Vocabulary Achievement Research Articles

Variants of Cloze-Test Based Tasks and Vocabulary Achievement

Vocabulary is an integral part of a language and language education. In view of the close relationship between vocabulary knowledge and language learning, there is a significant need for language learners, especially in the ESL context, to develop, enrich and master their vocabulary in order to be proficient users of the language. ESL teachers could help learners acquire vocabulary knowledge if they have the pedagogical knowledge on how vocabulary may be learned and taught effectively. The study aimed to determine Malaysian primary school learners' vocabulary achievement by using cloze-test based tasks. A total of five primary schools from Sabah, Malaysia were selected in this study. The total number of research participants was 135 and they were at low to intermediate level of proficiency. This study made use of four different cloze-based passages as research instruments in assessing learners' vocabulary knowledge. This research primarily concerned on the descriptive data in the form of frequency and percentage of the learners' vocabulary achievement scores and qualitative data from semi-structured interview. The findings of this study revealed that the research participants scored well in the fourth task whereby cloze-based passages were given along with general pictures and multiple-choice items. A significant correlation between these four variants of cloze-based task with the learners' vocabulary achievement was established. The main pedagogical implication of the research is that teachers should ponder what type of variants to be used in vocabulary task as this could enhance ESL learners' vocabulary achievement.

The role of elementary school and home quality in supporting sustained effects of pre-K.

Using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (NICHD SECCYD), we used 2-level random effects models to examine whether the quality of school and home environments during elementary school moderated associations between pre-K quality and math, reading, and vocabulary achievement from first through fifth grade. Results showed that the quality of the home environment moderated the association between pre-K quality and children’s vocabulary achievement. Supportive home environments during elementary school had an additive effect over and above the positive effects of pre-K quality in predicting children’s vocabulary achievement. In contrast, when children experienced high levels of pre-K quality and lower quality home learning environments, the positive effects of pre-K were less likely to be sustained. Findings suggest the importance of considering programs and policies to support home-based learning as one potential mechanism to sustain early effects of pre-K. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF WORD JIGSAW STRATEGY ON STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY OF DESCRIPTIVE TEXT

The article was aimed to find out the empirical evidence of the effectiveness of Word Jigsaw Strategy on Students’ Vocabulary achievement of Descriptive Text. Word jigsaw is part of graphic organizer which is one of alternative strategy to teach vocabulary. The study was quasi experimental research. The population was eight grade students of SMP PGRI 1 Ciputat. Moreover, the sample of this study consisted of 25 students from VIII-3 class in the Experimental Group and 25 students from VIII-4 in the controlled group. In this study, the experimental class was taught by using Word Jigsaw as strategy in teaching Vocabulary, while controlled class was taught without Word Jigsaw. The research instrument was test that consisted of pre-test and post-test form. The technique used in collecting data was quantitative with t-test. The result of this study showed that the use of Word Jigsaw strategy is effective on students’ vocabulary of descriptive text. It can be seen from the result of calculation that the students’ score in experimental class was higher than controlled class. Based on the statistical calculation with the significance level 5%, it showed that to = 2.778 was higher than tt = 2.021 as the effect size that ranged in moderate level. It meant the Word Jigsaw strategy was effective on students’ vocabulary achievement of Descriptive text.

TEACHING VOCABULARY THROUGH MIND MAPPING TECHNIQUE TO THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMP SANTO THOMAS 3 MEDAN

The aim of this study is to find whether Mind Mapping Technique works effectively on improving the eighth grade students’ achievement in vocabulary and to know the students’ responses after being taught by using Mind Mapping Technique. in order to achieve the objectives of study, a classroom action research was designed and carried out in this study. The subjects of this study were 27 students of class VIII- 81  OF SMP Santo Thomas 3 Medan in academic year 2018/2019. Test, observation sheet, and field notes were used as a instruments for collecting data. The results of the study showed significant improvement of the students’ vocabulary. It is proved by the students’ mean score of each test: pre-test was 65,33%, formative test was 72,59% and post-test was 85,92% . In addition, the, the analysis result of the observation sheet and field notes showed Mind Mapping Technique channge the students’ learning behavior being better than before. They were more enthusiastic during the teaching learning process in each cycle. The analysis result of questionnaire showed that Mind Mapping Technique was useful to most of students to improve their learnig interest in vocabulary. Based on the results of those study instruments, it can be concluded that Mind Mapping Technique as learning technique gives the improvement to students’ vocabulary. It is recommended for English teacher to apply Mind Mapping Technique in teaching vocabulary in order to improve students’ vocabulary.

