School Vocabulary Research Articles

The use of multimedia presentations in teaching foreign language vocabulary in elementary school

The use of multimedia presentations in teaching foreign language vocabulary in elementary school

Teachers’ Attitude towards the Use of Computer Technology in Teaching English Vocabulary among Primary Schools in Nyamira County, Kenya

This paper investigated teachers’ perception towards use of computer technology for teaching and learning English vocabulary in primary schools in Nyamira County, Kenya. The researchers adopted the descriptive design and employed stratified simple random and purposive sampling techniques to select 62 teachers and 23 Curriculum Support Officers (CSOs) who participated in the study through questionnaire and interview. Data was analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative techniques. The study revealed that teachers hold positive perception towards the use of computer technology in English vocabulary lessons. They perceived computer technology as important in improving the quality of vocabulary teaching and learning, increasing learners’ engagement and promoting innovation in English vocabulary. The study thus recommends a need to support the positive perception of teachers through provision of regular professional development opportunities on technology use for successful use of the computer technology in teaching and learning.

The Educational Potential of Cyberfeminisms: An Intersectional Analysis of @coletivoandorinha, @feministasemmovimento and @feministas.pt profiles

Focusing on the dialogue between cyberfeminisms and education, through an intersectional perspective, this study combines the work of feminist authors such as Haraway (1991), DeLaurentis (2004), hooks (2013), Crenshaw (1991), and Butler (2011) with others recent works to address the following question: How do cyberfeminist Instagram profiles contribute to intersectional education for gender equality? To answer that, we analysed the profiles @coletivoandorinha, @feministasemmovimento and @feministas.pt between 2021 and 2023, using a qualitative method (Minayo, 2015), with semi-structured interviews to: 1. understand the strategies of the cyberfeminist profiles; 2. identify gender and race differences in the construction of cyberfeminist discourses; 3. identify the main challenges in translating cyberfeminist content into school vocabulary. Results show may enable understanding of how intersectionality is verifiable in cyberfeminist discourses, and how contents may prove adequate for educational purposes.

DUOLINGO & English Vocabulary: How Students Acquire New Vocabulary by Playing the Game

This article discusses about the use of an android mobile application, Duolingo, to improve students of junior high school vocabulary mastery. Purpose of study: The study aims to find out how is the process of the students acquire vocabulary through playing the game? and, can the application improve the student’s vocabulary mastery? Method: It is a case study involving 30 students as participants. Questionnaires and vocabulary Test were given to the students after playing the game for several times. Result: It is found that most of the students are excited and enjoying playing the game. Gamification is the most favorite features according to them. They acquire many vocabularies after playing the game based on the vocabulary Test result. Conclusion: It is concluded that Duolingo, an android application, is increasing the student’s motivation in learning English as well as improves their vocabulary mastery.

The Cultivation of Intercultural Communicative Competence in Senior High School Vocabulary Teaching

The cultivation of intercultural communicative competence not only helps students to broaden their international horizons and eliminate intercultural communicative barriers during communication, but also helps to promote cultural exchanges under the background of globalization. In addition, the high school English curriculum standard also puts forward certain requirements for the cultivation of students' intercultural communicative competence, thus it is necessary to cultivate students' intercultural communicative competence in high school English teaching. Adhering to literacy orientation, respect for differences and an ideological basis should be the principles of cultivating intercultural communicative competence. Language is the carrier of culture, and the cultivation of students' cross-cultural communicative competence can be carried out throughout vocabulary teaching by explaining the different meanings of vocabulary, explaining the background cultural knowledge of vocabulary, improving cultural sensitivity through lexical cultural comparison to strengthen students' cross-cultural communicative competence.

Reading profiles in secondary school: concurrent language and cognitive abilities, and retrospective and prospective reading skills.

