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International Journal of Instruction July 2024 ● Vol.17, No.3
e-ISSN: 1308-1470 ● www.e-iji.net p-ISSN: 1694-609X
pp. 291-314
Citation: Aljburi, M. A., & Khaghaninejad, M. S. (2024). Exploring the efficiency of associative
vocabulary teaching strategies to foreign language learners. International Journal of Instruction, 17(3),
291-314.
Article submission code:
20230919090731
Received: 19/09/2023
Revision: 08/02/2024
Accepted: 24/02/2024
OnlineFirst: 02/04/2024
Exploring the Efficiency of Associative Vocabulary Teaching Strategies to
Foreign Language Learners
Mohammad Abed Aljburi
Department of foreign languages and linguistics, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran,
aljburi.abed@gmail.com
Mohammad Saber Khaghaninejad
Corresponding author, Department of foreign languages and linguistics, Shiraz
University, Shiraz, Iran, mskhaghani@shirazu.ac.ir
This study attempted to explore the effect of applying three associative
vocabulary instruction strategies (context-based, morphemic analysis and concept
map) compared with the traditional strategies on the intermediate EFL learners'
vocabulary development employing a quasi-experimental, quantitative, pre-
test/post-test design. With the aid of an English proficiency test and a researcher-
developed vocabulary test the homogeneity of the participants were checked
before the study's treatment. Subsequently, 80 intermediate EFL learners were
chosen via convenience sampling procedure from private language schools and
recruited for the study and divided into four groups of 20 as the experimental and
control participants. The experimental participants were taught the target lexical
items with the aid of contexts, concept maps and morphemic analyses while the
control participants experienced the traditional instruction (i.e., L1 equivalent
provision, word lists, flashcards and memorization). The same vocabulary test was
administered this time as the post-test to check whether there was a significant
difference in the learners’ attainment for the taught lexical items. The performance
of the participants on the vocabulary post-test was analyzed both descriptively and
inferentially (a MANOVA, an ANOVA and an independent-samples t-test). It was
revealed that all the associative vocabulary teaching strategies were significantly
more efficient than the traditional vocabulary teaching strategies. Moreover, it was
found that concept mapping was the most efficient instructional strategy for
teaching the lexical items compared with the traditional strategies and other
associative strategies for the intermediate EFL learners.
Keywords: associative vocabulary teaching, context-based instruction, morphemic
analysis, concept maps, traditional vocabulary instruction
INTRODUCTION
Vocabulary acquisition has occupied a distinctive place within the bounds of applied
linguistics during the last twenty years and hence mastering lexical items is considered
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to be a necessity for learners to become competent language users (Zwier & Boers,
2023). Vocabulary is the most difficult, manageable component in language learning
regardless of being a native or a foreign language learner. Thus, vocabulary teaching is
considered a big challenge for both teachers and learners of EFL in recent years (Elyas
& Shah, 2018). Although, acquiring words in the first and foreign languages is not
essentially different, the rate and growth of lexical development drastically differ. This
is because in the L1 context much of the lexicons are acquired occasionally and
randomly while the input in L2 is limited to opportunities for gaining new words
(Renandya & Widodo, 2016), hence, incidental vocabulary learning is restricted due to
a deficiency of input in foreign language classrooms (Renandya and Widodo, 2016;
Freeman & Anderson, 2011; Farahani & Khaghaninezhad, 2009). However, the
function of vocabulary in language development is pivotal, yet instructing lexical items
could be demanding as most teachers and curriculum developers are not “confident
about best practices in vocabulary instruction and at times do not know where to begin
to form an instructional emphasis on word learning” (Berne & Blachowicz, 2008, p.
315). On the one hand, teachers have been confronting dilemmas in figuring out a
proper strategy for effective vocabulary teaching in their classes and they need to
promote their knowledge and skills in this area accordingly (Thornbury, 2002). On the
other hand, EFL learners, find it difficult to set suitable words to explain their
expressions and ideas to interact effectively throughout using the language as a result of
their limited vocabulary knowledge (Mahmood & Arslan, 2017).
Although many improvements and proposal have been made regarding the appropriate
strategies of vocabulary teaching, traditional vocabulary teaching strategies are the most
dominant strategies in many EFL contexts such as the Iraqi one (Alsaawi, 2013). This
can be related to the less demanding nature of these strategies both on the part of
instructors and material developers. In search of a more promising instruction type,
associative vocabulary teaching and learning can be a theoretically-rich solution. The
associative vocabulary teaching approach is emerged in response to growing interest in
L2 vocabulary acquisition and as a reflection of the need for new methods and
approaches to provide the vocabulary teaching domain with strategies to enhance the
learners’ lexical abilities in EFL/ESL contexts (Liu, 2016).
Shanks (1995) identified the associate learning as “a kind of acquisition that happens in
an associative situation, the environment (or the experimenter) arranges a contingent
relationship between events, allowing the person to predict one from the presence of
others” (p. 2). Consequently, this term has been utilized to specify phenomena such as
habituation, priming, and perceptual learning. As one of the associative vocabulary
teaching strategies, context-based instruction refers to adapting incidentally learnt
vocabularies, whether from reading and/or listening to common language use (Zwier &
Boers, 2023). Vocabulary growth depends largely on selecting words from context and
recycling the whole process by exposing the EFL learners to new contexts with aiding
their reading ability and comprehension (Nation, 2013). As another strategy of
associative vocabulary instruction, morphemic analysis strategy is a systematic
approach to create the compositional word awareness (Azad & Ahmadian, 2021). It
contains the analysis of the root of a word to unlock the meaning of vocabulary items.
