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Acquisition and Retention of Vocabulary Using Simplified Picture Word Inductive Model
The average 18-month-old recognizes about 260 words, whereas preschool-aged children
recognize between 1,000–10,000 words (Law et al., 2016). Vocabulary increases dramatically
from ages 3–5. Vocabulary knowledge acquired in early childhood can broaden a child’s
opportunity to communicate with others and convey thoughts and ideas (Masrai, 2018). Those
who enter preschool or kindergarten with a smaller vocabulary have been identified as struggling
later with reading and school success in general. In their longitudinal study of Australian
children, Christensen et al. (2014) stated the strongest predictor of low receptive vocabulary at
age 8 was low receptive vocabulary at age 4. Thus, educators have been scrambling to find ways
to help these students increase their vocabulary.
There are many methods of teaching vocabulary such as word walls, read-alouds, and
games. The problem is many of these strategies have been developed for K–12 and have been
developmentally inappropriate for preschool. Because the strategies have been developed
without preschool in mind, preschool educators must adjust the strategies to meet the needs of
their students (Calhoun, 1999). This current study intended to take a widely used strategy known
as the picture word inductive model (PWIM) and simplify it to meet preschool needs.
Simplification of the PWIM poster was achieved using a poster about one single item rather than
a busy photo including many different things occurring all at once.
The intended outcome of this action research paper was to find out if simplifying a
PWIM poster would affect retention of the new vocabulary and if participants could integrate
said vocabulary into their long-term lexicon. The information gathered from this study will
benefit students to help increase and retain vocabulary. The benefit for teachers is to streamline
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PWIM to allow for more PWIM cycles. Therefore, the students will be exposed to more
vocabulary with a strategy that will not overstimulate them.
The literature review information was acquired through the DeWitt Library at
Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa, and Google Scholar. Both sites were used to find
peer-reviewed articles in academic journals. I focused on peer-reviewed academic journal articles
published from 2013-2023. The articles focused on PWIM, preschool language acquisition, and
strategies for improving vocabulary in preschool. Research also was done on vocabulary
acquisition for English language learners (ELL). This allowed for a bigger research scope,
including international articles. I was able to look at language development from many different
approaches and strategies for English language acquisition.
Although PWIM promotes language acquisition in both typical and simplified posters,
this study showed use of the simplified poster increased retention of identified vocabulary. At the
end of this study, students demonstrated using a simplified PWIM poster increased their
vocabulary by 10% over students who used a typical PWIM poster. The study consisted of a
vigorous assessment of vocabulary completed by the students every other week for 4 weeks. The
students were shown the poster without the vocabulary on it and asked individually to identify
the vocabulary that was previously identified. Students were also shown two different pictures of
each vocabulary word and asked to identify them.
Review of the Literature
The literature review for this paper is organized according to themes using PWIM
instruction in several ways. PWIM is used as a language development tool for K–12 ELL
students as a secondary language support. PWIM is used for vocabulary development with
students with delayed vocabulary for interventions and auditory word recognition. PWIM is used
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as a language development tool during the preschool years as a support for vocabulary
acquisition. I also looked for articles that included PWIM as a part of language/vocabulary
development in any educational setting such as preschool, elementary, middle school, or high
school.
International Uses of PWIM
As part of the research for this paper, I wanted to see what was being done in other
countries with PWIM. I wanted to know if they PWIM as it is used in the United States. Upon
closer inspection, I found yes, PWIM use in other countries was remarkably similar to use in the
United States. It has been used to increase vocabulary both in native languages and foreign
languages. It has beenused in all grades, lower, middle, and upper levels. Many countries,
including the United States, have used PWIM widely as a support in the learning of a second
language (Gu & Lornklang, 2021).
Internationally, specifically in Asia, not many studies have explored PWIM in the regular
classroom. However, PWIM found a foothold in Asian communities, being used to reinforce
English learning from kindergarten to high school. In some schools, it has been used to reinforce
English learning and vocabulary, but also to teach cultural awareness. In recent years, Thailand
has experienced a huge influx of Chinese tourism. The schools in Thailand have started to handle
this situation by introducing Chinese culture through PWIM. The subjects introduced via PWIM
to the Thailand students were Chinese New Year, Chinese hot pot, and Chinese dumplings (Zhao
& Lornklang, 2019). Vocabularies touched on food, decorations, and festival activities that were
typical experiences for those of the Chinese Culture. The development of the vocabulary and
knowledge of Chinese Culture was effective and successful (Zhao & Lornklang, 2019). The
PWIM photos and videos that the students were exposed to helped to build connections that the
VOCABULARY WITH SIMPLIFIED PWIM 8
students were able to use to compare and contrast with their own experiences with the Chinese
culture to which they were being exposed.
English has been considered lingua franca (Gu & Lornklang, 2021) for most of the world.
In 2001, China determined English was a compulsory course starting in Grade 3 (Gu &
Lornklang, 2021). This decision made China the largest population of English learners and users;
in 2016, approximately 440 million people in China were English-learning and English-using
(Jiang, 2016). Since 2008, Thailand students have been required to study English from Grade 1–
Grade 12 (Zhao & Lornklang, 2019).
Furthermore, in Malaysia, it is well known that English language acquisition is important.
Beginning in 2011, the Malaysian government initiated and implemented education reform
regarding English language acquisition and they have been unsuccessful (Lee et al., 2019).
Malaysian graduates have been found repeatedly as unemployable due to their inferior
proficiency in English. The government has continued to look for a way to improve instruction
for Malaysians so that they may have a better command of the English language, thereby making
Malaysians more employable (Lee et al., 2019). In all of these countries, the method used to
instruct English has not been connecting with the students.
