The research literature well establishes that adverse conditions, such as poverty, can affect children’s cognitive development and academic achievement. Educators are challenged to translate these understandings into instructional practices grounded in research that best meet the needs of students, especially students living in poverty who are at greater risk for underperforming compared to their more resourced peers. This study explored the effects of two teachers’ direct instruction learning environments to test the hypothesis that Title I kindergarten students from low socioeconomic backgrounds will show greater gains in receptive vocabulary and literacy learning when purposeful play is incorporated. The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test 4th Edition (PPVT-4) results were analyzed in relation to students’ literacy learning as measured by i-Ready Diagnostic Reading at pre/post-test. While receptive vocabulary growth was greater in the didactic classroom, the reading growth was greater in the play-based classroom. Students with higher levels of receptive vocabulary in both classrooms also tended to perform better on measures of literacy achievement. The findings from this study, while limited, conclude that infusing both a play-based approach and systematic direct instruction may be the best way to support the literacy learning needs for all students. This study supports the bourgeoning research of play-based, developmentally appropriate practices as an effective intervention to increase educational equity for vulnerable students.

研究文献充分证明，贫困等不利条件会影响儿童的认知发展和学习成绩。教育工作者面临着将这些理解转化为基于研究的教学实践的挑战，这些实践最能满足学生的需求，尤其是生活贫困的学生，与资源丰富的同龄人相比，他们表现不佳的风险更大。这项研究探讨了两位教师直接指导学习环境的影响，以检验以下假设的假设：具有低社会经济背景的职称I幼儿园学生在有目的玩法的情况下将在接受词汇和识字学习中获得更大的收益。皮博迪图片词汇测试第4版（PPVT-4）的结果与学生的读写学习相关，该测试是通过i-Ready Diagnostic Reading在测试前/测试后测得的。虽然在教学课堂中接受词汇的增长更大，但在基于游戏的课堂中阅读增长更大。在两个教室中，接受词汇量较高的学生在识字成绩方面也往往表现得更好。这项研究的结果虽然有限，但得出的结论是，融合基于游戏的方法和系统的直接指导可能是满足所有学生识字学习需求的最佳方法。这项研究支持以游戏为基础的，适合发展的实践的新兴研究，作为增加弱势学生教育公平性的有效干预措施。