Teachers' Beliefs and Instructional Practices: Toward Vocabulary Instruction in K-6 Classrooms
Abstract
The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to examine K-6 vocabulary instruction. First, this study examined teachers’ beliefs surrounding vocabulary instruction in the classroom. The second purpose was to examine the current vocabulary teaching practices. The third purpose of the study was to examine how much time is spent on vocabulary instruction in the K-6 classroom. A survey research study was conducted in two schools in a rural public-school district located in the Northeastern United States. A correlational design assessed the relationships between type of instruction and teachers’ beliefs surrounding vocabulary instruction in the classroom. Participants were selected through purposeful sampling from the pool of teachers in the two schools (n = 80). Data were collected through the use of a researcher-designed survey using Likert items. A self-reporting vocabulary log was used to gather information on the amount of time spent on vocabulary instruction per school day over a two-week period. The broad results of the study were that (a) students learn a majority of new words through reading a variety of materials, including nonfiction and fiction; (b) teachers predominantly teach vocabulary words based on reading selection containing those words; (c) the time spent on teaching vocabulary ranged from 10 minutes a week to 240 minutes.
Subject Area
Education|Elementary education|Reading instruction
Recommended Citation
Kenny, MaryBeth, "Teachers' Beliefs and Instructional Practices: Toward Vocabulary Instruction in K-6 Classrooms" (2020). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI27962309.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI27962309
