The Effect of One-way and Two-way Tasks on Iranian EFL Learners’ Lexical Learning

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of one-way and two-way tasks on lexical learning of Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners. Participants included 40 male and female Iranian EFL learners with the age range of 11-21, at the pre-intermediate level and from two English language institutes. They were assigned to two experimental groups: a one-way-task group and a two-way-task group. Knowledge of the intended lexes was established by a pre-test. The experimental groups underwent different treatments for eight 30-minute sessions during which they told stories based on the picture-cued stories. After the treatment, a post-test and a delayed post-test were administered. The results of the one-way repeated measures ANOVAs indicated that both one-way and two-way tasks had a significant effect on the learning of lexis. Meanwhile, gain scores of pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest were compared using independent samples T-tests. It indicated that two-way tasks, compared to one-way tasks, were more effective in the retention of lexes. The findings of this study could attract the attention of material developers to include one-way and two-way tasks in the books. Teacher trainers and EFL teachers could utilize similar task types in the classroom and could provide EFL learners with an effective way of vocabulary acquisition.