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As the third associative vocabulary teaching strategy, concept-map instruction can be
employed to help EFL learners generate and develop their vocabularies (Rezvani and
Sadrosadat, 2020). They are graphical tools that promote the ability to study and master
lexical items (Nurfitri & Sunubi, 2018). The concept maps could show the relationships
and links between ideas as well as details of knowledge and information in a given text
for better comprehension (Aryanti & Emzir, 2016). Despite the benefits of concept
mapping, there are challenges in some aspects concerning using this strategy to explore
and explain large and pervasive concepts especially in instructional contexts and
practices (Machado and Carvalho, (2020).
This study's primary goal was to look into the effectiveness of associative vocabulary
teaching strategies in comparison with the traditional vocabulary teaching strategies and
secondly to compare the efficacy of three types of associative vocabulary teaching
strategies (Context-based instruction, morphemic analyses and concept maps provision)
for intermediate EFL learners' vocabulary development in the Iraqi EFL context.
Considering the research objectives, the study attempted to check if:
• Associative vocabulary teaching strategies can significantly improve the learning
of lexical items for Iraqi Intermediate EFL learners compared to traditional
vocabulary instruction, and
• Any of the three associative vocabulary teaching strategies (Context-based
instruction, morphemic analysis and Concept maps) can cause a superior effect
on the vocabulary learning of Iraqi Intermediate EFL learners.
Literature Review
Teaching lexical items plays an important role in helping EFL learners evolve their
competence in any foreign language communication (Wilkins, 1972). This important
role urged the researchers to conduct studies to feature practical and effective strategies
for developing the learners' knowledge of vocabulary usage. Considering the undeniable
significance of vocabulary learning in language development and due to the dominance
of traditional vocabulary teaching strategies in many EFL contexts, a theoretically- rich
alternative seems an instructional necessity. The associative vocabulary teaching
involves teaching vocabulary by using the notion of interconnections to facilitate word
acquisition and then a contribution to language development (Colunga & Smith, 2005).
Associative Vocabulary Teaching and Learning
Many researchers have investigated associative vocabulary teaching to designate its
function in vocabulary teaching and learning process (Colunga & Smith, 2005; Sloutsky
et al., 2017). Several researchers documented that Arab learners of secondary school
broadly encounter difficulties in communicating effectively in English due to the lack of
vocabulary items, strategies of teaching, and incompatible learning environment (e.g.,
Al-Jarf, 2022). To overcome these problems, other studies suggested that novel words
for actions and objects could undoubtedly be learned through associative learning
without feedback (Kucker et al., 2018).
In the same vein, Zhang (2014) expressed in his study the importance of using an
associative method in enhancing learners’ retention of English words. Li et al. (2019)
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also examined the associative learning mechanisms of L2 learners by proposing a
Dynamic Vocabulary Theory. They showed that the proposed theory could fruitfully
affect the associative learning process of acquiring vocabulary. In search of the most
appropriate vocabulary teaching strategy, Khaghaninejad and Arefinejad (2015)
documented the significant effectiveness of associative learning on the learners'
vocabulary acquisition. Tsuboi and Francis (2020) studied the claim that associative
vocabulary strategies are more effective in bilinguals than in monolinguals. They found
that the higher proficiency in language through which bilinguals learn the second or
foreign language vocabulary could improve associative memory which was not the case
for traditional vocabulary teaching strategies.
Associative vocabulary teaching strategies deal with several aspects, such as the words'
pronunciations, meanings, morphology and semantic interrelations based on which
three major strategies for vocabulary instruction have been introduced: Context-based
instruction, morphemic analysis and concept maps (Al-Jarf, 2022).
Contexts and vocabulary instruction
Using context as a strategy for teaching vocabulary contains various kinds of cues that a
learner can depict depending on implication, background, knowledge and linguistic
cues. Nation (2013) argued that “guessing from context is a complex activity drawing
on a range of skills and types of knowledge” (p, 330). However, Webb (2008) claimed
that a single glossed sentence context may have little effect on vocabulary development.
In another study, Nurfitri and Sunubi, (2018) presented a cognitive model which
clarified the role of context in language vocabulary acquisition, then he added that “rich
contexts such as comics, animations, and dramas facilitate instantiation greatly by
providing a vast amount of visual, auditory, psychological, perceptual and kinaesthetic
information which is much less tangible when presented in the form of verbal
description” (p. 47).
Nassaji (2003) researched using strategies in L2 lexical inferences and their
relationships with inferential resources. The findings denoted that the intermediate EFL
learners did not understand the lexical items from the contexts of the reading passages.
In addition, the study proved that EFL learners had difficulties in effectively deducing
the meanings of unknown words from the context. It was also revealed that most of the
lexical items in the text and successfully used the strategies and knowledge sources at
their disposal. Finally, the outcomes suggested that learners should not be pushed to
depend on context to grasp the meanings of new vocabulary in EFL classrooms.
