What is incidental vocabulary acquisition?
- When you are reading a book and come across an unfamiliar book, this is when incidental vocabulary acquisition takes place. The explicit task at hand is not to learn words.
- Most words learned come from incidental vocabulary acquisition, not from explicit instruction of vocabulary
What is Dr. Folk studying?
- Dr. Folk is researching how readers deal with new words and how the processes that take place to come up with a reasonable definition for these words. The basis of her research is that there is a strong association between vocabulary and reading comprehension. Therefore, vocabulary is hugely important to a student’s literary abilities.
What groups of students is this research relevant to?
- This research is relevant to all skills of readers and developing readers.
What should teachers know?
- A big part of reading is encountering new words and determining what they mean, so teachers should help reinforce in their students what they need to be doing when they encounter these unfamiliar words.
- Context in which students learn matters. Processing is easier in some circumstances than others.
What should administrators know?
- Administrators need to understand that incidental vocabulary acquisition should also be a priority of teachers, and they should encourage teachers to facilitate the development of this skill along with providing direct instruction to their students.
- They should also know that incidental vocabulary acquisition is important for learning to read as well as reading to learn, as this skill affects performance in all other areas of the curriculum.
What should policymakers know?
- Policymakers should recognize that there is a lot that we do not know about incidental vocabulary acquisition, and they should continue supporting teachers as they continue to learn and develop their own skills.
What other research is being conducted?
- Moving forward, Dr. Folk is continuing to study multiple exposure and reading processes that are involved.
