ABSTRACT
Pre-teaching vocabulary in small groups Pre-teaching vocabulary is an effective way of supporting a range of children who for various reasons require extra word repetitions, extra opportunities to explore a new word or specific vocabulary teaching (Parsons et al, 2005). It is well established that our understanding of a new word develops over time and that we add information as we are exposed to it (Chiat, 2000). The purpose of the pre-teaching group is to enhance this natural process by giving children an outline of the word which they then take with them into class. After this initial exposure in small groups they will be better able to access whole class teaching. With more in-class instructional exposures to the word they will be able to build up a more complete understanding of it. It can be hugely reinforcing for the child when he goes into class and is able to answer vocabulary-related questioning, when previously he struggled to make a contribution.