Consequently, teachers should dedicate part of the class time to distinguishing,
identifying and explaining the new lexical items to the learners. In an attempt to study
the effects of applying two vocabulary strategies on EFL learners, Ciftci and Uster
(2009) used two vocabulary strategies; the first was teaching vocabulary in context
while the other was teaching vocabulary by providing the definitions. The results
demonstrated no discernible distinction between the target vocabulary taught in context
and by their definitions in terms of retrieval and usage. Khoshsima et al. (2016) clarified
that adapting concept-maps into class activities improved learners' capabilities in
learning and retention of the vocabularies as well as their attitudes towards better
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vocabulary utilities. Different studies have also dealt with concept mapping
effectiveness in vocabulary retention (e.g., Kaveh & Rassaei, 2019; Razvani &
Sadrosadat, 2020) as well as EFL learners’ reading comprehension performance
(Tamimy et al., 2022; Wang & Chen, 2018).
In a theoretical study, Alsaawi (2013) attempted to study learning lexical items by
guessing the meaning of words from a context. The study focused on the effect of
guessing from context in developing learners' words and observing to what extent this
strategy was effective and helpful in teaching and learning the new lexical items.
Guessing from context was found to be a successful strategy for learners who were in
upper intermediate and advanced levels, but it had less effectiveness or almost
negligible on acquiring vocabulary with learners who these levels were beginners and
did not have a sufficient size of words to be guessed. In another study, Ballance (2020)
explored the amount of vocabulary recognition via corpus composition as a key
predictor of lexical recognition. The study indicated that concordances produced to
different designations were not equal in terms of clarifying patterns of words’
recurrence and concluded that collocations are very beneficial for learning lexical items
due to their mental interconnections with the target words.
Context-based instruction has been investigated by many scholars to observe the
learners' word enhancement (e.g., Çetinavcı, 2014; Khaghaninejad et al., 2021; Mulder
et al., 2019) or to focus on deriving vocabulary meaning from context and its effect on
lexical repertoire development (e.g., Baumann et al, 2003; Chao & Hu, 2013), or even
to check the context awareness in vocabulary immersion system to boost learners'
vocabulary acquisition (e.g., Tipprasert et al, 2017). However, by reviewing the
vocabulary learning in context, many English learners realized that it was a challenge to
guess and extract the known words meaning from the indigenous contextual input and
information (Mulder et al., 2019). Zwier and Boers (2023) affirmed this by stating
“inferring word meanings from context requires comprehension of the surrounding
lexical clues” (p. 50).
Morphemic analysis and vocabulary instruction
The morphemic analysis plays a crucial role in vocabulary acquisition (Cross et al.,
2020). The ability to identify meaningful parts of a word enables the learners to
communicate successfully in the target language. Most studies that are conducted to
investigate the morphemic analysis strategy detected the essential role that morphemic
awareness plays in establishing new words (e.g., Azad & Ahmadian, 2021; Cross et al.,
2020; Ramirez, 2020). Morphological analysis instruction which is a strategy that
enables EFL learners to acquire new words by analyzing the words’ components to
infer and understand inclusive word meanings can facilitate vocabulary learning for
EFL learners (Brandes & McMaster, 2017). Jarad (2015) searched for the effects of
morphemic analysis in increasing learners’ vocabulary size and comprehension. The
results indicated that the morphemic analysis strategy enhanced learners' vocabulary
and comprehension. The impact of morphological instruction on lexicon acquisition
was also studied by Bowers and Kirby (2010). The study was designed to address the
recognition of the taught and untaught lexical items and the motivation to utilize them
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in practice. The outcomes revealed that teaching aspects of morphological families
developed the recognition of even untaught words for learners; rising precise
morphological knowledge might encourage and support the growth of lexical features
and representations, particularly for words, but for the families of structurally and
meaningful related words. Kaveh and Rassaei (2019) investigated the function of
morphological awareness in vocabulary acquisition in English as a second language.
The study aimed to further examine the relationship between multi-dimensional
morphological realization and lexicon knowledge in EFL classes. Their results
demonstrated the essential role of derivational awareness in developing and boosting
the learners' vocabulary depth and breadth. Additionally, the morphological awareness
presented as a basis for learners to broaden their lexical items, however, in terms of
compound words no significant effect was observed. Brande and Mcmaster (2017)
reviewed the literature on instruction in morphological analysis strategy for English
language learners to specify the results of morphology effects in vocabulary acquisition.
They documented that this type of instruction had an advantage in that it outfitted the
learners with two options to enhance vocabulary knowledge which bringing attention to
the text. Furthermore, they found that the context analysis alone generated uneven
outcomes especially for readers with none or little abilities in reading a text, with
morphological analysis, they were likely together to enhance and develop learners'
comprehension and probably more reliable path to deduce the words’ meaning.
The effectiveness of morphological analysis was also investigated by Eviyuliwati et al.
(2018) who researched the technique of using morphological analysis in teaching and
learning vocabulary. The findings showed that the morphological analysis was an
effective way of increasing the learners' vocabulary. Crosson et al. (2020) discussed the
impact of morphology interferences set to boost academic lexical items learning,
morphological analysis and reading comprehension. They revealed a firm relationship
between the morphological awareness and the academic lexical development. In
addition, the study implied a significant indirect effect on reading comprehension by
employing academic language and having a substantial impact through morphological
knowledge. Azad and Ahmadian (2021) compared the impact of morphological analysis
and incidental learning on EFL learners' English vocabulary acquisition. By studying
the morphological analysis and incidental strategies, the researchers attempted to pay
attention to the essential role of utilizing two vocabulary acquisition and then make a
comparison between these two strategies to note if there were differences in terms of
teaching words with morphological analysis and incidental learning. The findings
indicated that morphological analysis played a significant role in identifying the
meanings of words and understanding unfamiliar words, and improving learners'
vocabulary building. In conclusion, the study emphasized that morphological analysis
might be more effective, successful and productive in vocabulary acquisition than
incidental learning. These findings matched with previous studies conducted by
Crosson et al. (2019) and Deacon et al. (2017).
