Lexical Knowledge

Beverley L. Zakaluk, Ph. D. 1982/96

E-Mail: [email protected]
Helen Bochonko
E-Mail: [email protected]
University of Manitoba
Created on June 24, 1996
Last Updated on October 9, 1998

There are two aspects of lexical knowledge or vocabulary and its interaction with reading processes: lexical knowledge contributes to word identification on the one hand by helping to confirm the incoming orthographic information; and on the other, lexical knowledge also relates to understanding word meanings and to reading comprehension. These two features will be dealt with separately.

Word Identification

As indicated in the foregoing discussion on orthographic knowledge, beginning readers are confronted with the initially demanding task of learning to decipher print. But as Adams (1980) points out, beginning readers have a wealth of oral language experience plus real world knowledge upon which to draw to facilitate learning to read. They have already acquired a substantial vocabulary and possess, as well, basic syntactic competence. Some may even have an understanding that we read both for enjoyment and to learn. Nonetheless, the intensity of the demand to make fine visual discriminations in regard to letters and letter strings is one reason why many authorities advocate a whole word approach to teaching beginning reading. They believe, quite rightly, that words that have high potency in terms of meaning are easier to remember. Through the application of meaning, one can build a store of words that are remembered instantly at sight. Given the interactive model of the reading process, the consensus is, however, that even if whole words are initially easier to learn, in the long run children who have been taught to read without due emphasis on the mechanics of decoding are at a disadvantage (Barr, 1975; Chall, 1967). In order to foster lexical knowledge or skill in word recognition, therefore, even if a whole word approach is instituted, it is still necessary to emphasize the patterns which occur among words. Venesky and Massaro (1967), as quoted in Adams (1980), argue that the most important component of letter to sound instruction is the direction of the child's attention to frequent spelling patterns. Since orthographic regularity has a strong influence on the ease with which skilled readers are able to encode a series of letters, it seems appropriate consistently to stress syllable units or orthographic strings. This is no small task as Gibson (1973) points out: sensitivity to orthographic regularity develops only gradually through experience. Direct instruction in the correspondence between letters and their sounds and in word building is particularly important for less skilled readers since it provides a means for identifying words already in student's listening vocabularies that have not been encountered in printed form before (Adams, 1980).

Adams reminds us, as teachers, just what does occur when a visually unfamiliar word is encountered by a beginning reader. The first hurdle is to divide the letter strings into sets of one or more letters corresponding to appropriate sound units. Thus phonemic segmentation ability (expertise in being able to break words into their component parts) is important. But confusion may exist in dividing words such as "nowhere" (now here, no where) for example. The reader must also be on the lookout for certain markers, such as final "e" which affects the quality of the vowel sounds. First the reader must match the sounds to the letter sets. Even at that, there may still be a certain amount of trial and error, since "ough" in "bough" is pronounced differently than "ough" in "cough", for example. Then the sound combination must be blended together to form a word. Lastly, readers need to check to confirm that the word generated makes sense in the particular context. If not, the process must be repeated. As described, this final step in word identification involves a process of validation to ratify the word generated. It may be that the final cue which solves and acts as a check on word identity derives from meaning. Thus higher level processing serves to complement data-driven processing, indicating that with maturity, accomplished readers cope with unfamiliar words through a combination of both "bottom-up" and "top-down" processing.

Wittock, Marks and Doctorow (1975) have demonstrated that children are capable of processing unfamiliar words when the words are embedded in a story familiar to them. Perfetti and Hogaboam (1975) have shown children's ability to decode is facilitated almost as much when they have heard the word before as when they have both heard and seen the word before. As explained,

...written information can flow almost automatically from
sensation to meaning. As the letters of the text are
identified, they simultaneously prime or set up expectations
about the identities of the words to which they belong. As
the words are identified, they prime the most probably
syntactic and semantic structures.
(Marilyn Jager Adams, 1980)

Reading thus is an interactive process: the skilled or accomplished reader making optimal use of the information on the page, the contextual information, and the redundancy of the language, with minimal effort.

