Vocabulary Instruction: Research to Practice (Solving Problems in the Teaching of Literacy)
"If you are a classroom teacher, a reading specialist, a reading coach, a district staff developer, a central office reading supervisor, or a professor teaching foundational courses on reading strategies, you'll want this book! Invite a group of colleagues to read and discuss this text with you. Make it the focus of your next education book club or one of the texts you suggest for your university course. Taken as a whole or section by section, the book presents valuable information to broaden your understanding of vocabulary development and vocabulary instruction. Each chapter offers theoretically and empirically based information.You'll learn from the field's most knowledgeable researchers as they present strategies for teaching specific words, for teaching ways to learn words, and for building word consciousness while engaging students in language play. Each chapter is highly readable, practical, and fun. You'll find many new ideas for enriching and extending your classroom teaching and helping students gain greater access to the meanings of words they read."--Kathy Jongsma, EdD, Orlando, Florida"This comprehensive volume is an essential tool for researchers and practitioners committed to improving students' literacy achievement. It provides the best information available from outstanding scholars who clearly explain why and how to help students increase their understanding of the words they encounter in reading. An excellent resource, it presents research-based strategies that can be put to use in classrooms and are likely to engage student interest."--Lois G. Dreyer, PhD, Southern Connecticut State University"Comprehension occurs when readers actively construct meaning by engaging with the words they read and integrate new knowledge into what they already know. Vocabulary acquisition is an essential component of comprehension, yet one that has been overlooked in recent years. Baumann and Kame'enui masterfully highlight the significance of research on this critical topic and present instructional practices that are thoughtful, engaging, and meaning-based. This volume will prove invaluable to reading and curriculum specialists who seek to provide teachers with support and guidance for working with our ever-diversifying student population."--Elizabeth W. English, PhD, Principal, Sunrise Valley Elementary School, Fairfax County, VA"This book is essential for all teachers of reading in the elementary grades. Moving beyond the mechanics of reading, chapters written by an outstanding group of established scholars address specific issues regarding content and methodologies for vocabulary instruction. In addition to educators, speech-language pathologists will find this an excellent resource. It will also be an invaluable text for undergraduate- and graduate-level courses in reading instruction."--Linda J. Lombardino, PhD, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Florida