Vocabulary Knowledge Of EFL Learners Research Articles

Technology-mediated teaching vocabulary: exploring EFL learners’ depth and breadth of lexical knowledge

Drawing on Mayer’s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning, the present study aims to examine the effectiveness of technology-mediated teaching vocabulary in the form of multimedia glosses on EFL learners’ depth and breadth of lexical knowledge. The study was conducted with 91 male and female undergraduate students at a lower-intermediate level of English proficiency in Iran. Participants of the study were randomly assigned into two-variable group contrasts, experimental (text + visual) and control (text-only) groups. They attended 16 reading sessions once a week during which the experimental group practiced computerized reading texts with pop-up text and picture glosses and the control group practiced reading similar texts with pop-up text only. The relative efficacy of teaching activities in vocabulary learning was assessed by using the Word Associates Test for measuring lexical depth and the Updated Vocabulary Levels Test for measuring the lexical breadth before and after the intervention program. To scrutinize the data, ANCOVA and t-test have been done. Results of ANCOVA revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group in both tests, and the result of the t-test specified that participants kept the scores in the Vocabulary Levels Test significantly higher than the Word Associates Test in the outperforming group. This means that using multimedia glosses in teaching vocabulary has a significant effect on improving both the breadth and depth of lexical knowledge of EFL learners. However, the effect is more significant on breadth than depth of lexical knowledge. The study by analyzing separate measurements of the breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge of EFL learners provided original research in vocabulary teaching and learning and offered pedagogical implications for language teaching.

Digital Storytelling as an Alternative Teaching Technique to Develop Vocabulary Knowledge of EFL Learners

Developing vocabulary is crucial because it allows a student to be proficient in four areas (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). Students will not significantly improve their English language abilities if they lack the necessary vocabulary. The purpose of this study is to determine whether digital storytelling (DST) can replace traditional classroom instruction as a means of enhancing vocabulary knowledge. The study was carried out by utilizing a comparative research design. The participants aged from 13 to 14 years old and took grades 7 A and B of SMP N 3 Parongpong Junior High School. Pre-test, treatments, and post-tests were used to gather study data. From the results of the pre-test, it can be seen the participants' initial abilities were in a bad category with a score of less than 69. According to the initial results, this study aimed to show that the research had a significant impact on students' post-test performance as compared to their pre-test performance. The study's findings indicated that using digital storytelling helps learners in the experimental class grow their vocabulary knowledge and establish it. Throughout the treatment, learners who were taught using DST outperformed those who were not taught using DST. Furthermore, it was observed that the group with DST had a positive opinion on the utilization of digital storytelling in the classroom. The results also show how well digital storytelling involves students in the learning process.

A Review on Vocabulary Tests of High Frequency English Words

Vocabulary assessment plays a ctitical role in language education for EFL learners, educators and researchers. The article introduces and analyzes four English receptive vocabulary tests of high frequency words, including Vocabulary Levels Test, Vocabulary Size Test, Computer Adaptive Test of Size and Strength and New General Service List Test. Based on the review of the four tests, it provides practical suggestions for choosing an appropriate test to assess the vocabulary knowledge of EFL learners in Vietnam as well as implications for building new vocabulary tests to meet the demand of English language teaching and learning practices as well as the research needs in the field of language education in Vietnam.

Task-induced involvement load and working memory: Effects on active and passive vocabulary knowledge of EFL learners in a multimedia learning environment

Task-induced involvement load and working memory: Effects on active and passive vocabulary knowledge of EFL learners in a multimedia learning environment

THE EFFECT OF INPUT SPACING ON EFL LEARNERS' VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE

The lag or the intersession interval (ISI) is the gap between two learning sessions. Lag effects are one of those effects that few studies have examined. Moreover, albeit a huge bulk of research on input spacing (i.e., phenomenon of distributed learning conditions) has been done in laboratory setting, few studies have directly examined this issue within real contexts. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the impact of not only spaced-short but also spaced-long condition on the vocabulary knowledge of EFL learners. To achieve this goal, 37 intermediate level EFL learners were selected from four intact classes. The whole process took place in nine weeks; two testing sessions for pretest and a 28-day delayed posttest, two learning sessions and a final review session. Learning was done in two sessions. In this process, 20 target items were divided into 10 target words from each two lists. The first 10 words were studied during the first session, and reviewed during the review session. Eight days (intersession interval) ISI was specified for the spaced-long condition. Finally, a 1-day ISI was specified for the spaced-short condition. To do so, the second 10 words during the second session were studied, and then they were reviewed during the review session. The results of paired samples t-test revealed that spaced-long input was more effective than the space-short. Spaced-long condition could help learners for conceptual understanding to develop, reduce forgetting and provide opportunities for learners to learn more efficiently.

Comparing the Effects of L1 and L2 Definition on Incidental Vocabulary Learning through Listening to Stories

Vocabulary is an essential component of language proficiency which provides the basis for learners’ performance in other skills. This study investigated the effect of three kinds of definition conditions, that is L1, L2, and L1+L2 on incidental vocabulary knowledge of EFL learners. To this aim, three experimental and one control groups took part in the current study so as to examine the effectiveness of definitions with 96 target words through listening. The participants were 74 fourth-grade high school students. Eight stories with each with 12 target words (total 96 words) were given to the learners. Participants in each group listened to eight short stories under one of the three mentioned conditions for experimental groups, with no definition offered for control group. They all answered vocabulary list, eight immediate post-tests and eight delayed posttests of vocabulary. The data were analyzed using t-tests and one-way ANOVA for both immediate and delayed post-tests. The results indicated that definition groups significantly outperformed the other group in terms of vocabulary acquisition on both immediate and delayed retention of target words. However, the findings showed a significant loss from the immediate to the delayed post-tests. These findings are discussed and implications are offered for foreign language syllabus designers and instructors.

The Effect of Sequence of Output Tasks on Noticing Vocabulary Items and Developing Vocabulary Knowledge of Iranian EFL Learners

This study examined the role of output-first presentation of vocabulary tasks in noticing lexical items and enhancing vocabulary knowledge of EFL learners. The participants were 103 elementary level female Iranian EFL learners who were randomly divided into three groups: input-only, inputoutput, and output-input groups. After all participants took a placement test and a vocabulary pretest, the input-only group of learners received only input tasks, while the members of the other two groups received both input and output tasks in different sequences. All participants then took a vocabulary posttest. Comparison of input-only group with the other two groups showed that participants in the input plus output groups outperformed input-only group in the vocabulary posttest. The results of t-test and Mann-Whitney test indicated that output-input group performed better than the input-output group in both overall vocabulary posttest and the productive vocabulary section of the test. Moreover, the results of the semi-structured interview revealed the positive influence of output-first presentation of vocabulary tasks on noticing the gap in lexical knowledge. The findings of this study suggest presentation of vocabulary tasks in the sequence of output prior to input in order to enhance noticing vocabulary knowledge gap and develop vocabulary knowledge.