Incidental and intentional learning of vocabulary among young ESL learners

Developing a rich vocabulary repertoire in English is an essential achievement for young learners acquiring English as a second language (ESL) as having a strong word knowledge base supports the development of the four language skills in the second language. Most studies on vocabulary learning, ho...

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Main Authors: Meganathan, Pavani Malaa, Yap, Ngee Thai, Paramasivam, Shamala, Jalaluddin, Ilyana
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2019
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/80231/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/80231/1/Incidental%20and%20intentional%20learning%20of%20vocabulary%20among%20young%20ESL%20learners.pdf
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author Meganathan, Pavani Malaa
Yap, Ngee Thai
Paramasivam, Shamala
Jalaluddin, Ilyana
author_facet Meganathan, Pavani Malaa
Yap, Ngee Thai
Paramasivam, Shamala
Jalaluddin, Ilyana
author_sort Meganathan, Pavani Malaa
building UPM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Developing a rich vocabulary repertoire in English is an essential achievement for young learners acquiring English as a second language (ESL) as having a strong word knowledge base supports the development of the four language skills in the second language. Most studies on vocabulary learning, however, have been conducted with adult learners at the college levels. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of different instructional techniques (incidental learning and intentional learning) on vocabulary acquisition among young ESL learners. The participants were 99 students between 10-11 years old in a Malaysian Tamil primary school. Stratified sampling was applied, and the subjects were divided into 3 groups; a control group and two experimental groups: extensive reading (ER) and extensive reading plus vocabulary enhancement (ER+). The ER group received treatment involving extensive reading of storybooks while, the ER+ group received treatments involving extensive reading of storybooks and vocabulary enhancement activities. The treatments were conducted as after-class activities. The control group did not attend the after-class activity but continued with regular class activities. The vocabulary levels test (VLT) was administered to all groups before and after the treatment to measure the significant difference between the three groups. The results show a significant gain for both the experimental groups with the ER+ group having higher means in both the posttest and delayed post-test scores. However, there was no gain recorded for the control group. The study provides evidence that extensive reading can enhance vocabulary learning but the blending with vocabulary enhancement activities was more effective.
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spelling upm-802312020-10-02T09:04:43Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/80231/ Incidental and intentional learning of vocabulary among young ESL learners Meganathan, Pavani Malaa Yap, Ngee Thai Paramasivam, Shamala Jalaluddin, Ilyana Developing a rich vocabulary repertoire in English is an essential achievement for young learners acquiring English as a second language (ESL) as having a strong word knowledge base supports the development of the four language skills in the second language. Most studies on vocabulary learning, however, have been conducted with adult learners at the college levels. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of different instructional techniques (incidental learning and intentional learning) on vocabulary acquisition among young ESL learners. The participants were 99 students between 10-11 years old in a Malaysian Tamil primary school. Stratified sampling was applied, and the subjects were divided into 3 groups; a control group and two experimental groups: extensive reading (ER) and extensive reading plus vocabulary enhancement (ER+). The ER group received treatment involving extensive reading of storybooks while, the ER+ group received treatments involving extensive reading of storybooks and vocabulary enhancement activities. The treatments were conducted as after-class activities. The control group did not attend the after-class activity but continued with regular class activities. The vocabulary levels test (VLT) was administered to all groups before and after the treatment to measure the significant difference between the three groups. The results show a significant gain for both the experimental groups with the ER+ group having higher means in both the posttest and delayed post-test scores. However, there was no gain recorded for the control group. The study provides evidence that extensive reading can enhance vocabulary learning but the blending with vocabulary enhancement activities was more effective. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2019 Article PeerReviewed text en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/80231/1/Incidental%20and%20intentional%20learning%20of%20vocabulary%20among%20young%20ESL%20learners.pdf Meganathan, Pavani Malaa and Yap, Ngee Thai and Paramasivam, Shamala and Jalaluddin, Ilyana (2019) Incidental and intentional learning of vocabulary among young ESL learners. 3L: The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 25 (4). pp. 51-67. ISSN 0128-5157 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338195752_Incidental_and_Intentional_Learning_of_Vocabulary_among_Young_ESL_Learners 10.17576/3L-2019-2504-04
spellingShingle Meganathan, Pavani Malaa
Yap, Ngee Thai
Paramasivam, Shamala
Jalaluddin, Ilyana
Incidental and intentional learning of vocabulary among young ESL learners
title Incidental and intentional learning of vocabulary among young ESL learners
title_full Incidental and intentional learning of vocabulary among young ESL learners
title_fullStr Incidental and intentional learning of vocabulary among young ESL learners
title_full_unstemmed Incidental and intentional learning of vocabulary among young ESL learners
title_short Incidental and intentional learning of vocabulary among young ESL learners
title_sort incidental and intentional learning of vocabulary among young esl learners
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/80231/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/80231/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/80231/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/80231/1/Incidental%20and%20intentional%20learning%20of%20vocabulary%20among%20young%20ESL%20learners.pdf