A Description of the Approach

Two of the most studied approaches for developing students’ reading comprehension skills are
teaching vocabulary and teaching reading strategies (Lemire-Théberge, Dion, Guay, Barrette, &
Brodeur, 2013). Practicing reading can promote students’ vocabulary acquisition, as it improves
comprehension, which in turn results in an increase in vocabulary. Comprehension requires that
the reader use rather complex cognitive processes to integrate the information contained in the
text with their background knowledge, and as a result, students must interact with the text in
order to understand what they’re reading (Saint Laurent, 2002); many students with learning
disabilities (LDs) struggle with this. According to Lemire-Théberge et al. (2013), educators can
best support students with LDs by integrating the teaching of vocabulary with the teaching of
reading comprehension strategies.

Reading comprehension strategies are methods and strategies that the reader uses to read and
understand a text that can be adapted, depending on the specific situation. Saint-Laurent (2002)
identifies the main strategies necessary to understand a text as:

1. Activating prior knowledge,

2. Asking and responding to questions about the text,
3. Inferring elements of implicit information,
4. Retaining the essential information collected, and
5. Ensuring students have understood what they have read.

To be effective for students with LDs, instructional activities must be focused on explicit
instruction (Bissonnette, Richard, Gauthier, & Bouchard, 2010), not only instruction relating to
the meanings and illustrations of words, but equally relating to the teaching of one or more
reading comprehension strategies.

Results of the Research

In a study entitled “Pilot study of teaching activities related to reading comprehension for
beginner readers at risk” (translated title), Lemire-Théberge et al. (2013) proposed, as a result of
a review of the empirical literature, that teaching vocabulary could be important for beginner
readers. Intervention studies of preschool and kindergarten students have demonstrated that it is
possible to develop the vocabulary of young students. In these studies, educators read stories
aloud to their classes, explained the meanings of difficult words, and then asked students to use
the words orally. However, even if the students retained the sense of many of the words, the
effects of this learning on their reading comprehension could not be evaluated (Lemire-Théberge
et al., 2013). According to Lemire-Théberge et al. (2013), the approach used in these studies
seemed to be better adapted to pre-readers than beginner readers, as pre-readers are not actually
practicing reading while they are learning the meaning of words.

The researchers hypothesize that it would be interesting to integrate the teaching of vocabulary
with the teaching of reading comprehension strategies. In fact, studies have shown that using
multiple reading comprehension strategies can be effective for advanced readers from the late
primary years through to post-secondary. “Studies of beginner readers suffer from gaps in
methodologies that neglect to distinguish between beginner and advanced readers at the time of
the analysis” (translated from Lemire-Théberge et al., 2013, p. 7). The researchers therefore
decided, in an experimental study, to adapt the use of multiple strategies for beginner readers in
first and second grades with LDs by teaching one single strategy at a time. Over a period of two
consecutive years (Study 1 and Study 2), two new methods of teaching vocabulary or a strategy
to support beginning readers in Grade 1 or Grade 2 were tested. The research was designed to
test three conditions with two groups and 18 students per condition: 1) vocabulary, 2) control
group, and 3) strategy.

Vocabulary Condition

In the vocabulary condition, the teacher first showed all of the students pictures of the new
vocabulary words. During the session, the teacher reviewed between one and three words that
had been previously taught, and then proceeded to teach between five and seven new words
using the strategy. For each word presented, the teacher showed students a visual that helped to
illustrate the meaning of the word. The printed word was shown divided into syllables with the
visual and any complex sounds or silent letters were highlighted. The teacher said the words,
taught the pronunciation, described the visual, and then used the word in a sentence. Next, the
teacher asked students to pair themselves with a partner in order to practice the three steps, with
the help of a checklist:

1. Practice decoding the words (read the words),

2. Associate the words with their definition (find the definition), and
3. Read a passage that includes the words (read the story).

Control Condition

The control condition was completed in classrooms using the teachers’ traditional teaching
styles, and used the same texts and vocabulary words as in the vocabulary condition.

Strategy Condition: Intervention Implementation

Four activities based on the same texts and the same vocabulary words as the vocabulary
condition were proposed; however, in this group, the definitions of vocabulary words were not
taught. For each of the eight words, the teacher presented the students with a visual that showed
the word spelled out and divided into syllables, with the complex sounds or silent letters
highlighted.

Groups of students then took turns rotating through the three activities. The first two activities
(read the words and read the story) followed the same steps as the activities in the vocabulary
condition. The third activity (find the idea) was specific to the strategy condition. Students reread
each paragraph of the story and then formulated one sentence that captured the main idea of each
paragraph.

The following results were obtained for study 1:

 1. At pre-test, the average word recognition abilities of the students were similar across all
three conditions; differences became apparent over the course of the intervention. The
teaching of vocabulary therefore seemed to achieve its instructional goal of making
students aware of the meaning of words. With respect to their ability to identify the main
idea, students in the strategy condition achieved a higher mean score than students who
participated in the two other conditions.
2. At post-test, mean scores for the three groups appeared similar. “Despite the fact that
students appeared to progress further over the course of the intervention, students in the
vocabulary and strategy conditions did not score higher in the post-test; this suggests that
the interventions need to be modified in order to obtain more generalized and lasting
gains” (translated from Lemire-Théberge et al. 2013, p. 15).

