Vocabulary Building to improve Reading Comprehension through the Use of Lexical Approach, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

Abstract

While the relationship between vocabulary and reading comprehension appears to be established, instructional methods to effectively increase students’ word knowledge and comprehension are not. Researchers suggest that “early elementary students’ word knowledge is a determinant of reading comprehension both in early elementary school and throughout their schooling” (Juel and Deffes cited in Hensen, 2009). Scientific research on vocabulary instruction reveals that most vocabulary is acquired incidentally through indirect exposure to words. Students can acquire vocabulary incidentally by engaging in rich oral-language experiences at home and at school, listening to books, reading aloud to them, and reading widely on their own are some of the options suggested. (Cunningham et al cited in Diamond & Gutlohn, 2006) stated that extensive reading gives students repeated or multiple exposures to words and is also one of the means by which students see vocabulary in rich contexts.