ESL Vocabulary Teaching Strategies Used by Primary School Teachers in Sarawak

Abstract

The core component in any language is its vocabulary and vocabulary instruction lays the framework for pupils to retrieve words successfully in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The application of various techniques will encourage a more comprehensive and well-rounded method for teaching vocabulary. The goal of this study is to investigate the strategies employed by ESL teachers to teach vocabulary in primary schools through quantitative research design. The questionnaire was adapted from a study by AI Ameri (2013), where 16 items were selected, refined and used in this study to gather data from 30 primary school teachers teaching English in Sarawak. The data collected were analysed descriptively and the findings indicated that teachers use a variety of different techniques in the classroom rather than concentrating solely on one. Based on the results, the top three strategies used by teacher to teach vocabulary to their pupils are through group discussions or presentations, using actual objects or pictures and teaching pupils to infer a word's meaning from context. Hence, this study gave the researcher some understanding of the vocabulary teaching strategies utilised by teachers particularly in primary schools in Sarawak.