Front-Loading Vocabulary Instruction

You’ve heard of “front-loading” when it comes to a washing machine, but did you know vocabulary can be front-loaded, too. When students are reading novels in their language arts classes, many times they have already read their assigned chapters before they start learning their vocabulary words. When students read words they don’t understand beforehand, their comprehension suffers. Students need to understand 98% of the words they are reading to fully comprehend what they are reading (Hu & Nation, 2000).

Best practice vocabulary instruction says we should be”front-loading” vocabulary BEFORE a student reads a chapter. Makes sense, doesn’t it, yet many times the instruction is backwards.

With InferCabulary, we recommend starring words for students from assigned literature readings before they start reading — and don’t limit the word selection to the words on your list. Remember, students need to understand 98% of the words they read for good comprehension skills. Have students learn the words that are your list and the words we’ve identified in our system in Basecamp before they encounter them in their reading. This way, they understand more of the words they are reading and their comprehension of the text is improved.

We don’t want you to have any regrets about your vocabulary instruction, so here’s the word regret from the book, Wonder by Raquel J. Palacio in Chapter 70:

Try InferCabulary today!