The single exposure: partial word knowledge growth through reading.

A critical aspect of the assessment of children's word learning processes is the examination of word knowledge growth over time. The purpose of this study was to examine the types of partial word knowledge (PWK) growth that occurred from 1 exposure to unfamiliar words in text, taking into account the roles of part of speech and individual language skills. Sixth-grade children with normal language read stories containing unfamiliar nouns and verbs. The children then completed 2 tasks to assess PWK. Results were that at least 1 type of PWK developed: knowledge that a word exists as a lexical entry in the language. Part of speech appeared to play a role; significant PWK at posttest was apparent for verbs but not for nouns. Children's language skills did not appear to impact the amount of PWK demonstrated at posttest.