Vocabulary instruction is not a luxury

Abstract

A review of educational research indicates that post-secondary students benefit in all academic areas when given direct vocabulary instruction, yet most community college course outlines do not require vocabulary instruction. This study sought to determine the most effective strategies for vocabulary instruction and to develop a process of instruction using those strategies to teach vocabulary keywords to English Composition I students in a local community college course. Nineteen of twenty-four students completed the 8-step instructional process in which forty keywords were taught over the course of six class periods in 20-45-minute segments of each class. Summary assessment results indicate that all nineteen students mastered all forty words as shown in the second post-test which was administered one month after instruction had ended. Results also showed that students believed that etymology and game practice were the most effective strategies to learn new vocabulary words.