Concept mapping and vocabulary instruction
Many researchers have tested the effectiveness of concept maps to record the progress
in gaining new words and developing student's use of vocabulary. As an example,
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Khaghaninejad and Arefinejad (2015) investigated the impact of using concept mapping
on the learners' reading comprehension and indicated that applying the concept mapping
successfully affected the learners' capability to read the texts and comprehend their
meanings. Nurfitri, and Sunubi (2018) also examined the influence of concept mapping
and vocabulary development on Iranian EFL English learners and revealed that concept
mapping affected learners' vocabulary development and hence improved their lexical
items. Another study by Wang and Chen (2018) investigated the effect of multimodal
learning analytics with concept mapping approaches in improving learners' vocabulary
and reading ability. The study confirmed the benefits of concept maps in terms of
vocabulary and reading learning. Rezvani and Sadrosadat (2020) also examined the
effect of concept maps strategy on meaningful learning, focusing on the retention theory
of collocations. This study aimed to highlight the potential impact of concept mapping
strategy on learners’ enhancement and development in vocabulary relating to
collocation knowledge. The study tried to answer the question whether the concept
maps strategy had significant influence in enhancing the learners' awareness and
knowledge in English collocations. The findings indicated that mapping could be a
useful instructional approach for improving collocation learning ability. In this sense, it
was an essential strategy that offered huge support to acquire new lexical items through
realizing the vocabulary and developing word connections and links for learners
according to their prior knowledge. In a quasi-experimental study, Yeganehpour and
Zarfsaz (2021) sought to determine how the concept mapping affected EFL learners'
vocabulary acquisition and retention. The findings showed a statistical significance in
using concept mapping strategy for lexical development. The study also assured an ease
and acceleration in vocabulary enhancement when the concept-mapping is utilized in
vocabulary teaching process.
Although most of the above literature paved the way to realize the position of contexts,
morphology and concept-maps three strategies in developing learners' vocabulary,
inconsistent findings and the lack of an empirical comparison of these strategies in the
EFL context. This issue is addressed in the current study by considering the use of these
three associative vocabulary teaching strategies in observing the learners' improvement
of vocabulary acquisition and comparing them with the traditional vocabulary
instruction in the Iraqi EFL context.
METHOD
Participants
In order to check the efficiency of the associative vocabulary teaching strategies in
comparison with the traditional strategies, 120 male and female Iraqi intermediate EFL
learners were selected via convenience sampling procedure as the initial participants of
the study. They were intermediate EFL learners of two private language learning
institutes in Al-Muthanaah in the south of Iraq. They had studied English as a foreign
language for more than 6 years, and their ages ranged from 14 to18 years old while their
first language was Arabic. After employing the Macmillan Placement Test and gaining
certitude about their English proficiency level, 80 participants were recruited for the
study. They were divided into four groups of 20 as the experimental and control
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participants. Moreover, their consent was sought before the study's commencement. The
80 selected learners (42 males and 38 females) were randomly assigned to three
experimental groups of context-based, morphemic analysis and concept map
instructions and one control group of traditional vocabulary instruction. Throughout the
semester, 12 sessions were held each lasted 60 minutes of practicing one of the four
vocabulary instruction types.
Instruments and materials
Macmillan Placement Test (MPT)
The purpose of employing this test was to obtain a homogenous sample of learners.
This test was conducted in the first session and the intermediate learners recruited
depending on their level of English language proficiency. The test contains 70 multiple-
choice test items of grammar, vocabulary and reading comprehension and is usually
used to measure the learners' English proficiency level from beginner to advanced
levels. The acceptable reliability (92%) of the test which is a universally-accepted and
employed English placement test, is reported by Macmillan straight forward (2022).
Moreover, the validity of the test was approved by a group of experts in TEFL at Shiraz
University. Considering the test’s rubric, 103 learners were in the range of intermediate
level from whom 80 learners were chosen randomly to be the final participants of the
study.
The Vocabulary Test
One hundred words were selected from English Vocabulary in Use (Redman, 2017)
which is designed to develop the lexical competence of intermediate EFL learners. The
purpose of using this book was to ensure that the learners would be exposed to the most
important vocabulary for their level (Redman, 2017). The lexical items were chosen
based on their utility in daily situations. A multiple-choice vocabulary test was designed
and piloted based on the target words. After revising some items, the finalized test
(containing 80 items) was administered in 40 minutes. The process of word selection
and test construction was supervised by a couple of experts in TEFL. The advantage of
using a multiple-choice format is that scoring the responses is comparatively easy and
practical compared with other formats (Little and Bjork, 2012). Before the test's
administration, its reliability was attested satisfactorily (%93) and checked meticulously
by a couple of experts for its face validity. The finalized test was conducted once as the
pre and once as the post-test.
