Graduate Thesis Abstract

A COMPARISON OF COMPUTER-ASSISTED VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION

AND

TEACHER-LED VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION

Ayse Tokaç

M.A., Department of Teaching English as a Foreign Language

Supervisor: Dr. Susan S. Johnston

Co-Supervisor: Prof. Theodore S. Rodgers

June 2005

This study aims to determine whether the learning of foreign language vocabulary would be better for students who study and revise the vocabulary instruction material in a computer environment compared to students who learn and revise the same vocabulary instruction material in a classroom environment with their teachers. Additionally, the study explored the strengths and weaknesses of the computer-assisted vocabulary instruction.

Three groups of students participated in this study. One group was the control group, other groups were the teacher-led vocabulary instruction group and the computer-assisted vocabulary instruction group. The teacher-led group learned and revised the target words using spaced repetition via teacher instruction, the computer group learned and revised the target words using spaced repetition via computers, and the control group learned the target words via teacher instruction while they revised vocabulary massively at one time and did not use spaced repetition.

To determine the groups’ vocabulary gains, a vocabulary retention test was administered as the pretest and the post-test with all groups. Three ANOVAs were computed to analyze the data gathered through the vocabulary retention test. The between-groups analyses indicated that all groups’ vocabulary gains were not significantly different form each other. Thus, computer-assisted vocabulary instruction (CAVI) was found to be as effective as teacher-led vocabulary instruction.

Regarding the strengths and the weaknesses of CAVI, the inclusion of visuals in multimedia annotations was perceived as the most effective feature of CAVI. The weaknesses of CAVI included the inefficacy of computer-provided feedback and the students’ ineffective use of time.