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A Comparison of Three Vocabulary Teaching Methods: A Case for Task/Test Compatibility

Shamsi, Yaser | 2016

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  1. Type of Document: M.Sc. Thesis
  2. Language: Farsi
  3. Document No: 48357 (31)
  4. University: Sharif University of Technology
  5. Department: Languages and Linguistics Center
  6. Advisor(s): Jahangard, Ali
  7. Abstract:
  8. The importance of vocabulary, the building blocks of every language, in having a good command of a second language is evident. However, the best way to improve the lexical knowledge of the students is an issue that is open to discussions. This study aimed at investigating three different methods for teaching new vocabularies to Iranian students who were striving to take command of English as a second language in order to determine the advantages of one method over the other in terms of immediate and delayed retention. In this endeavor, we set 105 intermediate adult learners of English into three groups and instructed each group with a specific method, teaching them a number of new words embedded in a reading text. The intended words were set into a text which was then used as instructional material. Group 1 (MFI) received non-contrastive meaning focused instruction; group 2 (FFI) was exposed to non-contrastive form focused instruction and group 3 (CAT) was instructed using contrastive analysis and translation method. Having covered the instruction phase, we took an immediate posttest to examine the retention of newly learned words by the participants. A delayed posttest was taken after a period of one week. The test was designed in a way that the results might not be flawed by the compatibility between the instruction and the testing method. The results of the study were also compared to those of previous studies. The observations indicated that each method of instruction leads to different amounts of retention of words. It was also shown that compatibility between the method of treatment and the testing method might contaminate the results
  9. Keywords:
  10. Translation ; Vocabulary Teaching ; Meaning-Focused Instruction ; Form-Focused Instruction ; Contrastive Analysis ; Task-Test Method Compatibility

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