Multiple Media Vocabulary Intervention

Multiple Media Vocabulary Intervention is a vocabulary learning program for preschoolers that uses both traditional storybooks and video presentations of comparable story content to promote incidental word learning. The intervention targets preschool-aged children (approximately 4-5 years old) and delivers stories through either a single medium (book-book or video-video) or two different media (book and video) in a counterbalanced order. Each story presentation lasts 5.5-6 minutes and includes 9 target Tier 2 vocabulary words (3 nouns, 3 adjectives, 3 verbs) repeated 4-5 times within each story. Children receive two exposures to stories approximately one hour apart, for a total of 8-10 repetitions of each target word. The intervention uses animated stories from Peep and the Big Wide World, a PBS science program designed for preschoolers. For book reading, a research assistant reads the story in a lively, animated manner with minimal interaction. For video viewing, children watch independently with the assistant present but not interacting. The intervention requires no special training for implementation beyond instructions to read engagingly and move quickly past child comments.