scholarly journals ESL RURAL PRIMARY STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE AND PERCEPTIONS OF LEARNING ENGLISH VOCABULARY THROUGH GAMES

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Sulaihah Salim ◽  
Nisha Abd Halim ◽  
Sharifah Nurul Izati Syed Adnan ◽  
Siti Fatimah Mat Zin ◽  
Nik Nur Fathiha Nik Din ◽  
...  

This action research investigated the use of games to boost ESL rural primary pupils’ motivation to learn English vocabulary. 18 Year 6 pupils from a rural school in Gua Musang Kelantan were selected by using convenient sampling. Multiple methods such as pre–test, post–test, observation, and interviews with teachers and pupils were used for data collection. This paper highlighted pupils’ voices of the effectiveness of vocabulary learning as the result of the pre and posttest showed a significant difference in which pupils have acquired the new words effectively and there was an improvement after having a game-based lesson. The findings indicated that the pupils showed significant improvement in their vocabulary scores after using games. Students reported that learning vocabulary by using games was fun and interesting, as it increased their motivation to learn the English language, helped them to memorise the vocabulary items faster, and increased their interaction in class. Furthermore, the competitive and repetitive nature of the game helped in vocabulary retention.

Author(s):  
Lydia Zeta Donald Stavy ◽  
Frankie Subon ◽  
Norseha Unin

This study seeks to examine the impact of using language games on students’ vocabulary retention. Six language games were chosen for this study; (1) describe it, (2) matching pairs, (3) jigsaw puzzle, (4) board rush,(5) ball games and (6) true or false. The rationale for choosing six different games is based on the understanding that students require at least five to sixteen exposures to learn a new word (Nation’s, 2001) foreffective vocabulary retention. For this study, vocabulary retention is the ability to keep or retain the new words that are taught for the duration of two weeks. The Pre-test and post-test were used to measure the vocabularyretention of the students. Prior to the pre-test, all 64 participants were taught for two weeks using the conventional teaching method by getting students to look words up in the dictionary, write definitions, and use the words in sentences (Basurto, 2004).For this traditional teaching, the eight new words were chosen from unit 10 of the text book for grade three of Malaysian elementary schools. For the next stage, the students weretaught eight new words from unit 11 of the same text book. After two weeks of teaching using the above six games, the students were given the posttest. The findings revealed that there was a significant difference invocabulary retention between the pre-test and post-test. The participants were able to retain significantly more words in the post-test than in the pre-test. In fact, they achieved better results in the post-test (M=63.45) than in the pre-test (M=58.71). This study reveals that language games can help to boost the students’ vocabulary retention if they are given a chance to learn and practice English language in a fun learning environment.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 238
Author(s):  
Hamed Barjesteh ◽  
Lida Farsi

The present study aimed to examine the relationship between age range and vocabulary learning among pre-intermediate Iranian EFL learners. To this aim, 50 pre-intermediate Iranian EFL learners, male (N= 20) and female (N=30), were selected from a private language institute based on their performance on the Oxford Placement Test (OPT). They were divided into two groups: teenager and adult learners. Before intervention, a pretest of vocabulary was conducted to determine students’ vocabulary knowledge.  Then, vocabularies were presentenced in dialog, word power and reading texts using a monolingual dictionary in five sessions interval for the both groups. After the intervention, a post-test of vocabulary was administered to examine the possible improvement. The data obtained from the administration of the pre-test and the post-test were analyzed using SPSS software. The results revealed that there was no significant relationship between the performance of teenager and adult groups in their vocabulary learning; and there was no significant difference between the performance of teenager and adult groups in their vocabulary learning. This research potentially has some implications that may help English language teachers, students, EFL learners and educational syllabus designers.


