Effects of Vocabulary Instructional Strategies on related Achievement in Biology in Secondary School Students

Abstract

This study premise that words are fundamentally conceptual, that science and literacy 
share a core of set of meaning making strategies, that text can play a set of dynamic roles in 
inquiry processes and the related science learning outcomes. This paper reports the effects of 
graphic self-instructional material on vocabulary in four broad areas of biology in class X 
(SCERT, Kerala), direct vocabulary instruction and collaborative self- learning of vocabulary in 
the unit Movement and locomotion of class XII biology (NCERT). The vocabulary instruction 
intervention was preceded by content analysis of respective textbooks that resulted in listing of 
250 terms from class X and 1351 terms from class XII text books. Based on morphological 
analysis the terms from class X biology were incorporated into a graphic self-instructional 
material for students to learn these terms. Larger list of terms from class XII were reduced into 
420 words which were then rated for difficulty by undergraduate biology students and 
accordingly units with higher number of difficult terms were identified. The vocabulary in the 
unit with maximum and most difficult terms, Movements and locomotion, were incorporated into 
a vocabulary instructional intervention, which were administered either through direct 
instruction or through collaborative self-learning.  The vocabulary instruction, of less than a few 
class periods, could enhance achievement of vocabulary allied concepts among both class x and 
xii students, over and above the equivalent control groups who had completed regular biology 
instruction and learning in these units. These effects were all very large, except in one 
intervention where the effect size was yet large.