A study examined the effects of less able readers' learning vocabulary from listening. Subjects, 43 sixth-grade students in two classes in an urban public school, were read one of two selections from seventh-grade literature anthologies. Two days later, the subjects completed orally or in writing a multiple-choice vocabulary test containing words from both selections. Results indicated that: (1) children can learn a significant amount of word meanings from exposure to an oral presentation; and (2) even those children who begin with the lowest vocabulary achievement can learn as many word meanings from listening, if not more, than those who have higher initial vocabulary knowledge. (Two tables and one figure of data are included; 25 references are attached.) (RS)