JCPSLP - March 2018

Developmental Language Disorder

Resource review

selected from The Macquarie Concise Dictionary (3rd ed.). To establish the preliminary lists the author, Bronwyn Bryceson, removed all antiquated, controversial, technical and medical words as well as those which would, of necessity, already be taught at school. The finalised wordlists were established by presenting the words to

Bryceson, B. (2017). Two a day: Words to teach young Australians . Unley, South Australia: Bronwyn Bryceson; ISBN: 9780648096207; A$48.00; http://www.bryceson. com.au Rachael Bongiascia

The need to explicitly teach vocabulary has come to the forefront of education discussion since the publication of the National Reading Panel (2000). The report indicated that vocabulary instruction played a vital role in ensuring children could understand and interpret the texts they were reading. The positive impact a robust vocabulary can have on academic development has continued to be reinforced

the participants and then placing them in the list associated with the youngest age cohort who knew the word. The introduction creates a strong argument for the implementation of a systematic and explicit approach to the teaching of vocabulary, while also acknowledging the limitation of the wordlist and guiding the reader to other resources that detail how to implement a robust program. The wordlists themselves provide a good reference for those familiar with the implementation of vocabulary instruction. However, caution needs to be taken when using this resource. The pre-school

throughout the last two decades. However, it can be challenging to identify which words to explicitly teach. The resource, Two a Day: Words to Teach Young Australians, aims to aid the selection process by providing a sequence of acquisition in the form of five wordlists for various ages. The wordlists are based on a study of word knowledge of 78 students, ranging in age from 4;7–18;10, who lived in the Wollongong area of New South Wales. In order to establish reliable ages for word acquisition only the 52 students who scored within the average range of vocabulary knowledge, as determined by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test 4 (PPVT – 4), were used to establish the age-based wordlists. The words were

list in particular contains words which do not usually require direct instruction, such as a and sit . Moreover, the decontextualised nature and alphabetical presentation of the wordlists could lend the resource to be used inefficiently. Overall, the resource provides a good reference of appropriate words to teach children at various ages; however, thought needs to be given to how to contextualise the word in order to create a meaningful and effective learning experience for the students.

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JCPSLP Volume 20, Number 1 2018

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