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1The Influences of Vocabulary Development on Reading Skills for English Language Learners in Elementary Schools

Literature Review

The Influences of Vocabulary Development on Reading Skills for English Language Learners in Elementary

Schools

Ahad Hassan Althumayri

Western Oregon University

Research and Writing ED 633

Dr. Gregory Zobel

3 /13 / 2014


Introduction:

This literature review discusses the influences of vocabulary development on reading

skills for English language learners in the elementary school from many aspects. The first part

will discuss the benefits of vocabulary knowledge to promote the reading skills. The second part

will discuss the critical aspects of vocabulary development. The third part will discuss the best

practices to reinforce vocabulary development.

Vocabulary development is one of the basic foundation that promote the English

Language Learners’ literacy and oracy skills. Based on the vocabulary knowledge of each

student, teachers can recognize the level of the student learning. Also, it helps the teacher to

design the best instruction and teaching strategies in order to develop English language learners’

vocabulary. The relationship between improving the ELLs’ skills and how much vocabulary they

know is strong. As a result, teachers should frame their lessons to reinforce ELLs’ reading skills

through developing their vocabulary. After I researched about the importance of vocabulary

knowledge and its effects on ELLs’ learning, I decided to write my literature review about the

influences of vocabulary development on reading skills for English language learners in

elementary schools.

The motivation of this literature review is to reflect the importance of vocabulary

knowledge in order to comprehend the readings for the English language learners, especially

children. I am interested in this topic because it relates to my field as a teacher of English as a

second language and my future students would be all Arabic speakers. Teachers of English might

not value vocabulary growth as an effective tool to reinforce reading skills for children in

elementary school. English curriculums in Saudi Arabia are only building general backgrounds


of the students instead of focusing on improving the students’ four skills. I am taking this

literature review as an opportunity to reflect the topic on my past experience as a teacher of

English of elementary school. I used to make a lot of vocabulary activities at the end of each

story and I saw the benefits of those activities that they improved day after day in reading

comprehension. When the children knew the meaning of the words, it was easy for them to

recognize them in the story and it was easy for them to understand the concept.

Research question:

The following questions are of my interest because they point to the basic aspects that I

should recognize in order to benefit my teaching skills in the future as an English teacher of

students whose first language is not English. Each question could be used as a guide in order to

analyze the importance of vocabulary knowledge from different angles:

What are the effects of vocabulary development on reading skills for ELLs of elementary

school?

What are the effects that influence vocabulary development?

What are the best practices to reinforce the English language learners' reading skills

through vocabulary development?

Promoting English-language learners’ reading skills through vocabulary development requires

understanding and analyzing many concepts in order to achieve the goal of the Literature review.

The goal of the literature review is to look at this topic from different angles which I form them

in the question research. Through the answers of those questions the whole picture of reinforcing

reading skills through vocabulary knowledge would be easy to identify and easy to use as an

effective tool to support the ELLs’ learning progress.


What are the effects of vocabulary development on reading skills for ELLs of elementary

school?

Teaching English language learners how to read is a challenge, especially when the

English learners are children. The experience of teaching them might be difficult, but it would be

effective if the teacher knows how to take advantage of ELL children’s energy to let them have

enjoyable and powerful educational learning (Schindler, 2006, p. 8). Teachers must be creative

when they choose how to promote their ELLs’ reading skills. As a result, due to the importance

of vocabulary knowledge, it is the best method to reinforce their reading skills. The students’

performance level of reading is based on vocabulary development even if the students are orally

familiar with the vocabulary. As Jalongo and Sobolak say, the lack of vocabulary is a serious

issue that affecting the reading comprehension which appear when the unknown words level is

too high (2011, p. 426). The text will be understandable and comprehensible for the ELLs when

they identify the meanings of vocabulary.