We examined the concurrent language and cognitive abilities in a group of Swedish students with different reading profiles in secondary school, and the retrospective (primary school) and prospective (upper-secondary school) reading skills of each reading profile. Seventy-nine students participated in data collections in primary (grade 2: age 8), secondary (grade 8: age 14) and upper-secondary school (year 2: age 17). Independent variables included measures of word recognition, and vocabulary and text comprehension in secondary school. Dependent variables included measures of phonemic awareness, verbal fluency, listening comprehension, spelling, verbal working memory and nonverbal reasoning skills in secondary school, and word recognition and reading comprehension in primary and upper-secondary school. When exploring the concurrent language and cognitive abilities of the reading profiles in secondary school, spelling emerged as a weakness and listening comprehension as a strength for students with poor decoding. Students with poor comprehension experienced weaknesses in spelling, and non-verbal reasoning. Students with both poor decoding and comprehension displayed a multi-deficit profile in language and cognition. As regards the retrospective and prospective reading skills, the relative ranking of the reading profiles was rather consistent in both primary and upper-secondary school. The findings suggest that limitations in phonological awareness may not be a prominent feature of secondary school students with poor decoding in more transparent orthographies. From an educational perspective, spoken sources may support learning among students with poor decoding, whereas students with poor comprehension or combined difficulties in decoding and comprehension need support when learning from both spoken and written sources.

The Effect of Junior High School Vocabulary Mastery Using Word Wall Web

Educators and academics are increasingly interested in using digital tools and applications to enhance online education. The recent growth of online education has attracted this interest. An English teacher will be observed in a junior high school to assess students' vocabulary. The observation results showed that students had difficulty in responding to English. The researcher implemented the Word Wall web as a vocabulary learning tool with the authorization of the teacher. Treatment sessions, pre-tests, post-tests, and surveys will assess students' progress and perception of Word Wall. Data analysis will determine students' word comprehension improvement. This study examines how online learning is based on word wall applications improves junior high school vocabulary. This study used Classroom Action Research. Pretest and posttest are objective tests used in this study. Somebody can use Word Wall in various subjects, not only language. With extra practice on Word Wall, students can increase their daily vocabulary. Researchers should explore different focus areas of English skills for similar research.

An Examination Of Academic Studies Regarding Vocabulary Teaching In Secondary School Turkish Textbooks

Vocabulary teaching aims to transfer the cultural properties and richness of expression of a language to the next generations. Studies conducted on vocabulary teaching become important in the development of the textbooks used as the primary source for teaching vocabulary in schools, the emergence of new approaches to vocabulary teaching, and the way for the relevant experts to gain different perspectives. When the studies in the literature are reviewed, although there are some studies conducted on vocabulary teaching in textbooks, there is no study that handles all these studies together. The aim of the present study, which was conducted based on the lack of studies in the literature, is to examine the academic studies conducted on vocabulary teaching in secondary school Turkish textbooks between 2006-2023. Within the aim of the study, a total of 22 postgraduate theses and 42 articles that were indexed in Google Scholar, YÖK National Thesis Center, Proquest, and TR Index databases and discussed the vocabulary elements in Turkish textbooks have been examined. Document analysis, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study and descriptive analysis was performed to analyze the studies included in the scope of the research. As a result of the study, it was concluded that of the studies conducted on the vocabulary elements in secondary school Turkish textbooks, 34,4 % were theses while 65,6 % of them were articles; the qualitative method was mostly used in studies; the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th-grade Turkish textbooks were examined together throughout the research; studies were conducted to determine the vocabulary elements in the passages of the textbooks, identify the vocabulary elements in the activities of the textbooks, and analyze the textbooks in terms of idioms, proverbs, and word frequency; vocabulary elements such as idioms, proverbs, formulaic expressions, reduplications, proper nouns, and related words were included more; keywords in the studies were grouped under the title of vocabulary, culture, genre, method and technique, book, skill, linguistics, word, and education and training; and keywords included in the studies and aims of the present study overlapped with each other.

Student’s Cognitive Engagement in Teaching Vocabulary through Mnemonic Strategy

This research aims to explore students' cognitive engagement and find out student’s perception towards learning vocabulary through mnemonic strategy. This research is a qualitative research with TPT cognitive engagement model as research design. The data of this research was gathered for four meetings by using observation, interview, and documentation. The data of observation were analyzed by interactive analysis supported by quadrant and tally analysis. The researcher take five participants from 10th grades from one of Islamic senior high school MAN 2 Kuningan. The findings showed that students have positive cognitive engagement where all of the participants get in the 4th quadrant except for one. Students Cognition level improved throughout the time until they have high cognition and high participation. Students also showed positive perceptions where they feel happy and fun during learning because they considered mnemonic strategy is like a game. Students also stated that their thinking skill is improved by the learning. Mnemonic strategy is also suggested to be implemented as a method in learning vocabulary in schools because it is effective.

