Productive vocabulary knowledge of pre-service teachers as a predictor of writing performance: basis for English syllabi And instructional modules improvement

Abstract

Although a growing body of research has indicated that writing performance is determined by the writer’s level of vocabulary knowledge, the relationship between the two still needs to be validated as it has strong pedagogical implication. This study aimed at investigating the productive vocabulary knowledge of pre-service teachers as a predictor of writing performance which serves as basis for English syllabi and instructional modules improvement. Seventy-seven (77) students from different year levels were assessed on their productive vocabulary knowledge using vocabulary profiler along four frequency levels:  1st 1,000 words of high frequency, 2nd 1, 000 words least frequently used, Academic World List (AWL), and Off-list. They were also evaluated on their writing performance in terms of organization, content and mechanics. The study found that the productive vocabulary knowledge of the pre-service teachers was limited to the levels with high frequency words. Findings also indicate that their writing performance (good) was affected by their productive vocabulary test performance. Furthermore, the productive vocabulary knowledge of students was the same regardless of sex, age and year level. Meanwhile, except for sex variations were observed in writing performance along age and year level.