Action Research

Initial Meeting with teacher

Students Chosen:
Student 1- This student was selected to be a part of my group due to the fact that she is
an English Language Learner. While she reads close to grade level, her comprehension usually
suffers to do to her lack of understanding of English words and nuances in language. Mrs. Villani
works with this student through a lot of small group intervention in the mornings and felt that
would be effective for me to continue working with her in a small group.
Student 2- This student was selected because he too is an English Language Learner. The
main difference between Student 1 and Student 2 is that Student 2 is reading right below/at grade
level while Student 1 is not. Student 2 is fairly quiet in class so it is unknown how much he truly
understands most of the time without forcing him to speak. Student 2 also struggles in
comprehending many texts and needed to work on vocabulary.
Student 3- This student was selected because her comprehension skills were causing her
to fall behind in the classroom. Mrs. Villani wanted her to receive additional assistance to ensure
she remained with the class and did not get lost.

Action Research
Student 4- Student 4 was also selected for help in comprehension. Mrs. Villani felt as
though he would benefit as well from being in a small group setting to receive additional help.
While he reads at grade level, his behavior and attention span usually result in an inability to
know what is going on and being taught in class. Because of this, he has fallen behind and needs
assistance catching up.The Question:
After Mrs. Villani chosen the students that will be a part of the action research
group, we determine the skill that all 4 students needed to work on. We chose this to be the cruz
on the action research: How can vocabulary and understanding be improved to better
comprehension skills while reading? The question was developed due to the fact that vocabulary
and comprehension go hand in hand. While Students 3 and 4 might not be outright struggling
with vocabulary, there is something there that they are missing that has contributed to their poor
comprehension skills. By working with all 4 students on vocabulary and comprehension
strategies, all students should become fluent readers who can comprehend what they read.

Action Research
Timeline

Pre-Session
Initial meeting with Mrs. Villani
o Chose students for action research
o Determined essential question
o Discussed what each student needs and is like
Identified the essential question
Session 1 (Initial Assessment)
Initial Assessments given
o Dancing Derek Comprehension Packet
Text comprehension assessment
o Vocabulary Assessment Level Red (3rd grade)
Session 2
Go over vocabulary assessment
Repeated reading of Dancing Derek
Introduce progress chart to students- have them fill in for week 1
assessment scores
Session 3
Escape from mountains Comprehension packet for group
o Read through alone, again as a table, then again while looking for
answers to the questions
Make vocabulary journals- students will record vocabulary encountered in
independent reading times in the journals
Have students monitor their progress on chart
Session 4
Repeated reading with Davy is Absent
Look at vocabulary journals and discuss using vocabulary chart on
Chromebooks
Have students monitor their progress
Session 5 (Final Assessments)
Blue nail polish passage assessment for comprehension
Vocabulary test- level red posttest- administered orally with each student
answering 5 questions

Action Research
Initial Assessment Reflection
Administered: October 15, 2015
Student 1
After beginning to administer the initial assessments, I began to notice that this student
struggled to read at a rate comparable to that of her peers. As she was taking the different
assessments, I noticed that the student often looked around with a panicked look on her face,
trying to see if others were as confused as she was. This was something I had noticed before in
class and took note of to work on her self confidence in reading. For the comprehension
paragraph and questions, the student only got 30% of the answers correct. Her thinking was
inconsistent and odd. For many of the questions she did the typical thing and circled the answer
that contained a sentence or word she had read in the passage as opposed to really reading and
interpreting each answer. However, for some of the questions she appeared to have just circled an
answer, giving up and not trying anymore. The passage here was only about a page long yet she
complained immediately about having to read it all and answer the questions. I immediately took
note of her negative attitude towards reading and made it something I wanted to change by the
end. 2 of the questions the student missed were more thematic, asking about the larger meaning
of different paragraphs. The student failed to answer these accurately, something I attribute to her
small understanding still of English.
On the vocabulary assessment, the student only got 6 questions out of 20 correct. Many
of the mistakes made were questions that I watched her answer very quickly as well as questions
that she became frustrated by. Instead of slowing down, this student sped up when she got to
questions that she didnt know, resulting in many mistakes. This vocabulary assessment was
what I thought of as ideal because it provided the vocabulary word in a sentence format and

