Vocabulary and Content Learning in Grade 9 Earth Science - Effects of Vocabulary Preteaching, Rational Cloze Task, and Reading Comprehension Task

Oct 15, 2026

Study strategies to support vocabulary and content learning in five Grade 9 Earth Science classes within an SDAIE program in an urban California high school. During a unit on earthquakes, one group completed rational cloze gap-filling exercises as a postinstruction activity, while a second group completed reading comprehension exercises. Immediate and delayed posttests showed no differences in receptive vocabulary and content learning, yet delayed results favored rational cloze for paragraph summary writing using content-area vocabulary and expressing conceptual knowledge. Findings suggest rational cloze provides scaffolding through text rehearsal and discourse-level language models.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages28

Reading Time1 h 11 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Vocabulary Preteaching Activities

Study Design and Instructional Activities

Outcomes and Interpretation

SIOK H. LEE California State University, Fresno Vocabulary and Content Learning in Grade 9 Earth Science: Effects of Vocabulary Preteaching, Rational Cloze Task, and Reading Comprehension Task This study examines strategies for supporting vocabulary and content learning in 5 grade 9 Earth Science classes that are part of a SDAIE program (Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English) in an urban California high school. Students received vocabulary and content instruction during a unit on Earthquakes. One group of students performed rational cloze (gap-filling) exercises asa postinstruction activity, while a second group performed reading comprehension exercises. In immediate and delayed posttests, the 2 groups showed no differences in receptive learning of vocabulary and content. However, in delayed posttests, students in the rational cloze group performed better on paragraph summary writing using content-area vocabulary and expressing content knowledge. Their superior performance may be attributable to 2 factors: The rational cloze activity gave them opportunities for text rehearsal (i.e., reading and understanding the passages while filling gaps) and the rational cloze passages gave them discourse-level language models. Ina follow-up questionnaire, students in the reading comprehension group characterized their activity as equally useful to other instructional activities. However, students in the rational cloze group characterized their activity as distinctively more useful than all other instructional activities. Thus, rational cloze activities appear to provide learners with useful scaffolding for vocabulary use and summary writing. Introduction In K-12 school settings, the acquisition of academic vocabulary and the learning of academic content are inextricably linked. Academic content tends to be organized around key vocabulary terms within a given topic (Flowerdew, 1992); thus there is a close relationship between learning topicspecific vocabulary and learning the content of a topic. However, the acquisition of content-related academic vocabulary poses difficulties: Words may have specialized meanings within a specific content area; they may occur with only a The CATESOL Journal 21.1 • 2009/2010 • 75 low to moderate frequency in a narrow range of disciplines and small number of texts; the exact meaning of technical words may also be difficult to guess from context; and, dictionaries generally do not provide adequate assistance in determining context-specific definitions (Godman & Payne, 1981) . Providing students with background information about a topic (e.g., schema-building activities) may aid reading comprehension; however, students’lack of content-related vocabulary still presents a hurdle to content learning. For example, Stahl, Jacobson, Davis, and Davis’s (1989) study of 6th-grade L1 students’ reading of social studies texts showed that preteaching of background information did not help students solve vocabulary difficulties that affect reading comprehension. Vocabulary knowledge affects recall of details, understanding of the relationships between concepts, and recall of order of events. Given the importance of vocabulary, teachers in K-12 ESL and SDAIE programs (Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English) typically include vocabulary preteaching before teaching content. The purpose of this study was to examine two practice activities in addition to vocabulary preteaching: rational cloze (gap-filling) exercises and reading comprehension exercises. The study asked which of these two activities was more effective for: 1. Receptive learning of vocabulary of a content-area topic, as tested in vocabulary-recall and vocabulary definition-matching tasks; 2. Receptive learning of content, as tested in a True/False task; and 3. Productive use of technical vocabulary of a content-area topic and expression of conceptual relationships, as tested in a paragraph summarywriting task.

FAQs

What instructional activities were compared in the study?

The study compared rational cloze (gap-filling) exercises and reading comprehension exercises, both used alongside vocabulary preteaching in Grade 9 Earth Science classes during a unit on earthquakes.

Did the groups differ in receptive learning of vocabulary and content?

No. In immediate and delayed posttests, the two groups showed no differences in receptive learning of vocabulary and content.

Why did the rational cloze group perform better on delayed paragraph summary writing?

The rational cloze activity likely offered opportunities for text rehearsal while filling gaps and provided discourse-level language models, supporting vocabulary use and summary writing.

Oct 15, 2026

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