Associative vocabulary instruction techniques
Context-based vocabulary instruction_ Dialogue was the main device for introducing
vocabulary items in this practice. Dialogues were designed to create contexts and
encourage conversations via the target words (Schmitt & Schmitt, 2011). Sentence
completion task was another task for this instruction type. Participants were supposed to
use the words that occurred in a text. Learners can grasp a word from a certain context
and then know how to utilize it in a given question. However, the privilege of using
sentence completion lies in that learners will enjoy these vocabulary-focused learning
activities as they have a good degree of success and will gradually see better progress.
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Using pictures to present vocabularies, is also considered as one of the best types of
acquiring, categorizing and generalizing the target words (Carolina, 2019). Pictorial
context highly brings vocabulary to be vivid and comprehensible and provides visual
aids which help learners remember the words. After presenting the target words
pictorially, some exercises were practiced in class. Moreover, guessing the words’
meaning from the context was also performed by the experimental participants (Nation,
2001).
Table 1
Examples of context-based vocabulary instruction
Reading and sentence
completion
In the UK, many people keep pets. The most common are dogs and
cats, but people also keep birds, e.g. parrots, that are usually in a
cage. Children sometimes keep mice and rabbits. Some people keep
more unusual animals as pets, e.g. frogs, snakes and spiders. Now
Complete the sentence:
1- Cats and Dogs are the most common …………… in the UK.
2- I don’t like keeping birds in a ………….. ; they need more
space.
3- ……………sometimes can change their skin several times a
year.
Using pictures to present
vocabulary
Guessing the words’
meanings from the
context
The rock singer was very popular. A crowd was waiting at the park
to listen to her songs. The word “Crowd” means”:
a. people
b. rock singer
Morphemic analysis vocabulary instruction_ In this instruction technique, learners were
taught how to change the meaning of a word by adding different prefixes/suffixes to
derive the opposite meanings. Different types of affixes (prefixes, infixes and suffixes)
were introduced to the experimental participants by ample exemplifications. Moreover,
through this activity the functional differences between the “free” and the “bound”
morphemes were clarified and practiced via multiple-choice test items.
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Table 2
Examples of morphemic analysis vocabulary instruction
Prefixes: Change the
meaning
Make the following words’ opposites by adding un-, dis- and im-.
..... happy, ..... honest, ..... possible
Suffixes: Forming nouns,
adjectives and adverbs
Form nouns by adding the suffixes –ion and –ment to verbs
Invent_ Invention Discuss...............
Improve_ Improvement Develop..................
Forming adjectives by adding –al , -able, -ful and –less to nouns.
Care_ Careful Help............
Politics_ Political Music.........
Concept map vocabulary instruction_ Using words integrated with other associated
items and instructing them together is an effective strategy for learning and acquiring
vocabulary. The benefits of applying the networks appear clearly in organizing the
words and making the meaning understood by associating one single vocabulary with
other words (Meara, 2009). The participants of this study were exposed to various
maps, trees and diagrams for the target words and were taught the target words
schematically. The acquisition of the target words was checked via matching and
inclusion/exclusion exercises.
Figure 1
Examples of word-tree and concept maps used for concept-map vocabulary instruction
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Traditional vocabulary instruction_ In this vocabulary instruction techniques, word lists,
bilingual dictionaries, flashcards, L1 provision of the target words and memorization
were employed. One reason which makes word lists essential in teaching vocabulary is
that they give learners the ability to narrow and manage the focus in terms of what is
necessary to learn (Greene & Coxhead, 2015). Using dictionaries to improve learners'
vocabulary is an important strategy that could help learners develop their lexical
awareness by themselves. Thus, learners need to focus on the definition of a word and
understand its conceptual functions to use it correctly (Ezeh et al., 2022). Another
traditional vocabulary instruction technique was presenting L1 equivalents for the target
words and their memorization. Foreign language vocabulary acquisition seems to be a
growing and increasing awareness which assures that the first language could facilitate
vocabulary gaining for English language learners. Researchers have found evidence to
support the confirmed and positive effects of utilizing the L1 as an effective
instructional tool, especially at the beginning stages of learning English vocabulary.
Flashcards were also employed for this instruction type. Flashcards remain a good way
to generate, practice, recycle and develop vocabulary, and they function for learners
learning the words on their own or in small groups. Importantly, flashcards are plain
and easy for learners to take home and work with their parents and families; this may
encourage a broader engagement in language learning and vocabulary development
(Supriatin & Rizkilillah, 2018). As a schematic summary, Table 3 shows different class
activities in teaching English lexical items in three associative vocabulary teaching and
traditional classes.
Table 3
Instructional activities for the participants of four groups
Context-based
instruction
Morphemic analysis
Instruction
Concept-map instruction
Traditional instruction
activity
duration
Activity
Duration
activity
duration
activity
duration
Dialogue
practicing
15 mins
Prefixes:
Changing
meaning
15 mins
Networking
15 mins
Word lists
and flash
cards
15 mins
Reading
and
sentence
completion
15 mins
Suffixes:
Forming
nouns
15 mins
Word trees
15 mins
Dictionary
use
15 mins
Using
pictures to
present the
vocabulary
15 mins
Suffixes:
Forming
adjectives
15 mins
Tree
diagrams
15 mins
Presenting L1
equivalents
and
Memorization
15 mins
Guessing
word
meanings
from
context
15 mins
Suffixes:
Forming
adverbs
15 mins
Word maps
15 mins
Word
definitions
15 mins
Data collection and analysis procedure
After conducting the Macmillan Placement Test to homogenize the participants in terms
of English proficiency level, the participants were divided into four classes and
experienced different vocabulary teaching strategies for twelve sessions. Although the
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participants were at the same level of English proficiency based on their schools’
criteria and their performance on the placement test, the constructed vocabulary test was
conducted before the study’s treatment as the pre-test. As anticipated, the participants of
the four groups performed more or less similarly on the vocabulary test and no
significant differences were observed. Then, the instruction phase initiated and lasted
for 12 sessions. After the termination of the instruction phase, the vocabulary test was
conducted as the post-test for the participants of four groups to see whether there was a
statistically meaningful difference in the participants' performance who experienced
associative vocabulary teaching and those who underwent the traditional approach.