Vocabulary is defined as the entire stock of words belonging to a branch of knowledge or
known by an individual (Zhao & Lornklang, 2019). Lack of sufficient vocabulary causes
difficulty for learners to express, comprehend, and communicate (Zhao & Lornklang, 2019). In a
study by Lee et al. (2019), vocabulary was examined by comparing Malaysian students’ English
vocabulary scores before and after the use of the PWIM. Sixty Malaysian Year 1 students were
divided into two groups of 30. The study had a PWIM poster (i.e., a picture extracted and
enlarged) for shaking out items in the picture identified and then written out with a line attached
VOCABULARY WITH SIMPLIFIED PWIM 9
to the word. Using the word list from the Dokumen Standard Kurikulum dan Pentaksiran Bahasa
Inggeris (Ramli et al. 2019), a national curriculum for teaching English in lower, middle, and
upper school, a list of words was generated to be taught during the study.
Students’ vocabulary acquisition was statistically the same at the beginning of the study
with a minor difference of .13 between the low and high groups of recognizable vocabulary (Lee
et al., 2019). At the end of the study, the difference had changed to a statistically significant
difference resulting in a change of 2.56 between the high and low groups in vocabulary
knowledge recall (Lee et al., 2019). These scores showed PWIM was effective in improving
vocabulary.
Zhao and Lornkland (2019) did a similar study in Thailand using PWIM to increase
English vocabulary; however, there was a second part of the study the PWIM posters used in this
study depicted things important in Chinese culture (e.g., Chinese New Year, Chinese hot pot, and
Chinese dumplings; Zhao & Lornklang, 2019). The subjects of this study were 30 sixth graders
who were shown PWIM posters of the topics. In the pretest scores, the highest score was 30
points and the lowest was 14. In the posttest scores, the highest was 40 points while the lowest
was 21. By using the PWIM model, language acquisition was increased (Zhao & Lornklang,
2019).
An important part of learning is keeping students engaged. In China, two studies were
done in different situations to check to see if students received PWIM well and what their
opinions were regarding the use of PWIM in the classroom. Gu and Lornklang (2021) looked at
English as a foreign language among fifth-grade students doing readers theater in English. Jiang
(2018) used fourth-grade and seventh-grade students in a typical classroom. Both studies used
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typical PWIM posters to introduce English words. Neither group had been exposed to PWIM
previously and had only used textbooks and flashcards to learn English vocabulary.
In the Gu and Lornklang’s (2021) study, 34 Chinese students in the fifth grade were
looked at during the 1st semester of the academic year of 2020 to participate in the study. They
were given a pretest and a posttest regarding the vocabulary that would be introduced in a typical
PWIM cycle. The cycle lasted 6 weeks. Then, a questionnaire was given to each student asking
about their thoughts on the PWIM cycle. In the posttest, Gu and Lornklang found that all
students significantly improved their vocabulary. In addition, all students agreed that using
PWIM effectively improved their English. The students were highly satisfied with the use of the
PWIM posters and reported that the use of PWIM was interesting, practical, and effective as
opposed to using the previous flashcard system with one picture, one word (Gu & Lornklang,
2021).
The students in Jiang’s (2018) study found that the pictures were easy to identify with,
while pictures in a textbook were “a little interesting, and boring with the same style” (pp. 72–
73). Most of the students found that they learned, memorized, and retrieved previously learned
and newly learned words more quickly, easily, conveniently, and efficiently (Jiang, 2018). The
students who participated in the study all had their English vocabulary increase. The negatives
results students listed were elements that had little to do with the actual PWIM poster, instead
they were about the environment in which the PWIM presentation was taking place. The location
was in a classroom of 60 students; the environment made it hard to hear clearly as it was a noisy
classroom without order. The post was too far to see clearly, and there was unorganized
handwriting on the PWIM sheets.
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Impact of Low Vocabulary and Srategies for Improvement
Aggression has been defined as a kind of behavior that aims to harm and hurt oneself or
another person who does not want to harm anyone or anything (Ersan, 2020). Early childhood is
a time when a child’s language develops rapidly but has yet to reach a level where it can be
easily used to convey most thoughts and emotions. This can result in the form of physical
aggression. From a developmental perspective, it is known that human (i.e, physical) aggression
increases in the first 3 years of life and tends to decrease during one’s fourth year (Ersan, 2020).
When children participate in a preschool environment, they are exposed to many things
that may not have been experienced yet. What has been a child’s normal for most of their life can
suddenly be challenged. Children are being exposed to ideas and thoughts about what a family is,
what kinds of behavior are acceptable, different rules, and routines for the first time. This can be
a time of great turmoil in a young child’s life. During these times, aggressive tendencies emerge
in young children. Without the vocabulary to address these changes and communicate their
feelings, thoughts, and concerns young children can turn to physical aggression.
Words are used to communicate ideas. The more words one owns, the better they can
communicate; the better they are at acquiring words, the more control they have over their own
educational (and emotional) progress (Calhoun, 1999). When a child has the vocabulary to
address these issues, less physical aggression or physical solutions take place. When a child has a
lower vocabulary, they tend to show more aggression.
Frequency of and increased aggression have become a matter of concern. Researchers
have emphasized an alarming increase in the number of preschool children who are referred to
clinics because they are diagnosed with aggression and parents, teachers, and psychiatrists worry
about child aggression as one of the most destructive behaviors (Ersan, 2020). Ersan (2020)
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examined the relationships between language development and aggressive behaviors of
preschool children. There was a negative and significant difference between receptive (i.e., how
language is understood) and expressive language (i.e., use of words to express oneself) regarding
physical aggression. On the positive side, it was found that as language skills increased, the
likelihood of applying physical aggression decreased (Ersan, 2020).
