Thursday, March 12, 2015

InferCabulary1 - Vocabulary Affects Reading Comprehension

We are excited to be launching our 5th app in a couple of weeks - InferCabulary1. A visual vocabulary app for elementary age focusing on Core Curriculum nouns and adjectives. Why is vocabulary so important for our students?

Vocabulary is so much more than just understanding definitions of words.  Vocabulary affects how well a student understands what he reads, more commonly known as reading comprehension.
“Of the many compelling reasons for providing students
with instruction to build vocabulary, none is more
important than the contribution of vocabulary knowledge
to reading comprehension. Indeed, one of the most
enduring findings in reading research is the extent to
which students’ vocabulary knowledge relates to their
reading comprehension.” (Lehr et al., 2004)
Students can decode words well and read fluently, but if they have weak vocabulary skills, they won't fully understand what they are reading. They will miss the important nuances of the text and the underlying meaning. This is why vocabulary is the focus of our first iPad app, InferCabulary. Students need strong vocabulary skills not to just be able to define words, but to understand what they are reading.  Long after they have graduated from school, reading skills will be so important to how they navigate through life and continue to learn and grow.

B.F. Skinner said, "Education is what remains after you've forgotten everything you've been taught."  How true!

Stay tuned for InferCabulary1, but in the meantime checkout our other apps:
InferCabulary:  http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/infercabulary/id796698831?mt=8&uo=4 
InferCabulary3: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/infercabulary-3/id937473578?mt=8
WordQuations: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wordquations/id938397661?mt=8