Action Research
asked the student what it meant. However, this student struggled greatly with it. Prior to these
assessments, I had thought vocabulary instruction was something I could touch on a little bit and
be done with. After seeing this students score alone, I knew vocabulary was going to be
something I worked on regularly with these students.
Student 2
Right away I noticed how quiet this student was. He barely spoke to me and it was nearly
impossible to know if he was mad or confused about what we were doing. It took him a good
amount of time to complete both assessments. He careful circled each answer and thought about
each question before choosing his answer. At first I thought he was just a slow reader but, after
watching him so more, I came to the conclusion that he is deliberate and wants to be sure of
himself instead. Student 2 scored a 60% on both the vocabulary and comprehension assessments.
While these were not ideal scores, they were better than those of the other ELL student in our
group (student 1).
Student 3
Student 3 served as my guideline across the assessments. I knew that she read on grade
level and had worked with her before and knew what she was and was not capable of. On the
comprehension passage, the student scored a 100%. This told me that the passage was not too
high of an expectation for the students in the group to attain. Her high score showed me that my
assessments would be a fair marker of achievement for the group. The assessment took her a bit
to complete which also showed me that it wasnt too easy. However, for the vocabulary
assessment, the student only score a 65%. This showed me that the assessment was phrased in a
way that was just too difficult or phrased in a way that was foreign to the students. While it is

Action Research
possible that the student simply struggles with vocabulary, she normally does well on vocabulary
assessments in class thus showing me that the assessment was odd for the group.
Student 4
Student 4 also served as a sort of marking point though he struggled with both
assessments. Observing him during assessment times, I was constantly refocusing him and
pointing him back to the task at hand. It was nearly impossible for him to listen while I spoke or
for him to focus on his paper for more than one question. I felt as though I spent so much time
refocusing him that there was no way he could perform adequately on the assessments. However,
he scored a 90% on the comprehension assessment! While it took a while for it to be completed,
it eventually was and he did well. For the vocabulary assessment, he only scored a 45%. This
again confirmed that the assessment was foreign in format to the group.

Action Research
Date/ Time
Spent

Strategy
Description

Anecdotal
Observation

Assessment Data

Reflect/ Respond

Comprehension
and vocabulary

All 4 students were

excited to be with me
for the first time! They
all felt special getting
to leave the classroom.
Student 2 asked if two
of his friends could
come with us! I
learned a lot about
them as students and
about what they like.

The students scored very

differently on the
comprehension passage
and the vocabulary
assessment ranging from
45% to 100%.
The all explained that they
like reading during the
reading interest survey.

I need to find a way to make

this time fun and enjoyable
for all students. I do not want
any of them to ever dread
coming to work with me. All
of the students have strengths
in reading and
vocabulary/comprehension. I
am going to look for ways to
use these strengths for the
students to learn from one
another.

Comprehension
and vocabulary

All 4 students were

excited at first but
discouraged
momentarily when we
began going over their
assessments from the
previous week. By the
end of the session, the
students were happy
again and understood
how they could
perform better the next
time they did a
comprehension
passage.

After reviewing the scores

from this assessment, the
student corrected their
answers to reflect what
they learned. All scored a
100% after correcting
their answers and talking
about the passages.

Vocabulary is not as much of

an issue as I had thought. I
am very glad I took the time
to spend a session breaking
apart work they completed. I
think it was good for them to
see what I am looking for
and how they can best
perform. In general it was
good to see that they want to
learn and try and are eager to
succeed.

10/15/15
30 min.