Development of language skills have also been looked at to see if low vocabulary in the
preschool years has long-term consequences. Christensen et al. (2014) did a long-term study to
see if low vocabulary in the preschool years had an impact on students later in life. First,
participant’s language skills were assessed at age 4, then those same participants had their
language assessed at age 8. It was found that the strongest predictor of low receptive vocabulary
at age 8 was low receptive vocabulary at age 4. Christensen et al. noted those with language
impairments were included in the study and these participants were not always identified early
enough to have an accurate assessment during it. Not all these children were given proper
services long enough to make a difference in their ability to catch up to their peers. However, it
should be noted once children start formal schooling, vocabulary does develop; during the
primary (elementary) school years, the introduction of learning to read and write becomes a
catapult for a vocabulary explosion. Although children’s oral language skills from ages 5–8 are
similar to an adult, the amount of vocabulary continues to grow throughout a lifetime. If there is
a restriction on vocabulary development during these early years, it can delay language abilities
for many years unless interventions are used.
Another factor that should be considered is peer interactions in language development.
Washington-Nortey et al. (2020) focused on this concept in their study. ELLs usually enter
school with a low English vocabulary, making them at risk for the same issues seen among
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English students with a low vocabulary. Classrooms with English students who have high
vocabulary can result in ELLs with low vocabulary making huge gains during the school year.
Peer interactions are more common than child–adult interactions in the classroom (Washington-
Nortey et al., 2020). Using the AbstrackR program, all participants in Washington-Nortey et al.’s
study were screened on academic readiness, English language learning, English and Spanish
language outcomes, reading aloud to peers, English vocabulary, and English letter word skills. It
was found that in classrooms with a bigger percentage of English speakers, the ELL students
were put in a position to make stronger gains than children in settings with equally skilled same
language peers (Washington-Nortey et al., 2020).
Although putting ELL students in the same classroom as students whose native language
is English can increase vocabulary, vocabularry still needs to be taught to these students in
school. Many learners who are ELL students are attending schools where the language of
learning and teaching is English. In addition to the challenge that the regular curriculum
provides, the opportunity to listen and have relaxed conversation in English with their peers is a
benefit that cannot be provided by the curriculum. By having social interaction with their peers
in conversational English, the confidence of ELL students increases. Social interaction can be an
important support in learning a new language. Teachers need to employ different strategies to
ensure these learners become literate in the language and learning of their schools.
In their paper “Exploring Strategies Teachers Use to Develop Literacy Skills among
English First Additional Language Learners in the Foundational Phase,” Venketsamy and
Sibanda (2021) explored different strategies as ways to improve ELL vocabulary. Some of the
strategies discussed to increase vocabulary were using play as a method of teaching new
vocabulary, thematic units, and problem-based learning. By using different methods of teaching,
VOCABULARY WITH SIMPLIFIED PWIM 14
the same information or cross-subject teaching vocabulary is reinforced without it being a
“lesson” and is more likely to become a part of a child’s lexicon. Another way that is readily
introduced into the typical classroom is the reading of child-appropriate storybooks. Although
this strategy fits easily into the classroom routine, it is also easily done within the home and can
be an ongoing shared responsibility between home and school. This approach alleviated the
entire responsibility on home or school and allowing for home involvement. By using both home
and school, the cost is cut for families to continually provide new material and the school can
monitor improvement made by the extra work done in the home. Although this approach is not
an ideal situation for some due to different home situations, it allows for a large amount of time
to be used in the introduction and continued usage of new vocabulary.
Vocabulary Development
In Hilbert and Eis’s (2013) study, they stated that academic success includes many
factors; one of those factors is emergent literacy skills which include phonological awareness,
vocabulary, letter naming, and word manipulation. Children who begin their kindergarten year
with a delay in emergent literacy skills are likely to continue to be delayed as compared to
typically developing peers. Kelley et al. (2020) agreed with this finding in their study. Some of
their findings showed children with limited language skills who enter preschool and kindergarten
are at a higher risk of later learning failure and diagnosis with reading disability and children
with limited vocabulary knowledge are likely to have comprehension deficits.
The recognition of early intervention in language development is important. If educators
can implement successful early interventions, it can make an enormous difference in a student’s
ability for comprehension, and oral language skills. In Vuattoux et al.’s (2013) study, two groups
of preschoolers were observed in the classroom setting. One group read a book to students
VOCABULARY WITH SIMPLIFIED PWIM 15
without soliciting participation. In the second group, educators stimulated children’s
participation and interest by asking them questions about the story and encouraging them to also
ask questions. Participation was found to be key and was associated with greater vocabulary
gains. The results of the study suggested participation is necessary but not sufficient to ensure
learning. By engaging children in a PWIM cycle, the children participate to “shake” out words
and identifying what words to use. Having this engagement is a way to not only increase
vocabulary but also reinforce the use of it in the classroom by always making the words available
to the students.
In Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development, the space between what a child has
mastered and can do without help and what a child can do with support or scaffolding from
others, including adults and peers, supports the idea that children being around others with a
larger, more robust vocabulary can increase the lower vocabulary child’s vocabulary (Simple
Psychology,2024). Keeping this fact in mind, the opportunity to participate in PWIM with
children of varying abilities is a positive intervention for increasing vocabulary. Schmitt et al.
(2022) found that children who demonstrated poor language skills and ELL children benefitted
from learning in classrooms composed of children with stronger language abilities. Schmitt et al.
also found during interventions by speech-language pathologists, having children of mixed
language abilities participate together in activities had a greater impact than those who only did
solo interventions or with peers of the same abilities.
Early Childhood Language Development
Language plays a vital role in children’s sociobehavioral and school development. As
children attend and progress through school, it is important to focus on children’s early education
environment. The time spent in an educational environment can identify weaknesses and
VOCABULARY WITH SIMPLIFIED PWIM 16
strengths in the development of language, allowing for early intervention. It is an opportunity to
improve language development as it can have a lasting effect on future internal and external
problems as well as academic problems (Spilt et al., 2015).
Something that can influence the developing language during this early time is
relationships, specifically, student–teacher relationships. Close relationships between students
and teachers promote language skills but also increase young students’ receptive language skills.