According to Blachowicz, Fisher, Ogle, and Watt-Taffe, there is a strong relationship

between vocabulary knowledge and the readers’ ability to understand what they are reading

(2006, p. 524). The impact of this relationship determines to how much vocabulary the student

knows. Students who start schools with limited vocabulary knowledge might struggle in reading

comprehension because vocabulary development is the key to receive the information correctly

(Jalongo et al., 2011, p. 423). Helping ELLs to develop their vocabulary is a way to make the

teachers’ instructions understandable besides promoting their reading skills. The benefit of

developing the ELLs children's vocabulary knowledge is not only to promote their reading skills,

but it also benefits their understanding of the teacher's instructions and acquiring the English

language. Because language acquisition is entirely dependent on developing ELLs’ vocabulary


knowledge, the lack of vocabulary knowledge has negative impact on their literacy and oracy

skills.

Even though the basic foundation of vocabulary development is promoting effective

reading, extensive reading also fosters ELLs to acquire vocabulary. Extensive reading is helpful

to improve the English language proficiency, too. ELLs need 3,000 to 5,000 words minimum in

order to be able to read extensively (Wallace, 2007, p. 189). Although Students acquire 5,000 to

7,000 words when they are learning to read in their first language, they did not achieve this

number when they are starting to learn reading in the second language (Wallace, 2007, p. 190).

The progress of their learning might be slower but it will increase by the time when their

language acquisition increase.

Teaching ELL children how to read through vocabulary knowledge is difficult, but it is

easy to gain the children’s attention when the teacher knows how to hook and benefit their

learning progress. The way to know how to promote ELL children’s learning is to know the

effects of vocabulary knowledge on reading skills in order to know what the best practices that

foster ELLs’ learning are. Besides the importance of knowing how much vocabulary ELLs

know, teachers should know the education background in order to know the level of their

understanding. If the teacher wants the effects of vocabulary development on reading skills to be

positive, teachers should know the effects that influence vocabulary development as well.

What are the effects that influence vocabulary development?

There are many aspects that impact English language learners’ vocabulary knowledge.

According to Blachowicz, Ogle, and Wattas-Taffe (2006), teachers can use the general verbal

ability of ELLs as a measure of their vocabulary knowledge. What ELLs are reading also effects

their understanding and learning. Stories and literature’s vocabulary are different from the


academic vocabulary of the school’s classes such as, social studies, math, or science (Blachowicz

et al., p. 526). It is beneficial for students to experience a range of vocabulary, not just academic

vocabulary.

Vocabulary breadth and depth are another important aspect of vocabulary development

which helps ELLs to foster their extensive reading. Vocabulary breadth means the number of the

words in a list which ELLs should learn. Vocabulary depth means learning the words in detail

with all the possible characteristics (Wallace, 2007, p. 190). ELLs do not know vocabulary

meanings as well as the “English only peers,” so the vocabulary depth and breadth positively

affect their reading performance. According to August, Dressler, and Snow (2005), there is a

large gap between the depth and breadth between the native speaker and ELLs. After researches

based on testing both in depth and breadth vocabulary, the results show that ELLs know less

vocabulary and meaning than the native speakers (August, 2005, p. 51). The lack of depth and

breadth will affect ELL children’s comprehension of reading as well as their understanding of

teachers’ instruction. The balance between depth and breadth can help ELLs to increase their

vocabulary knowledge day after day.

Vocabulary development is also affected by the quality of the teachers’ instruction during

the class. According to Carlo, August, McLaughlin, Snow, Dressler, Lippman, Lively, and

White (2004), the positive impact of successful instruction increases the children’s word

knowledge which is helpful to close the gap between the vocabulary development of lower

socioeconomic status children and middle socioeconomic status children. As Blachowicz et al.

(2006) say, there is a big difference in the vocabulary knowledge of ELL children who are

economically advantaged and ELLs who are economically disadvantaged which relate to the

school’s economic situation too. What Blachowicz et al. mean is that children with average and


above average vocabulary begin kindergarten with vocabulary verbal ability of 5,000-10,000

words while others begin school with less than that. The reason is that ELL children’s personal

life and experiences are affecting their vocabulary knowledge which will reflect on their learning

progress after they begin school life.

Jalongo et al. (2011) claim that the home and school environment have powerful

influence on the ELLs’ vocabulary knowledge, but there is another claim presented by Silverman

and Hines (2009) that refers to the powerful influences of educational television on the

vocabulary knowledge of ELLs. ELLs who are watching educational programs on T.V. at home

have stronger vocabulary knowledge than those who are not watching educational T.V.

