A comparison of vocabulary strategies during an interactive read aloud

Abstract

Over the course of a 6-week period, an action research study was conducted in a fourth-grade classroom at a public school in Wisconsin. The purpose of this study was to compare two vocabulary instructional strategies, pre-teach with visuals and context clues, during an interactive read aloud. Read aloud routines and expectations were put forth in order to teach the students how to effectively respond to and listen to an interactive read aloud. Students then participated in explicit instruction with each strategy. Data collection included a pretest, weekly quizzes, and a posttest. These were analyzed in order to conclude which vocabulary strategy had higher results. Statistical data analysis indicated that pre-teach with visuals supported consistent growth in higher results.