THE INFLUENCE OF VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE ON IRANIAN INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNER SSPEAKING ABILITY

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1 THE INFLUENCE OF VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE ON IRANIAN INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNER SSPEAKING ABILITY *Roshanak Nouralian, Shahrokh Jahandar and Morteza Khodabandehlou Department of English Language, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Rodaki institute of higher education, Tonekabon, Iran *Author for Correspondence ABSTRACT The present study investigated the influence of vocabulary knowledge on Iranian Intermediate EFL learner sspeaking ability. This study tried to determine whether or not vocabulary knowledge development in speaking classrooms might enhance a more acceptable speaking ability in Iranian EFL learners at the intermediate level. To answer this question, 60 intermediate language learners in Shokouh Language Institute in Bandar Anzali were randomly selected via administering a MELAB to 100 language learners. Then, they were divided into experimental and control groups. A pre-test of speaking including 10 questions was administered to both groups, and the participants were asked to answer them orally. The experimental group was taught speaking based on vocabulary knowledge development while the control group was taught speaking with respect the existing methods. After five sessions of the treatments, the post-test of speaking was administered in which the participants in both groups were asked to answer the posttest questions. The data was analyzed through calculating a t-test and ANCOVA coefficient. The results indicated that the means of the two groups were significantly different. Key Words: Vocabulary Knowledge, Speaking Ability INTRODUCTION Language is the basic means we use to go beyond the limits of our own space and time. It is the language that puts wings on our mind and enables us to fly beyond our horizons into the fascinating worlds beyond (Chastain, 1988), but learning and developing a language is a highly complicated process and is influenced by some significant and key elements such as social, perceptual, conceptual, cognitive processing and linguistic factores. Linguists believe that language consists of some linguistic components like phonology, lexicon, semantics and pragmatics which are put into actual use through the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. But speaking does have a definite and special place in the language learning process, because it plays a critical role in learning to use language to communicate. Like three other skills, speaking is a continuous process in which many important and affective elements are influential, and one of the most basic and essential elements in this continuous process is vocabulary development. In fact, learning vocabulary is one of the first steps of language learning, yet a learner never finishes vocabulary development. Many studies have shown that a large and rich vocabulary can improve learner s ability to communicate, and it is obvious that speaking is the key element in communicating ability. Thus, investigating the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and speaking ability can be a significant area of further consideration. Oya et al., (2009) carried out a research examining the influence of language contact and vocabulary knowledge on the speaking performance of Japanese students of English. They found that vocabulary knowledge correlated with fluency, accuracy, complexity and global impression aspects of speaking performance. Time spent on the followings were also found to correlate positively with various aspects of speaking performance: studying English, staying in Englisg - speaking countries, speaking English outside of school, speaking English with non - native English speakers, and reading. In contrast, time spent watching television was found to negatively correlate with speaking accuracy. 188

2 August (2005) investigated the critical role of vocabulary development for English language learners. This study results revealed that English language learners who experience slow vocabulary development are less able to comprehend text at grade level than their English - only peers. Such students are likely to perform poorly on assessments in these areas and are at risk of being diagnosed as learning disabled. In this article, they review the research on methods to develop the vocabulary knowledge of ELLs, and this review suggests that several strategies are especially valuable for ELLs, including taking advantage of student s first language if the language shares cognates with English ensuring that ELLs know the meaning of basic words and providing sufficient review and reinforcement. Finally, we discuss challenges in designing effective vocabulary instruction for ELLs. Important issues are determining which words to teach, taking into account the large deficits in second - language vocabulary of ELLs, and working with the limited time that is typically available for direct instruction in vocabulary. Purpose of the Study As it is said earlier, the present study is an attempt to ameliorate the pedagogical and practical implication and application of The Influence of vocabulary knowledge on Iranian Intermediate EFL learner sspeaking ability. However, the study tries to answer the following question that might yield message to curriculum innovation and policy. Does vocabulary knowledge have any effect on Iranian Intermediate EFL learner sspeaking ability? The present research can be useful for material designer and material selection and preparation, which might be a paradigm shift in curriculum innovation. Research Question In order to tackle the problem of the research in a very consolidated way, the following research question has been formulated as follows: -Does vocabulary knowledge have any effect on Iranian Intermediate EFL learner sspeaking ability? Research Hypothesis In order to answer the research question, the following null hypothesis has been formulated: H0: vocabulary knowledge does not have any effect on Iranian Intermediate EFL learner sspeaking ability MATERIALS AND METHODS Introduction This part introduces the method of the study. More specifically it details the design of the study, the subjects who participated in the experiment, the instrumentation, procedures and statistical analysis. Design of the Study The design of the study was quasi-experimental design, which is a pre-post test design. Participants The participants of the study were 100 intermediate students both male and female. After administration of MELAB test, 60 intermediate students were selected. They were divided into two groups, control and experimental. Both groups sat for the pre-test of speaking ability to take their initial knowledge of speaking ability. Then one group received treatment based on vocabulary knowledge development. However, the other group received no treatment and finally both groups sat for the post-test, which was the same speaking test. Materials The following materials were employed throughout the course of this study. A MELAB test was used for the purpose of homogenizing the proficiency of the learners. Another type of the test, which was used for the purpose of the study, was speaking test. This type of test was used as a pre-test to measure the learner s initial subject knowledge in two groups. And finally the same speaking test was used as a posttest based on which the efficacy of vocabulary knowledge development was determined. 189

