third and final
initial assessment was a vocabulary in isolation assessment. I used the vocabulary words from
previous weeks that Mrs. M gave me, which the students should be familiar with. It was a 10
question vocabulary quiz, where they were given a word and had to select the meaning from the
multiple choices. Student A scored a 5 out of 10 on this assessment. It is clear that their learning
goal of improving their ability to define a word without context, is accurate. Student E scored a 5
out of 10 on this assessment. It is clear that they need more instruction in improving their ability
to find the meaning of a vocabulary word when presented in isolation. Student S took the longest
to complete the assignment. It was clear that they were struggling. They scored a 4 out of 5 on
this assessment. Not only will we work on finding the meaning of vocabulary presented in
context, but also finding the meaning of vocabulary presented in isolation. I think all three
students will benefit with a focus on these objectives.
Action Research: Tracking Data Collection and Student Progress
Goal for student(s): Improve their abilities to find the meaning of a vocabulary word: 1. in
context, and, 2. in isolation.
Growth Targets: Vocabulary
Date

10/16/2015

Strategy/Skill

Vocabulary
Skills
Vocabulary
in Context
Vocabulary
in Isolation

Assessment

Reading interest
Survey told me
about reading
attitudes and
interests.
Word Meanings
From Context
assessment:

Observations

Next Steps
(instruction/focus for
next lesson)
All students
Using the
were
reading interes
enthusiastic
survey, I am
to get
going to select
started.
materials base
They
on student
interest. I think
completed
it will keep
all of the

-Student A: 2 out of 5
-Student E: 3 out of 5
-Student S: 2 out of 5
Vocabulary in
Isolation
assessment:
-Student A: 5 out of 10
-Student E: 5 out of 10
-Student S: 4 out of 10

10/20/2015

Explicit
Vocabulary
Instruction:
Preteaching
vocabulary
words
(NPR,
2000)
Kidfriendly
Vocabulary
Definitions

The Crab reading

and vocab
assessment:
-Student A: 4 out of 7
-Student E: 5 out of 7
-Student S: 3 out of 7
Antonyms/Synonym
s pre-assessment:
-Student A: 9 out of 12
-Student E: 6 out of 12
-Student S: 5 out of 12

(Neuman,
Wright,
2014)
Vocabulary
Skills
Synonyms
and
Antonyms

assessment
s.
They loved
the interest
survey. I
found out a
lot about
my
students.
It was a
great way
to breakthe-ice
Student A
and S were
great about
doing the
assessment
s and had a
positive
attitude.
With
Student E, I
had to
encourage
them to
complete
their
assessment
s. It is clear
that Student
E needs a
motivation
and more
engagemen
t.
The results
of the
assessment
s told me
that
students
needed to

students
engaged.
Based on the
results of the
other initial
assessments, it
is evident that
all 3 students
need to work
on improving
their
vocabulary
skills overall.
I am going to
use more
implicit and
engaging
teaching
methods next
time.
I need to look
for an engagin
activity to
motivate/engag
e Student E.
I am going to
give my
students a
minilesson/review
on antonyms
and synonyms
because the
assessment
showed that
they are
struggling in
that area.
Knowing
antonyms and
synonyms of
words is
important whe

10/21/2015

Association
Instruction
- Accessing
Schema
(NPR,
2000)

Synonym
and
Antonyms

Antonyms/Synonym
s assessment:
Student A: scored 7 out
of 10
Student E: scored 7 out
of 10
Student S: scored 6 out
of 10.

further
instruction
in the area
of incontext
vocabulary
and
vocabulary
in isolation.
The
assessment
s also told
me that the
students
needed a
review with
antonyms
and
synonyms.
The
assessment
showed the
students
improved a
little in
their review
of
antonyms
and
synonyms.
Throughout
the review,
they
seemed to
understand
that
synonym
meant same
as and
antonym
meant
opposite.
I think as

improving
vocabulary
skills.