For study 2, the activities used in the vocabulary and strategy groups were revised to maximize
their effectiveness. A full assessment of vocabulary and reading skills was conducted at post-test.
The following results were obtained for study 2:

1. At pre-test, assessment results indicated that students in the vocabulary condition had
comprehension and recall scores that were slightly higher than their peers in the other two
conditions. In terms of the identification of main ideas, students in the strategy condition
had higher scores than their peers in the control condition.
2. Between the pre-test and the post-test, students in the vocabulary condition saw the most
progress in comparison to their peers in the other two conditions. In addition, the learning
achieved over the course of the intervention was maintained at post-test, which suggested
that the revised activities produced more lasting gains.

In conclusion, integrating the teaching of vocabulary with one or more reading comprehension
strategies appears to be a successful strategy. According to the researchers, not only is the use of
this intervention likely to make teaching vocabulary more appealing to primary teachers for
whom teaching reading is a priority, but it also allows students, particularly those with LDs, the
opportunity to make substantial gains in the area of vocabulary. The results of this pilot study by
Lemire-Théberge et al. (2013) produced sufficiently significant results to justify further research
in the integration of teaching vocabulary with reading comprehension strategies.

Implementation of the Strategies

Experiencing words prior to reading texts will not permanently address vocabulary difficulties
for students with learning disabilities. According to Lemire-Théberge et al. (2013), integrating
the teaching of vocabulary and the teaching of a reading comprehension strategy (or multiple
strategies) needs to be well planned. These specific, systematic, regular, and progressively
organized activities are necessary for significant results to be achieved by students in first and
second grades with learning disabilities.

Shared reading, an instructional strategy used in many schools from kindergarten through third
grade, can be adapted to serve as an example of how to teach vocabulary and reading
comprehension strategies to beginning readers with LDs. In fact, the teacher can lead a shared
reading aimed at explicitly teaching both vocabulary and reading strategies. To facilitate this, a
large print text that students can easily see is used. The teacher reads the text and encourages
student participation by explaining word meanings and contexts and then asks students to
construct sentences through the use of illustrations. The teacher can then also explicitly teach one
or more reading comprehension strategies, such as making inferences, finding the main idea of a
paragraph, and predicting the rest of the story. Finally, following the shared reading, the teacher
can ask students to work in small groups to put the different strategies to use. According to
Biemiller (2007), students with LDs who use these strategies can learn the meaning of between 8
and 12 words per week at school – enough to support average vocabulary gains during the
primary years, providing these programs can be supported throughout the full academic year.

The choice of words to teach is also equally important in order to facilitate reading
comprehension for students with LDs. There are two different approaches that can be used in
order to plan which vocabulary words to teach. One alternative, the approach of Beck and
McKeown (cited by Biemiller, 2007) recommends teaching common words that are generally
used and are not limited to one subject area or another, which appear frequently in books read by
students at the primary level. Alternatively, the approach elaborated by Biemiller (2007)
recommends teaching the meanings of more general, or non-specific words, which are known by
40 – 80% of students with an average vocabulary level at the end of second grade.

Online Resources for Teaching Shared Reading

The LD@school website includes numerous resources (print, webinars, videos, podcasts, etc.) to
support Ontario educators working with students with LDs. Click here to visit the LD@school
website and access an introductory article on literacy and LDs.

Reading Rockets is an online, American multimedia literacy initiative offering information and
resources on reading. Click here to visit the Reading Rockets website and access an introductory
article on shared reading.

References
Biemiller, A. (2007). L’influence du vocabulaire sur l’acquisition de la lecture. Encyclopédie
sur le développement des jeunes (pp. 1-12). London, ON: Réseau canadien de recherche sur le
langage et l’alphabétisation. Accessed April 2, 2014
from http://dev.literacyencyclopedia.ca/pdfs/topic.php?topId=19&fr=true

Bissonnette,S., Richard, M., Gauthier, C. & Bouchard, C. (2010). Quelles sont les stratégies
d’enseignement efficaces favorisant les apprentissages fondamentaux auprès des élèves en
difficulté de niveau élémentaire? Résultats d’une méga-analyse. Revue de recherche appliquée
sur l’apprentissage, 3 (1), 1-35.

Brunet, É. (2002). Liste des 1500 mots les plus fréquents de la langue française que lisent les
élèves francophones. Accessed April 2, 2014 from http://eduscol.education.fr/D0102/liste-mots-
frequents.htm
Lémire-Théberge, L., Dion, E., Guay, M.-H., Barrette, A. & Brodeur, M. (2013). Étude pilote
d’activités d’enseignement de la compréhension en lecture destinées aux lecteurs débutants à
risque. Enfance en difficulté, 2, 5-29. Accessed April 2, 2014
from http://www.erudit.org.proxy.bib.uottawa.ca/revue/enfance/2013/v2/n/1016245ar.pdf

Saint-Laurent, L. (2002). Enseigner aux élèves à risque et en difficulté au primaire. Québec,

Canada : Gaëtan Morin, Éditeur.