A Study on the Classroom Teaching Mode of High School English Vocabulary Based on the Context Theory under the Activity View of the New Curriculum Standard

The English Curriculum Standard for General High Schools (2017 Edition Revised in 2020) puts forward the concept of the activity view of English learning and clarifies the important role of activity in English learning that focuses on playing the leading role of the teacher and respecting the students' dominant position, which indicates that the teaching mode of traditional classrooms in which students have no participation no longer adapts to the requirements of the new era. Given the fundamental role of vocabulary in English learning, this paper analyzes the shortcomings of the teaching process in the traditional classroom mode based on the context theory that fits the requirements of the activity view of the new curriculum standard and then puts forward the improvement suggestions of English vocabulary teaching in conformity with the requirements of the new standard to enhance the teaching effect of English vocabulary in high school.

Out‐of‐classroom L2 vocabulary acquisition: The effects of digital activities and school vocabulary

AbstractExtramural exposure, through activities such as watching TV, gaming, networking, and online reading, has become an important source of vocabulary acquisition in English as a foreign language, particularly when learners’ first language (L1) has many cognates with English. Our study examined extramural vocabulary acquisition of 10th‐grade L1 speakers of noncognate languages over one school year and explored the effects of digital activities and initial lexical knowledge of the participants on their vocabulary gains. Learners reported the amount of digital activity, took a vocabulary pretest, and kept vocabulary diaries where they recorded, on a weekly basis, the new words they encountered. At the end of the study, each student took a personalized test that included all the words recorded in their personal diary. The results indicate that (a) all learners gained some out‐of‐school word knowledge, (b) students with better initial vocabulary knowledge gained more words, and (c) the initial knowledge contributed to out‐of‐school learning more than the amount of digital activity.

Extramural Activities and their relationship with English as a foreign language

Extramural activities (EA) are of particular interest to language learning researchers because learners engage in them so frequently and readily – which also makes them especially difficult to research. De Wilde et al. (2020, p. 180) found three activities to be especially fruitful: “use of social media in English, gaming in English, and speaking English”. They belong to the more interactive activities, which require the learner to use English, rather than just consume it. Consuming English-language media, in turn, has been shown to be beneficial for understanding the form-meaning connection of words and for language comprehension in general (cf. Peters, Heynen & Puimége, 2016; Peters & Webb, 2018). Social networking services (SNS) such as Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter have furthermore been explored and show benefits for learners’ willingness to communicate in the foreign language as well as their writing fluency (cf. Dzion, 2016) and overall language confidence (cf. Bailey & Almusharraf, 2021). However, learners express themselves differently on the internet than they do in “instructionally designed language teaching and learning practices in schools” (Lantz-Andersson, Vigmo & Bowen, 2013, p. 294). Users often sacrifice proper grammar and spelling to get messages across in fewer characters (cf. Sirucek, 2009). Since it is still questioned whether the language used online, also called netspeak or Internetese (cf. Angel, 2022), is beneficial to the language used within the classroom, this study was conducted with German EFL, connecting their in-class writing to their EA. The hypothesis is that the English learned online (through Extramural English (EE)) is a different variety of English than the one used in the classroom and thus, no large effects on productive vocabulary and lexical diversity can be found in the learners’ in-school writing. This study is based on a detailed survey on EE and a corpus collected from texts written for an exam. In addition, the informants fulfilled one discourse completion task (DCT) asking them to write a text message to a friend, informing them of a secret. A total of 43 informants (age m=17.77) participated in the study. They will all graduate from a German high school (Gymnasium) and have received the same type of formal education. On average, they spend 2.3 hours per day on TikTok, 1 hour on Instagram, and even more time streaming content in both English and German on platforms such as Netflix, YouTube, Twitch, and the like (cf. poster). In particular, more than half of the participants use Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram in English, while chat platforms such as WhatsApp are almost exclusively used in German. All participants consume English audio and visual content daily and thus, the participants overall consume a lot of English-language content in varying intensity. However, they rarely produce much of it themselves. To explore the productive vocabulary, lexical frequency profiles (LFP) were used. Laufer and Nation (1995) view the LFP as an advanced method for measuring vocabulary size, as it is independent of a curriculum and can be used to compare learners from different backgrounds. In this study, the LFPs of the exam texts show no significant correlation between time spent online in English, participation in EA, and lexical diversity in writing. As the pie charts show, the German pupils as a whole perform significantly worse than a control group of native speakers writing on similar questions. Even if the amount of EE is considered, the group participating intensively in EE does not produce significantly better LFP. The (intensive) participation in EE does therefore not directly predict good LFPs. Thus, the question is whether the language consumed online is beneficial for Standard English expected in school writing. Since internetese is a variety of English, competence in internetese should be tested to find out if EE has an effect on its use. A first attempt at such a competence test was made by using the DCT to prompt the production of a text message (cf. adjacent poster). Of the 37 students who produced a text message, 20 participants demonstrated very confident use of internetese by using acronyms, internet slang, and sentence structures typical of the variety. The more proficient users of internetese have several things in common (cf. poster): they indicated high confidence in their English skills, they game less but watch more English content, they spend more time on average on SNS and text more in English, and they read more, especially fanfiction. Overall, there seems to be a relationship between consuming English media, engaging in online use of English, and the competences in the English internet variety. However, the use of EA does not significantly predict the use of lexically diverse vocabulary in school writing. Further studies should aim to create a proper test of internetese competence to explore this further. Additionally, looking at other skills besides writing might show which skills improve by the use of the internet.

