A Comparison of the Effect of Innovative Concordancing Instruction and Traditional Concordnacing Instruction Method on Enhancing Iranian EFL Learners’ Vocabulary Knowledge

Alireza Karbalaei & Mohsen Kord Afshari, Iran, ID LLCE2017-163;      Abstract: Vocabulary is a crucial element for second language learning and second language development. Learners need sufficient vocabulary in order to be able to perform different Concordance-based methods are seen as offering new and exciting techniques for developing teaching materials and enabling learners to make direct discoveries about language, especially vocabulary, and improve their language ability with authentic texts. The current study attempts to increase the effectiveness of concordancing instruction on vocabulary knowledge by integrating principled instructional approaches. The participants of the present study were 90 university students at undergraduate level in Islamic Azad University in Tehran, Iran. At the initial phase of the study, students were given a proficiency test and those who got one standard deviation above and below the mean were selected as the main participants. Then, these students were in three intact classes, assigned as Innovative concordancing group, traditional concordancing group and control group. The classes were taught by two teachers.. Participants in the both experimental groups were given eight-week vocabulary instruction. Participants in the control group did not receive any special vocabulary instruction. The results showed that ICI had both better immediate and delayed instructional effects on the enhancement of receptive and productive knowledge although participants benefited from the two instructional groups in terms of the improvement of receptive and productive knowledge . The current study provides several implications for vocabulary language instruction when designing vocabulary curricula and developing materials for EFL learners and teachers.

Key Words: Concordancing, Innovative Concordancing Instruction, Traditional Concordancing Instruction, Vocabulary learning, EFL learners