In the early grade school years, this has a snowball effect. Developing receptive language skills
is needed to engage in more sophisticated and extended conversations with teachers, which in
turn appears to contribute to the development of a close and affectionate relationship. Which
then has a positive effect on subsequent growth in receptive language (Spilt et al., 2015). This
provides a positive experience between children and teachers that can have an upward
momentum that continues through school. Not only does this relationship provide positive
language experiences, but as a side effect, it can increase a child’s positive overall feelings for
school that can follow them through their entire academic career.
Early interventions in the preschool years can have lasting effects on a child throughout
their entire life. Johanson et al. (2015) looked at the connection between preschool and
kindergarten regarding language development. Providing a boost in language and literacy skills
during this time can alter the language trajectory of children. Some of the “boosts” that are seen
in the preschool classroom are linguistically rich conversations where teachers model vocabulary
and diverse types of linguistic forms (i.e., meaningful parts of speech such as sentences, words,
and phrases), interactive read-alouds, and vocabulary games (Baker et al., 2016).
Although teachers in later grades use PWIM to increase vocabulary, it is also used to
support community learning and writing in both upper and lower grades. Using community
VOCABULARY WITH SIMPLIFIED PWIM 17
learning in early childhood supports those whose vocabulary development is lower than is
typically seen in the preschool classroom. PWIM brings beginning reading, writing, phonetic
analysis, and spelling to the forefront of the classroom. During their regular day-to-day
experience, children are exposed to specific vocabularies that their peers in their experience to
which they may or may not have been exposed. This brings a huge amount of vocabulary that
can be shared through the PWIM experience. By having the physical poster in the room, it
empowers young students to take their learning into their own hands through this visual
representation the students can refer to the shared vocabulary.
PWIM assists in furthering language due to the simple focus on vocabulary and writing.
Pionera et al. (2020) discussed how PWIM could help students learn together in a group and
share what they have learned to achieve success for the group. As emergent writing appears in
the preschool classroom, PWIM is an excellent tool to help the child to feel confident in his/her
writing and can give meaning to their writing. It also allows ownership of the writing. This
prompts children to find their letters in the everyday print that they see around them. When a
child sees a letter in their name and then makes the association that the letter also appears in
other words, they can begin to make connections from letters to words. Pionera et al. said a
student’s writing skills should be considered in achieving fluency because the correct writing
certainly contains the correct vocabulary so the meaning of the choice of words can be
understood.
Researchers have agreed that increasing vocabulary, especially for ELL students or
students with an unusually low vocabulary, is beneficial. Vocabulary not only affects their
immediate educational careers but also impacts their entire education and lives. Vocabulary not
only affects childrens their lives but also the lives of those around them. For example, as ELL
VOCABULARY WITH SIMPLIFIED PWIM 18
students’ vocabulary increases, their families can have similar exposure by hearing their students
use the language when they are having conversations with others around them or even translating
for their families.
Methodology
Research Question
In a typical PWIM cycle, a picture or poster with many identifiable items is presented to
a group, and the participants of the group then identify items in the poster. Participants then
become more familiar with the words by using them in the classroom through word and picture
identification, guided writing, and independent writing. One may wonder if a simplified poster
(i.e., a poster with fewer items to identify) would help participants focus more fully on a few
items so they could add those words more successfully to their long-term lexicon rather than
being distracted by the many items in the poster. By using both a control and an experimental
group to check vocabulary retention on different PWIM posters, the results would show if there
is an obvious difference between the two groups.
Research Site
This research took place at Davis County Community Schools in southeastern Iowa. The
school district covered most of Davis County, specifically the towns of Bloomfield, Drakesville,
Floris, and the surrounding rural area. The school had 1,293 students in preK–12 (Data USA,
n.d.). The school had a lower socioeconomic status with 42.9% of the students receiving free or
reduced lunch (Niche, n.d.). The preK program at Davis County Community Schools during the
2023–2024 school year had three general education classrooms. Each classroom had an average
of 14 students.
VOCABULARY WITH SIMPLIFIED PWIM 19
Participants
The participants all came from the same preK classroom. Initially, 15 students (all
members of the classroom) were extended an invitation to participate in the study. Thirteen
participated in the study, and one moved away during that time. All students were enrolled in the
statewide voluntary preschool program for 4-year-old children. They were aged 4–5 in the 2023–
2024 school year. The study consisted of four girls and eight boys.
The participants’ families were sent questionnaires regarding education and household
income. They reported 30% of families had a parent with higher education (i.e/, associate,
bachelor, or master’s degree) and 25% of families reported having a parent who did not complete
high school. Reported household income showed 10% of families made below $20,000 per year
and 30% of families made above $50,000 (see Appendix A, B, C).
Intervention and Timeline
In the first week, the separate groups looked at different posters. At that time, they
identified items they knew in the picture. For the next 3 weeks, students were exposed to the
poster daily through activities such as writing the words on a blank poster that was identical to
the poster they originally had labeled and hearing the words in the classroom read classroom
read-aloud. They were also shown pictures of a variety of items of the same name. For example,
they identified a steering wheel and then they were shown several types of steering wheels that
were easily identified as steering wheels but of a different shape or color. The vocabulary words
were also put on word strips and placed in an area that the students had continual access to so
they could write the words when they wanted. In addition to these opportunities, the students
interacted with the vocabulary during weekly assessments of flashcards and picture–word
identification.
VOCABULARY WITH SIMPLIFIED PWIM 20
Variables
Students were placed in groups by randomly drawing names to determine placement.
There were two groups—Groups A and B—and both groups had six participants in each. Group
A (independent variable) had a simplified poster that focused on one child swinging on a swing,
while Group B (dependent variable) had a poster of several students playing on a playground.
Students were shown these posters in their groups and asked to identify what they saw. For
example, they shared, “I see a slide.” The poster was then labeled and displayed with the
vocabulary that the children identified. Both groups did the same interventions with their group’s
identified vocabulary.
Measurement Tools
The initial data were collected in a simple point system. Both groups used the same point
system. One person collected all the data for consistency. Data collection took place over 3
weeks. In the first week of data collection, participants were given a printout of their respective
posters and a word bank. When participants correctly placed a word, they were given a point.
