Thesis Type: Postgraduate
Institution Of The Thesis: Gazi University, Turkey
Approval Date: 2016
Thesis Language: English
Student: Büşra Cabak
Supervisor: Cemal Çakır
Abstract:Vocabulary is a core component of language teaching and learning. Thus, identifying and applying the more effective strategies may help the learners and teachers save time, energy, and effort. The purpose of this study is to compare the effects of three reading tasks on incidental vocabulary learning. The tasks are: inferring the meaning from context, consulting the gloss provided for the text and consulting a bilingualized paper dictionary while reading. Data were collected through a pre-test, three post-tests and a retention test. 24 pre-intermediate learners of English as a foreign language in a university participated in the study. The whole study lasted seven weeks. The pre-test was administered to select 18 target vocabulary, 6 for each treatment. Five weeks later, the students completed three reading tasks and took vocabulary tests. In order to test whether the students retained the target words, a retention test that contained all the items in the post-tests were administered to the participants two weeks after the reading treatments. Findings of this study indicated that reading a text with the provided gloss is the most effective task. Then comes reading with a bilingualized dictionary. The least effective reading task is inferring meaning from context.