Brain: Broad Research in Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience (Sep 2010)

Vocabulary Learning as the Predictor of Third-Grader EFL Learners’ Achievement: A Case for Translation

  • Ali Jahangard

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 1, no. 4
pp. 23 – 43

Abstract

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The purpose of the study was to formulate a model to predict the performance of Iranian high school third-graders on the End of the Course Achievement (ECA) tests through their performance on the vocabulary tests, which were administered throughout the course. To meet this end, thirty two learners &ndash; aging seventeen to nineteen, all male &ndash; participated in the study which took nine months to complete. Their linguistic abilities were approximately at Intermediate-Mid level according to the ACTFL proficiency guidelines (1998). The sampling procedure was the intact group method. 333 lexical items were taught to the learners in the decontextualized paired-associate<br />translation method. The classes were held two hours a week in a nine-month course of time. Six sets of vocabulary tests were administered and every learner&rsquo;s average was calculated. The learners&rsquo; scores on the ECA tests and their average scores on the vocabulary tests were analyzed through the regression analysis procedure to derive a model that could reliably predict the learners&rsquo; ECA scores through their average performance on the vocabulary scores. The analysis yielded the following<br />formula: (AVERAGE VOCABULARY &times; 0.713) + 2.871&plusmn; [3.1].<br />

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