Vocabulary Attainment Research Articles

ASSESSING VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES (VLS) ACROSS DIVERSE PROFICIENCY LEVELS

This research paper explores the application of Vocabulary Learning Strategies (VLS) between low level of proficiency students from faculty of Business Management and high level of proficiency students from faculty of Computer Science. This research paper employs quantitative approach where data were collected using purposive sampling from a sample of 71 participants representing various proficiency levels of English language in a public university in Melaka, Malaysia. To gauge learners’ awareness and application of VLS, a survey adapted from Alahmadi’s (2019) version of Schmitt’s (1997, 2000) Taxonomy of Vocabulary Learning Strategies Questionnaire (VLSQ) was administered to participants. Findings revealed that there are significant differences of VLS utilization among English language learners of various proficiency levels where students with high proficiency levels display better strategy awareness and application contrasted to the lower proficiency level of English language learners. Thus, from these results, it is pertinent for educators to modify vocabulary instructions and strategies to boost vocabulary attainment among different proficiency levels in English language learning settings.

Can Mobile-Assisted Language Learning Help Improve Hong Kong Secondary School Students' Vocabulary Attainment?

Can Mobile-Assisted Language Learning Help Improve Hong Kong Secondary School Students' Vocabulary Attainment?

The Effect of Using Guessing Game on Students Vocabulary Achievement at Grade VIII of MTSN 6 Agam

Vocabulary is a component of words with meaning and one of the most essential aspects of learning English. However, pupils are not taught vocabulary specifically in school. This results in a large number of students who lack fundamental vocabulary knowledge, despite the fact that vocabulary is one of the most essential components that students must comprehend in order to learn effectively in class. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the use of a guessing game has a significant impact on students' vocabulary achievement. This research employed a quantitative method and a quasi-experimental design; the research population was eighth-grade MTsN 6 Agam students. The sample was collected using a technique of purposive sampling. Students from the two classes, experimental class with 30 students and control class with 31 students, were given a pre- and post-test. This research instrument is a vocabulary test with 25 multiple-choice questions. The data were analyzed with SPSS 26. The calculated post-test result for the experimental class revealed a mean score of 89.47. It exceeds the mean score of the control group, which was 62.58. The standard deviation of each class is then calculated. Using Independent sample t-test, the researcher compared post-test experimental class and control class using the t-test formula. The output indicates that the value of Sig. (2-tailed) is 0.00 0.05. It indicates that Ha is acceptable. There is a substantial difference between students who are taught using Guessing game and those who are not. The result is also indicated by the fact that the mean post-test score of the experimental group (89.47) is higher than that of the control group (62.28). It indicates that students who are taught with Guessing game are superior to those who are not. Guessing game has a significant impact on the vocabulary attainment of eighth-grade MTsN 6 Agam students.

Using Pictionary as An Effective Way to Improve Young Learners' Reading Skill on A Procedure Text

This study aims to see how successful Pictionary is at teaching procedural text. Fifty students from Mojokerto's MA Al-Istiqomah second year participated in this study. This study employed a one-group pretest-posttest design. Field notes were used to collect data, and pupils' reading achievement was determined using the minimum passing score. The current research examines the impact of utilizing Pictionary to increase students' comprehension of process language, particularly in determining primary verbs used in the procedure text. As the research tool, a vocabulary test was conducted. The results demonstrated that applying the Pictionary game approach improved vocabulary attainment. This implies that the Pictionary game approach makes it easier for kids to learn a new language.
 
 Keywords: Pictionary Game, Reading Comprehension, Visual Learning

Age effects in spoken second language vocabulary attainment beyond the critical period

AbstractThe current study set out to examine to what degree age of acquisition (AOA), defined as a learner’s first intensive exposure to a second language (L2) environment, mediates the final state of postpubertal, spoken vocabulary attainment. In Study 1, spontaneous speech samples were elicited from experienced Japanese users of English (n = 41) using storytelling and interview tasks. The samples were analyzed using a range of corpus- and rater-based lexical measures and compared to the speech of inexperienced Japanese speakers (n = 40) and native speakers of English (n = 10). The results showed that most experienced L2 learners tended to demonstrate nativelike proficiency for relatively easy lexical dimensions of speech (i.e., richness), but that AOA appeared to play a key role in predicting the ultimate attainment of relatively difficult lexical dimensions (i.e., appropriateness). In Study 2, the findings were successfully replicated with experienced L1 Polish users of English (n = 50).