THE EFFECT OF ANAGRAM GAME ON STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY ACHIEVEMENT AT GRADE EIGHT OF SMP NEGERI 8 PEMATANGSIANTAR

This research is aimed to find out whether using Anagram Game give significant effect on students’ vocabulary achievement at grade eight of SMP Negeri 8 Pematangsiantar. Problem raised in this research is “What is the effect of Anagram Game on students’ vocabulary achievement at grade eight of SMP Negeri8 Pematangsiantar?”. To answer this problem the researcher uses some theories, namely: Bachtiar (2014), Harmer (2002), Hiebert and Kamil (2005), Hatch and Farhady (1982) and Sutherland (2009). This research is quantitative research design. Experimental was conducted as the method. The sample of this research are two classes which are VIII-4 as a control class because they are active with better achievement than other class and VIII-9 as an experimental class because they have lower achievement. The result shows that using Anagram Game on students’ vocabulary achievement at grade eight of SMP Negeri 8 Pematangsiantar got high level where as the score of t-test (4.65) was higher than t-table (1.679) at level of significant 5% for two tailed test. So Null Hypothesis was rejected and Alternative Hypothesis was accepted. After analyzing the data, the researcher concludes that using Anagram Game significantly affect the students’ vocabulary achievement and her suggestion is English teacher should have creative method in teaching English to their students especially to increase their vocabulary by using Anagram Game, so that they are not boring to learn English and make the enjoy on it.

THE EFFECT OF AUTHENTIC MATERIALS ON EFL STUDENT’S VOCABULARY ACHIEVEMENTS

This study aims to know the effect of authentic materials on EFL student’s vocabulary achievements. The study employed Quasi-experimental design. The population consists of 90 students and the sample are 20 students taken from the fourth semester the department of English Education Bosowa University. The data were collected by administering a filling in the blank test with consisting of 40 questions using inferential statistics. The p-Value of posttest is lower than ? (0,00<0,05) The result indicates that the alternative hypothesis(H1) is accepted and of course the null hypothesis (H?) is rejected, it shows that using authentic materials has effect on EFL students’ vocabulary achievements used article of The Jakarta post Newspaper as teaching tools in the classroom.

Exploring Students’ Motivation and Vocabulary Achievement through Labeling Method

Motivation provides energies for students to decide efforts and they pursue it hardly. It is important to build students' motivation in learning English. Researcher's preliminary study toward the fourth grade of MIS Azzikir Kalialia in February 2019 indicated students' motivation was in the low category, while the result of the pre-test showed 35% of students did not achieve success standard in learning vocabulary. The objectives of the study is to explore how students are motivated by using labelling method and to improve students' vocabulary achievement by using labelling method. The number of the subject is 20 students. The instruments are the test, questionnaire, and observation under the Classroom Action Research method. After treatment, the questionnaire indicates students' motivation in high motivation and whole students achieve the standard of vocabulary achievement. Therefore, the labelling method promotes a way of English language teaching to build students' motivation and to improve vocabulary achievement in elementary grade.

Exploring the Success of GMT Technique: Games, Mind-Mapping, and Twitter Hashtags in Teaching Vocabulary in EFL Higher Education Environment

Vocabulary is an essential element of language learning. Wide ranges of vocabulary along with grammatical competence guarantee learners to communicate in the language effectively. This study proposes an edutainment method for learning vocabulary by simply combining education and entertainment. This study aims to gain insights about learners’ opinions and perspectives about the use of a technique developed by the researchers as well as how participants feel about their learning. The study investigates the effect of employing Games, Mind-mapping and Twitter Hashtags as the GMT technique, on female Saudi university students’ achievement in English vocabulary. The study suggests that this technique which consists of interactive games, cognitive mind-mapping and the exploitation of technology in the form of twitter hashtags, all employed together, constitute a unified framework for activating students’ vocabulary learning. The sample in the study consisted of 150 students enrolled in the vocabulary building course during the second semester of the academic year 2018/2019. The participants were asked to respond to the questionnaire and they also took variant assessment tests, then their scores were compared to the results of other students who were not taught vocabulary using the technique in question. The findings ascertain the improvement and significant in the experimental group. In addition, the results reveal that the learners had mostly positive opinions on implementing the GMT technique which facilitated their language learning experience. The researchers conclude that the GMT technique can be an effective tool to promote students’ active engagement, motivation, and interaction in vocabulary learning.

