ELL Preschoolers' English Vocabulary Acquisition from Storybook Reading [Rich explanation reading vs. business as usual (story reading without rich explanation)]
Collins, Molly F. (2010). Early Childhood Research Quarterly, v25 n1 p84-97. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ864528
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examining69Students, gradePK
Practice Guide
Review Details
Reviewed: June 2022
- Practice Guide (findings for Rich explanation reading)
- Randomized Controlled Trial
- Meets WWC standards with reservations because it is a compromised randomized controlled trial, but the analytic intervention and comparison groups satisfy the baseline equivalence requirement.
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Findings
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Target Vocabulary Test (Collins 2010) |
Rich explanation reading vs. Intervention |
0 Days |
Full sample ;
|
26.50 |
18.12 |
Yes |
|
|
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
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100% English language learners -
Female: 50%
Male: 50% -
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Northeast
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Race Black 4% White 96%
Study Details
Setting
The study took place in six preschool classrooms in two public schools within two school districts in the northeastern United States. One school was an elementary school and the other only included prekindergarten classrooms. The public schools served middle- to low-income families.
Study sample
Ninety-six percent of the sample were White and 4 percent were Black. About 80 percent were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Children were from Portuguese-speaking families.
Intervention Group
Groups of 2–3 children were read to by the researcher in a room outside of their classroom. Each child heard the researcher read 2 books once weekly over a 3-week period (a total of 3 times). The researcher used 4 pairs of books across the children in the sample. The researcher chose 5–9 target vocabulary words to insert into each book. In the intervention condition, the researcher provided rich explanations of the target words. Rich explanations include pointing to the illustration of the target word, providing a general definition of the word, providing a synonym, making a gesture of the word, and using the word in a different context than in the book.
Comparison Group
Groups of 2–3 children were read to by the researcher in a room outside of their classroom. Each child heard the researcher read 2 books once weekly over a 3-week period (a total of 3 times). The researcher used 4 pairs of books across the children in the sample. In the comparison condition, the researcher read the books with the target words but did not provide rich explanations of the target words. The researcher used the same four books when reading to the comparison group students.
Support for implementation
The author implemented both conditions, so did not require external support. Therefore, no support for implementation was described in the article.
An indicator of the effect of the intervention, the improvement index can be interpreted as the expected change in percentile rank for an average comparison group student if that student had received the intervention.
For more, please see the WWC Glossary entry for improvement index.
An outcome is the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are attained as a result of an activity. An outcome measures is an instrument, device, or method that provides data on the outcome.
A finding that is included in the effectiveness rating. Excluded findings may include subgroups and subscales.
The sample on which the analysis was conducted.
The group to which the intervention group is compared, which may include a different intervention, business as usual, or no services.
The timing of the post-intervention outcome measure.
The number of students included in the analysis.
The mean score of students in the intervention group.
The mean score of students in the comparison group.
The WWC considers a finding to be statistically significant if the likelihood that the finding is due to chance alone, rather than a real difference, is less than five percent.
The WWC reviews studies for WWC products, Department of Education grant competitions, and IES performance measures.
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Study findings for this report.
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Tier 1 Strong indicates strong evidence of effectiveness,
Tier 2 Moderate indicates moderate evidence of effectiveness, and
Tier 3 Promising indicates promising evidence of effectiveness,
as defined in the
non-regulatory guidance for ESSA
and the regulations for ED discretionary grants (EDGAR Part 77).