By Jonathan A. Bower

Accelerating Vocabulary Development with Software
According to Baumann, Kame‘enui, & Ash, students' vocabulary knowledge correlates strongly
to their reading comprehension and overall academic success1. Robert Marzano’s research has
shown that direct vocabulary instruction on words related to content that will be on a test increases performance on that test from the 50th percentile to the 83rd.2 However, Horst, Cobb &Meara found that a minimum of 8-12 exposures must occur for retention with normal students ofany new concept or word3. Although teaching can make a real difference in vocabulary learning,
the explicit teaching of vocabulary is not enough: a dedicated teacher can only teach perhaps
300-400 words per year4. The solution to providing enough exposures to new words to master acomplete academic vocabulary is comprehensive, well-designed software.
Comprehensive Content
The vocabulary content for Flink software for Grades K-2 is based on high frequency words for
those grade levels. The vocabulary list includes all of the words in three standard lists of highfrequency words: Dolch, Fry 1,000 and EDL. Grade 3 and above words are drawn from a number of standard spelling and vocabulary approaches, plus any books included in the program.
Pedagogy
The Vocabulary words are organized into wordlists, containing from six words (for Kindergartenstudents) to twenty words (for third grade students). Since high frequency words do not follow
any content-related pattern, we organize them randomly and do the same with Grade 3 words
for the sake of consistency.
For each wordlist, students are provided with 5-12 different educational activities starting withsimple flash cards and image matching at the Kindergarten level, and increasing in sophistication and difficulty as the levels rise. Each activity provides students with different practice withthe words in the lists. The last activity is named “Show Words You Have Learned.” This activity
functions as an assessment.
Flink software therefore delivers all of Robert Marzano’s six steps for vocabulary development5:
1. On the computer students see and hear words in context and with definitions,
2. Students define words and give examples of their use on computer-generated worksheets,
3. Students draw a picture of words when that is possible,
4. Students extend their knowledge of the word through various activities,
5. Students are constantly encouraged to discuss word meaning during the activities, and6. Students play multiple games using the words they are learning for additional exposures.
Flink software products help students learn a complete academic vocabulary to support proficient reading and writing.
1

Baumann, J., Kame’enui, E., & Ash, G. (2003). Research on vocabulary instruction: Voltaire redux. J. Flood, D.
Lapp, J. Squire, & J. Jensen (Eds.), Handbook of research on teaching the English language arts (2nd ed., pp. 752785). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
2Marzano, Robert J. (2004). Building background knowledge for academic achievement: Research on
what works in schools. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
3Horst, M., Cobb, T., & Meara, P. (1998). Beyond A Clockwork Orange: Acquiring second language vocabulary
through reading. Reading in a Foreign Language, 11, 207–223.
4Beck, I. L., & McKeown, M. G. (2007). Different ways for different goals, but keep your eye on the higher verbalgoals. In R. K. Wagner, A. E. Muse, & K. R. Tannenbaum (Eds.), Vocabulary acquisition: Implications for reading
comprehension (pp. 182–204). New York: Guilford.
5Op. Cit. Marzano (2004)

For more information, contact Jon Bower at 508-641-4035 or at jon@flinklearning.com