Teaching vocabulary using innovative ways in an EFL classroom
Date of Award
8-1-2004
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Master of Education (M. Ed.)
Department
Institute for Educational Development, Karachi
Abstract
Learning and enhancing vocabulary is important to gain proficiency in any language. It enables one to communicate her/his message to others meaningfully. Yet, it is not being given attention in most language classes. Thus, most of the students are confronted with a limited vocabulary, which hinders their language proficiency. This participatory action research aimed at exploring possibilities, and tried to minimize the challenges involved in using innovative ways in terms of teaching vocabulary in an EFL classroom. The participants of this research were an EFL context teacher and six focused students of Grade Seven. The study was carried out in four cycles. Cycle one (pre-intervention) is about the participant teacher's vocabulary teaching practices through classroom observation and interviews. A systematic plan was developed to work with the teacher, based on the identified gaps in her vocabulary teaching practices. Cycle two (intervention) illustrates the process of the researcher's model lessons while cycle three (intervention) talks about the process of co-planning and co-teaching. Whereas, cycle four (post-intervention) of this study is about the participant teacher's independent lesson planning and teaching. Cycles two, three and four of the study also present an analytical description of the possibilities and challenges of using innovative ways in the EFL classroom. In order to explore the possibilities and challenges of initiating innovative ways for teaching vocabulary, a range of strategies such as read and retell, weave an essay around the target vocabulary, and word drill were used in the classroom in the intervention as well as post-intervention stages of the study. The study shows that while in the course of using innovative ways for a meaningful vocabulary teaching in an EFL classroom, possibilities and challenges go hand in hand. However, teachers by considering the students' needs, age level and other contextual realities can minimize the challenges. The possibilities of using certain innovative ways in the EFL classroom was evident from the students' work samples that the students were relatively able to use the newly learnt vocabulary in a range of contexts. Hence, this study suggests the EFL context classroom teachers to initiate innovative ways for vocabulary teaching.
Recommended Citation
Zaidi, S. (2004). Teaching vocabulary using innovative ways in an EFL classroom (Unpublished master's dissertation). Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.