I will keep
finding
engaging
ways to
teach my
students
vocabulary
skills.
I will keep
working on
them with
antonyms
and
synonyms.

10/22/2015

Context
Clues
Collaboratio
n Activity
(Sedita,
2012)
Multimedia
InstructionGraphic
Organizer
(NPR, 2000)
Association

Baloney (Henry,
P.) context clues
lesson
Student A: 4 out of 4
Student E: 4 out of 4
Student S: 3 out of 4

their
vocabulary
increases,
students
will
improve in
their ability
to find
antonyms
and
synonyms
for words.
All students
seemed
engaged,
even
Student E.
I can see
from
teaching
this mini
lesson and
making it
engaging,
that
learning
through
experiences
engages
students.
Students
were
engaged
during most
of the
lesson.
I found a
really
engaging
book to
read, and
they

This lesson
exemplified th
importance of
using engaging
material in
lessons.
Students
seemed to
understand
what context
clues are and
how to use

InstructionAccessing
Schema
(NPR, 2000)

11/05/2015
(Midpoint
Assessment
)

Vocabulary
Skills
Kid-friendly
Vocabulary
Definitions
(Neuman,
Wright,
2014)

Weekly Vocabulary
Review: Cloze
Passage assessment:
Student A scored a 8 out
of 10
Student E scored a 7 out
of 10
Student S scored a 7 out
of 10

11/19/2015

Vocabulary
Skills
Explicit
Vocabulary
Instruction:
Pre-teaching

A Bad Case of the

Stripes vocabulary
assessment:
Student A scored a 9
out of 12
Student E scored a 9 out

responded
well to it.
They all
did really
well on the
assessment.

The
students
responded
well to
vocabulary
game we
played.
They were
very
engaged.
The
assessment
shows that
they are
improving
with
finding the
meaning of
words in
context.
Students
enjoyed
this book.
They really
liked the
colorful

them to define
an unknown
word in a
sentence by th
end of the
lesson.
I will still be
continuing
instruction on
context clues t
keep the
students
improving in
the area of incontext
vocabulary
skills.
Students are
making
progress, and I
want them to
keep making
that progress,
so I am going
to keep using
engaging
materials to
guide my
instruction.
My next plan i
to give them
another lesson
in vocabulary,
which will test
them on their
vocabulary in
isolation skills
Students are
making good
progress.
I think they
will perform
well on their

10

12/03/2015

vocabulary
words
(NPR, 2000)
Kid-friendly
Vocabulary
Definitions
(Neuman,
Wright,
2014)
Repeated
exposure
(Neuman,
Wright,
2014)
Association
InstructionAccessing
Schema
Multimedia
InstructionGraphic
Organizer
(NPR, 2000)
Vocabulary
Skills

of 12
Student S scored a 7 out
of 12

Word Mystery
assessment:
Student A scored a 6
out of 7
Student E scored a 5 out
of 7
Student S scored a 5 out
of 7
Vocabulary quiz:
Student A scored a 8 out
of 10
Student E scored a 7 out
of 10
Student S scored a 7 out
of 10

pictures.
They were
engaged
during this
minilesson.
The results
of the
assessment
show that
the students
are making
progress.

N/A
Students
were
compliant
and
completed
each
assessment.
The
assessment
s show that
they have
made
progress,
but still
need the
support that
this Action
Research
has
provided

final
assessments.

11

them with.

Student Data Chart from Assessments

12

Chart Title
120

100

80

60

40

20

4
Student A

5
Student E

Student S

Student Progress Monitoring Chart Sample

10

13

Student As monitoring chart

14

15

Strategies Used
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Explicit Instruction
Implicit Instruction
Explicit Vocabulary Instruction: Pre-teaching vocabulary words (NPR, 2000)
Kid-friendly Vocabulary Definitions (Neuman, Wright, 2014)
Association Instruction- Accessing Schema (NPR, 2000)