(Silverman et al., 2009, p. 307). As a result, inserting multimedia sources to develop ELLs’

vocabulary knowledge is a powerful and meaningful tool because the new generation can relate

to technology more than the old generation.

What are the best practices to reinforce the English language learners' reading skills

through vocabulary development?

Teachers should know the best practices which provide the best instruction to improve

the vocabulary of ELLs. According to Wallace (2007), one powerful strategy is cognate

knowledge which benefits students whose first language shares the same cognate with English

and orally proficient students. Another important strategy is that ELLs should learn as much as

they can of words that “English only peers” know in order to improve their comprehension skills

(Wallace, 2007, p. 190). Also, it is important to reinforce the ELLs’ second language by read-

aloud activities or teacher-directed language development activities.


Schindler (2006) suggests that vocabulary activities can be used to foster fun with

language learning. There are many activities he mentions that prompt ELLs’ vocabulary

knowledge such as, “What is Missing?,” “Erase!,” “Smack!,” “TPR Verb Game,” “Listen and

Draw,” and “Lexical Sets.” The purpose of those activities is to foster the students’ learning of

the second language through educational and enjoyable activities. They practice giving names to

everything around them, practice the words recognition skills which will improve their reading

skills, and practice the students’ vocabulary and verbs. Additionally, those activities encourage

them to move and be active after sitting for a long time. The positive reflection of the effective

entertaining learning environment is apparent when the young learners are laughing, moving, and

playing. That means they have positive feelings toward learning the second language.

Another great practice that helps teachers to build ELLs’ vocabulary knowledge is using

the SIOP model when they design the activities, (Short and Echevarria, 2004, p. 11). SIOP model

is the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol which provides a framework for organizing a

high quality instruction that fosters ELLs’learning. This kind of method offers a meaningful, rich

lesson that increases the children’s confidence in the class because they are getting the

instructions clearly to complete the activities. According to Lenski, Ehlers-Zavala, Daniel, and

Sun-Irminger (2006), teachers should study the ELLs’ capability of achievement in the

classroom individually because students who speak the same language do not have the same

level of understanding. Choosing the appropriate assessment and instruction should be an

effective tool for a good teacher in order to benefit all of the students’ learning.

Besides SIOP, there are a group of teachers who work together in the project MCVIP, a

multifaceted, comprehensive vocabulary instructional program which was used with English

learners and native speakers in fourth and fifth grade (Manyak, 2010). The effective methods and


practices are “providing rich and varied language experiences,” “teaching individual words,”

“teaching word-learning strategies,” and “developing word consciousness.” All of those

instructional practices are used to enhance learning new words and increase the reading

comprehension. The team is trying to prove that ELLs will benefit from “the well-designed

vocabulary instruction,” which will appear in the ELLs reading skills progress.

Additionally, as much as vocabulary development is affecting the reading comprehension

positively, reading storybooks is improving the vocabulary knowledge as well. As Hickman,

Pollard-Durodola, and Vaughn (2004) suggest, if the teacher reads aloud about 20-30 minutes

every day with ELLs and focuses on vocabulary and comprehension, the impact on the students’

reading skills will be powerful and positive. Teachers should use this strategy as a tool to

promote ELLs’ vocabulary and comprehension through high quality instructions during the

reading time. According to Kotaman (2013), besides the teachers’ efforts to promote the ELLs’

reading skills, parents should foster positive attitudes toward reading in order to motivate the

children to read more. If the children have a positive support in their reading, they will progress

in their vocabulary development and reading comprehension.

Conclusion

Teaching English as a second language in Saudi Arabia is a challenge because it is a

country where it is rarely to find a native English speaker to improve the teachers’ of English

teaching skills. In addition, English curriculums are not enough for the ELL children to improve

their English language. As a result, teachers should value vocabulary knowledge as a tool to

promote ELL children’s learning, especially to foster their reading skills. This is the major

problem of English teachers in Saudi Arabia. They are teaching English to increase the ELLs’

language background, instead of focusing on strategies that benefit ELLs’ four skills, reading,


writing, speaking, and listening skills. English teachers should help the ELL children to develop

their vocabulary knowledge, because it is the key to promote their reading skills besides other

skills. This gap in teaching English as a second language in Saudi Arabia encourages me to

choose the influences of vocabulary development on reading skills for ELLs in elementary

schools to be my literature review topic.

