L2 vocabulary learning

Television can be considered a rich, helpful, and valuable source to expose L2 learners to huge amounts of comprehensible input so that they can improve their L2 knowledge and, in particular, their L2 vocabulary knowledge. This study aimed to discover how effective sustainable and extensive TV viewing can be in L2 vocabulary learning, considering the language of the on-screen text (L1 or L2) and instruction type (preteaching L2 items or not). Eighty L2 learners (58 female and 22 male), who had an intermediate English proficiency and were divided into four groups, participated in the intervention over an academic term in a language institute. Participants viewed 14 episodes of a TV series under four experimental conditions: (1) captions and preteaching, (2) captions without preteaching, (3) subtitles and preteaching, and (4) subtitles without preteaching. A pre/posttest design to examine the gains regarding both L2 vocabulary meaning and form was adopted. Results suggested that extensive exposure to TV series positively affected the participants’ L2 vocabulary learning, both in terms of meaning and form. Participants exposed to L2 captions outperformed those who had received L1 subtitles, concerning both L2 vocabulary meaning and form. Finally, the analyses showed that, overall, the groups that had undergone preteaching performed better, regardless of the language of the on-screen texts.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of task type (i.e., sentence fill-in/sentence writing) and word type (i.e., real/ pseudo) on initial learning and retention of 10 word meanings, taking the predictions of Involvement Load Hypothesis (ILH) and Technique Feature Analysis (TFA) into account. Participants were 59 intermediate-level EFL learners from eight intact classes. Each intact class was randomly assigned to one of the four learning conditions: 1) sentence fill-in with real words, 2) sentence writing with real words, 3) sentence fill-in with pseudowords, and 4) sentence writing with pseudowords. Initial learning was measured by administering a meaning recall test immediately after the tasks and medium-term retention was measured by administering the same test with rearranged items one week after the tasks phase. The results of a mixed between-within subjects ANOVA did not show any significant interaction effect between test time and learning condition. Furthermore, the main effect for learning condition was not statistically significant but there was a significant main effect for test time, suggesting that participants’ scores dropped significantly from the immediate posttest to the delayed posttest. The findings of two independent-samples t-tests failed to show any significant difference between the immediate and delayed posttest scores of the participants who received either sentence fill-in or sentence writing tasks. However, some tentative findings demonstrated that those participants who were assigned to the sentence writing task achieved higher scores on the posttests. This finding indicates that TFA has probably more predictive power than ILH and it also provides some evidence in favor of the heavier weight of the evaluation component of the ILH when compared to its search component.

The perceived outbreak of COVID‐19 has forced the closure of schools in Iran. Alternatively, e-learning has emerged as a viable replacement for training students. The present study examined the comparative effects of applying Shaad as online learning versus face-to-face teaching on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ vocabulary learning. To achieve this aim, sixty ninth-grade high school students were randomly selected. The members of the study were assigned to the Shaad and control groups. The instruments were a Cambridge Placement Test (CPT) and a researcher-made test administered as a pre-and post-test. First, the CPT was used, then a pre-test was administered to members of both groups. EFL learners’ vocabulary learning was analyzed at the end of the research; thus, the students in both groups performed the vocabulary post-test. Descriptive statistics and independent samples t-tests were run to determine the effect of Shaad on Iranian EFL learners’ vocabulary learning. The results revealed that teaching vocabulary through Shaad as online learning did not have a statistically significant effect on EFL students’ vocabulary learning. The results also showed a significant difference between the vocabulary learning of EFL students exposed to face-to-face teaching and those exposed to Shaad; thus, face-to-face learning is more effective. One of the study implications is that policymakers might provide infrastructure for virtual education to contribute to the improvement of EFL learning along with face-to-face education after the Covid-19 pandemic. Also, material designers can remove the deficiencies of the Shaad platform to develop the student’s vocabulary learning as an instructional aids tool.