10/22/15
20 min.

Action Research
Comprehension
and vocabulary

The students were

excited and in a good
mood all throughout
the session. They
loved making the
journals and the
repeated reading went
very well.

We went through the

questions for Escape
from the mountain
together but the students
each provided 2 answers.
Each student was able to
accurately answer at least
their 2 questions.

Comprehension
and vocabulary

All students were

excited to show off
their journals they had
been adding to. Only
student 4 was slightly
angry and off task but
that is normal.

Comprehension
and vocabulary

All students were

joyful and sad it was
our last session. They
powered through the
assessment though it
was rushed.

We went through the

vocabulary journals from
the weeks before and
filled out a vocabulary
knowledge chart on their
Chromebooks. Each
student was able to infer
the meaning of the words
from their journal (both
accurately and
inaccurately) which was a
success.
The students also
participated in reading
Blue Nail Polish then
answered the questions as
a group.
The final assessment took
place for comprehension
and we completed a
vocabulary assessment
orally. Every student
made progress!

10/26/15
20 min.

11/17/15
30 min.

12/1/15
20 min.

This went so perfectly. The

students absolutely loved
getting to make their own
vocabulary journal. I brought
stickers and colored paper so
they could make it their own
and something they werent
afraid to use. They were very
excited to take them back to
the room and try them out as
soon as they could! They
also responded well to the
repeated reading. They
enjoyed getting to read out
loud in a small, quiet space
as well as read for me and
have me be so involved.
This again went very well.
The students loved showing
off their journals and sharing
how they had found different
words to use. The all loved
talking about their words and
guessing the definitions. I
explained how they could
keep the chart and journal to
continue to use it when Im
gone. While they werent
crazy about continuing to use
it, they loved how special
they felt having a vocabulary
journal when their friends
didnt.
Although it was our last
session, the students tried
really hard. They all made so
much progress behavior and
focus wise since the
beginning of the year as well
as in their comprehension
and vocabulary. I was
pleased that they had grown
so much as people and
students over our time
together!

Action Research
Strategies used:

Repeated reading
Vocabulary Journals
Vocabulary knowledge chart (on Chromebooks)
Choral reading
Interactive reading
Explicit modeling by the teacher

Assessments used:

Dancing Derek comprehension passage

Davy is absent comprehension passage
Escape to the mountains comprehension passage
Blue nail polish comprehension passage
Level Red vocabulary pretest
Elementary Reading Interest Inventory
Level Red vocabulary posttest

Action Research
Necessary instructional changes made
1) After administering the initial assessments, I decided to make the shift to working more
on Chromebooks. The group is used to working predominately on the Chromebooks in
every aspect of class from math to reading and science. After talking to student 1 just to
gather information, I determined that one reason the initial assessments may have been
kind of rough was due to the fact that they were done pencil and paper. While this is not
an excuse, I decided to do more with the Chromebooks which was easy to make happen
with my plans for vocabulary.
2) I had to model strategies for the students more than I thought I would. My action research
lined up with what Mrs. Villani was teaching in the classroom meaning that I had to
model for the students how to find textual evidence to support answers.
3) I started using the vocabulary journals for the students to connect what we were doing to
what they were interested in- their independent reading book. By having the students
write down words that they encountered during independent reading that they didnt
know, the focus of the vocabulary portion of our time shifted from words I thought they
might not know to words that they actually did not know that would help them
understand their book better.
4) Once I did a repeated reading with the group, they all responded so positively that I
decided to continue until the end of the semester. I wasnt sure how they would respond
so their positivity and interaction in the reading was very encouraging.
5) I had to adjust for time and scheduling constraints. The way the 4th grade schedule is,
there was only one 30 minute window of time I could pull my group due to being pulled
for ELL or Tier II. This meant I had to adjust throughout the semester and be flexible
when I was not able to meet with my group due to scheduling. Due to the small window
and being pulled in different directions, a lot of time passed between some of our sessions

Action Research
so I had to really make sure the students were being provided with skills and strategies
they could practice without me looking over their shoulder.

