Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension

Theorists have attempted to explain the seemingly clear, but practically complex, relationship between vocabulary and reading comprehension by proposing various positions or hypotheses, six of which we articulate in this chapter. We review analytical and statistical models that attempt to explain the relationship between vocabulary and reading comprehension. We then examine research on pedagogical attention to vocabulary and reading comprehension in relation to Graves’s four-component framework for comprehensive vocabulary instruction: rich and varied experiences, teaching individual words, teaching strategies for learning words, and fostering word consciousness. A synthesis of findings and implications for both instruction and further research is shared.