During the second week of data collection, participants were shown flashcards with different
pictures of the items identified on the posters (e.g., a yellow slide or a blue twisty slide). The
third week of data collection used the same flashcard. The reliability of this type of data
collection was easy to reproduce with a simple point system. The validity of one point per
correct word identification was also easy to reproduce. All the personal data collected and the
data collected from the assessments, which consisted of blank PWIM posters with word banks
and flashcards, were kept in a locked file cabinet.
VOCABULARY WITH SIMPLIFIED PWIM 21
Anticipated Statistical Analysis
I anticipated the statistical analysis would show that by using a simplified PWIM poster,
participants would be able to retain and incorporate more vocabulary words than the typical
PWIM poster participants. During the blank poster fill-in worksheet, I anticipated that
participants would have similar scores. As the period of the data collection continued using the
flashcard portion of data collection, I anticipated that the simplified poster participants would be
able to make larger gains in vocabulary retention.
Institutional Review Board
For this action research study, I submitted and was approved for an institutional review
board for human subjects research exemption from Northwestern College, Orange City, Iowa.
This action research study examined whether simplifying a PWIM poster would affect retention
of the new vocabulary and if participants would be able to integrate said vocabulary into their
long-term lexicon. To make sure all anonymity were kept, all information and data concerning
this study were kept confidential by only referring to the subjects by number. The hardcopy
information was kept in a locked file cabinet.
Data Collection
The data collection for this paper was quantitative. A point system was used for both the
blank PWIM posters the participants completed and the flashcards. One point for each correct
answer was given. The data were collected during the actual assessments for each group. During
the collection, the data points were marked on a tally sheet immediately as the one-on-one
assessments were taking place.
Consent forms were sent to the homes of all 15 students in the classroom, asking for
consent for their children to participate in the study. Thirteen students’ families responded
VOCABULARY WITH SIMPLIFIED PWIM 22
positively and signed the consent form. During the time of the study, one student moved awa,
which resulted in data collection for 12 participants. After consent was received, a questionnaire
was sent to the families of the participants asking for background information on the families.
The questionnaire covered family size, parental/guardian opinion on the level of the participants’
vocabulary ability, access to literature, the frequency that participants were exposed to literature
in the home, parental educational levels, and household income. This background information
helped give a fuller view of the participants. The answers from the questionnaire did not have a
bearing on the results of the PWIM data collected.
Data Analysis
Initially, all participants in the preK classroom were given the opportunity to participate
in the study. Permission letters were sent home to all students. All students participated in the
classroom PWIM posters; however, data for this study were collected on only the participants
who returned the signed permission forms. When the data collection was completed and all of
the questionnaires was returned, the data were compiled. Then, data were sorted into appropriate
charts and graphs for the best understanding of the question: will simplifying a PWIM poster
affect retention of the new vocabulary, and will participants be able to integrate said vocabulary
into their long-term lexicon?
An independent t-test was used to analyze the data for this action research paper. The
independent t-test was used to test the difference between two independent population means and
assumed (a) the two population means consisted of different test subjects and (b) the dependent
variable was measured on a continuous scale. Population 𝛍1 represented students who initially
studied a simplified PWIM chart. Population 𝛍2 represented students who initially studied a
typical PWIM chart. The null hypothesis was there is no significant statistical difference between
VOCABULARY WITH SIMPLIFIED PWIM 23
the two populations (H0: 𝛍1 = 𝛍2). The alternative hypothesis was there is a significant
statistical difference between the two populations (H1: 𝛍1 ≠ 𝛍2). For each population, I
calculated the sample size (n), mean (M), variance (S), and the calculated t-value (t; see Figure
1).
Figure 1
Two-Tailed T-Table Statistical Variance Equation
Note. A two-tailed test, in statistics, is a method in which the critical area of a distribution is two-
sided and tests whether a sample is greater than or less than a certain range of values. It is used
in null hypothesis testing and testing for statistical significance. If the sample being tested falls
into either of the critical areas, the alternative hypothesis is accepted instead of the null
hypothesis (Hayes, 2024).
In this study’s case, both populations 𝛍1 and 𝛍2 had sample size of six. Tables 1 and 2
lists the sample data as well as the means, variances, and t-values. The calculated t-values all fell
between 0.29 and 1.05. The initial number of words identified by Group A had a mean of three
and Group B had a mean of two, reflecting a 50% increase. These collected data appeared
consistent with classroom observations and anecdotal evidence that had been the initial cause for
the H1 hypothesis which stated a simplified PWIM poster will improve retention of new
VOCABULARY WITH SIMPLIFIED PWIM 24
vocabulary and the participants will be able to transfer the vocabulary into their long-term
lexicon.
Table 1
Data Collection of Vocabulary Growth Data Group A (Total Seven Words)
Participants
Words
identified
Percentage
Follow up 1
Percentage
Follow up 2
Percentage
Participant 1
4
57.14
5
71.43
6
85.71
Participant 2
2
28.57
5
71.43
5
71.43
Participant 3
5
71.43
7
100.00
7
100.00
Participant 4
0
0.00
3
42.86
4
57.14
Participant 5
1
14.29
3
42.86
3
42.86
Participant 6
6
85.71
7
100.00
7
100.00
Mean
3
42.86
5
71.43
5.33
76.19
Variance
4.67
0.10
2.67
0.05
2.22
0.50
Independent t-test
0.68
1.05
0.68
1.05
0.30
0.70
Note. Degrees of Freedom: 6+6-2 = 10. Proportion: 0.05. Critical t-value (from table based on df
and p). If t-value is greater than critical t-value than reject null hypothesis. It was not for any
cases; therefore, except null hypothesis (i.e. the difference of results between the two), groups
were not statistically significant.