Roles of domain-general auditory processing in spoken second-language vocabulary attainment in adulthood

AbstractRecently, scholars have begun to explore the hypothesis that individual differences in domain-general auditory perception, which has been identified as an anchor of L1 acquisition, could explain some variance in postpubertal L2 learners’ segmental and suprasegmental learning in immersive settings. The current study set out to examine the generalizability of the topic to the acquisition of higher-level linguistic production skills—that is the appropriate use of diverse, rich, and abstract vocabulary. The speech of 100 Polish-English bilinguals was elicited using an interview task, submitted to corpus-/rater-based linguistic analyses, and linked to their ability to discriminate sounds based on individual acoustic dimensions (pitch, duration, and amplitude). According to the results, those who attained more advanced L2 lexical proficiency demonstrated not only more relevant experience (extensive immersion and earlier age of arrival), but also more precise auditory perception ability.

Home life and well‐being among Cherokee adolescents

AbstractObjectiveThe goal of this study is to document connections between the social and physical affordances of home life and development for Cherokee adolescents.BackgroundThe affordances of the home environment have implications for adolescent well‐being. However, research on the connection between most aspects of home life and most components of well‐being for Native American adolescents is limited.MethodThis study of 54 Cherokee adolescents considered five dimensions of home life and the relation of these dimensions with four aspects of competence, three positive attitudes, and three psychological problems.ResultsHaving a rich array of learning materials was related to vocabulary attainment, and having parents who provided productive modeling and encouragement was related to self‐efficacy for academic achievement, social self‐efficacy, and perceived endurance. Family companionship was related to self‐control, social skills, physical strength, and endurance. Native American adolescents living in homes with good household routines and regulations had lower levels of externalizing symptoms.ConclusionHaving a supportive family, good household routines, and a substantial number of learning materials is connected with overall well‐being in Cherokee adolescents.ImplicationsResults attesting to the value of close and supportive connections with family for Cherokee adolescents offer directions for programs aimed at improving both parenting practice and adolescent adaptive functioning.

Early Chinese heritage language learning in Canada: A study of Mandarin- and Cantonese-speaking children's receptive vocabulary attainment

Chinese immigrant children in North America often experience rapid growth in their English lexicon, while their heritage language (HL) vocabulary development is characterized by early stabilization and decline. This study was designed to explore whether and how factors such as SES, gender, L1, immigration status, home language use, mainstream and HL school attendance have influenced Mandarin- and Cantonese-speaking first graders' (N = 76) early HL vocabulary development in Canada. Students' HL receptive vocabulary was measured by the Chinese Peabody Vocabulary Test (C-PPVT-R) and home and school information was collected through the Alberta Language Environment Questionnaire (ALEQ). Statistical analyses revealed significant differences in the effects of L1 and gender between Mandarin- and Cantonese-speaking first graders. Mandarin-speaking girls outperformed Mandarin-speaking boys and their Cantonese-speaking peers. Family SES was found to be a significant factor affecting early HL vocabulary development. While Mandarin-speaking students' performance was associated with the richness of their home language environments, Cantonese-speaking students’ performance was not. Group performance was not significantly associated with home language use. Findings suggest the need to move beyond a usage-based theory to understand better home interactions across L1 and SES subgroups that shape differential performances.

The Role of Parents in Reducing Academic, Health, and Behavioral Problems for Native American, African American, and Latinx Adolescents.

