The Effect of Instruction in Deriving Word Meaning on Incidental Vocabulary Learning in EFL Context

Abstract

A solid body of research findings substantiates that most vocabulary, in first, second or foreign language, is acquired incidentally which is defined as learning vocabulary as a by-product of any activity not explicitly geared to vocabulary learning. Therefore, the present study mainly focused on the impact of instruction and intervention in deriving word meaning on incidental vocabulary learning in EFL context; secondly, it aimed to find out whether the contextualized words that appear with more clues   learned better and consequently kept longer; finally, it sought to explore whether instruction could lead to increase in incidental vocabulary learning in the text. To these ends, 50 freshmen Iranian college students from Teacher Training University of Azerbaijan participated in this study. These students enrolled for the reading class in two separate semesters. The results of the TOEFL and Vocabulary Level Test (VLT) revealed that the participants enjoyed approximately the same level of proficiency. There were two post-tests which were taken at certain time intervals. The results of this study showed that the instruction in deriving word meaning had positive effect on students’ incidental vocabulary learning. Also it was concluded that students should meet the words in contextualized forms more frequently in order to keep and retain them in the long run.