Vocabulary learning strategies used by grade 6 learners to derive the meaning

of vocabulary items

Badria Al-Bulushi

Chapter 1. Background of the problem 1- The context of the problem- Educational theories supports the view that

vocabulary is crucial in communication- Most of language learners encounter difficulties in

deriving the meaning of the vocabulary items while dealing with reading texts

- It has been increasingly argued that vocabulary learning strategies play a great role in developing learners vocabulary knowledge

- Regarding the Omani context, only very little attention is given to the importance of vocabulary strategies.

- Very few Omani researches were done on the strategies on vocabulary acquisition.

- However, attention needed to be given to the importance of developing the awareness of using vocabulary learning strategies with young learners.

2- Purpose of the study- It addresses the type of vocabulary learning strategies

used by grade 6 learners to determine the meaning of the word

- It explores the role of the teachers in scaffolding students to identify the meaning of the word

3- Research questions

1- What are the strategies that grade 6 learners use to derive the meaning of vocabulary items from a reading text?

2- How does the teacher help the learners to identify the meaning of vocabulary items?

3- Significant of the study TO- Bring the attention to the need of various vocabulary

strategies to enhance vocabulary acquisition.

- Draw grade 6 learners awareness to the importance of using different vocabulary learning strategies to determine the meaning of the vocabulary items.

- Help teachers understand the importance of encouraging learners to use different vocabulary learning strategies.

- Encourage autonomous and self regulated learning through the use of those strategies.

Chapter 2. Review of literature

It contains the following titles - What is vocabulary

- What is vocabulary- Vocabulary instruction- Deriving word meanings- Classification of vocabulary learning strategies- The importance of vocabulary learning strategies

- Factors influence deriving meaning of vocabulary

items

Chapter ThreeMethodology Population and sample- Two Cycle 2 female schools from Batinah south

region.- Three grade 6 classes.- Six grades 5 and 6 teachers.

Research instruments

1- A questionnaire ( 28 students ). - adapted from Schmitt's ( 1997) questionnaire

of vocabulary learning strategies. - Consists of 4 categories of strategies (Cognitive, metacognitive, memory and social strategies ) - 28 items

2- Classroom Observation

(3 reading lessons ) 1- unit 3/ lesson 8 ( An African myth ) 2- unit 3/ lesson 8 ( An African myth ) 3- unite 4/ lesson 5 ( The life of Marco polo )

3- Interviews ( semi –structured ) ( 6 teachers )

Procedures- The questionnaire is developed after adapting Schmitt’s ( 1997 ) questionnaire

- The questionnaire was distributed to the students and each item was explained by the researcher with the help of a teacher from the school

- They are analyzed before lessons observations

- The interviews were conducted with the teachers after classroom observations to prove the data collected from the questionnaire and the classroom observations.

Data Analysis and Discussions

The analysis of the questionnaire items, - the results are presented in tables in terms of mean and standard deviation.

- Descriptive analysis of the data collected from classroom observations and the interviews

Findings ( The questionnaire)

To answer Q1- There is some awareness with some of the students in

using some basic strategies in deriving the meaning of vocabulary items.

- grand mean values for the four categories. It indicates that Cognitive strategies were the most frequently used among the learners. On the other hand memory strategies are the least frequently used ones.

Findings classroom observations

To answer Qs 1&2

1- The most frequently strategies used were social strategies.

2- Other strategies were rarely used in all the lessons.

Findings classroom observations

To answer Q 2- Explanation- Pictures- Drawings- Examples- Dictionaries- Words suffixes and prefixes ( teacher 3 )

Findings interviews

To answer Qs 1&2The most frequently strategies used by the learners - Dictionaries - Vocabulary notebook - Pictures in the text - Work with their peers in groupsThe least frequently one - Guessing the word from the context

Findings interviews( factors influence learners ability derive the meaning of

vocabulary items )1- (factors relate to learners) All of them considered their level of English as the

main reason of their weaknesses in activating strategies to learn meaning of the words.

(Factors relate to the text)-Text difficulty- The gap between cycle one and two in terms of the

amount of vocabulary items and the level of difficulty

Summary - In general some of the learners have some awareness of

few types of vocabulary learning strategies that they use to identify the meaning of vocabulary items.

- Learners make a good use of social strategies.

- learners awareness towards using effective vocabulary learning strategies need to be developed.

- Teachers need to develop more awareness to the importance of the vocabulary learning strategies.

Research Educational Implications

- There is a need to develop learners awareness to the importance of those strategies.

- They should be exposed to various vocabulary strategies during the process of learning.

- Curriculum designers, particularly the English Curriculum Department need to include vocabulary strategy learning elements for the students to be self directed and responsible of their own learning.

Recommendation for further studies

- There is a need for studies to discover the teachers’ role in developing learners awareness to the importance of activating different vocabulary learning strategies.

- An attempt to investigate the effectiveness of vocabulary learning strategies with young learners is needed.

- Studies on the effect of the level of learners on their ability to activate different strategies to derive the meaning of the vocabulary items.

- An investigation of the appropriateness of vocabulary items introduced in our grade 6 course book to the level of our learners.

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