Table 2
Data Collection of Vocabulary Growth Data Group B (Total Nine Words)
Group B
Participants
Words
identified
Percentage
Follow up 1
Percentage
Follow up 2
Percentage
Participant 7
0
0.00
0
0.00
0
0.00
Participant 8
3
33.33
5
55.56
7
77.78
Participant 9
1
11.11
3
33.33
6
66.67
Participant 10
4
44.44
6
66.67
6
66.67
Participant 11
1
11.11
2
22.22
3
33.33
Participant 12
3
33.33
4
44.44
5
55.56
Mean
2
22.22
3.33
37.04
4.5
50.00
Variance
2.000
0.025
3.889
0.048
5.583
0.069
Independent t-test
0.68
1.047
0.68
1.05
0.29
0.70
VOCABULARY WITH SIMPLIFIED PWIM 25
Note. Degrees of freedom: 6+6-2 = 10, Proportion: 0.05, Critical t-value (from table based on df
and p). If t-value is greater than critical t-value then reject null hypothesis. It was not for any
cases. Therefore, except null hypothesis (i.e. the difference of results between the two), groups
were not statistically significant.
Upon collecting further data, I observed that follow-up analysis for retention scores
showed either vocabulary growth or was constant for all students, independent of group
placement. No participant in either group saw vocabulary retention decrease at any point during
follow-up data collection. Total vocabulary growth was observed to be higher in Group A, with
final data collection indicating Group A’s vocabulary increased at 5.333 words compared to
Group B’s 4.5 increase in words. In contrast, the rate of growth for Group B was noted to be
higher, increasing from an initial mean of two words to a second follow-up result of a mean 4.5
words regarding vocabulary increase, indicating a 250% increase from initial testing to the time
of the second follow-up.
Group A’s rate of growth from the initial mean of 3 for vocabulary words identified to the
final 5.333 words indicated only a 77.78% increase over the course of the experiment and data
collection. This result showed higher total growth in Group A, but higher rate of growth in Group
B, with diminished differences in the final results. This result could indicate a converging of
results where both groups become normalized at the same final results, or could be indicative of
a trend where rate of growth would eventually cause Group B to surpass Group A. Future results
beyond the second follow-up have not been measured and further data collection for retention
would be needed to establish long-term effects for higher learning and retention.
VOCABULARY WITH SIMPLIFIED PWIM 26
Student 7’s testing showed null results across all testing and data collection both initially
and in follow-ups. This level of participation was inconsistent with all other participants
regardless of whether they participated in Group A or Group B. To rule out the possibility of
outlier data as an anomaly that would skew the results of the data collection, Group B’s data
mean and variance were reexamined in consideration as a group with a sample size of five.
Student 7’s results were eliminated and Group B’s statistics were recalculated using the data
collected only from Students 8–12.
If Group B were recalculated with a sample size of five and the contributions of
Participant 7 were removed as an outlier, final mean retention rate in Group B was factored at
5.4, indicating that Group B actually observed higher learning and retention than Group A,
although by an amount negligible enough that it fell below the critical t-value, yielding the same
H0 null hypothesis confirmation observed previously when factoring the inclusion of student
seven. Having ruled out the possibility that Participant 7’s level of participation would skew the
data toward inappropriate findings, the decision was made to retain Participant 7’s participation
in the data collection and results so the final testing represented the most accurate participant
sample across all learning levels.
To test the hypothesis, these calculated t-values had to be compared to critical t-values.
To determine these, I calculated the degrees of freedom (df) in this experiment and selected an
appropriate alpha level (ꭤ). The degrees of freedom were calculated using the following
equations:
• df = n1 + n2 - 2
• df = 6 + 6 - 2 = 10
VOCABULARY WITH SIMPLIFIED PWIM 27
For ꭤ, I selected the standard 0.05 for statistical tests, although it is noteworthy to share
the results would not be different even for values as high as 0.30. It is important to note that
even if the value did increase liberally (i.e, .30), there was not a good enough connection
between any of the numbers to show a statistical connection. Table 3 shows the degrees of
freedom and alpha levels to find the critical t-value for this two-tailed test was 2.228.
Table 3
T Score Table
Cum. prob
One-tail
Two-tail
t .50
0.50
1.00
t .75
0.25
0.50
t .80
0.20
0.40
t .85
.015
0.30
t .90
0.10
0.20
t .95
0.05
0.10
t .975
0.025
0.05
t .99
0.01
0.02
t .995
0.005
0.01
t .999
0.001
0.002
t .9995
0.0005
0.001
df
1
0.000
1.000
1.376
1.963
3.078
6.314
12.71
31.82
63.66
318.31
636.62
2
0.000
0.816
1.061
1.386
1.886
2.920
4.303
6.965
9.925
22.327
31.599
3
0.000
0.765
0.978
1.250
1.638
2.353
3.182
4.541
5.841
10.215
12.924
4
0.000
0.741
0.941
1.190
1.533
2.132
2.776
3.747
4.604
7.173
8.610
5
0.000
0.727
0.920
1.156
1.476
2.015
2.571
3.365
4.032
5.893
6.869
6
0.000
0.718
0.906
1.134
1.440
1.943
2.447
3.143
3.707
5.208
5.959
7
0.000
0.711
0.896
1.119
1.415
1.895
2.365
2.998
3.499
4.785
5.408
8
0.000
0.706
0.889
1.108
1.397
1.860
2.306
2.896
3.355
4.501
5.041
9
0.000
0.703
0.883
1.100
1.383
1.833
2.262
2.821
3.250
4.297
4.781
10
0.000
0.700
0.879
1.093
1.372
1.812
2.228
2.764
3.169
4.144
4.587
11
0.000
0.697
0.876
1.088
1.363
1.796
2.201
2.718
3.106
4.025
4.437
12
0.000
0.695
0.873
1.083
1.356
1.782
2.179
2.681
3.055
3.930
4.318
13
0.000
0.694
0.870
1.079
1.350
1.771
2.160
2.650
3.012
3.852
4.221
14
0.000
0.692
0.868
1.076
1.345
1.761
2.145
2.624
2.977
3.787
4.140
15
0.000
0.691
0.866
1.074
1.341
1.753
2.131
2.602
2.947
3.733
4.073
16
0.000
0.690
0.865
1.071
1.337
1.746
2.120
2.583
2.921
3.686
4.015
17
0.000
0.689
0.863
1.069
1.333
1.740
2.110
2.567
2.898
3.646
3.965
18
0.000
0.688
0.862
1.067
1.330
1.734
2.101
2.552
2.878
3.610
3.922
19
0.000
0.688
0.861
1.066
1.328
1.729
2.093
2.539
2.861
3.579
3.883
20
0.000
0.687
0.860
1.064
1.325
1.725
2.086
2.528
2.845
3.552
3.850
Therefore, because all of the calculated t-values fell below the critical t-value, two
populations were not statistically significantly different. Therefore, H1 was rejected: there was a
significant increase in vocabulary and retention in use of a simplified PWIM poster. And
Hypothesis H0 was accepted: there was no significant difference in vocabulary learning and
VOCABULARY WITH SIMPLIFIED PWIM 28
retention between the traditional PWIM poster and a simplified poster. The initial use of a
simplified PWIM did not change results compared to the use of a typical PWM to a statistically
significant degree.
