The Effect of Three Consecutive Context Sentences on EFL Vocabulary-Learning

• Sasan Baleghizadeh and Mohammad Naseh Nasrollahy Shahry

• effect of three consecutive context sentences instead of one

• Thirty-three Iranian EFL learners were asked to learn 20 challenging English words in two conditions

• The results of both immediate and delayed post-tests revealed a positive role for context sentences in vocabulary learning

• It is proposed that successful vocabulary learning through context sentences could be attributed to the mixed effects of both context and frequency of occurrence.

Results

• seven students knew at least one of the target words, so their scores on the posttests were excluded
• data were analyzed by using a paired sample t-test because it was a within-subjects comparison and the scores on both learning conditions were related
• the participants’ performance on words that had appeared in context sentences plus their L1 equivalents was significantly better than their performance on words paired only with their L1 equivalent
• Discussion
• Learners exposed to context sentences did better in terms retaining words, and they were also able to compose more correct sentences with them
• The learners who were exposed to context sentences had three sentences on which to draw as models, and it is plausible that part of their better sentence-making scores could be accounted for by their exposure to these sentences.
• frequency and context have an important place in vocabulary-learnin
• lthough learning new words through context-free activities such as working on word pairs might be a powerful tool to enhance one’s breadth of vocabulary knowledge, this study provides strong evidence that adding a minimum of three contextually appropriate sentences to L1 glosses results in a significant improvement in vocabulary-learning
• need to furnish learners with more sample sentences when it comes to presenting vocabulary
• authors of textbooks seem to have a propensity for presenting isolated words either in designated boxes or in the context of a passage, which essentially provides only one context for the given word
• It appears that students would be in a better position to learn and retain new words if they were provided with repeated contexts through exposure to more sample sentences
• In other words, is it the elaborative nature of the context, or is it the frequency of occurrence that promotes better vocabulary learning? Future research is warranted to unravel this issue.