The aim of the study was to determine how parental modeling of thoughtful behavior and the home physical environment may reduce the number of developmental problems exhibited by Native American, African American, and Latinx adolescents. Demographic and home environmental data were collected from 54 Native American, 131 African American, and 159 Latinx families living in 4 states as part of a home visit. Parents and adolescents were administered surveys that captured adolescent health, social skills, problem behavior, self-efficacy beliefs, vocabulary attainment, and school grades. Scores from the surveys were combined to construct both an adolescent problems index and a household risk index. For each of the 3 racial/ethnic groups examined, the adolescent problems index was regressed on parental modeling and encouragement of mature behavior, the home physical environment, and the household risk index. Modeling and encouragement of mature behavior was a significant bivariate predictor of overall problems in all 3 groups of adolescents-albeit the overall regression model was nonsignificant for Native Americans. By contrast, the other 2 predictors were nonsignificant in regression models for all 3 groups. Native American, African American, and Latinx adolescents often face a multitude of risks, including poverty and discrimination. As a consequence, adolescents from these 3 racial/ethnic groups frequently display problems pertaining to health, competence, and adaptive behavior. The results from this study suggest that adolescents from such demographic groups are less likely to manifest developmental problems if their parents model mature behavior and encourage the adolescent to act in thoughtful ways.

Smartphone applications for young English language learners

The advancement of technology has permitted the widespread use of mobile applications in English language education. Hence, the term mobile-assisted language learning or MALL appeared in the literature since the early 21stcentury. This paper highlights a study’s report on the smartphone applications’ pattern of learning English that is targeted for Muslim young English language learners (YELL). The authors decided to use systematic literature review approach to guide the mobile applications reviewing process. The availability of applications was first searched on Google Play using predetermined keywords that resulted in 250 mobile applications. Guided by the PRISMA model resulted in 26 smartphone applications that were finalised to be reviewed using the Analytical Framework of MALL. The findings demonstrated that smartphone applications are popular with vocabulary attainment that is crucial in the early stage of English language acquisition. Several interesting aspects may be explored further by including non-native Muslim YELL in MALL empirical findings, Islamic perspectives on the use of MALL for Muslim YELL’s English language development and framework development for reviewing MALL befitting Muslim learners.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE RECEPTIVE VOCABULARY PROFILE: A CASE OF NOVICE BUSINESS UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

One of the challenges for undergraduate students is coping with the demand for English language use at universities. Generally, vocabulary knowledge of learners affects how well learners can function in the language, whereby better vocabulary attainment enables more effective use of the language. Thus, it is vital to understand the vocabulary ability of university students to ensure that their overall English language proficiency could be enhanced. This study explores the receptive vocabulary profile of 35 novice business undergraduates at a public university in Malaysia. The profile was explored in terms of size and level. Two tests were administered -- the Vocabulary Size Test (Nation & Beglar, 2007) and Vocabulary Levels Test (Schmitt, Schmitt, & Clapham, 2001). In terms of size, the results indicate the average was 2971 word families (the maximum known was 3800). This is in line with their vocabulary level which reveals 97% of the students did not reach the mastery level of 3000 word family level i.e. have not acquired adequate vocabulary to be able to use the language. The study offers insights into the profile of receptive vocabulary of novice undergraduate students which could be used to enhance vocabulary teaching and learning at universities.
 
 Keywords: Business undergraduates, receptive vocabulary profile, vocabulary level, vocabulary size, word families
 
 Cite as: Lateh, N. H. M., Shamsudin, S., & Abdul Raof, A. H. (2019). English language receptive vocabulary profile: A case of novice business undergraduate students. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 4(2), 29-44. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol4iss2pp29-44

The Implementation of Action Song in Improving Mentally Retarded (Type C1) Students' Vocabulary Attainment

This research is about the implementation of action song in improving mentally retarded students’ (type C1) vocabulary attainment. This research is aimed to understand the implementation of action song improves students’ vocabulary attainment and to find out the difficulties in implementing process. The research design used was an exploratory design. In doing this research, I collected research data by applying observation checklists, video recording, and interviews as research instrument. In the implementation I found difficulties: most of students were shy, they did not want to do action song in front of the class; made all students to sing aloud the song while doing action song was difficult, there were only some students could do it better than before; they liked to follow the move of the action song, but they could not mention the name of part of the body they were touching. From the interview I found that, 68% participants believed English language learning is needed for mentally retarded students, 74% participants believed action song helps mentally retarded students attaining English vocabulary, 90% participants believed action song helps mentally retarded students more active in learning activity, 96% participants believed action song is appropriate to be applied in English learning for mentally retarded students, 66% participants argued that mentally retarded students enthused studying English at school or home, and 68% participants argued that mentally retarded students had interest about something related to English.

