Every day teachers teach new words to pupils. How do they do it? What works? Does it work for all pupils?
Vocabulary knowledge is linked to reading proficiency (Kurdek and Sinclair 2001) and is therefore the key to academic success (Snowling, Muter and Carroll 2007). Learning new words does not come easily to all children, particularly those with speech, language, and communication needs. As the learning of new words is essential to understanding the content of the curriculum, it is easy to see how lack of comprehension could affect motivation, and how this links to behavioural responses (Benner, Nelson, and Epstein 2001).
A PhD student at City University London, Billie Lowe, is investigating word learning in 11 – 16 year old students with speech, language and communication needs, in mainstream secondary schools, under the supervision of Professor Victoria Joffe and Dr Natalie Hasson. This research investigates how to embed evidence-based vocabulary teaching practices into the classroom in a way that benefits all pupils.
The first stage of the research is to find out more about the current practice of teachers and speech and language therapists in secondary schools with regard to teaching vocabulary. This information is being collected through a short questionnaire which will only take around 15 minutes of your time.
To fill in the questionnaire, please follow the link HERE - and let your colleagues know about it too.
You can contact Billie at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
