Enhancing community college students' vocabulary acquisition: Literature discussion groups in developmental classes

An extensive vocabulary is necessary for students to be successful in college level courses. Due to weak vocabularies, many community college developmental education reading students are at a significant disadvantage when beginning their higher education pursuits (Simpson & Randall, 2000). The reasons for their sub-par vocabularies are as varied as students themselves. Advancing students' vocabularies should be of paramount concern for developmental education instructors as these students' future college and career successes and opportunities depend on it.;Minimal research has been conducted in the area of vocabulary development and expansion in regard to college developmental students. In the past, most research has focused on second language learners and young children, and the majority has focused on the relationship between vocabulary growth and comprehension. This study, however, focused on adult vocabulary learners and their expressive vocabulary development, the vocabulary needed to write and speak more precisely and succinctly. Higher education academic expectations demand students express themselves using a more complex vocabulary than most developmental education students possess when they arrive on campus.;Previously, most vocabulary development research has measured the value of using either indirect instruction or direct instruction. However, there is another teaching philosophy that advocates using a combination of these methods: authentic word experiences. Using literature discussion groups is one possible way developmental education instructors can provide authentic word experiences in their reading classes.;This exploratory, quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest study with a qualitative component was designed as a broad examination of adult vocabulary acquisition in community college developmental reading classes. Studying the use of literature discussion groups in a community college setting provides findings to promote community college teacher development and furthers research in the area of adult vocabulary instruction.;Although this study reports no significant difference between posttest scores of control groups and treatment groups, the attitude survey and qualitative questionnaire provide valuable information concerning adult vocabulary instruction. The attitude survey overwhelmingly shows students believe vocabulary instruction is important on the college level, and the qualitative questionnaire, at the conclusion of the treatment, indicates literature discussion groups do enhance vocabulary acquisition.;The findings of this study expand the research knowledge base concerning adult vocabulary acquisition and community college developmental education reading instruction, both of which are seriously under-researched. Also, and most importantly, this study reveals adult students want to improve their vocabularies, which is reason enough to conduct more research in this vital area.