Moreover, comparing the performances of the experimental participants on the
vocabulary test made it possible to comment on the efficacy of each of these three
different associative vocabulary instruction techniques for EFL learners. It is worth
mentioning that the vocabulary test consisted of 80 multiple-choice items with 40
minutes time to complete. The items were incomplete sentences of a dialogue that
needed to be completed by the taught words during the instruction phase. For each item
4 options were provided. All the test construction necessities were observed consulting
with Piramanayagam et al. (2024) and Gutiérrez-Santiuste, et al. (2023). The test is
piloted once and undergone some revisions to become finalized. The performance of
each participant was measured based on the number of correct responses to the test
items. The following table depicts two of the test items.
Table 4
Examples of vocabulary test items
Ahmed: We went to Zagros mountains last week.
Kareem: Great: Did you have a good ……?
A pleasure
B climb
C happiness
D enjoyment
Buyer: What kind of a shirt do you prefer?
Customer: well, I prefer a shirt with the … rolled up.
A sleeves
B clothes
C colour
D size
The obtained data were fed into SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version
25 and were analyzed both descriptively and inferentially (a MANOVA, an ANOVA
and an independent-samples t-test) to see if the observed differences were statistically
significant or not. Moreover, the effect sizes of the mean differences were calculated.
FINDINGS
Before the instruction phase of the study, in order to gain certitude about the
homogeneity of the participants, the constructed vocabulary test was conducted as a
pre-test. As Table 5 suggests, no significant difference was observed among the
experimental and control participants before the study’s commencement.
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International Journal of Instruction, July 2024 ● Vol.17, No.3
Table 5
Mean comparison for the experimental and the control participants on the vocabulary
pre-test
After gathering the data from the participants of the study in four different groups, the
performance of the participants was compared on the vocabulary post-test. Table 6
presents the descriptive statistics of the control and the experimental participants.
Table 6
Descriptive statistics of the experimental and control groups of vocabulary test
Scores
Groups
N
Mean
Std. Deviation
Std. Error Mean
Experimental group
60
47.466
11.734
1.514
Control group
20
35.350
10.648
2.381
As Table 6 depicts the mean scores of the control and the experimental participants
were different on the vocabulary test. In order to check if this difference was
statistically significant, an independent-sample t-test was run. As Table 7 shows, there
was a significant difference between the experimental and control participants on the
final vocabulary test. The calculated effect size also certified a significant, practical
difference (Eta-squared = 0.83) between the participants' performance. In the way that
the experimental participants who had experienced associative vocabulary teaching
strategies outperformed their peers in the control group remarkably.
Table 7
Mean comparison for the experimental and the control participants on the vocabulary
post-test
In order to check if the difference on the vocabulary post-test was the function of the
employed vocabulary instruction strategies, a one-way MANOVA was run. As Table 8
depicts, the instruction type had significantly affected the post-test performance of the
participants (Wilk's Lambda Sig. = .000).
F
Sig.
t
df
Sig. (2-
tailed)
Mean
Difference
Std. Error
Difference
Equal Variances assumed
.780
1.56
0.32
78
. 938
9.167
1.963
Equal Variances not assumed
.678
0.67
35.60
.938
9.167
0.822
F
Sig.
t
df
Sig. (2-
tailed)
Mean
Difference
Std. Error
Difference
Equal Variances assumed
.326
.570
4.089
78
.000
22.116
2.963
Equal Variances not assumed
.342
4.294
35.60
.000
22.116
2.822
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International Journal of Instruction, July 2024 ● Vol.17, No.3
Table 8
MANOVA comparison of the participants' performance on the post-test
Effect
Value
F
Hypo- df
Er- df
Sig.
Intercept
Pillai's Trace
.982
234.98
4.000
10.00
.000
Wilk's Lambda
.027
234.98
4.000
10.00
.000
Hotelling's Trace
.985
234.98
4.000
10.00
.000
Roy's Largest Root
.016
234.98
4.000
10.00
.000
Strategies
Pillai's Trace
.017
.673
4.000
10.00
.000
Wilk's Lambda
.984
.673
4.000
10.00
.000
Hotelling's Trace
.013
.673
4.000
10.00
.000
Roy's Largest Root
.018
.673
4.000
10.00
.000
In order to detect where exactly the differences existed, a one-way ANOVA with Post-
Hoc Tests was run to know if there were any significant differences among the
experimental participants as the acquisition of target words was concerned. Table 9
presents the descriptive statistics.
Table 9
Descriptive statistics for the three associative vocabulary groups
Groups
N
Mean
Std.
Deviation
Std.
