The Influence of Experience-Based Vocabulary Instruction on Learning Word Meanings.

Abstract

through experience, a method that makes for real understanding. Petty, Herold, and Stoll (1968) contend that the best way to continue vocabulary building is through experience. Otherwise, vocabulary teaching results in the manipulation of words without a real understanding of them. Dale (1969, p. 33) expressed the same concern eloquently: One of education's hazards lies in the way in which words are learned. Often they are floating items unattached to real experience, and as a result the knowledge is merely verbal. The shell of meaning is there, but the kernal is missing. Given that the meaning of words depends on the experiences that stand back of them, it follows that an approach to teaching vocabulary that relies primarily on experience should prove more effective in terms of the acquisition of word meaning than an approach which does not have experience as its focus. The following study was undertaken to test this hypothesis. The subjects were 56 students enrolled in four sections of a reading/ study skills course at a midwestern U.S. university. Although the course is open to all undergraduate students, most students who enroll are freshmen.