Contrastive Form-Focused Instruction in Improving Vocabulary

Abstract

The present study investigated the effectiveness of contrastive form-focused instruction (CFFI) in improving the vocabulary skills of grade 11 public school senior high school students from the general academic strand. The study also demonstrated the potential of CFFI coupled with subtitled videos to enhance vocabulary learning and should be considered in future educational practices. A quasi-experimental pretest-post-test design was utilized to evaluate the dependent variables before and after the intervention and overall results indicate that CFFI significantly improved learners’ understanding of the target words, leading to better vocabulary skills. Results further suggest that CFFI has the potential to provide a valuable learning platform for learners to develop a more nuanced understanding of L2 vocabulary words and their semantic differences from learners’ L1. Moreover, the study’s findings have implications for teaching methodologies, especially in teaching other subject areas. Since CFFI can serve as a valuable tool to help learners expand their vocabulary using their existing lexical schema as a springboard to build a sufficient vocabulary repertoire necessary to learn more new words and develop other skills, it may positively impact the overall academic performance of students, particularly the struggling learners who may have learning gaps and experienced learning loss.