Action Research
Final assessment reflection
Student 1
Student 1 made the most progress out of anyone from the initial assessment to the final.
She went from a 30% on the initial assessments all the way up to a 70% on the final assessments
for both comprehension and vocabulary. This was huge for both of us! One thing is that she has
been receiving help all throughout the semester from the ELL teacher, Tier II, and morning
intervention. I think all of these combined with action research helped her tremendously. She
also benefitted greatly from being in a small group setting and feeling comfortable. The repeated
readings we did benefitted her greatly as well. I believe that because she is an ELL student, she
struggles to grasp new strategies or ideas right away then shuts down when she sees she is
behind. I think the small group time has really helped her learn how to rewind and ask for help.
Student 2
Student 2 gained 15% in vocabulary going from a 60% to a 75% and a 10% gain in
comprehension going from a 60% to a 70%. Again, these are huge gains for this student! He was
so pleased with himself and loved documenting on the progress chart how much better he had
done this time. This student has been so much fun to work because of how special he is. It took a
while for him to warm up to me but by the time he did, he was doing great! Student 2 was more
involved and active in our readings than any of the other students. He would often jump out of
his chair and yell because he was so excited that he got the right answer. I learned a lot about this
students work ethic and interests. This student is so quiet and quite the mystery in class so I
loved getting to know him better.

Action Research
Student 3
This student made no progress in comprehension because she had already scored a 100%
on the initial assessment. The positive is that she did not regress and score lower either. For
vocabulary, the student made a 15% gain which was huge. The biggest thing was this students
improvement in attitude throughout the semester. At the beginning, she hated reading and hated
school. She was usually positive with me but still had underlying hatred towards everything that
we did. By the end, she loved reading and begged me to help her choose books. This was a big
deal for me because it meant that her attitude was starting to shift. Her progress and successes in
comprehension and vocabulary also made her feel more confident in future reading endeavors. It
was great to see the confidence she gained carry over into other areas.
Student 4
Over the semester, Student 4 has become more focused and targeted than he ever was at
the beginning. He scored a 100% on the comprehension assessment and made a 40% gain from
the initial assessment to the final assessment in vocabulary. Seeing his progress encouraged him
greatly, he was very proud!

All students made great progress over the semester in both reading comprehension and
vocabulary. I think the biggest reason for gains in vocabulary was the increased focus on
vocabulary instruction in the classroom as well as the students realizing how the test worked. I
opened myself up for them to ask questions during the final assessment which helped as well.

Action Research
Vocabulary Assessment
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

Student 1

Student 2
Initial Assessment

Student 3
Final Assessment

Student 4

Action Research
Comprehension Passage Assessment
120
100
80

PErcent Correct

60
40
20
0

Student 1

Student 2

Student 3

Student 4

Student
Initial Assessment

Final Assessment

dent Progress Monitoring Chart

Stu

Action Research
Data analysis and reflection
Each student made tremendous progress. This is very encouraging because it was
easy at points to think that they were not learning anything at all. After 5 small group sessions,
the comprehension and vocabulary of all 4 students has improved immensely. Each student make
large leaps in their improvement which is a great thing to see. It is evident that through teaching
students how to understand passages by repeated readings, modeling skills and strategies, and
modeling vocabulary acquisition techniques, each student will continue to improve and grow on
their own. I have loved working with this group. If I have learned anything from the initial
assessment to now, it is that teachers must show their students how to do things. If the teacher
expects a student to show work a certain way and that is not made explicitly clear, the student
probably will not perform as desired. With more time working with a small group, the students
will continue to improve their reading comprehension and imbedded vocabulary until they are
past grade level! The most important thing I saw happen was the great gain that was made when
what I did supported and reinforced what was going on in the classroom. I think that was a great
lesson to learn in general. Because I learned this, I now know how important it is for the teacher
to support what happens during small group times and vice versa.