16

6. Collaboration Activity (Sedita, 2012)

7. Multimedia Instruction- Graphic Organizer (NPR, 2000)
8. Repeated exposure (Neuman, Wright, 2014)

Lessons/ Assessments Used

1. Reading interest Survey
2. Word Meanings From Context assessment
3. Vocabulary in Isolation assessment
4. The Crab reading and vocab assessment
5. Antonyms/Synonyms pre-assessment
6. Antonyms/Synonyms mini-lesson
7. Antonyms/Synonyms assessment
8. Baloney (Henry, P.) context clues lesson
9. Cloze Passage assessment
10. A Bad Case of the Stripes mini-lesson
11. A Bad Case of the Stripes vocabulary assessment
12. Word Mystery assessment
13. Vocabulary quiz

Final Assessment Reflection

The final assessments (9 and 10 on the chart) reflect an improvement of vocabulary
skills. There were two final assessments. The first final assessment, Word Mystery, was where
students used context clues to find the meaning of the highlighted word. My students performed

17

great on this assessment. Student A scored a 6 out of 7. They have made an improvement over
the course of the Action Research Project. Both Student E and S scored a 5 out of 7. They have
also made an improvement in their vocabulary skills. The second final assessment, was a
vocabulary quiz that featured some of the vocabulary words we had worked with in our Action
Research Group. Students were presented a word and had to select the correct meaning from the
multiple choices. Again, student skill growth was evident here. The students performed great.
Student A scored an 8 out of 10 on the assessment. Students E and S both scored a 7 out of 10.
These assessments have shown the effectiveness of research-supported effective vocabulary
instruction.

Data Analysis & Reflection

All students in my action research group have made improvement on their vocabulary
skills. The results of each of the 10 assessments have shown the progress that they have made
over the course of our Action Research in the area of vocabulary. I think their progress is the
result of the use of research based effective vocabulary instruction, which I found through
research. I think it is important for teachers to use research supported methods for their
instruction. I also think that engagement is an important part of instruction, as well. When
students do not enjoy learning, then they are not going to learn. When I first began the action
research project, I noticed one of my students, Student E, was uninterested. I knew that I had to
find a way to get this student engaged, or else they werent going to make any progress. So, I
used some of the data collected from the reading interest survey to select engaging materials to
use in instruction. I also used engaging activities within my instruction. This method worked!
The student became noticeably more engaged and interested in what I was teaching or what we
were doing. I think Students A, E, and S all need to continue to receive a combination of explicit

18

and implicit vocabulary instruction. While they have improved, there is a lot of growth still
needed. Word knowledge is at the base of reading comprehension. If students do not have a
large word knowledge, then their reading comprehension will suffer greatly. I am glad that I got
to work with a group of struggling students to improve their vocabulary skills. It is my greatest
hope, that I have improved their reading comprehension skills in the process of boosting their
vocabulary knowledge and skill set.

19

Vocabulary Instruction:
Whats the Best Method?
Kaylee Neubacher
Samford University

Abstract
What makes good vocabulary instruction in the classroom? There is a lot of research
concerning this topic. This paper discusses some of the research on effective vocabulary
instruction methods.
Keywords: Vocabulary, Effective Instruction

20

Effective Vocabulary Instruction

Why is vocabulary important to reading instruction? Its simple; vocabulary is
knowing what words are in a text in order to comprehend what is being read (Neuman, Wright,
2014). Children must have a wide vocabulary to be able to comprehend sentences, whether it be
simple or complex sentences. The importance of vocabulary instruction has been recognized for