Образ будущей профессиональной деятельности у студентов-психологов

The aim of the study was to investigate psychology students’ beliefs about the nature of their future work, how these beliefs change at different stages of their University education, as well as to identify the relationship between those beliefs and the acquired knowledge regarding their future work. It was found that upper year students attach a greater importance to knowledge, skills and abilities (i. e. the cognitive component of the image of work) that are required to successfully master their profession and are more deeply aware of their vocation (i. e. the axiological component of the image of work). First-year students believe that the key aspect of their future work is communication and interaction with people in the professional setting (i. e. the communicative component of the image of work). The image of future work activities combines a number of semantic aspects: “Communicative Creativity in Psychological Work,” “Emotional and Volitional Self-Regulation in Psychological Work” and “Skills and Abilities Facilitating Professional Self-Realisation in Psychological Work”; these aspects differ depending on the year of study. Students of all years of study generally attach the same importance to emotional and volitional regulation and view their future work as emotionally stressful. Fourth-year students studying Psychology at the Human Psychology Department see the “Communicative Creativity in Psychological Work” as the most important aspect of psychological work. Fifth-year students studying Workplace Psychology at the Psychology of Work-Related Activities Department and Clinical Psychology at the Clinical Psychology and Psychological Aid Department assign primary importance to the “Skills and Abilities Facilitating Professional Self-Realisation in Psychological Work” aspect. The research has demonstrated that upper-year students have a better understanding of their future profession. However, there were no differences in the extent of knowledge that students of different years of study have in regards to the work conditions of, professional requirements of or barriers to working as a psychologist. Another area there no notable differences were identified was the volume of professional vocabulary, which might indicate a poor level of professional vocabulary attainment in upper-year students. Only one aspect of the image of work demonstrated significant correlation with student’s knowledge about their future work, namely the “Skills and Abilities Facilitating Professional Self-Realisation in Psychological Work.”

The effect of cognitive vocabulary learning approaches on Chinese learners’ compound word attainment, retention, and learning motivation

Research has supported the benefit of cognitive vocabulary learning approaches, such as dual-coding (i.e. visual-verbal approach), on Chinese language learners’ vocabulary attainment. However, few studies have systematically examined how to maximize Chinese word retention. Therefore, the goal of this study was to investigate the effects of two types of visual-verbal approaches, i.e. pictographic-verbal coding approach and pictorial-verbal coding approach, on Chinese language learners’ word attainment. The visual support in our proposed pictographic-verbal coding approach uses pictograms, while pictures are used as the visual support in the pictorial-verbal coding approach. Further, we tested whether repetition would impact learners’ Chinese word retention. One-hundred fourth and fifth grade English-speaking Chinese language learners participated in the study. A series of two-way analysis of variance with repeated measures was conducted. Results showed that the pictographic-verbal coding approach assisted learners in acquiring as well as retrieving more Chinese words compared to the pictorial-verbal coding approach. We also found that learners taught by the pictographic-verbal coding approach demonstrated higher learning motivation. Instructional implications were discussed.

