Explicit teaching of general academic vocabulary in multilingual classrooms: An intervention in grades 2 and 5

Abstract

The aim of this ongoing intervention study is to advance the teaching of general academic vocabulary (GAV) in multilingual classes. Our research questions are whether and how explicit teaching of GAV increases vocabulary development. Prior research has shown that academic vocabulary is crucial for students to be able to follow the teaching, to read and understand textbooks, instructions (Snow 2010, Zwiers 2013) and assessment items (Townsend et al 2012). In a Swedish study of vocabulary in teaching materials (Lindberg & Johansson Kokkinakis 2007), it was concluded that not only the vocabulary related to specific disciplines could pose barriers to students' understanding, but also interdisciplinary high frequency vocabulary. Explicitly working with vocabulary has shown to have good effects on the learning for adult learners of Swedish as a second language (Lim Falk & Riad 2023). Similar findings have been obtained by Kim (2017) in an academic vocabulary intervention project with low income preschool children. The teaching of disciplinary academic vocabulary has been widely researched; however, research on the explicit teaching of GAV seems to be scarce. Our project started with in-service teacher training and continued with interventions in four classes (grades 2 and 5). The teachers were asked to focus specifically on GAV collected from their working materials in Swedish/Swedish as a second language, Mathematics, Science and Social Science during four weeks. One class in each grade was appointed experimental class and had, apart from explicit reviews of the vocabulary during the reading of texts, also assignments to do using the vocabulary, such as working with flash cards, writing word lists etc. The control class was asked only to work with the reading of the texts and to review the vocabulary orally. A pretest, immediate tests each week and a delayed post test were conducted. The teachers also filled out a questionnaire on how often and how they used to teach vocabulary before and after the intervention. The explicit teaching of GAV is expected to reveal positive outcomes on the students’ vocabulary learning, and to improve teaching development. Implications for GAV teaching among multilingual students will be shared and discussed.