Discussion
Jim Rohn said, “Vocabulary enables us to interpret and to express. If you have a limited
vocabulary, you will also have a limited vision and a limited future” (A-Z Quotes, n.d.). The
purpose of this action research paper was to determine if vocabulary would increase more with a
simplified or a typical PWIM poster cycle. In the early childhood classroom and in life,
increasing vocabulary is extremely important because it helps students to be able to express their
feelings and navigate life and disagreements through words rather than solving issues physically.
Findings
During this study, Group A (simplified PWIM) increased their vocabulary by an average
of 2.3 words while Group B (typical PWIM) increased by 2.5 words. Thus, vocabulary increase
was very similar between groups. Initially, I hypothesized that by using a simplified poster, there
would be fewer items to identify so there would be fewer words to focus on giving the
simplified. I hypothesized using the typical poster would present many opportunities for
vocabulary identification and the participants would be overstimulated with the variety of objects
to choose from, having a more difficult time recalling the identified vocabulary due to the many
items. This, however, proved to be untrue. The participants of Group A identified seven words
while the participants of Group B identified nine words. Because similar numbers were
identified, participants were on equal footing to remember vocabulary during interventions.
These findings were contrary to what I hypothesized. During the time frame of 4 weeks,
both groups of participants made similar gains in vocabulary retention. However, the data were
VOCABULARY WITH SIMPLIFIED PWIM 29
collected with frequent exposure to the vocabulary every week throughout the entire study. It is
unclear if long-term (i.e., 6 months +) lexicon gains would be seen. A long-term study would
need to be conducted to see if the retention is short term or long term.
Impact on Teaching and Learning
Because there was no significant advantage in using a simplified PWIM poster, it would
be recommended in most situations to use the typical PWIM poster type. However, some
situations could benefit from using a simplified poster. In situations where children have vision
difficulties (e.g., glaucoma), having less to focus on while identifying vocabulary would be
beneficial. In addition, younger children aged 2–3 years of age with limited exposure to
vocabulary may see benefits in using simplified posters of items with which they are more
familiar.
Alignment to Research
Children are expected to understand and express the verbal language of their culture in
relation to their language development. Language skills are based on two categories: receptive
language and expressive language. The more children gain control over production of sounds and
words, the more they develop their expressive language skills (Ersan, 2020). By developing these
skills, a child’s ability to communicate thoughts, feelings, and ideas is greatly enhanced. The
current study showed both Group A and Group B received the same benefits from the PWIM
posters they were exposed to with neither of the groups having large gains over the other. This
finding supports the idea that exposure to opportunities to increase vocabulary is beneficial to
children; therefore, either poster is of value in increasing vocabulary.
The PWIM is an appropriate approach to teaching young learners’ vocabulary. Using
pictures could attract the students’ curiosity in learning new vocabulary. Teaching vocabulary by
VOCABULARY WITH SIMPLIFIED PWIM 30
using pictures is advantageous over other audio-visual aids for young learners and the colorful
pictures help learners, especially lower learners, acquire the vocabulary memorably (Gu &
Lornklang, 2021). By using colorful pictures that were familiar to the participants, it was easy for
them to identify vocabulary. Due to familiarity of the pictures, it was simple for them to be able
to recall the vocabulary by pairing the established vocabulary words with new visuals. This
process allowed for them to recognize vocabulary in new situations, making the vocabulary even
more accessible to the participants.
Limitations
The classroom where the study took place had 15 students, and there was little diversity
as the participants’ families all reported being Caucasian. The number of participants in the study
was limited due to the study taking place in the small school district of Davis County
Community School District. Because there were only three preK classrooms in the district and
the enrollment of the program for the 2023–2024 school year was 45 students, the overall
program was very small. The time frame for the implementation of the material and collection of
data was only 4 weeks, making for a very quick turnaround time.
Future Research
Due to the time allotted for this study (i.e., 4 weeks), the participants were exposed daily
to the vocabulary. Although this intense exposure was done to accommodate the time frame, one
of the limitations of the study was checking for retention when exposure is more natural was not
done. To check for true retention, checks should be made at later times (i.e., 6 months and 1
year). A longer time frame during the study would have been beneficial for making sure that the
vocabulary had indeed made it into the permanent lexicon of the participants. A study that would
have intense exposure for a month and then periodic checks would be a great follow-up to this
VOCABULARY WITH SIMPLIFIED PWIM 31
study, similar to a study of Australian children’s receptive vocabulary (Christensen et al., 2014)
In Christensen et al.’s (2014) study, students’ vocabulary was assessed multiple times from age 4
to age 8 showing growth and permanent addition to their lexicon.
