Abstract
Recent studies suggest incidental vocabulary learning (IVL) through audio-visual input to be effective for ESL vocabulary development. However, no research has been conducted on IVL gains from academic videos, an accessible, cost- and time-efficient educational tool. Furthermore, as studies suggest that students tend to have high motivation when videos are used during teaching, it is suggested that IVL gains could vary according to student motivation levels. Therefore, this research intends to address the gap of potential IVL gains for ESL learners through academic videos and its possible relationship with motivation. A total of 56 ESL pre-university students in an English-medium university in Malaysia participated in this study. IVL gains were measured through a modified Vocabulary Size Test including a target words test before and after watching the 10-minute academic video. Students’ motivation level was measured using a video motivation questionnaire. The results indicated a significant IVL gain with 0.78 (3.9%) of the target words learned on an average. However, no correlation was found between student motivation level and IVL gains. Therefore, results from this study may give an insight on how TESOL educators can integrate academic videos into innovative, formal and informal teaching practices to develop the vocabulary of ESL students through IVL.
Highlights
Vocabulary knowledge is known to play a vital role in developing second language (L2) proficiency for academic achievement in higher education (Daller & Xue, 2009; Roche & Harrington, 2013; Schuth et al, 2017)
This study expands on previous studies on incidental vocabulary learning (IVL) from audio-visual input by specifying the audio-visual material used to academic videos, a common tool used in the classroom (Nwosisi et al, 2016)
While most studies explored the learning of IVL through documentaries (Montero Perez, 2020; Montero Perez et al, 2014) or television shows (Peters & Webb, 2018; Puimège & Peters, 2019), this study presented new findings as it had utilised an academic video which differs in purpose, as academic videos provide a support for the learning of main content of a lesson (Almurashi, 2016; Jones & Cuthrell, 2011)
Summary
Vocabulary knowledge is known to play a vital role in developing second language (L2) proficiency for academic achievement in higher education (Daller & Xue, 2009; Roche & Harrington, 2013; Schuth et al, 2017). There is a need for vocabulary development, which can be learned intentionally or incidentally, for ESL students in English-medium universities. While research has acknowledged that intentional vocabulary learning—the purposeful learning of words through meaning-focused tasks—yields high vocabulary gains, due to the substantial amount of vocabulary necessary for language use, it is doubtful that learners are able to learn words exclusively through intentional vocabulary tasks (Webb et al, 2020; Webb, 2019). Research has found audio-visual input to be rich sources of exposure to English which can effectively develop vocabulary through incidental vocabulary learning (IVL)—the learning of words implicitly as a by-product of a meaning-focused task (Montero Perez, 2020; Peters et al, 2016; Teng, 2021). It is crucial to explore how watching academic videos can facilitate IVL and develop students’ vocabulary knowledge
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