The Implementation of Quizlet in Teaching English Vocabulary to Elementary School Students

In Indonesia, one of the foreign languages taught at the primary level (elementary school) and secondary level (junior and senior high school) is English. One effective learning medium used to teach English is Quizlet. However, the implementation of Quizlet for teaching vocabulary in elementary schools still needs exploration. Therefore, this research aims to investigate how elementary school teachers perceive Quizlet as a learning medium for teaching English and describe how Quizlet is implemented as a learning medium to teach vocabulary in the classroom. A descriptive qualitative method involves three elementary teachers through semi-structured interviews and class observations as data collection techniques. The findings indicate that teachers perceive Quizlet’s features, including flashcards, match games, and instant feedback, make teaching and learning more accessible, enjoyable, and engaging. However, teachers identified some challenges, including limited supervision, internet connectivity issues, varying technological understanding among students, and students’ motivation for independent learning. The vocabulary given is sourced from the school book and other materials. The SAMR model is applied, incorporating pre-, during-, and post-activities in the lessons. Quizlet’s features, including Flashcards, Learn, Write, Spell, Test, Match, and Live modes, are utilized both offline and online over two sessions. Despite internet connectivity challenges, students could navigate the various Quizlet modes, complete exercises, and achieve high scores. Overall, Quizlet is perceived positively by elementary teachers and has been successfully implemented as a learning medium for teaching English vocabulary.

The Utilization Of Drill And Practice Youtube Video Model To Improve English Proficiency In Elementary Schools

English as a local content in elementary schools, but students lack the desire and enthusiasm to learn English, students think that English is very difficult both pronunciation and writing. The purpose of the study is to utilize YouTube videos as learning media using the Drill and Practice method to improve English vocabulary in elementary schools, this study uses a Classroom Action Research (PTK) approach, the results of the study that the utilization of YouTube videos using the Drill and Practice model can improve English language skills in fourth grade students of SD Negeri 4 Metro Barat, with research subjects 20 students produced good results and experienced an increase in learning outcomes. In the pre-cycle the level of completeness of student learning outcomes was 40%, in cycle I the level of completeness of learning outcomes was 60%, in cycle II it increased with a level of completeness of learning outcomes of 95%, so the level of completeness of student learning outcomes in cycles I and II increased by 30%. So it can be concluded that by utilizing YouTube videos using the Drill and Practice method can improve English language skills in elementary schools.

Trilingual children’s narratives: a longitudinal study of lexical development

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on vocabulary development in oral language productions of three elementary school-age sibling pairs growing up in a trilingual setting. This longitudinal study describes the development of the children's narrative competence over three years. The corpus analysed consists of retellings of animated films. The contribution deals with the lexical development in the three languages of the children, in particular the length of the productions, lexical diversity and lexical sophistication. Lexical diversity is measured by the Guiraud Index. It is assumed that the children's vocabulary becomes more diverse with increasing age. Lexical sophistication is examined by measuring the average frequency of words used by the participants. It is assumed that as children's vocabularies grow, they will include more and more ‘rare’ low-frequency words in their productions. Assuming that the school language is the dominant language, the question is whether lexical diversity and sophistication increase with age in all three of the children's languages, or whether this is only the case in the school language. The results show that lexical development varies from child to child. However, a certain trend can be observed, indicating that school vocabulary is becoming more sophisticated.