The Effects Of Environmental Problem-based Learning Method On Malaysian Primary ESL Learners’ Vocabulary Achievement

Environmental education has long been introduced as early as the 18th century in western countries, but in Malaysia, it still can be considered as a new start in the year 1979. In relation to this, various programs have been conducted by the government to produce literate individuals that are aware of and concern of environmental issues. In primary English education, there are a few topics on the environment that should be taught by teachers, and environmental education is also considered as a cross-curricular subject. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of environmental problem-based learning (PBL) on Malaysian primary school learners' vocabulary achievement. Environmental PBL is an instructional method that provides learners the opportunities to learn cooperatively in groups to find solutions to any problem. This study employed experimental design, which involved 20 learners that came from an intermediate level of English proficiency. They were randomly divided into experimental group and control group. The experimental group was treated with environmental PBL in learning new vocabulary, while the other group was taught using the conventional memorisation method. A set of vocabulary test (pre and post) was used to measure learners' vocabulary achievement and the data were analysed by using independent sample t-test. From the data, it was found out that the learners who were taught by using environmental PBL improved their vocabulary acquisition significantly as being compared to the control group based on the means of marks obtained by the research participants in the experimental group with 12.80 and the mean achieved by the control group with 6.20. Next, this study also showed how environmental PBL helped the experimental group in learning vocabulary based on their orientations which included two themes (effectiveness and participation). Hence, it is suggested that English teachers should use environmental PBL as an effective method of teaching vocabulary to young learners.

Using hidden message word searches method in teaching English vocabulary

The purpose of the study was to know whether using Hidden Message Word Searches could show better achievement in vocabulary or not. In this study, there were two groups in this study, such as: experimental and control groups. In other word, the samples were two classes (VIII.2 and VIII.3) in academic year 2011/ 2012. The writer chose them based on their report book and the same teacher of English. The techniques for collecting the data used test and questionnaire. The writer used the quasi-experimental design. As the results, this strategy showed that there was a significant difference between the students who were taught by using hidden message word searches than those who were not. Finally, the results of questionnaire indicated that this strategy was very beneficial as teaching media in vocabulary.

The relationship among home language use, parental beliefs, and Spanish-speaking children's vocabulary

ABSTRACT This study investigated the relationship among home language use, parents’ beliefs about dual language development, and Spanish-speaking children's vocabulary knowledge. Parents (n = 162) completed a questionnaire about their home language use and beliefs about dual language development, and elementary-age children (N = 190) – Kindergarten (M age = 5.71, SD = .56), second grade (M age = 7.52, SD = .31), and fourth grade (M age = 9.35, SD = .45) – completed conceptually-scored vocabulary assessments. Principal component analyses revealed that Spanish-speaking parents’ beliefs about dual language development are heterogeneous. Further, parents’ beliefs can be characterized differently according to their children's English proficiency designations and grade levels. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that the Bilingual Facility parental belief factor was associated with home language use practices, which in turn were associated with children's vocabulary. However, this association only applied to limited English proficient students and their parents. These results underscore the importance of attending to Spanish-speaking parents’ beliefs, as they appear to relate to home language use practices and, importantly, they also relate to their children's vocabulary achievement.

THE EFFECT OF SPELLING BEE GAME ON STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY ACHIEVEMENT AT SMP NEGERI 17 KENDARI

The purpose of conducting this research is to examine the effect of Spelling Bee game on students’ vocabulary achievement at the second year of SMP Negeri 17 Kendari. The sample of this research was 30 students in the second grade. This research was conducted in pre-experimental research design. Data of this research were collected by giving pre-test and post-test to the students. They were analyzed by using SPSS 16.0 version (descriptive analysis and inferential statistics). The result showed that there was effect of spelling bee game on the students’ vocabulary achievement. It can be seen from the mean score of post-test which was 62.67, while the mean score of pre-test was 43.67. In order to prove the hypothesis, the researcher took the conclusion by comparing the value of Sig (2 tailed) with the significance α value. It showed that the value of Sig (2 tailed) was 0.000 while the significance α value was 0.05. It means that the value of Sig (2 tailed) was lower than the significance α value (0.000 < 0.05) which indicated there was effect of spelling Bee Game on Students’ Vocabulary Achievement.

THE EFFECT OF NURSERY RHYMES ON STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY ACHIEVEMENT AT THE FIFTH GRADE OF SDN 10 POASIA

This study is conducted to investigate the effect of using nursery rhymes on students’ English vocabulary (noun and adjective) achievement at fifth grade of SDN 10 Poasia. This study applied pre-experimental design with one group pre-test and post-test design. The population of this study was all of V grade of SDN 10 Poasia consisting of 67 students. Technique of taking sample of this study was purposive sampling involving 21 students. Vocabulary achievement test in the form of multiple choices consisting of 37 numbers was used as instrument of this study. The result showed that there was a significant effect of using nursery rhymes in improving students’ English vocabulary achievement. It was proven by the improvement of students’ mean score from pre-test to post-test. The mean score for pre-test was 34.81 and the mean score for post-test increased to 76.81. It was supported with the result of t-test, the value of Sig. (2-tailed) was 0.000 with α = 0.05. H1 was accepted because the value of Sig. (2-tailed) was below α value. It means that there was a significant effect of using nursery rhymes on students’ English vocabulary achievement of the VB students’ of SDN 10 Poasia.