21

decades (National Reading Panel, 2000). Thus, there has been a lot of research conducted in the
area of vocabulary instruction.
One comprehensive article details the different effective vocabulary approaches. In this
article, the national reading panel developed a taxonomy of vocabulary instruction (NPR,
2000). The first type of vocabulary instruction is explicit instruction. Explicit vocabulary
instruction is when the teacher gives the students the definitions of the vocabulary words. In the
classroom, explicit vocab instruction commonly takes the form of pre-teaching the vocab then
reading the selection, along with exploring the root words and affixes(4:17). On the other hand,
indirect vocabulary instruction calls for the student to engage in wide-readings to increase their
vocabulary. It is assumed that the student will use in-text clues to find out what an unknown
word means. The fourth type of vocabulary instruction is multimedia instruction. This is exactly
how it sounds; the use of various media (graphic organizers, mapping, etc.) to teach vocabulary.
The fifth type is capacity instruction. This instruction attempts to free-up brain space taken by
other reading activities in order to make room for vocabulary. In this instruction, the student
concentrates solely on the definition of the word. The last type is the association instruction. In
this instruction, the student makes connections between things they know and unknown words
(4:17). In other words, this instruction aims to access the schema of students, or their prior
knowledge. While the NPR separated vocabulary instruction into six distinct styles, they are not
necessarily independent of one another. Research has indicated that a combination of these
instruction styles were used to successfully teach children vocabulary (4:17).
In addition to the vocabulary taxonomy, there are five principles for effective oral
vocabulary instruction (Neuman, Wright, 2014). The first principle is that students must have
both explicit and implicit instruction. This coincides with the previous article. Using this

22

principle, teachers introduce vocabulary words using kid-friendly definitions. Then they have
their students participate in an activity that reinforces the definition. Children who were
instructed both implicitly and explicitly on vocabulary showed the most gain in vocabulary
understanding. The second principle is to be intentional with word selection (p.9). The words
teachers select for study must be high-utility sophisticated words. For example, using elated
instead of happy. Further, content-related words should be studied early on in a childs
education. By establishing a content rich word base early on, students will be able to
comprehend what is being read as they progress through elementary school. The third principle
is using categories of words to reinforce word meaning. Teachers can increase vocabulary
comprehension through studying clusters (p.9). For example, having students study vocabulary
words like, sheep, pig, horse, and chicken as a part of farm animals. When words are
presented in a clustered way, students make connections between the words, and thus learn the
definitions of the words better (9). The fourth principle is that children need repeated vocabulary
exposure. This means that teachers present the vocabulary repeatedly to the students. Studies
have shown that it may take at least 24 exposures for a student to learn a vocabulary word (p.
10). The final principle is that vocabulary instruction requires ongoing professional
development. This means that it is essential to provide teachers with adequate training to ensure
students are being instructed efficiently (10). These five principles support a rich vocabulary
environment in the classroom.
In a recent webinar, Joan Sedita talked about what effective vocabulary instruction looks
like in the classroom. One strategy that makes vocabulary instruction effective is when
vocabulary words are presented in a rich and varied way. This refers back to the multi-media
strategy mentioned above. Teachers cannot expect students to learn vocabulary by rote

23

memorization. This method has been proven to be ineffective. Instead, teachers must use
different media like graphic organizers, like the frayer-model, to present the vocabulary to their
students. Another effective strategy that Sedita mentioned was having students work
collaboratively with one another in vocabulary instruction (2012). This means having students
participate in group activities. For example, Students could create a skit using a vocabulary
word. There are so many possibilities to have students collaborate with one another for
vocabulary instruction.
There are many studies and articles discussing vocabulary instruction in the elementary
classroom. The articles discussed in this paper all have guidelines as to what effective
vocabulary looks like in the classroom. From the research, an inference can be made concerning
vocabulary instruction; there is no single strategy that is the most effective. Instead, there are
several strategies that are equally effective. Consequently, these strategies may be used together,
and often are.

References
National Reading Panel. (NRP). (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching
Children to Read: An evidence-based Assessment of the Scientific Research Literature on
Reading and its Implications for Reading Instruction. National Institute of Child Health
and Human Development.

24

Neuman, S., Wright, T. (Summer 2014). The Magic of Words: Teaching Vocabulary Instruction
in the Early Childhood Classroom. American Educator.
Sedita, J. (2012). Effective Vocabulary Instruction: A Combination of Direct and Indirect
Instruction [Webinar]. Retrieved from https://player.vimeo.com/video/42216838.