A Study of the Impact of Implicit and Explicit Approaches to Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition using Reading Comprehension Exercises

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Date
2017-08
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The British University in Dubai (BUiD)
Abstract
Nation (2001) explains that attention to vocabulary is unavoidable. Thus; he reflects the inevitable pervasiveness and domination of vocabulary as a main pillar in language production and the creation of corpora. It follows that we can't build vocabulary without reading. In addition, we cannot meet our friends if we stay at home by ourselves all the time. Vocabulary is the central, main pillar and corner stone in second language acquisition. If the learners have sufficient and large amounts of vocabulary, they can effectively and proficiently conceive, understand, communicate with others, express their own ideas, feelings, and emotions. The implicit and explicit approaches in teaching vocabulary are fruitful methods; this dissertation applies the implicit and explicit approach to teaching vocabulary using reading comprehensions exercises. The study applies the mixed qualitative and quantitative approach to explore the impact of implicit and explicit teaching on vocabulary acquisition by answering comprehension exercises. Seventeen students in grade 12 Advanced Section, in the Ibn Khaldun Private Islamic School, United Arab Emirates were the participants of the study. Eight students were included in the implicit group (IG = 8) and nine students were included in the explicit group (EG = 9). An analysis of the results obtained in the post-test and the t-test showed the impact of both the implicit and the explicit on second language vocabulary acquisition using reading comprehension exercises, however, the explicit approach had more impact than the implicit approach in vocabulary acquisition during answering comprehension exercises.
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vocabulary acquisition, implicit learning, explicit learning, United Arab Emirates (UAE)
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