The Comparative Effects of Using Synchronous and Asynchronous Social Networks in Teaching Vocabulary on Improving EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension (Published)
This study aimed to examine the comparative effects of using synchronous and asynchronous social networks in teaching vocabulary on improving EFL learners’ reading comprehension. For the aim of this study, 61 EFL learners were chosen by employing convenience sampling method. The researcher randomly assigned the participants randomly into two groups; the experimental group one (EG1) (n=31) and the experimental group two (EG2) (n=30). The researcher as the teacher explained the procedure of the work to students of both groups. The strategies of teaching vocabulary were the same in both groups. The researcher employed WhatsApp for EG1 and Instagram for EG2. The participants of the EG1 had to be online at a specific time but the students of EG2 had two days to see the posts. After finishing the treatment, the researcher administered a reading test as a posttest. The results of independent samples t-test showed that there is a significant difference in reading comprehension measures for the experimental group one who experienced vocabulary instruction through “WhatsApp” application and the experimental group two who received vocabulary instruction through Instagram. It was shown that students in the asynchronous group had far more advances from the pretest to the posttest in comparison with that of their counterparts in the synchronous group. Through use of synchronous and asynchronous social networks, language learners have this chance to use online instructional materials that increase the rate of their learning.
Keywords: EFL Learners’, Reading Comprehension, Synchronous social networks, Vocabulary, asynchronous social networks
Language Use And Lexical Attrition: Do They Change Over Time (Published)
The issue of language use has already been assumed to be an important predicting factor for language attrition. Intuitively, it makes perfect sense that second or foreign language learners who make little use of a language experience more attrition than ones who use the language more frequently. Therefore, the availability or the lack of opportunities to use the language could influence the amount of language attrition, let alone an essential variable like vocabulary knowledge. Such language use factors must be considered in any model concerned with explaining FL attrition, and the primary purpose of the present study is to provide evidence about this. It attempts to examine a population of college acquired English among college leavers who vary in the extent to which they have been able to maintain contact with the target language over time. The findings demonstrated that participants rated many of their patterns of contact with English and vocabulary in particular somewhat lower after the end of formal instruction. Furthermore, the most powerful predictor appears to be the use of the internet which is strongly linked to better retention of productive vocabulary test over time.
Keywords: English, Language, Language Attrition, Literature, Vocabulary