Improving English Vocabulary Size of Elementary Tutees Through Word Attack Skills (WAS)

Lyzyl L. Banuag, Adelyne C. Abrea

Abstract


Vocabulary size was germane in reading comprehension, particularly to second language learners of English. This action research aimed to develop Word Attack Skill (WAS) lessons for elementary tutees with limited vocabulary. The WAS lessons bent on seven main topics and twelve sub-topics composed of Auditory Discrimination, Consonant Sounds, Consonant Combinations, Vowels, Compound Words, Contractions, and Affixes. Determined during the planning phase and pre-test using Version A of the Vocabulary Test at 1000 Level developed by Laufer and Nation (1999), 13 out of 31 tutees were given WAS lessons right after their regular tutorial activities. A post-test using Version B of the Vocabulary Test was administered to find out the progress of the vocabulary size of the tutees. Based on the T-test results, the mean score of 35.9 (89.8%) in the post-test was significantly higher than the mean score of 30.4 (75.9%) in the pre-test. This indicated an increase in the vocabulary size of the tutees after they took the WAS lessons. Based on the findings, the areas to improve vocabulary size included Auditory Discrimination, Consonant Blends, Prefixes, and Suffixes.

Keywords


vocabulary; vocabulary size; word attack skills

Full Text:

PDF

References


Anderson, R. C., & Freebody, P. (1981). Vocabulary knowledge. In 1 T. Guthrie (Ed.), Comprehension and teaching: Research reviews (pp. 77-117). Newark. DE: International Reading Association.

Archer, A. L., Gleason, M. M., & Vachon, V. (2000). REWARDS: Reading excellence: Word attack and rate development strategies. Longmont, CO: Sopris West.

Afsharrad, M., & Sadeghi Benis, A. R. (2014). The effect of transcribing on beginning learners' dictation. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 4(10): 2203-2208.

Bell, E., Bryman, A., & Harley, B. (2018). Business research methods. Oxford: Oxford university press.

Black, E. B. (1981). A study of the consonant situations in a primary reading vocabulary. Spelling Progress Bulletin.

Brown, S. H., Lignugaris, B., & Forbush, D. E. (2016). The effects of morphemic vocabulary instruction on prefix vocabulary and sentence comprehension for middle school students with learning disabilities. Education and Treatment of Children, 39(3): 301-337.

Clarke, P. J., Snowling, M. J., Truelove, E., & Hulme, C. (2010). Ameliorating children’s reading-comprehension difficulties: A randomized controlled trial. Psychological science, 21(8): 1106-1116.

Fitzer, K. R., & Hale, J. B. (2015). Reading and the brain: Strategies for decoding, fluency, and comprehension.

Glende, L. (2013). Vocabulary and word study to increase comprehension in content areas for struggling readers.

Gordon, J., & Darcy, I. (2016). The development of comprehensible speech in L2 learners. Journal of Second Language Pronunciation, 2(1): 56-92.

Kemmis, S., and R. McTaggart. (2000). Participatory action research. In Handbook of Qualitative Research, edited by N. K. Denzin and Y. S. Lincoln. Thousand Oaks, C.A.: Sage. Kothari, U. 2002.

Lagnada, N. (2006). Reading Skills in English of First Year College Students in Urios College (Unpublished Thesis). Father Saturnino State University.

Laufer, B., & Nation, P. (1999). A vocabulary-size test of controlled productive ability. Language testing, 16(1): 33-51.

Linebaugh, G., Roche, T. (2013). Learning to hear by learning to speak: the effect of articulatory training on arab learners’ English phonemic discrimination. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 36.

Lucas, R. I., Miraflores, E., & Go, D. (2011). English language learning anxiety among foreign language learners in the Philippines. Philippine ESL Journal, 7: 94-119.

McKeown, M. G., & Curtis, M. E. (Eds.). (2014). The nature of vocabulary acquisition. Psychology Press.

McKeown, M. G., & Kucan, L. (Eds.). (2009). Bringing reading research to life. Guilford Press.

McBride-Chang, C., Cho, J. R., Liu, H., Wagner, R. K., Shu, H., Zhou, A., ... & Muse, A. (2005). Changing models across cultures: associations of phonological awareness and morphological structure awareness with vocabulary and word recognition in second graders from beijing, hong kong, korea, and the united states. Journal of experimental child psychology, 92(2), 140-160.

Nation, I. S. (2013). Learning vocabulary in another language. Google eBook. Cambridge University Press.

Nation, P. (1994). New Ways in Teaching Vocabulary. New Ways in TESOL Series: Innovative Classroom Techniques. TESOL, 1600 Cameron Street, Suite 300, Alexandria, VA 22314.

Nation, P. (2001). Using small corpora to investigate learner needs: Two vocabulary research tools. Small corpus studies and ELT, 31-45.

Pittman, W. (2003). Building vocabulary through prefixes, roots and suffixes. The Internet TESL Journal, 9(7): 1-2.

Ramus, F., Rosen, S., Dakin, S. C., Day, B. L., Castellote, J. M., White, S., & Frith, U. (2003). Theories of developmental dyslexia: insights from a multiple case study of dyslexic adults. Brain, 126(4): 841-865.

Sadoussi, C., Ahami, A., Loukili, A., Mammad, K., & Mrabet, A. (2018). The Importance of Auditory Discrimination in the Acquisition of Mental Lexicon and Reading Automation in Arabic-Speaking Students in Kenitra (Morocco). Open Journal of Medical Psychology, 7(03): 27.

Schmitt, N. (2000). Vocabulary in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Sadoussi, C., Ahami, A., Loukili, A., Mammad, K., & Mrabet, A. (2018). The Importance of Auditory Discrimination in the Acquisition of Mental Lexicon and Reading Automation in Arabic-Speaking Students in Kenitra (Morocco). Open Journal of Medical Psychology, 7(03): 27.

Sim, J., & Lee, E. J. (2018). Comprehension of Compound Words in 3-4 Grade School-Aged Children with Poor Reading Comprehension. Communication Sciences & Disorders, 23 (2): 288-297.

UNESCO. 2016. If you don’t understand, how can you learn?. Policy paper 24 of Global Education Monitoring Report. Paris: UNESCO.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


SDSSU Multidisciplinary Research Journal (SMRJ)

North Eastern Mindanao State University (NEMSU)
Research Journal Publication Office
Rosario, Tandag City Surigao del Sur 8300, Philippines

p-ISSN: 2244-6990
e-ISSN: 2408-3577