ESL Vocabulary Teaching Strategies Used by Primary School Teachers in Sarawak

The core component in any language is its vocabulary and vocabulary instruction lays the framework for pupils to retrieve words successfully in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The application of various techniques will encourage a more comprehensive and well-rounded method for teaching vocabulary. The goal of this study is to investigate the strategies employed by ESL teachers to teach vocabulary in primary schools through quantitative research design. The questionnaire was adapted from a study by AI Ameri (2013), where 16 items were selected, refined and used in this study to gather data from 30 primary school teachers teaching English in Sarawak. The data collected were analysed descriptively and the findings indicated that teachers use a variety of different techniques in the classroom rather than concentrating solely on one. Based on the results, the top three strategies used by teacher to teach vocabulary to their pupils are through group discussions or presentations, using actual objects or pictures and teaching pupils to infer a word's meaning from context. Hence, this study gave the researcher some understanding of the vocabulary teaching strategies utilised by teachers particularly in primary schools in Sarawak.

The Use of Media Pictures in Learning Arabic Vocabulary in Elementary Schools

This study aims to describe the use of media pictures in learning Arabic vocabulary in elementary schools. This research is a qualitative type of field research at MIS Al-Hidayah Medan. The researcher obtained data on learning Arabic vocabulary using media pictures from data sources of Arabic class VI teachers at MIS Al-Hidayah Medan and documents supporting learning Arabic at the madrasah. Observation, interviews, and documentation carry out data collection techniques. At the same time, data analysis is done through data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion. The study results show that using media pictures to learn Arabic vocabulary at MIS Al-Hidayah is done by displaying images matching the Arabic vocabulary. The benefit of using media pictures during the learning process is that students can remember vocabulary and say it without referring to the book. The drawbacks of using media pictures are that the images used are not in the language, so students who sit behind will need help seeing the pictures displayed by the teacher.

VOCABULARY ASSESMENT STRATEGY

This research aims to find out the vocabulary assessment strategy used by teachers in assessing students' vocabulary in secondary schools and how the results of applying the vocabulary assessment strategy are to students' vocabulary skills. This research uses qualitative descriptive \where the data collection uses a questionnaire included in the google form and distributed to 10 English teachers from various schools in North Sumatera. From this research, it was found the vocabulary assessment strategy used by teachers during the examination was to match the word (40%), multiple-choice (30%), fill the blank (20%), and define the word (10%). The vocabulary practice strategies used are memorizing, puzzle games, paper forms, shorting-guided words, reading comprehension, asking and answering methods, conversation, oral tests, and written tests. This research concludes that the vocabulary assessment strategy is used very helpful for students to achieve the targets and 60% satisfactory for students' knowledge and 40% is moderate. Keywords: Vocabulary, Assesment, Strategy

The Influence of Online Games on Learning English Vocabulary in High Schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina

In the last couple of years, there has been an obvious increase in the number of school children proficient in English. One of the main reasons is the influence of the media, as well as students’ great exposure to video games. The aim of this study was to investigate the connection between video-game playing and English language proficiency based on age, gender and latest grade in English language. A questionnaire was completed by 71 middle and high school students answering a range of questions on the quantity and quality of the video game they play. The results showed that video games have a great impact on language learning, as well as that vocabulary and communication are areas of most benefit. Therefore, as a form of highly desirable entertainment, video games provide a positive and motivating atmosphere which is perfect for adopting a foreign language and may have positive impacts on obtaining and improving vocabulary.

Neural oscillations reveal differences in the process of word learning among school-aged children from lower socioeconomic status backgrounds.

Building a robust vocabulary in grade school is essential for academic success. Children from lower socioeconomic status (SES) households on average perform below their higher SES peers on word learning tasks, negatively impacting their vocabulary; however, significant variability exists within this group. Many children from low SES homes perform as well as, or better than, their higher SES peers on measures of word learning. The current study addresses what processes underlie this variability, by comparing the neural oscillations of 44 better versus worse word learners (ages 8-15 years) from lower SES households as they infer the meaning of unknown words. Better word learners demonstrated increases in theta and beta power as a word was learned, whereas worse word learners exhibited decreases in alpha power. These group differences in neural oscillatory engagement during word learning indicate there may be different strategies employed based on differences in children's skills. Notably, children with greater vocabulary knowledge are more likely to exhibit larger beta increases; a strategy which is associated with better word learning. This sheds new light on the mechanisms that support word learning in children from low SES households.