Videos versus print materials in incidental vocabulary acquisition: an impact study

Abstract

Vocabulary constitutes an integral part of second language ability, i.e., English language ability in the context of university education in Sri Lanka. As a result of the advances achieved in mass media and communication technology, today’s second language learners of English have access to thousands of videos representing thousands of interactive situations that they could have experienced while absorbing the kernel language with incidental vocabulary. In contrast, there are print materials that are conventionally accepted to have an impact on incidental vocabulary acquisition. Limited research on the comparative effectiveness of using reading materials and video materials in incidental vocabulary acquisition and retention was addressed through this study that aimed at experimenting with videos and print materials with two parallel fifty-member groups in a reputed private university in Sri Lanka. Ten target words were exposed to the reading class through reading materials and the video class through video materials in a series of lessons that allowed incidental vocabulary acquisition. The results of the immediate tests and posttests of the video-based and reading-based groups were subjected to independent sample t-tests to measure the retention of vocabulary by the two respective groups. The data analysis did not demonstrate a statistically significant difference between the two groups at the immediate test with 0.37 as the P(T<=t) two-tail value. However, there was a statistically significant vocabulary gain in the video group over the reading group at the post-test with the P(T<=t) two-tail value at 0.04. Thus, it was concluded that, while both the video and reading methods supported vocabulary acquisition, the video input contributed to a greater as well as statistically significant long-term vocabulary retention over the reading input mode.