Error
95% Confidence
Interval
Minimum
Maximum
Lower
Bound
Upper
Bound
Context-based
instruction
20
46.60
10.565
2.362
41.658
51.544
25.00
70.00
Morphemic
analysis
20
48.20
7.904
1.767
44.500
51.899
31.00
62.00
Concept map
20
54.40
8.242
1.843
50.542
58.257
42.00
73.00
Total
60
49.73
9.457
1.221
47.290
52.176
25.00
73.00
Table 9 illustrates the descriptive statistics of the vocabulary test scores for the four
groups. However, this result reveals that there was a huge difference in means between
the three associative vocabulary groups in general and between the first group (context-
based instruction M=46) and the third group (concept mapping M=54) in particular.
Table 10 depicts the Levene's Test for the homogeneity of the four groups and certifies
that the assumption of homogeneity of the variances was not violated. Table 11 depicts
the multiple comparisons for the efficacy of three associative vocabulary teaching
techniques. In order to explore how meaningful the differences were, the effect size of
the differences were also measured (Table 12).
Table 10
Test of Homogeneity for the three groups
Levene Statistic
df1
df2
Sig.
.887
2
57
.418
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International Journal of Instruction, July 2024 ● Vol.17, No.3
Table 11
ANOVA comparisons for the three associative vocabulary instruction groups
Table 12
The effect sizes for the differences among associative vocabulary instruction groups
Point Estimate
95% Confidence Interval
Lower
Upper
Associative
vocabulary
instruction
Eta-squared
.914
.896
.926
Epsilon-squared
.913
.895
.925
Omega-squared Fixed-effect
.913
.895
.925
Omega-squared Random-effect
.840
.810
.861
As Table 11 demonstrates, the p-value for the context-based instruction group was 0.8
compared with the morphemic analysis instruction group (indicating no significant
difference) while the p-value of the concept map instruction was 0.02 compared with
the context-based instruction group which detects a significant difference between these
two experimental participants. In effect, concept maps were found to be the most
efficient associative strategy compared with the context-based instruction and
morphemic analysis groups. The other important result was related to context-based
instruction as the least effective strategy near traditional instruction. Figure 2
schematically demonstrates the different performance of the experimental participants
on the vocabulary test.
(I) Groups
(J) Groups
Mean Difference
(I-J)
Std.
Error
Sig.
95% Confidence
Interval
Lower
Bound
Upper
Bound
Context-
based
instruction
Morphemic
analysis
-1.600-
2.840
.840
-8.433-
5.233
Concept map
-7.800-*
2.840
.022
14.633-
-.967-
Morphemic
analysis
Context-based
instruction
1.600
2.840
.840
-5.233-
8.434
Concept map
-6.200-
2.840
.083
13.033-
.633
Concept map
Context-based
instruction
7.800*
2.840
.022
.967
14.633
Morphemic
analysis
6.200
2.840
.083
-.633-
13.033
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International Journal of Instruction, July 2024 ● Vol.17, No.3
Figure 2
The performance of the experimental participants on the vocabulary test
As the results showed, associative vocabulary teaching performed remarkably better
than the traditional vocabulary teaching. That clearly appeared in the learners'
performance, where the experimental group (context-based instruction, morphemic
analysis, and concept map) gained higher mean scores than the control group. Although
the effect size of the difference between the two groups was moderate, the experimental
learners performed better in the vocabulary test in terms of improving their words after
applying the associative vocabulary teaching strategies. Moreover, concept mapping
was found to be the most effective associate strategy for EFL learners. In fact, concept
mapping urged the learners to manage and organize their vocabularies and use them in
an appropriate way in terms of their relationship with other words compared with the
other strategies.
DISCUSSION
The present study aimed to investigate the efficiency of three associative vocabulary
teaching strategies compared with traditional vocabulary instruction for intermediate
EFL learners. Moreover, it attempted to see which one of these strategies can be more
successful for the learners' vocabulary development. The findings revealed that all the
three associative vocabulary teaching strategies were more efficient than the traditional
strategies to the varying degrees. In associative vocabulary teaching and learning, the
emphasis is on the connections between the new information that learners gain and the
pre-existed knowledge. According to Ausuble (1977), meaningful learning is “a
promising strategy in a formal teaching situation, which consists of non-arbitrary and
non-literal interaction of new knowledge with relevant prior knowledge” (Agra et al.
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2019, p. 249). The common factor between the meaningful learning theory and
associative vocabulary learning is the interconnections of the learners’ lexical items in
their lexicon, meaning that learners' knowledge is influenced by the quantity, clarity and
organization of their past knowledge which are considered substantial elements for
knowledge development (Agra et al., 2019).
The findings also supported what Luo and Chen (2021, p. 67) claimed “learners
preferred to study English vocabulary in contexts rather than to memorize and have
words by English definitions”. Accordingly, the advantage of employing contexts is
intrinsically laid in promoting learners' interest to raise a flexible adaptability to
recognize words and their textual functions. The findings also attested what Tripprasert
et al. (2017) documented about the effect of designing contexts to support English
lexical items learning by using contexts. Their findings showed that the learners'
vocabulary development was enhanced by the learners’ context awareness. The results
also indicated that the learners' comprehension was increased when changing their
position to be a teacher to teach someone the lexical items. Concept mapping is a
technique to motivate meaningful learning by explaining that “concepts should be
hierarchically arranged with more general concepts placed higher on the map and linked
to more specific ones which are placed lower” (Schroeder et al., 2018, p. 56). However,
the findings were in contrast with Mulder et al. (2019) who claimed that contexts are
only useful when all the comprising words are familiar for the learners.
