Exploring the Efficiency of Associative Vocabulary Teaching Strategies to Foreign Language Learners

Abstract

This study attempted to explore the effect of applying three associative vocabulary instruction strategies (context-based, morphemic analysis and concept map) compared with the traditional strategies on the intermediate EFL learners' vocabulary development employing a quasi-experimental, quantitative, pre-test/post-test design. With the aid of an English proficiency test and a researcher-developed vocabulary test the homogeneity of the participants were checked before the study's treatment. Subsequently, 80 intermediate EFL learners were chosen via convenience sampling procedure from private language schools and recruited for the study and divided into four groups of 20 as the experimental and control participants. The experimental participants were taught the target lexical items with the aid of contexts, concept maps and morphemic analyses while the control participants experienced the traditional instruction (i.e., L1 equivalent provision, word lists, flashcards and memorization). The same vocabulary test was administered this time as the post-test to check whether there was a significant difference in the learners’ attainment for the taught lexical items. The performance of the participants on the vocabulary post-test was analyzed both descriptively and inferentially (a MANOVA, an ANOVA and an independent-samples t-test). It was revealed that all the associative vocabulary teaching strategies were significantly more efficient than the traditional vocabulary teaching strategies. Moreover, it was found that concept mapping was the most efficient instructional strategy for teaching the lexical items compared with the traditional strategies and other associative strategies for the intermediate EFL learners.