Can software support children's vocabulary development?

Abstract

A number of software programs on the market claim to foster literacy development. However, we know little about the pedagogical underpinnings of such products, particularly the extent to which they are aligned with current research for both L1 and L2 learners. This study "lifts the lid off " 16 wellreviewed software products designed for elementary grade students-- those products that make explicit claims about developing students ' lexical knowledge and those that do not. The study also examines the potential of technology (e.g., hypertext, animations) to enhance vocabulary learning. The following guidelines, derived from research, were used to examine each product. Does instruction relate the new to the known? Does it promote active indepth processing? Does it provide multiple exposures of new words? Does it teach students to be strategic readers? And does it promote additional reading? Findings indicated that many products that made no explicit claims about fostering vocabulary learning, in fact, incorporated more guidelines than many that made explicit claims. Those in the latter group often merely varied a drill and practice routine rather than helping students really know a word. Findings also indicated that the potential of technology to help students understand word meanings has yet to be fully exploited. … anybody who writes down to children is simply wasting... time. You have to write up, not down. Children are demanding … Children love words that give them a hard time, provided they are in a context that absorbs their attention.--E. B. White (1969)

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