Author(s):  
Jenifer Mangalus

While there have been studies and awareness seminars conducted in the promotion of Philippine English (PE), still PE has not fully-penetrated in most public schools. Hence, the study sought to identify the acceptability of PE among English teachers from a secondary high school in Pampanga. PE’s levels of acceptability were determined using Torres and Alieto’s (2019) Grammatical and Lexical Acceptability Questionnaire. Pre -test result revealed that teachers have low acceptability level of the PE grammatical and lexical items   and that they are not aware of the PE. A webinar was conducted to introduce the PE among teachers and the post-test showed a significant difference to their acceptability level. Furthermore, teachers’ answers to the follow up questions imply that they are willing to introduce PE in the classroom, which they believe will help the students to be more conversant and become more confident in speaking the English language. It is concluded that teachers are open to incorporating the PE in their classes to further improve their students’ confidence in learning the language. The following recommendations were given: (1) Teachers should be provided with more seminars that will update them with the current status of Philippine English; (2) Teachers should be encouraged to consider the Philippine English in motivating students to be confident speakers in the English classes; and (3) School administrators and English teachers should promote the acceptance of Philippine English in the academic context.


Vocabulary learning is one of the problems in language learning skills. Tackling such problems is to provide useful and effective strategies for enhancing students’ VLSs. Therefore, this study aims to survey vocabulary learning strategies (VLSs) utilized among English as a Foreign Language learners (EFL) in Baghlan University of Afghanistan, and to study the high and least frequently used VLSs that contributes to the learners’ vocabulary knowledge. This study utilizes a descriptive quantitative research method with 67 EFL learners who participated in the survey questionnaire adopted from Oxford (1990) taxonomy of VLS from different faculties of Baghlan University. The findings indicated that EFL learners preferably utilize VLSs at a medium level, and the highly used vocabulary learning strategies are the social strategies through which they ask the native speakers, teachers, and classmates for the meanings of new words in English language conversation. Determination, cognitive, and memory strategies are respectively followed by the learners. Whereas, metacognitive strategies are the least used strategies among EFL learners, the reason is that they only focus on the materials related to examination; explore anything about the new words for learning, and rarely think of their improvement in vocabulary learning.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 92
Author(s):  
Maryam AminAfshar ◽  
Ahmad Mojavezi

EFL learners at all ages and proficiency levels are usually confronted with various problems in vocabulary learning and retention. This study sought to introduce strategies for improvement of vocabulary learning and retention. Therefore, the effects of using aural/visual storytelling on Iranian EFL learners’ vocabulary learning and retention were investigated. To do so, 50 intermediate female EFL learners were randomly assigned to two groups. After the administration of teacher made English Vocabulary Test as the pre-test, aural storytelling method was used for the control group, and visual storytelling method was used for the experimental group. After three months of instruction, the aforementioned teacher made English Vocabulary Test, as the post-test, was given to the students of both groups to assess their improvements. Two weeks after post-test, they were given a delayed post-test to measure their retention of English vocabulary knowledge. The reliability of the English Vocabulary Test using Cronbach's Alpha was estimated equal to 0.80. Finally, Using ANCOVA, the results revealed that, the experimental group’s participants outperformed those of control group in both learning and retention of English vocabulary. So, it can be noted that the training program according to visual could have impressive impact on the learning and retention of vocabulary knowledge.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hassan Saleh Mahdi

Video captioning is a useful tool for language learning. In the literature, video captioning has been investigated by many studies and the results indicated that video captioning may foster vocabulary learning. Most of the previous studies have investigated the effect of full captions on vocabulary learning. One of the key aspects of vocabulary learning is pronunciation. However, the use of mobile devices for teaching pronunciation has not been investigated conclusively. Therefore, this paper attempts to examine the effect of implementing keyword video captioning on L2 pronunciation using mobile devices. Thirty-four Arab EFL university learners participated in this study and were randomly assigned to two groups (key-word captioned video and full captioned video). The study is an experimental one in which pre- and post-tests were administered to both groups. The results indicated that keyword captioning is a useful mode to improve learner’s pronunciation. The post test results indicate that there was no statistically significant difference between the two modes of captioning on vocabulary learning. However, learners at keyword video captioning performed better that full video captioning. 