Yabancı Dil Olarak İngilizce Öğrenen Türk Öğrencilere Üç İngiliz Klasiğinin Karikatürüyle Kelime Öğretimi

The purpose of that study is to investigate the implementation of vocabulary teaching through cartoons on students who have read texts in the format of comic strips and the ones reading without the support of any illustrations. This paper also aims to reveal the effects of students’ age and gender during vocabulary teaching process. Cartoon extracts of three classics from English literature, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare, and Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson have been utilized for the experiment. On the one hand, 47 Turkish students taking English courses in Research and Application Centre at a state university in Turkey were in the experimental group, and they were exposed to cartoons. On the other hand, randomly drawn 20 took part in the control group who read stories in plain text formats. According to the results of this quasi-experimental research, a significant difference could not be detected between two groups. Nevertheless, the experimental group was more successful in vocabulary achievement rates than the control group. Moreover, the results indicated the fact that female students were more successful than the males in word knowledge, and 20-29 year-old students were distinguished to be better than the other age groups.

The Effects of Pre-service English Language Teachers’ Making Vocabulary Learning Materials in Web-Supported Situated Learning Environment on Their Vocabulary Learning

The aim of this study was not only to help pre-service English language teachers (PS-ELTs) to design vocabulary learning materials for a web-supported situated learning (SL) environment but also to have them learn the vocabulary they used to prepare those materials in the web-supported SL environment. Also, the effects of this process on the PS-ELTs’ academic achievement, self-efficacy beliefs in designing situated learning environments (SEB-SLE), and technological pedagogical content knowledge self-confidence (TPACK-SC) were revealed. One of the advanced mixed-method designs, intervention design, was employed, and 56 PS-ELTs participated in the study. The data were collected via quantitative measurements (two scales, a vocabulary achievement test) and qualitative measurements (student diary, online messaging logs, open-ended interview form, and focus group interview records). For the quantitative data, independent samples t-test, related-samples t-test, and 2X3 repeated measures ANOVA test were used; for the qualitative data, content analysis. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the within-group gain scores and retention test scores in terms of the vocabulary achievement test and the SEB-SLE scale. However, despite a significant difference in the within-group gain scores in terms of the TPACK-SC scale, no significant difference was found between the post-test and retention test scores. Moreover, although both groups revealed no significant differences in the scores of the vocabulary achievement test and the TPACK-SC scale, the scores of the SEB-SLE scale showed a significant difference in favor of the treatment group. Related to the procedure, PS-ELTs highlighted that preparing vocabulary learning materials according to the web-supported SL model had a considerable effect on their vocabulary learning. Besides, the application process supported permanent learning and vocabulary knowledge development. What is more, the procedure helped them gain critical thinking, problem-solving, synthesis, and research skills as well as improving their TPACK.

The Effectiveness of Using Multisensory Approach in Enhancing Achievement and Retention of English Vocabulary Amongst Intermediate Female Students with EFL Learning Disabilities

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of using multisensory approach in enhancing the achievement and retention of English language vocabulary amongst intermediate stage female students with EFL learning disabilities. A quasi-experimental model was adopted as an experimental methodology where a standardized intelligence test (R.Cattel IQ scale) and a researcher –prepared vocabulary achievement test were used as research tools. The subjects (N = 116) were selected from two intermediate schools in Taif. A criterion was applied to select students with learning disabilities. The sample was divided randomly into two groups: control and experimental. Both groups were pre-tested to assure that they were equivalent. The control group (N=10) were taught through traditional method, while the experimental group(N=12) were taught through multisensory approach during the first term of the school year(1435-1436H). The experiment lasted for six weeks, then the vocabulary achievement was applied. One month later, the VAT delayed test was applied. In order to process the results of the study groups statistically, the researcher used the computerized program: Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Mann-Whitney U Test, normal distribution Z, Wilcoxon signed ranks test and effect size of Wilcoxon were used in this study. Results revealed that multisensory approach had a positive effect on vocabulary achievement and retention of the students with learning disability. Keywords : Multisensory Approach, EFL, Learning Disabilities, English Vocabulary, KSA. DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-9-17 Publication date: March 31 st 2020