3 Procedure The procedure through which this study is conducted includes different stages of application, which embraces the selection of the subjects, instruments and materials. Basically three types of test were used in this study, a MELAB test which was used to make the subjects homogeneous. Having being homogenized, they were randomly assigned into two groups, control and experimental. Both groups sat for a pre-test of speaking in order to take their initial subject knowledge of speaking ability. The test consisted of 7 minutes of discussion or face-to-face interaction. They randomly chose a topic for the speaking test from their textbook such as all about you, my favorite people and celebrities, routines, and my free time and hobbies. The speaking test scores were based on the language points followed in the course outline of English1. The control group received no treatment an approached the traditional way of teaching speaking. However, the experimental group received treatment based on vocabulary knowledge development. Finally both groups sat for the post-test of speaking test to assess the effectiveness on the specific treatment program. Statistical Analysis The data was analyzed through SPSS a T-Test and ANCOVA coefficient will be powerful enough to handle the significant of the study if there is any. MATERIALS AND METHODS In order to find out whether the treatment has been influential and beneficial in improving the subjects speaking ability, two kinds of statistical analyses were employed. A t-value (t-test) was calculated between the posttest scores of speaking in the two participant groups to show the effect in the hypothesis of the study. Two separate ANCOVA as were calculated between the scores of pretest and posttest of the experimental group as well as the pretest and posttest of the control group. Descriptive statistics for the application related to the posttest of the experimental and the control group of the study presented in Table 1. Table 1: The summary of descriptive analysis for the data related to the posttest of the experimental and the control group of the study Groups N Mean SD Experimental Control As table (1) indicates, the mean of the experimental group is higher than that of the control group. Accordingly, the number of participants in each group was 30, in addition, the amount of the standard deviation was lower in the experimental group as compared to the control group of the study which indicates that the experimental group posttest scores are more homogenous than those of the control group Inferential Analysis of the Data Table 2: The summary of t-test between the posttest scores of experimental and the control group of the study Variance t Mean Difference Equal variance not assumed According to table (2), the result of t-test (tobs= 4.65, p<.05) yielded significant difference between the experimental and control groups. The obtained t-observed is higher than the critical value of t in the t-student table with the degree of freedom of 56 (df = 56) and the level of significance 190

4 of 0.05 (Sig. = 0.05) for the two-tailed (null)hypothesis as to be (tcrit= 2.000). Such a result (tobs>tcrit) rejects the null hypothesis of the current study. Table (3) below represents the results of two ANCOVA coefficients calculated separately between the pretest and the posttest of the experimental and the control group of the study: Table 3: The covariance matrix between the pretest and the posttest scores of the experimental and the control group of the study Group Covariance Experimental 1.13 Control 2.06 Table (3) indicates that the coefficient of ANCOVA for the experimental group is lower than that of the control group. This means that the pretest and the posttest scores in the control group are closer to each other as compared to those in the experimental group, which represents that treating the experimental group with vocabulary knowledge development has resulted in increasing the range of their speaking scores in the posttest. The results in tables (2) and (3) indicated that the null hypothesis of the study was rejected. This rejection means that the utilized treatment of the study affected the outcome; thus, it can be concluded that using vocabulary knowledge development enhance performance in a test of speaking among Iranian EFL learners. Based on the obtained results, certain justifications regarding the Influence of vocabulary knowledge on Iranian Intermediate EFL learner sspeaking ability can be made. Accordingly, the subjects under experimental group seemed to succeed because of getting involved in vocabulary knowledge development. Conclusion Vocabulary is the knowledge of words and encompasses all of the words we know and use when speaking (Stahl and Nagy, 2006). Vocabulary knowledge comes into two forms namely receptive (also called passive) and productive (also called active). Words that are generally understood when heard or read or seen constitute a person's receptive vocabulary. But productive vocabulary generally refers to words that we use when we speak or write. Words are the tools we use to think, to learn about the world, to express ideas and feelings, and to communicate. Researchers have stated that vocabulary deficiencies are a primary cause of academic failure (Stanovich, 1986; Becker, 1977). These researchers believe that direct and explicit instruction of a set number of vocabulary words might improve academic success in all content areas. According to Fu (2009) since words play an important role in expressing feelings, emotions and ideas, vocabulary difficulties could lead to comprehension problems. In addition, it is possible to communicate effectively with imperfect grammar if the correct vocabulary is known indeed lexical errors impede comprehension more than grammatical errors. Many other studies have shown that the extent of students vocabulary knowledge relates strongly to their speaking ability. On the other hand, vocabulary knowledge has been considered as the mechanism that drives speaking and according to Stahl and Nagy (2006), deepening word knowledge leads to enrich language use in speaking. But as noted, although many studies have shown the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and language learning, there are a few works on the effect of vocabulary knowledge on speaking skill. This study is going to investigate the effects of vocabulary knowledge on speaking. From the results of this study, it was showed that the teaching vocabulary knowledge can improve speaking ability of EFL students. The study also revealed that the students were extremely satisfied with this approach. It gives them a better opportunity to improve their English speaking. So the teacher should set the appropriate period to help learners to fulfill their potential about preparing vocabulary knowledge for their speaking performance and be patient since this approach employs a lot of time and activities at every stage. 191

5 REFERENCES Ahmad AM (2010). Vocabulary knowledge of adult ESL learners. CCSE English Language Teaching (ELT) 3(1) August D (2005). The critical role of vocabulary development for English language learners. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice 20(1) Becker WC (1977). Teaching reading and language to the disadvantages. Harward Educational Review Brown D (2001). Teaching by principles. White Plains, NY: Pearson Education Company. Chastain K (1988). Developing second language skills, theory and practice (3rd edition). Orlando: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. Fu J (2099). A study of learning styles, teaching styles and vocabulary teaching strategies in Chinese primary school. Sweden, Kristainstad University College. Horiba Y (2012). Word knowledge and its relation to text comprehension. The Modern Language Journal Kafipour R, Yazdi M and Shokrpour N (2011). Vocabulary levels and vocabulary learning strategies of Iranian undergraduate students. CSCanada