This study would easily lend itself to different demographics by varying the age,
socioeconomic status, background, language, time spent in review, and parental involvement.
The different groups that could be examined using typical versus simplified PWIM are
numerous. Because this study only looked at preschool participants aged 4, it would be worth
examining how other students responded. A particular group that would be interesting to look at
would be middle and high school students, especially considering middle and high school
students have had more exposure to handheld electronics; thus, one could look at students’
attention spans. It would be interesting to see if attention span was a factor in identifying and
retaining vocabulary words from the PWIM posters both typical and simplified. Research has
shown social media and handheld electronic exposure, in some cases, had a positive effect on
student’s academic performance (Kennedy, 2020).
Looking at adult learners, especially illiterate participants, the use of PWIM would be an
interesting demographic to study. A researcher could explore whether using a typical verse
simplified PWIM poster to determine if the visual discrimination between the two posters would
any yield on results. Or a researcher could explore if just using a PWIM poster to stimulate
vocabulary would show an increase in the ability to visually identify and write the vocabulary to
make a difference for adult learners. Furthermore, vocabulary learning strategies offer
opportunities for adult English second language learners to learn vocabulary based on real world
situations in the classroom. PWIM lends itself to this type of learning. PWIM supports the
contributions of vocabulary learning strategies in English language teaching, which involves
VOCABULARY WITH SIMPLIFIED PWIM 32
several factors including: language proficiency level, gender, age, and motivation. Generally,
vocabulary learning strategies offers opportunities for ESL or English as a foreign language
learners and teachers to teach and learn vocabulary based on the real-world situation in the
classroom (Indriyani & Sugirin, 2019).
Conclusion
PWIM is an inquiry-oriented language arts strategy that uses pictures containing familiar
objects and actions to elicit words from children’s listening and speaking vocabularies (Calhoun,
1999). This strategy has been used throughout classrooms across the world since 1976 (Calhoun,
1999). However, it was designed for readers and students who can identify the pictures and then
transfer that knowledge to the written word. PreK students are just beginning to understand that
letters make sounds that can be combined to make words. Many strategies developed for K–12
are developmentally inappropriate for preschool. Thus, PWIM is not developmentally designed
with preK in mind.
So one may wonder why one should use PWIM in the preK classroom. The purpose of
PWIM in the PreK classroom is to develop vocabulary. In this study, vocabulary development
was looked at using two different types of PWIM posters—typical and simplified. My thought
process behind comparing the different posters was I thought the simplified poster would provide
fewer items to look at, enabling the participants to focus more on a few items rather than be
distracted or overwhelmed by many items to choose from. The intended outcome of this action
research paper is to find out if simplifying a PWIM poster will affect retention of the new
vocabulary and will participants be able to integrate said vocabulary into their long-term lexicon.
It was anticipated that the group using the simplified poster would see more gains in
vocabulary retention versus the group that used a typical poster. It was surprising to find that the
VOCABULARY WITH SIMPLIFIED PWIM 33
groups identified similar numbers: Group A (simplified poster) identified seven words while
Group B (typical poster) identified nine words. Both groups, except for one student who scored a
zero on all interventions and did not see an increase in vocabulary at all, saw an increase in
vocabulary from the posters. All students, except for the aforementioned student, saw an increase
in vocabulary during the interventions that followed initial exposure to the posters. In the end,
the findings of the study showed it was not statistically significantly different enough between
the two posters to determine that one was better than the other. Either poster yielded about the
same amount of vocabulary identification. The participants showed about the same vocabulary
retention regardless of which poster they used. Moving forward with PWIM in the preK
classroom, the results from this study showed there is no advantage to using a simplified poster.
Therefore, it is recommended that a typical poster is best for use in the classroom due to the
results from this study.
Words are used to communicate ideas. The more words one owns, the better they can
communicate; the better they are at acquiring words, the more control they have over their own
education (Calhoun, 1999). PWIM is a successful strategy in acquiring vocabulary in a way that
is both engaging and relevant for participants of all ages. Although simplified verse typical
PWIM posters have been found to yield similar results, it is a straightforward simple strategy for
an educator to use in the classroom and is proven to yield results.
Participants
Parents
Some
High
School
College
Degree
Some
College
High
School
Diploma
VOCABULARY WITH SIMPLIFIED PWIM 34
Appendix A
Education of Participants Parents Pie Chart
household
income
Below
20,000
50,000+
20,000-30,000
40,000-50,000
30,000-40,000
VOCABULARY WITH SIMPLIFIED PWIM 35
Appendix B
Household Income Pie Chart
VOCABULARY WITH SIMPLIFIED PWIM 36
Appendix C
Questionnaire and Results
1. Do you have any concerns about your child’s developing speech?
Yes- 1 No- 9
2. Your child’s vocabulary is:
a) Very low-0
b) Low-1
c) Average-6
d) High-2
e) Very High-1
3. Does your child have easy access to books at home?
Yes-10 No-0
Do you go to the Public Library?
Yes- 2 No-7 Sometimes- 1
4. Does your child look at books independently?
Yes- 9 No-1
5. Do you read to your child at home?
Yes-10 No-1
About how often?
a) Daily-3
b) 1x/week 1
c) 2-3x/week-3
d) 4x/week 2
e) Once in a while 1
6. Who regularly reads to your child?
Mom/Dad-9 Siblings-1
7. Does your child ask questions about the books he/she is being read?
Yes-9 No-1
VOCABULARY WITH SIMPLIFIED PWIM 37
8. Father’s Highest Education
Some High School
High School
Diploma
Some College
College Degree
3
4
1
2
9. Mother’s Highest Education
Some High School
High School
Diploma
Some College
College Degree
2
2
2
4
10. Residence is:
a) Single-family house 9
b) Apartment-1
c) Other-0
11. Household Annual Income:
a) Below 20,000- 1
b) 20,000-30,000- 5
c) 30,000-40,000-0
d) 40,000-50,000-2
e) 50,000 +- 3