Action Research

Emily Freeman
Vocabulary and Comprehension
Fall 2015

ABSTRACT
The research hopes to show the link between vocabulary and comprehension instruction
in elementary aged students. Both comprehension and vocabulary play a vital role in the overall
fluency of a reader. While both are significant on their own, a students overall ability to read
fluently increases when the two are combined. By using a variety of strategies for both
comprehension and vocabulary, students will ideally become better-rounded and accomplished
readers. The research analysis shows the link between the two in the overall success of readers.

Action Research
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
There are two main focuses of this action research group: to improve the vocabulary and
comprehension of 4 students from 4th grade. Two of the students in my group are English
Language Learners and the other two are distinct in and of themselves in terms of the areas they
need assistance with as well as their capabilities. While the readers in the group struggle in other
areas on fluency such as expression and prosody, the focus has been narrowed to comprehension
and vocabulary improvements since research has shown these to be the foundational components
of reading in general. Diaz states that vocabulary is the foundation on which a language is
taught as well as the knowledge of the meaning of words (2015). When this knowledge of
words is employed consistently by students, their reading shifts from trying to read and
understand each word but rather to understanding whole phrases and paragraphs. This shift will
result in an overall increase in reading comprehension as well as in each students vocabulary
understanding.
In regards to strategies for vocabulary instruction, many will be beneficial, especially in
assisting English Language Learning students. Since there are two ELL students in this action
research group, vocabulary instruction will be more targeted towards making connections to
prior knowledge. Restrepo Ramos stresses the importance of readers understanding the context
and other words that surround new vocabulary words (2015). This is especially important for
ELL students. If ELL students fail to understand the context that surrounds new vocabulary, they
will be too overwhelmed and pulled in too many directions to truly learn and understand the new
words. Restrepo Ramos continues on to state that students use prior knowledge for 95-98% of
their reading, pulling on past experiences, content knowledge from other areas, as well as their
own personal lives. With English Language Learners, it would prove most beneficial to allow

Action Research
them to read the text containing new vocabulary on their own as compared to being read to as so
many teachers are prone to do. Restrepo Ramos research showed that students did much better
learning new vocabulary and retaining their knowledge when they read it for themselves and
when told they needed to learn certain words from the reading using context clues (2015).
Similarly, Diaz adds that ELL students need to be encouraged to apply their previous
knowledge to remember and learn new vocabulary words in English (2015). By beginning with
simple nouns in English and showing ELL students their counterpart in the language the student
is comfortable with, ELL students can begin to make connections to what they know and what
they need to know. While the students in this group are older, the process will begin by assessing
where they are. If the students are still translating what they read in English to what they know
in their native language, they are not considered to be fluent yet (Diaz, 2015). By encouraging
ELL students to learn vocabulary as opposed to memorizing and translating, their overall
fluency will improve greatly as well as their overall enjoyment of reading since there will no
longer be pressure on decoding each and every word. Diaz suggests providing readers with
strategies to improve their vocabulary both in speaking as well as in writing (2015). Additionally,
providing students with a way to monitor their vocabulary acquisition increases their selfconfidence in ability to read fluently and understand the text. Vocabulary instruction with ELL
students seeks to engage a successful language learner who is able to recognize and produce
communicative functions (Diaz, 2015).
Vocabulary instruction is equally as beneficial and necessary for the two typical students
in the group. Diaz provides strategies for all types of students, the most significant of which
being allowing students to have a role in their own tasks to be achieved during learning (2015).
By assisting students in setting realistic goals to be achieved during the instructional time for that