Morphemic awareness, in the same vein, was revealed to be an effective vocabulary
teaching and learning strategy for intermediate EFL Iraqi learners. The findings were in
line with what Brande and McMaster (2017, p. 780) found, “morphemic strategy in
vocabulary instruction might be a promising word strategy to improve the EFL learners'
vocabulary development and knowledge”. Additionally, Crosson et al. (2019) and
Deacon et al. (2017) found that the morphemic analysis strategy played an important
role in determining and identifying the meanings of newly-taught words,
comprehending the unfamiliar words and creating meaningful semantic networks. In the
same vein, Davidson and O'Connor (2019) documented that “morphological analysis
strategies help EFL learners to combine the meanings or morphemes to derive the novel
words meanings” (p. 2). The findings also certified what Tomaschek et al. (2021)
reported about the effects of morphology and context on a foreign language lexical
development. They revealed that the difference in durations of final “s” as a function of
morphology could be estimated by the support of these features from words' sub-lexical
as well as contextual/morphological properties.
Furthermore, concept maps were found to be more efficient than context-based and
morphemic analysis techniques for EFL learners’ lexical development. In other words,
vocabulary knowledge is enhanced in a prominent way during the sessions of applying
the related concept maps for the target lexical items (Thornbury, 2002). In effect, a
concept map was found to be a useful strategy to produce and generate new semantic
networks, new ideas, organize complex structures, accelerate the communication
performance and process, and provide an effective learning atmosphere and
environment by integrating old and new lexical schemata (Luo and Chen, 2021).
Compared with context-based and morphemic analysis strategies, concept maps helped
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maximally the EFL learners organize and manage new information and enabled them to
create meaningful connections in linking the essential ideas with more information from
the concept maps. Moreover, the study’s findings were consistent with what Kaveh and
Rassaei (2019) reported about the impact of using the concept mapping on Iranian EFL
learners' vocabulary learning. They attested the function of the concept mapping in
helping the EFL learners' retention of new lexical items as well as their level of
vocabulary awareness and acquisition techniques. However, the findings challenged
what Machado and Carvalho, (2020, p. 38) claimed “some findings also indicate
challenges integrating concept mapping in academic practices such as learners having
difficulties in concept and link selection, student resistance, and software difficulties”.
Overall, considering the fact that EFL learners would acquire the target lexical items in
relation to other semantically-related items under the influence of associative
vocabulary teaching strategies unlike the traditional strategies, they can retrieve the
target words more efficiently in all language-related comprehension and production
tasks and consequently the rate and the quantity of the learnt items in addition to their
functional awareness would increase. As Liu (2016) claimed, “students’ divergent
thinking ability can be improved through association ability” (p. 226). Thus, learners
could capture the items features precisely and grant complete function to their
imagination and associative with pertinent origins or images and deep thoughts might
be shaped in learners' mind which is advantageous to enhance their vocabulary ability.
CONCLUSION
The findings empirically documented the positive effects of three associative
vocabulary teaching techniques compared to the traditional vocabulary instruction. The
concept maps had been found to have a superior effect on the learners' lexical items
than the morphemic analysis while the context-based instruction had approximately an
equal impact with traditional instruction and was the least efficient among the three
associative vocabulary teaching strategies.
More than its consistency with the meaningful learning principles, the notion of
associative vocabulary learning has merits in terms of developing semantic associations
which are considered to be an aspect of lexical proficiency; semantic associations are
essential components of lexical competence which lies basically in the knowledge of the
relationships between one word and others. This also aligns with the vocabulary theory
which claims that experiencing lexical growth makes it easier to learn new lexical
items. Associative vocabulary teaching is also an effective approach for early language
development and for gaining words by pairing an idea with a word. Associative
vocabulary teaching and learning is an important means for motivating learners' and
raising their curiosity and interest in knowing more about the lexical items.
The dominance of traditional vocabulary instruction techniques and strategies
particularly in EFL contexts, and the fact that many of the earlier research only paid
attention to one of the three associative vocabulary education methods led to the
necessity to look into associative vocabulary teaching and learning as a practically
fruitful alternative which brings about meaningful learning in comparison with the
common strategies of vocabulary instruction. Associative vocabulary instruction led to
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International Journal of Instruction, July 2024 ● Vol.17, No.3
enlarging the vocabulary network and then promoting semantic association processing
among the EFL learners in acquiring new words. The findings can provide insight for
teachers and material developers to prepare the vocabulary teaching materials
considering the semantic associations and interconnections of target items by providing
the suitable contexts, morphemic clarifications and maps for EFL learners. This can be
achieved by pre-task activities to activate the related schemata via concept maps.
Concept maps, as the most efficient associative technique, would provide a conceptual
framework to assist readers in establishing links between their prior knowledge and new
vocabulary words, which is essential to reading development at all levels. Moreover, for
contextualizing the target words, providing contextual clues such as synonyms,
antonyms and examples, summarizing, introducing words in texts and performing
guessing games for their meanings can be accommodated in the class activities.
Morphological awareness can also be raised by sorting the words by their morphology,
word-building tasks and even rhythms and chants.
Further research would be suggested to illuminate the efficiency of associative
vocabulary teaching for other language proficiency levels in either foreign or second
language learning contexts. Moreover, the possible effects of associative teaching and
learning can be investigated for language comprehension (reading and listening) and
language production (writing and speaking) skills.
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