As a past English teacher of elementary schools in Saudi Arabia, I value the vocabulary

knowledge in order to improve all the second language learner’s skills, especially reading skills.

The reason of the importance of reading skills is that extensive reading increasing the vocabulary

knowledge which affects the oracy skills beside the literacy skills as well. As a future English

teacher, I want to focus on tools that help ELL children to have life-long learning of English

language. This will happen if I know how to design my teaching methods and identify the best

strategies that foster their learning. The experience of teaching English should benefit both sides;

me as an English teacher and my future students as ELLs.

The questions of my research are important and interesting because they can be used as a

guide to be an effective teacher who wants to promote the reading skills of ELLs children

through vocabulary knowledge. The positive effects of vocabulary development on reading skills

encourage the teacher to value vocabulary knowledge in order to promote ELLs reading skills. In

addition, when teachers know the effects that influence vocabulary development of their ELLs,

they can know the level of ELLs’ understanding which leads teachers to decrease the negative

effects and increase the positive effects. After teachers know the effects that influence

vocabulary development, they can focus on choosing the best practices to reinforce the ELLs’

reading skills through vocabulary development.


The literature review discusses three different aspects that could make clear how

important is the vocabulary development. When teachers of English know the range of their

students’ vocabulary, they can know the level of ELL children’s learning which guide teachers to

recognize what are the best instructions in order to promote ELLs reading skills. Due to the

strong relationship between vocabulary knowledge and developing ELLs’ skills, teachers of

English should frame their lessons to improve their ELLs’ language acquisition besides the four

skills.


References

August, D., Carlo, M., Dressler, C., & Snow, C. (2005). The critical role of vocabulary

development for English language learners. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice,

20(1), 50-57.

Blachowicz, C. L., Fisher, P. J., Ogle, D., & Wattas-Taffe, S. (2006). Vocabulary: Questions

from the classroom. Reading Research Quarterly, 41(4), 524-539.

Carlo, M. S., August, D., McLaughlin, B., Snow, C. E., Dressler, C., Lippman, D. N., Lively, T.

J, & White, C. E. (2004). Closing the gap: Addressing the vocabulary needs of

English‐language learners in bilingual and mainstream classrooms. Reading Research

Quarterly, 39(2), 188-215.

Hickman, P., Pollard-Durodola, S., & Vaughn, S. (2004). Storybook reading: Improving

vocabulary and comprehension for English-language learners. Reading Teacher, 57(8),

720-731.

Jalongo, M., & Sobolak, M. (2011). Supporting young children's vocabulary growth: The

challenges, the benefits, and evidence-based strategies. Early Childhood Education

Journal, 38(6), 421-429. doi:10.1007/s10643-010-0433-x

Kotaman, H. (2013). Impacts of dialogical storybook reading on young children’s reading

attitudes and vocabulary development. Reading Improvement, 50(4), 199-204.

Lenski, S. D., Ehlers‐Zavala, F., Daniel, M. C., & Sun‐Irminger, X. (2006). Assessing English‐language learners in mainstream classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 60(1), 24-34.

Manyak, P. C. (2010). Vocabulary instruction for English learners: Lessons from MCVIP.

Reading Teacher, 64(2), 143-146. doi:10.1598/RT.64.2.10


Schindler, A. (2006). Channeling children’s energy through vocabulary activities. English

Teaching Forum, 44(2), 8-12.

Short, D., & Echevarria, J. (2004). Teacher skills to support English language learners.

Educational Leadership, 62(4), 8-13.

Silverman, R., & Hines, S. (2009). The effects of multimedia-enhanced instruction on the

vocabulary of English-language learners and non-English-language learners in pre-

kindergarten through second grade. Journal of Educational Psychology, 101(2), 305.

Wallace, C. (2007). Vocabulary: The key to teaching English language learners to read. Reading

Improvement, 44(4), 189-193.

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