The Effect of “Narrow Reading” on Learning Mid-Frequency Vocabulary: The Role of Genre and Author

This study investigated the effect of Narrow Reading (NR) on learning mid-frequency words. Vocabulary Size Test (VST) designed by Nation and Beglar (2007) was administered as the first pre-test to 196 students, from among whom 91 students whose vocabulary size ranged between 2100- 3500-word families, , became the target of this study and were randomly classified into four groups. Then another pretest administered was a modified version of Wesche and Paribakht’s Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS) which assessed how well they knew twenty vocabularies derived from the expository and narrative texts. After thirty sessions for direct instruction, VKS was repeated immediately as a posttest to assess vocabulary learning while a month later, VKS was taken as a delayed posttest to assess vocabulary retention. To address research questions, a mixed design factorial ANOVA was conducted. The findings revealed that while the theme was fixed, reading expository texts rather than narrative ones led to the growth in vocabulary knowledge. In addition, the group that read narratives forgot most of the mid-frequency words in the retention phase. As opposed to multi-author texts, reading texts written by one author resulted in a better vocabulary achievement in both learning and retention phases. It was also revealed that there was no interaction between genre and author. In other words, the author was as influential in learning mid-frequency words among expository texts as it was in narrative ones. Finally, it was concluded that NR has a positive effect on learning mid-frequency words.

Building 10th Grade Students’ Vocabulary through Reading the Newspaper at SMK 45 Lembang


 Using newspaper either printed or online as a medium of English learning is a unique way to stimulate students’ interest in reading since most of the students at this age have dropped their interest in reading resulting their lack of English vocabulary. The researcher decided to use the newspaper as a medium to build students’ vocabulary. The researcher chose a group of participants from a group of 10th-grade students in SMK 45 Lembang, which are class XB and Class XE. The school gave these two classes as the samples because they believed each class has relatively equal knowledge and cognitive abilities. In this study, researchers randomly selected from the two classes to be used as a sample for the Control and Experimental Class. As a result, researchers found class XE as Control class and XB as the Experimental class. The study lasted for a full month, in which each class received different treatment. As a result, the Gain value of Experimental class is higher than the Control class. Moreover, based on the result of the data analysis with the Mann-Whitney U test method, it showed that there were significant differences in Students’ Vocabulary growth, between Control class and Experimental class. Based on the calculation of Non-parametric Mann- Whitney U test, the gain data between Experimental Class and Control Class show the value of Asymp Sig. (0.000), Zα (0.05) and the value of Z (4.847). Z α (1.96). Therefore, the researcher can conclude that the method of using newspaper as a teaching material has a positive impact on the absorption and growth in students’ vocabulary.
 Keywords: vocabulary achievement, reading, newspaper

Improvement students’ achievement in vocabulary through Students-Teams Achievement Divisions (STAD) at SMPN 8 Bandarlampung

The objective of this research was to find out (i) whether there was an improvement of students’ vocabulary achievement and (ii) which type of content words that improved the most after being taught by using STAD technique. The current study was quantitative research. The subjects of the research were the students of SMPN 8 Bandar Lampung. The data were collected throughvocabulary testsanalyzed by using Repeated Measures T-Test. The findings showed that there was an improvement of students' vocabulary achievement after the treatment given by using the STAD technique since the significant level was p < 0.05 (p= 0.000) and the most significantly improved type of content words was a noun. It was proved by using One-Way ANOVA computation.In brief, it can be concluded that the STAD technique could be used as a teaching technique to improve vocabulary achievement in terms of content words. This suggests that the STAD technique facilitates the students to be actively involved in learning.

DOES COOPERATIVE LEARNING BRING POSITIVE EFFECT ON STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY ACHIEVEMENT?

This study wanted to investigate the effect of cooperative learning on students’ vocabulary achievement. The subject of this study is 54 students of grade seven in one of public junior high schools in East Java Indonesia. The researcher divided the subjects into two groups; experimental and control groups which consisted of 27 students. The instruments of this study were used tests, and observation. The tests consisted of pre and posttest which delivered in the first and the last meeting. The observation was done to observe the situation of students in the classroom during the implementation of cooperative learning and conventional method. In this study, the researcher used SPSS 24 to analyze the data. The result of this study revealed that the use of cooperative learning and conventional method significantly improve students’ vocabulary achievement. It also gave positive effects for the students such as; increasing students’ motivation and cooperation and decreasing their nervous. The result also showed that there was no significant different between conventional method and cooperative learning on students’ vocabulary achievement.