The effectiveness of rich vocabulary instruction on learners' acquisition of vocabulary

النوع : Mémoire

Learners of English as a third language in Lebanon face difficulties in learning vocabulary due to the short time allocated to this language in school programs. In addition, since English as a third language is not assessed in official exams, many students do not take it seriously. To address this problem, the present study adopted the Rich but Narrow approach to vocabulary teaching which integrates vocabulary instruction in teaching the four language skills and which provides explicit vocabulary instruction in the context of authentic reading, writing, listening and speaking tasks that were related to the themes of one of the textbooks used in teaching English as a third language. The effectiveness of the approach was examined through the mixed method design. Sixty-five grade ten students studying English as a third language in a private Lebanese school participated in this study. They were divided into a control group and an experimental group and were taught through the Shallow but Wide approach and through the Rich but Narrow approach respectively. The T-test showed that the experimental group taught through the Rich but Narrow approach performed significantly better than the control group in recalling new words and using them in context. The experimental group was highly motivated and showed a gradual development of vocabulary.