Summary and Instructional Implications

Although the implementation of a whole word approach to teaching reading may be defended on the basis of potency and meaning, children will have an advantage in terms of word recognition skill when during instruction in word identification their attention has been directed to the systematicity and regularity of the orthographic features. On the other hand, accomplished readers are those who contend with word identification through the use of all knowledge systems, merging the information from the letter strings with information from their meaning lexicon or word store. In terms of instruction, the implication is that children need to be given the opportunity to employ all of these strategies, applying cues from the visual similarity between words, plus cues from the meanings of words, combining information so that reliance is not on one source of information at the expense of the other. An eclectic approach to word identification is intimated, one which stresses not only letter string regularity, but also the use of meaning to confirm predictions. The instructional goal is to ensure that all systems function and interact. To accomplish this, we need to provide lots of reading for practice and for some students, model our own thought processes as we apply strategies to unlock new words (using our sense of language and meaning in concert with letter/sound cues).

Word Meaning

Understanding the meanings of words is basic to comprehension. As Anderson and Shifrin (1980) indicate, however, words have a number of potential rather than one fixed meaning. Try figuring out a synonym for the clue "bar" when working out a crossword puzzle, for example. Depending upon the number of spaces and the constraints imposed by the previously guessed surrounding words, the correct answer could be: "hamper", "impede", "restrain", "stop", "thwart", "rod", "saloon", or "beer parlour". Dechant (1982) advises that the word "run", for example, has 109 distinct meanings, the word "take" has 76, and the word "round", 83. Thus a word considered without context permits many interpretations. Johnson and Pearson (1978) suggest words may possess both denotative and connotative meaning. Since the same word may have so many diffuse meanings, it is appropriate to conclude that words are defined only when they are combined and interrelated with one another.

Another important aspect of word meaning is advanced by Clark (1973) who proposes that the meaning a young child has for a word is likely to be more global, and less differentiated than that of an older person. With increasing age and experience children are able to make more and more distinctions and differentiations among word meanings. Nelson (1974, 1977) hypothesizes that young children acquire understanding of words as they experience them in meaningful context. Further understanding of the denotation of the word will be tied to the particular circumstances or the episode in which the word was acquired. As children mature and gain more knowledge of the word, either directly through first hand experience or indirectly through reading, they will eventually use and understand many meanings of words without as much contextual support.

Still another aspect of word meaning to consider as it relates to schooling is pointed out be DeStefano (1978), who suggests that the language of instruction may prove to be a source of confusion for some children since the style of discourse in the classroom tends to be more formal and polite. To illustrate she refers to the language employed in beginning readers which invariably allude to Daddy as Father and Mommie as Mother. DeStefano labels this type of language "Basalese" (derived from the use of basal reading series or basic published material for reading instruction). The unnatural vocabulary employed in some textual material may thus interfere with reading acquisition.

Summary and Instructional Implications

Words have multiple meanings and require context for definition. There is also a developmental aspect to understanding word connotations. As the experiences of children increase, so correspondingly do their meaning vocabularies. The mature child requires relatively less contextual support to aid decoding. Words used in text may also differ from common spoken forms with resultant dissonance for some readers.

In regard to instruction, children should be encouraged to use their vocabulary knowledge to confirm their guesses about the identity of the words they encounter. Problems may arise when the purpose of reading is not clear. Because of some questionable instructional procedures, children may believe that reading is more a matter of word calling and correct pronunciation than a search after meaning. They may not realize the role that meaning plays.

In teaching vocabulary, Johnson and Pearson (1978) encourage the use of the dictionary as a problem-solving instrument as opposed to a skill and drill, copy the correct meaning, busy work device. To enhance understanding of word meanings the following are suggested:

1. Building background and establishing story and informational settings before assigning reading;
2. Employing first hand and simulated activities to clarify abstractions, through dramatization and role playing, for example;
3. Stressing reading to comprehend more than accurate word calling; and
4. Directing questions so that children are led to infer the meaning of words as they are employed in particular settings.

orthographic_knowledge.htm