The Repeated Exposure to Vocabulary (REV) program is designed for students in grades PK-3 who struggle with vocabulary acquisition due to a language delay or disorder. This program uses themed lessons with stories to make learning new words engaging and meaningful.

The REV program is composed of themed lessons anchored by a story that introduces the target words in context. The array of activities within each lesson is dependent on the semantic category (i.e. noun, verb, etc.) being targeted. All lessons begin with the story, which is followed by receptive and expressive vocabulary activities focused on the target words.

This program targets both breadth of vocabulary (i.e. The number of words a child knows and uses) by offering a variety of lessons and categories of target words, and depth of vocabulary (i.e. the richness of word knowledge) by giving the student opportunities to engage with target vocabulary in many different ways. The targeted words embedded in REV include Tier One words from common categories including food, animals, verbs, and more.

The REV curriculum is built to have students complete various vocabulary tasks with the same set of target words. This allows for repeated vocabulary exposure using a variety of stimuli (i.e. explanations, stories, pictures, etc.) that are provided at various levels, allowing interventionists to provide individualized scaffolding.

The REV program was designed for students who present with limited vocabulary skills. REV targets both the breadth of vocabulary (i.e. the number of words a child knows and uses) and depth of vocabulary (i.e. the richness of word knowledge) using both theme-based therapy and repeated word exposure. This follows the theory that a child needs to be exposed to a word between 50-100 times in order to acquire and use that word (Marzano, 2004; Pence & Justice, 2008).

REV focuses on Tier One words which are learned in early grades and even prior to attending school. These words rarely require direct instruction for typically developing children (Hutton, 2008), as they typically acquire vocabulary through multiple indirect exposures, whether by engaging in oral-language activities at home or at school, by having books read to them aloud, or by reading on their own (Diamond & Gutlohn, 2006). Children with language delays or disorders frequently require direct support to acquire vocabulary, as well as to acquire the language and academic skills surrounding vocabulary development in general (i.e, recognizing and using context clues, referring to a glossary, using new words in various contexts, describing words and concepts) (Steele & Mills, 2011).

Based on the research, REV was designed around a teaching methodology that emphasizes using a variety of methods of instruction, providing high frequency word exposure, and modulating task difficulty.

REV was designed to provide a variety of different methods of instruction such as thematic instruction, and explicit instruction in order to promote student learning. Nurlaela et al (2018) found that the “thematic instructional model was more effective than conventional instruction and the thematic instructional model had a capacity in accommodating different learning styles and reading abilities.” (Nurlaela L., Samani M., Asto I. G. P., Wibawa S. C., 2018). Theme-based speech and language therapy involves integrating books or topics in a planned therapy session, where targeted words, pictures, and texts are all connected to the overarching theme. Themed-based therapy also allows for the introduction of contextually-based skills.

Justice et al (2005) compared the effects of explicit vocabulary instruction and implicit, context-based instruction. They found that not only was there a significant improvement in the treatment group but that children with low vocabulary scores made the greatest gains on explicitly taught words (Justice, L. M., Meier, J., & Walpole, S., 2005). Brett A, Rothlein L, and Hurley M., (1996) also found that when teachers provided an explanation of target words presented in reading passages, students remembered the target words better than students who had not received any explanation of the target words. REV incorporates this methodology in the direct instructions built into every lesson. The program has multiple types of practice questions to allow for multiple opportunities to elaborate on the target words.

Another important aspect of REVs’ underlying teaching methodology is frequent, repeated exposures to target vocabulary words. Research has shown that students should be exposed to new vocabulary words at least 40 times in order to solidify learning (Wasik and Hindman, 2014). Vermeer (2001) also found in two different studies that the probability of a student knowing a word was highly correlated with the frequency with which it was presented in primary school. In REV, target vocabulary is introduced and practiced in a variety of ways, giving students multiple opportunities to interact with the words.

In addition to frequent exposures, REV was designed to provide students with incrementally harder practice opportunities. According to Cuticelli, Coyne, Ware, Oldham, and Loftus Rattan (2014), it is important to control the level of task difficulty (e.g., moving from easier to more difficult tasks throughout the instruction). To align with these findings, the activities in REV are arranged according to increasing task difficulty, building from receptive categorization to expressive definition generation.