Effect of Prior Definitional Instruction of Targeted Vocabulary in German Texts on Vocabulary Knowledge and Reading Comprehension

摘要

There has been a strong tendency in the foreign language education community to encourage learning vocabulary from context and to discourage direct instruction of vocabulary, this despite the fact that the amount of research on vocabulary acquisition, particularly of older learners in a foreign language, is relatively small. Recent research has illuminated potential advantages to more deliberate instruction of vocabulary, as well as increased use of dictionaries. This study examines the combined effect of direct instruction and learning from context on an authentic German text, looking specifically at subsequent level of word knowledge, response times, and recall protocol scores. The study used cadets studying beginning and intermediate level German at the Air Force Academy, and processed them through a four day cycle which included familiarization, vocabulary instruction, reading comprehension tasks, and then vocabulary testing. A delayed test was given two weeks later. The two independent variables were whether they had received instruction on the targeted words and whether or not they had access to an on-line dictionary during the reading of the authentic texts. Verbal skills, as determined by ACT and SAT scores, were used as a covariant. The data from one hundred randomly selected cadets was submitted for a MANCOVA analysis.