"A child's learning is the function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher." James Coleman, 1972

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Allergy to reading among reading experts


A blog in Ed Week has the headline “Students Must Learn More Words, Say Studies.” Based on a yet to be published article in the Reading Research Quarterly, it asserts that research shows that teachers are not teaching enough vocabulary.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/02/06/20vocabulary_ep.h32.html?tkn=TZMFgk7NAkmjOoC5gr4c2bOzxwjAgLv%2BoQnD&cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS1

Only two of those who posted comments and none of the experts cited in the article (except for Hirsch) appear to be even aware of the hypothesis (not to mention the massive research showing) that vocabulary is gradually acquired from reading. The author of the article also seems to be unaware of it.

Here is my understated post, on the Ed Week website:

I agree with Dr. Bob and Karl Wheatley: I think research clearly shows that vocabulary comes from reading (and hearing stories).
Some current papers on this topic, both available for free download at: http://www.sdkrashen.com/index.php?cat=2

1. Krashen, S. Reading and Vocabulary Acquisition: Supporting Evidence and Some Objections. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 1 (1): 27-43, 2013.
2. Krashen, S. Direct Instruction of Academic Vocabulary: What About Real Reading? Reading Research Quarterly, 47(3): 233. 2012)

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for restating what every teacher knows or should know. Kids need to read and be read to for a plethora of reasons!

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