Action Research
day, the teacher and student are able to have a joint role in the acquisition of vocabulary and are
able to chart progress together. Through this process, the teacher and student take a joint
responsibility for the students growth and progress as opposed to only the teacher knowing how
the student is growing. Weih provides an excellent vocabulary strategy with Personal
Vocabulary Journals (2013). With the journals, students write down any words they did not
recognize or could not pronounce from their independent reading time. The next time the
student meets with the teacher, they go through the journal and learn the vocabulary words
together. In general, improving vocabulary in elementary aged students improves spontaneous
communication in class, supporting the teaching and learning of listening, writing, reading,
and speaking (Diaz, 2015).
In addition to vocabulary instruction, comprehension is the other area of focus for this
group. As Nanda describes, comprehension is essential to reading and ultimately about
constructing meaning from written text (2015). Since students must understand vocabulary to
comprehend what is being read, comprehension fits nicely with vocabulary as a focus for this
group. Nanda goes on to describe reading comprehension as a strategic process in which
readers use cues from the text in conjunction with their existing knowledge to make predictions,
monitor predictions, and construct meaning from a text (2015). In terms of how to teach
students how to better comprehend a text, Nanda and Weih both suggest using many strategies at
a time as opposed to one independently (2015 & 2013). By integrating comprehension strategies
with readings from other content areas, students are able to truly apply what they are learning
and see the significance outside of reading/ language arts (Nanda 2015). Nanda suggests using
predictions, activating prior knowledge, asking questions, clarification, visualization,

Action Research
summarization, story grammar, text structure, thinking aloud, and making connections (2015) to
teach students how to read text more comprehensively.
Similarly, Weih provides many tactile strategies to individualize comprehension
instruction with students throughout an intervention process. With repeated readings, personal
vocabulary journals, phonemic awareness, reader response journal, character perspective charts,
and self-questioning (Weih, 2013), Weih shows the process of actually using these strategies
with students effectively. He goes on to mention that the most important part of reading
comprehension intervention is making students excited about reading. If students are not excited
about the book they are reading or about reading in general, they will be uninspired to become
better readers and improve their comprehension skills. Students must want to understand what
they are reading by first being excited about the books placed in front of them. Lastly, Weih
stresses the importance of repeated readings with students that are struggling readers. Once a
student is no longer struggling to decode words and understand their meanings, he can move on
to focusing on comprehension (Weih, 2013). This is accomplished with repeated readings.
In total, students will benefit most from the combination of vocabulary and
comprehension instruction strategies. The strategies used will need to be personalized for each
student but the overall goal will be the same: to have readers that are familiar with vocabulary
and able to use context clues to understand new vocabulary which will lead to more efficient
reading comprehension.

Action Research
References
Diaz, I. (2015). Training in Metacognitive Strategies for Students' Vocabulary Improvement by
Using Learning Journals PROFILE: Issues In Teachers' Professional Development, 17(1), 87102.
Nanda M, K. (2015). EMC = comprehension: A reading strategy instruction framework for all
teachers. South African Journal Of Education, (1), 01.
Restrepo Ramos, F. D. (2015). Incidental Vocabulary Learning in Second Language Acquisition:
A

Literature Review. PROFILE: Issues In Teachers' Professional Development, 17(1), 157-

166.
Weih, T. G. (2013). The Melding of Literacy Strategies to Enhance Reading Fluency,
Comprehension, and Enjoyment. Online Submission

Action Research
Student Work Samples
I don't remember
having seen this
word before.

I have seen this

word before, but I
don't think I know
what it means.

I have seen this

word before, and I
think it means
__________.

Vocabulary chart used on Chromebooks to learn vocabulary from journals

I know this word. It

means _______.

Action Research
Progress monitoring chart- given to students to fill out via Chromebook
Date

Today, we
did

I feel like I Ms. Freeman

feels like I

I improved
in

I still need to
work on

Action Research
The initial assessment completed by Student 1- Dancing Derek

Action Research

Action Research
Davy is absent- a passage we completed together

Action Research
The initial vocabulary assessment completed for student 1

Action Research