| Receptive language skills allow students to understand the meaning of words spoken to them. When students are unable to comprehend the majority of the words that are spoken to them, they do not have the ability to act on those words, follow given directions, build on prior knowledge, or construct adequate meaning. The inability to understand the meaning of spoken words greatly hinders student achievement in all academic areas. A large number of kindergarten students enrolled at a particular elementary school arrived with receptive language skills below their national peers and continue to demonstrate deficiencies in this area when retested in January. Therefore, a study was conducted to examine the impact of explicit and systematic lessons focused on receptive language with the goal of accelerating the acquisition of receptive language skills using the educational theory of constructivism. The use of both quantitative and qualitative procedures allowed for the collection of receptive language assessments as well as objective observations from adult observers and reflective data from participating students and adults. The results showed the lessons utilized significantly increased the acceleration of the receptive language skills of the students involved compared to the control group with a difference in average actual growth of six months and two months in a three month time span. Data also illustrated the benefits of understanding child development stages, the weight of student engagement, and the significance of building on students' background knowledge. It is therefore recommended that future research be conducted to study the affects of the receptive language lessons on additional kindergarten students at this school as well as other kindergarten students in the district showing deficiencies in receptive language skills. |
