Effects of instruction on deriving word meaning from context and incidental word learning

The effect of instruction on deriving word meaning from written context and incidental word learning was assessed in a randomised experiment. The experimental programme, based on the direct instruction of a strategy, produced neither a significant improvement of the skill of deriving word meaning from context, nor did the incidental word learning rate of the fourth grade, below-average readers increase. An effect of instruction on the skill of deriving word meaning from context and incidental word learning has historically been difficult to achieve; hence, an effect on vocabulary growth in the long run seems premature at this stage.