Improving storytelling and vocabulary in secondary school students with language disorder: a randomized controlled trial.
Victoria L Joffe, Lorna Rixon, Charles Hulme
PMID 30924581WHAT IT FOUND
Standardized vocabulary scores did not improve more than waiting controls.
Narrative skills did improve, and vocabulary gains appeared only on tests tied to the taught material.
Key findings
01Standardized vocabulary scores did not improve more than waiting controls.
02Narrative skills improved more than waiting controls in all three intervention groups.
03Vocabulary gains were seen only on measures tied to taught material.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The intervention was short: 6 weeks and 18 sessions. The comparison group was an untreated waiting control. Vocabulary results were mixed, with positive findings only on intervention-specific measures. The intervention-specific measures were described as less reliable. Each teaching assistant delivered all three interventions, which may have made it hard to keep the narrative and vocabulary programmes separate. Not all students received the full 18 sessions; the narrative, vocabulary and combined groups attended 15.7, 15.2 and 16.1 sessions on average. The sample was Year 7 students in mainstream secondary schools in two outer London boroughs.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that these programmes improved general vocabulary knowledge. The standardized vocabulary outcome showed no significant difference from waiting controls, and vocabulary gains were only on tests tied to the taught material.