A 2019 Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools forum, Vocabulary Across the School Grades, presented evidence that strong vocabulary is important for students’ literacy and overall academic success across grade levels. The articles in this journal self-study course describe effective instructional strategies for facilitating vocabulary growth and improving reading comprehension in middle and high school students. The authors present recommendations and implications for practice.

Learning Outcomes
You will be able to:

• identify key elements for choosing words for vocabulary instruction
• describe research-based vocabulary instructional practices found to be effective with middle school and adolescent students
• discuss the relationship between vocabulary and reading comprehension

Learning Assessment
Multiple-choice exam

Articles in This Course

1. Effective Vocabulary Instruction Fosters Knowing Words, Using Words, and Understanding How Words Work, by Margaret G. McKeown, published in Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools
2. The Effect of Vocabulary Intervention on Text Comprehension: Who Benefits? by Dawna Duff, published in Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools
3. Accelerating Adolescent Vocabulary Growth: Development of an Individualized, Web-Based, Vocabulary Instruction Program, by Suzanne M. Adlof, Lauren S. Baron, Joanna Scoggins, Adam Kapelner, Margaret G. McKeown, Charles A. Perfetti, Elaine Miller, Jeanine Soterwood, and Yaacov Petscher, published in Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools
4. Key Elements of Robust Vocabulary Instruction for Emergent Bilingual Adolescents, by Amy C. Crosson, Margaret G. McKeown, Kelly P. Robbins, and Kathleen J. Brown, published in Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools
5. A Review of Middle School Vocabulary Interventions: Five Research-Based Recommendations for Practice, by Amy M. Elleman, Eric L. Oslund, Natalie M. Griffin, and Katie E. Myers, published in Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools