The Differential Effects of Direct and Embedded-Skill Academic Vocabulary Instruction Among Community College Students in Developmental Reading Courses

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine an effective method of teaching academic vocabulary acquisition skills to community college students enrolled in developmental reading courses. The measurement tool for this study was a vocabulary assessment developed by the researcher. This study involved a pre-experimental design. Subjects (n=8) served as their own controls. Dependent variable data was collected during the spring 2014 semester of the 2013-2014 school year. There was no significant difference in the mean direct instruction score (Mean = 15.25, SD = 1.67) and the mean embedded skill instruction score (Mean = 14.25, SD = 3.45) [t (7) = 1.28, p > .05]. Given the continued disagreement over whether direct or embedded-skill instruction is more appropriate, future research should continue to examine these instructional methods both in isolation and combined.