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 88
Author(s):  
Shiping Duan

Enhancement Techniques are conducive to incidental vocabulary learning. This study investigated the effects of two types of enhancement techniques-multiple-choice glosses (MC) and L1 single-gloss (SG) on L2 incidental learning of new words and retention of them. A total of 89 university learners of English as a Freign Language (EFL) were asked to read the same reading texts with the two types of glossing and no glossing. Vocabulary acquisition was measured with the vocabulary knowledge scale (VKS). The results indicated that there were obvious vocabulary gains for both MC and SG groups. MC glossing is more conducive to incidental vocabulary learning than SG glossing in both immediate and delayed vocabulary post test. What’s more, learners with larger vocabulary size demonstrated much more significant gains than those with small ones.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 288-295
Author(s):  
Elnaz Zariholhosseini ◽  
Ehsan Namaziandost ◽  
Mehdi Nasri

Purpose of the study: This article report’s findings from a study on the differences and similarities between experienced and novice English language learners with regards to their personal use of VLS. Methodology: Closed questionnaire and semi-structure interviews were applied to collect the data. The questionnaire was distributed among 60 (30 experienced learners and 30 novice learners). In addition, 20 learners (10 experienced learners and 10 novice learners) were asked to answer the questions in the interview. Therefore, descriptive statistics, U Mann Whitney test, and independent-sample t-test were run to compare and analyzed the data. Main Findings: The finding showed that there were significant differences between experienced and novice learners’ thoughts towards vocabulary learning strategies and experienced learners used vocabulary learning strategies while learning new words in English language learning. Applications of this study: If the learners are taught how to use each strategy correctly, their understanding of the language can naturally be improved. Moreover, VLS is beneficial throughout the process of vocabulary learning which makes learners more independent and allows teachers to focus on other things as well. Novelty/Originality of this study: To the best of researchers’ knowledge, no study has been done on investigating Iranian experienced and novice English language learners` perceptions towards most useful vocabulary learning strategies (VLS).


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naeem Afzal

Proficiency in English language depends on the knowledge of its vocabulary possessed by the second and foreign language learners and even the native speakers. Though developing the vocabulary is vital, it poses several problems, especially, to non-native students of English. Students with a low vocabulary knowledge show weak academic performance in different courses related to the language skills, linguistics, literature, and translation at the university level of education. This study, in particular, aims to investigate the problems faced by English majors in learning the vocabulary at Prince Stattam bin Abdulaziz University (PSAU) in Saudi Arabia. It also puts forward some vocabulary-learning strategies to minimize the potential problems. The data consist of the responses of 100 student-participants (undergraduates) randomly picked up from five different levels (four, five, six, seven, and eight) of 4-Year BA English Program at PSAU. This quantitative study uses an online questionnaire, as an instrument, to collect the data. The results reveal that the English majors at PSAU face several problems in learning the vocabulary such as knowing the meanings of new words, pronouncing new words, using new words correctly, memorizing and spelling new vocabulary and so on. To its contribution, this study emphasizes the importance of learning the English vocabulary, draws students’ attention towards it, highlights the problems encountered by students, and raises their awareness of the vocabulary. Future research may explore teachers’ perspectives on students’ vocabulary-learning problems and instructional methods implemented to teach the vocabulary in English language classrooms.


Author(s):  
Ilyana Jalaluddin ◽  
◽  
Lilliati Ismail ◽  
Ramiza Darmi

Difficulty in learning gives huge impact to the process of language discovery among school children. LINUS students are categorized in this group and regarded as Low Achiever (LA) regardless of their education level. Currently, schools are provided with traditional learning materials such as textbook prepared by the Ministry of Education and it is up to the teachers’ own creativity and initiative to turn the materials into a more interesting learning source [1], [2]. However, depending solely on these learning materials alone is not enough as these children will easily lose their attention as they become bored and finally lost interest to proceed with the learning process [3]. Therefore, there is a need to utilize the elements of technology in order to motivate and facilitate these LINUS students in learning vocabulary in English. This experimental study aimed to explore the effectiveness of using mobile augmented reality (MAR) application in vocabulary learning among LINUS students. 45 students were involved and the development of MAR in vocabulary learning in this study was investigated based on the ADDIE Instructional Design (ID) method as a framework. As a form of measurement, British Picture Vocabulary Scale (BPVS) III was used and findings showed that there was a significant improvement in the post test after 6 months of MAR implementation. Although this study showed an encouraging results, there was still lack of skills in terms of writing the words learnt via augmented reality. The results of this study provide the discussion on the practicality of using Augmented Reality to help the struggling learners to cope with acquiring and learning English language in ESL context.


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