It is a well established fact that the level and degree of vocabulary knowledge plays an important role in adolescents’ literacy development. The purpose of this study was to examine teachers’ and students’ perceptions and use of an interactive vocabulary strategy, in the form of an interactive word wall, as the focal point of systematic instruction in a vocabulary-rich literacy program. An interactive word wall is an instructional tool for supporting word learning activities in which students explore, evaluate, reflect, and apply word meanings in meaningful contexts (Harmon, Wood, Vintinner, & Willeford, 2009). A sociocultural theory served as the theoretical framework to guide this study. Sociocultural theory emphasizes that knowledge is constructed collaboratively in a social context, which the individual and social world have mutually interrelated roles in the learning development. Based on a qualitative inquiry, a case study design was used to examine teacher and student perceptions, use, and adaptations of the interactive word wall. This study employed interviews, observations, assessments, surveys, knowledge rating scales, and artifact data. This research study was conducted over six weeks during the fall of 2010. Participants included four content area teachers and their students in one urban middle school in the southeastern United States. Each content area (mathematics, science, social studies, and language arts) is represented in this study. Within-case and cross-case analyses were used to analyze the data. The main findings from this study are: (1) Teachers and students viewed the interactive vocabulary strategy as being beneficial in enhancing word learning in their content area, (2) Student choice is an important factor to consider when planning instructional strategies in content area classrooms, (3) Teacher resistance to vocabulary instruction decreased over time as they adapted the interactive word wall strategy to meet their specific content goals, and (4) Student word knowledge broadened and deepened during the interactive word wall instructional design. Several conclusions and implications are drawn from the findings. Recommendations for future research are also discussed in the final chapter of this study
