Abstract
One of the foremost critical challenges that learners may face while learning a foreign language is developing a reliable lexicon and mastering words. Inadequate vocabulary knowledge may put serious barriers within the process of learning a second / foreign language (L2). Thus, students must equip themselves with different strategies to overcome these difficulties. One amongst these strategies that has been heeded by many experts is the use of the first language (L1) translation in learning the vocabulary of L2. However, the effect of this strategy on English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ vocabulary depth remained under explored. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study is to examine the effect of L1 translation on the depth of vocabulary of EFL learners. To attain this goal, a total of 86 Tunisian students, at the fourth year of Secondary Education level, participated in this project. They were randomly selected and divided into a control group and an experimental group. Two Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge tests were assigned to test the research hypotheses. Data was analyzed using two independent-samples t-tests. The findings of the study showed that the participants within the experimental group, who learnt vocabulary through L1 translation strategies, outperformed their counterparts within the control group, who learnt vocabulary through strategies employing only the target language, in relation to their vocabulary depth.
Highlights
In recent decades, there has been an enormous development of research literature on foreign language learning strategies, in multilingual contexts
To answer the first research question, it was hypothesized that there is no significant difference between the control group and the experimental group in terms of vocabulary depth in the preexperiment test
There were no significant outliers in the data as it was assessed by the inspection of boxplots
Summary
There has been an enormous development of research literature on foreign language learning strategies, in multilingual contexts. Lexis has been recognized as the essence of language (Lewis, 1993) the core of its learning and use. It is the threshold of language learning and the indispensable prerequisite for learning other skills (Laufer, 1997). The acquisition of a robust lexicon is an extremely important aspect of L2 learning (L2 refers to both second and foreign languages) since learners cannot understand others or communicate their own feelings and thoughts without the appropriate words. Vocabulary is described by Lessard-Clouston (2013) as a language component that includes individual objects, phrases, or chunks of several words that convey specific meanings
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