The picture word inductive model and vocabulary acquisition

Abstract

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to determine if students’ vocabulary acquisition is enhanced with the picture word inductive model (PWIM), a research-based method of vocabulary instruction. During instruction with the PWIM, students were shown a picture and were asked to identify items in the picture, eliciting words from the children’s listening and speaking vocabularies. This process essentially created a picture-word dictionary which the students could employ to connect words with corresponding pictures. The experimental group of 14 second graders participated in the 4-week intervention, while the control group, consisting of students from the two other second grade classes, did not receive this intervention. The PWIM intervention was analyzed through nonparametric statistics by examining the vocabulary gains that students made from the pre-assessment to the post-assessment. Additionally, gains of English language learners (ELL) and native-English speakers were compared. Further, gains of the experimental group participants and the control group participants were compared. Results indicated that statistically significant differences were achieved between the control and experimental group participants on the final assessment.