Shared Reading Strategies for ESL Vocabulary Development
This paper summarizes and reflects on Kesler's (2010) study of shared reading approaches used with elementary ESL students to build vocabulary and reading comprehension. The paper examines four instructional strategies — possible sentences, context clues (cloze procedure), repeated readings, and kinesthetic word association — and evaluates their effectiveness. Drawing on additional sources by Pinnell and Fountas (2007), Graves et al. (2011), and the Ontario Ministry of Education (2003), the paper connects these classroom techniques to broader research on shared reading, family literacy, and early reading development. It concludes that shared reading benefits both ESL and native English-speaking students by reducing anxiety and building foundational vocabulary skills.
- Introduction: Vocabulary Acquisition and Shared Reading: Overview of Kesler's ESL shared reading study
- Four Shared Reading Approaches: Possible sentences, cloze, repeated readings, kinesthetic methods
- Connecting to Broader Research on Shared Reading: Situating Kesler's findings in wider literacy research
- Reflection on Effectiveness and Classroom Application: Evaluating transfer to broader classroom contexts
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper follows a clear summarize–relate–reflect structure, moving logically from content summary to research connections to personal evaluation.
- It integrates multiple scholarly sources (Kesler, Pinnell & Fountas, Graves et al., Ontario Ministry of Education) to situate the reviewed article within a broader research context.
- The reflection section draws a valid inference — that techniques effective with ESL learners can transfer to native English speakers — without overstating the evidence.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates annotated article review combined with source synthesis. Rather than simply summarizing Kesler (2010), the writer actively compares its findings and methods against related literature, identifying what the article omits (family literacy) and what it confirms (the value of group reading environments). This layered engagement elevates the paper beyond a simple summary.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with an overview of the reviewed article and its ESL context, then methodically describes each of the four shared reading approaches. A second section relates these approaches to external research on shared reading, family involvement, and word recognition. A final reflective section evaluates the broader applicability of the techniques and their classroom implications. References follow APA format throughout.
Introduction: Vocabulary Acquisition and Shared Reading
Vocabulary acquisition is a significant challenge for any child learning to read, and the challenge is compounded for students who are not native English speakers. Kesler (2010) identifies four areas of instruction that teachers demonstrated in his study: comprehension, vocabulary, text structures, and text features. His test group was drawn from an urban elementary school where 21% of the student population consisted of ESL students. Four shared reading approaches — possible sentences, using context clues, repeated readings, and using our bodies — were compared for their effectiveness with this population. The remainder of the article describes and evaluates each of these four approaches in turn.
Four Shared Reading Approaches
The goal of using possible sentences is to help students understand how sentences can be built from an individual word or group of words. Kesler used a shared reading context to help students think of ways that words could be used. A chart was made of the words, and each student was asked by the teacher at some point during the day whether he or she had used one of the words and how. If the student could describe a specific use of the word, a tally was placed next to their name. The students enjoyed the interaction throughout the exercise.
For the context clues exercise, the author used the cloze procedure. Certain words were omitted from a sentence or paragraph, and blank lines were placed where the words had been. Students were then asked to "fill in the blanks" based on the context of the sentence or passage. The students were able to generate many possibilities from the surrounding context.
The third approach used repeated readings of short passages to help students gain fluency. The author selected a passage in which the characters spoke in different voices. The story was read aloud to the students, and then the facial expressions and gestures of the characters were demonstrated alongside the words. In this way, students were also introduced to synonyms and antonyms.
The final approach combined all of the previous techniques with physical motion to make words more memorable. The author read a story to the students and employed the earlier devices — writing words down and repeating them — and then demonstrated the action associated with each word. Students were better able to remember the words because they had connected them to physical movements.
References
Graves, M. F., Juel, C., Graves, B. B., & Dewitz, P. (2011). Word recognition, in Teaching reading in the 21st century: Motivating all readers. New York: Pearson.
Kesler, T. (2010). Shared reading to build vocabulary and comprehension. The Reading Teacher, 64(4), 272–277.
Ontario. (2003). A guide to effective instruction in reading: Kindergarten to grade 3. Ontario Early Reading Strategy. Ontario: Ministry of Education.
Pinnell, G. S., & Fountas, I. C. (2007). Shared and performance reading, in The continuum of literacy learning, grades K–8: Behaviors and understandings to notice, teach, and support. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
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