A Study on the Background Factors Involved in Kanji Writing Difficulty in Relation to Kanji Reading Difficulty and Low Vocabulary Attainment for Japanese Second to Sixth Graders

A Study on the Background Factors Involved in Kanji Writing Difficulty in Relation to Kanji Reading Difficulty and Low Vocabulary Attainment for Japanese Second to Sixth Graders

The Effect of Age on the Ultimate Attainment of English Lexis and Morphosyntax

This study investigates the relationship between the age of onset of learning English and the ultimate attainment in that language. To this end, it tests the lexical and morphosyntactic competence of 62 intermediate school students who have different points of onset. They have to do a grammaticality judgment test and a vocabulary test. Using the methods of descriptive statistics, the result showed that late starters have outperformed early starters in all aspects of the language examined. The study also revealed that there is a relatively weak correlation between the age of headstart and the ultimate attainment in both levels of language tested. The correlations between the age of exposure and vocabulary attainment is (r = 0.2), whereas it is (r= 0.18) between the age of exposure and morphosyntactic knowledge. It is also found that there’s a strong positive correlation between ESs and LSs grammar and vocabulary (r= 0.75). This suggests that vocabulary and grammar are interdependent fields in that the abstract morphosyntactic rules would remain null and void without the lexical component at work, and the intrinsic meaning of a vocabulary item can’t be fully grasped without adequate knowledge of the morphosyntactic rules that assign meaning to each word in a sentence.

Increasing the sight vocabulary and reading fluency of children requiring reading support: the use of a Precision Teaching approach

This article outlines the impact of an eight-week Precision Teaching (PT) intervention on the sight vocabulary, reading fluency and reading attainment scores of a group of Irish primary school pupils. This study also sought to evaluate the role of PT in facilitating formative assessment of pupils’ progress. Employing a mixed-method approach, this study comprised a quasi-experimental design and qualitative interviews involving 40 Irish primary school pupils and seven Learning Support Teachers. Following intervention, a mixed between-within subjects analysis of variance confirmed the differential growth in sight vocabulary scores across the control and intervention groups. Notably, the latter group displayed a greater increase in magnitude in sight vocabulary following intervention, paralleled by statistically significant increases in reading accuracy, fluency and comprehension standard scores and overall reading ability composite scores. Semi-structured interviews highlighted PT as an effective strategy in facilitating formative assessment and a highly motivational tool in education. Results are interpreted in light of relevant literature, with implications for practice and future research discussed.

Research Communiqué on the Use of Animated Cartoons in Teaching English to Children with Disorders and Disabilities

The following paper focuses upon the issue of using animated cartoons in teaching English to young learners with Special Educational Needs. The research conducted in one of the Polish integrated primary schools aimed at examining the influence of video on children's vocabulary attainment. The present communiqué is concerned with general data evaluation and with a more in-depth analysis of particular cases of pupils with disorders and disabilities. As a final point, some pedagogical implications are drawn from the study.

What's in a Word? Increasing Acquisition of Word Knowledge through Effective Vocabulary Instruction

Johnny (a pseudonym) was able to decode the words in the poem, "Democracy." When asked to summarize the poem, Johnny responded, "I don't know what it was about." This is a common scenario in classrooms. Students are able to identify words automatically but are unable to discuss the meaning of the words. Decoding is a component of the reading process, but in order to become a reader, one must be able to both decode and understand the words on the page as defined by the National Reading Panel, are the words we must know to communicate effectively (LINCS, 2010). are four types of vocabulary: listening (words we can hear and understand), speaking (words we use when we speak), reading (words we can identify and understand when we read) and writing (the words we use in writing; Reutzel & Cooter, 2009). As a student's vocabulary increases, the better reader he will become. There is a positive correlation between a person's vocabulary attainment and fluency, comprehension, and oral and written communication skills.

Authority Structure, Classroom Openness and Student Outcomes

Abstract The effects of open education on student outcomes were investigated using classroom authority structure analysis. It was maintained that student outcomes are contingent on the congruence between formal and informal authority structure. The former is determined by the educational policy of the school, while the latter reflects pupils’ ratings of teacher readiness to share classroom decision making with them. A Student Decision Making Scale was devised to assess shared authority as perceived by students. Three open elementary schools with 274 students in 10 classes, and two comparable traditional schools with 224 students in nine classes were included in the present sample. Results indicated that more congruent authority structure was related to higher reading comprehension and vocabulary attainment, as well as to lower social desirability scores. This was true both when (a) shared authority was higher at the formal as well as the informal level (open schools with high shared authority in the class...