Abstract of

Interactive Word Walls: More Than Just Reading the Writing on the Walls

Janis M. Harmon

Karen D. Wood

Wanda B. Hedrick

Jean Vintinner

Terri Willeford

This article reports on a study and subsequent vocabulary instructional framework involving middle school students' knowledge of word walls and the efficacy of this instructional tool for improving vocabulary knowledge at these grade levels. We investigated middle school students' perspectives and understanding of word walls by conducting individual interviews with 44 seventh-grade students in a suburban middle school. Then we developed an interactive instructional framework to accompany the word wall, which combined collaborative learning and student choice with research-based vocabulary practices. Working in groups, students made contextual connections with the words using colors and symbols and then presented their representations to the class. After the six-week intervention, our observations, along with the post-interviews with the students, revealed that the interactive word wall instructional framework is an engaging and valuable means of learning and retaining vocabulary and concepts for middle school students.

Abstract from Harmon, J.M., Wood, K.D., Hedrick, W.B., Vintinner, J., & Willeford, T. (2009, February). Interactive Word Walls: More Than Just Reading the Writing on the Walls. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52(5), 398–408. doi: 10.1598/JAAL.52.5.4