Table of Contents

Title                                                                                                                Page

Abstract      10

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.0: Introduction ..  11

1.1: Theoretical Framework . 13

1.2: Statement of the Problem … 13

1.3: Significance of the Study 15

1.4: Research Questions of the Study 15

1.5: Hypotheses of the study    16

1.6: Definitions of Key Terms     16

1.6: Summary  18

Chapter 2: Review of the Literature

2.0. Introduction   19

2.1: Phonology.   21

2.2: English Pronunciation. ..  22

2.3: Experiments on English Pronunciation.   29

2.4: Morphology and Lexicon. .. 51

2.5: Experiments on Knowledge of Vocabulary. ..  66

2.6: Summary. 74

 

Chapter 3: Methodology

3.0. Introduction .  75

3.1. The Pilot Study (*Optional)   76

3.2. The Design of the Study .   78

3.3. Participants or (Subjects)    79

3.4. Materials ..   80

3.5. Procedure .   81

3.6. Methods of Analyzing Data .   82

3.7. Summary ..   83

Chapter 4: Result

4.0. Introduction    83

4.1. Data Analysis and Findings   83

4.1.1. Descriptive Analysis of the Data .   86

4.1.2. Inferential Analysis of the Data   86

4.2. Results of Hypothesis Testing .  89

4.3. Summary .  90

Chapter 5: Discussion

 

5.0. Introduction   91

5.1. General Discussion     92

5.2. Implications of the Study    93

5.3. Limitations of the Study ..  94

5.4. Suggestions for further Research    95

5.5. Summary .   95

 

Reference .96

Appendixes .. 106

 

 

 

 

 

 

List of Tables

 

Table1. Mean scores gained by treatment groups in the pre-test

Table2. Mean scores gained by treatment groups in the pre-test

Table3. Mean scores gained by control groups in the post-test

Table4. Mean scores gained by treatment groups in the post-test

Table5. Descriptive analysis of the pretest (PR) and the posttest (PO) of the control group of the study

Table3.1. Descriptive Statistics for the Pilot Study, lexical Knowledge Scores

 

 

 

 

 

 

List of Figures

 

Figure1.1 the Percentage of the Scores over and Under the Mean of the Pre-test

Figure2.2 the Percentage of the Scores over and Under the Mean of the Pre-test

Figure3.3 the Percentage of the Scores over and Under the Mean of the Pro-test

Figure4.4 the Percentage of the Scores over and Under the Mean of the Pro-test

Figure3.1. the Percentage of the Scores over and Under the Mean of the Pilot Study

Figure3.2. the Diagram of the Design of the Study

 

 

 

 

  

 

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of pronunciation forms on improving Iranian EFL learners’ knowledge of vocabulary. To achieve this purpose, fifty participants pre-intermediate language learners were selected based on their scores on a knowledge of vocabulary test and were randomly assigned to two groups. Each group was exposed to as pre-test and post-test. At the end of the experiment, to see whether or not any changes happened regarding their lexical knowledge, a post-test was administrated to two groups. The results suggested that the participants performed differently on the post-test indicating that teaching lexical through rehearsal and pronunciation forms promotes the Iranian EFL learners’ knowledge of vocabulary.

Key Words

Knowledge of pronunciation forms, Pronunciation Awareness (PA), Morphological awareness, Phonemic awareness, LK or knowing a word.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter one

Introduction

 

 

 

 

1.0. Introduction

Vocabulary learning is essential for the learning of a second language, which constitutes a great challenge and enormous task for both second language learners and teachers. As Wilkins (1974) maintains without grammar very little can be conveyed, but without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed. One line of research on vocabulary development examines the effects of instruction on vocabulary growth (e.g., Biemiller & Slonim, 2001). Among older children, direct instruction in vocabulary knowledge is less important relative to reading experiences in developing vocabulary skill e.g., (Nagy & Anderson, 1984).Reading is strongly associated with vocabulary development (e.g. Baker et al., 1998; Stanovich, 1986) so that those with the sparsest vocabulary levels are often those with the poorest reading skills as well (see Baker et al., 1998, for a review). In the present study, apart from the above-documented effects of teaching, which are involved in both vocabulary and reading skill growth, I was particularly interested in those cognitive skills that are associated with variability in vocabulary knowledge. For example, Gathercole and colleagues (Gathercole et al., 1992) noted, “Although studies of word learning in children have documented the remarkable facility of preschool children to acquire new vocabulary . . . the factors underpinning the large individual differences in young children’s abilities to learn (e.g., Bowey, 2001; Gathercole et al., 1992, 1999) have therefore focused on the new words are as yet little understood” (p. 887). Several research studies importance of Pronunciation skills in promoting vocabulary learning. Tasks of memory, Pronunciation awareness, and articulation have all been used to explain vocabulary growth (e.g., Bowey, 2001; Gathercole et al., 1992, 1999). For example, Gathercole and colleagues (1992, 1999) demonstrated that Pronunciation memory (as measured by nonword repetition) was strongly associated with vocabulary acquisition in both young children and adolescents. Vocabulary is an essential component in learning a foreign language and understanding another culture. Research has shown that vocabulary is the building block of all four language skills: reading, listening, writing, and speaking. B. Laufer and D.D. Sim (1985) found in their study that among foreign language learners, vocabulary was needed more than subject matter knowledge and syntactic structure. That is vocabulary knowledge should be the top priority when it comes to learning a foreign language. Research demonstrates that vocabulary plays a crucial role in learning a second/foreign language (L2), and, for most students, it takes substantial time and effort to acquire the target vocabulary, both receptively and productively (Nation, 2001). Second language (L2) learners at all levels are faced with the difficulty of learning vocabulary. The acquisition of new English vocabulary, one of the important skills necessary for English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners, frequently involves much representational learning. In addition to needing a large number of lexical items, a learner must also know a great deal about each item in order to use it well. This is often referred to as the quality or “depth” of vocabulary knowledge, and is as important as vocabulary size (Schmitt, 2008). The ability to hear and apprehend a foreign word to be learned is crucial for several reasons. Firstly, in order to learn the word, it is necessary to hear it accurately, to be able to break the word down into its individual sounds and phonemes, and to rehearse the word. People can rehearse a foreign word aloud to themselves or as part of a class drill, but they can also do it silently, inside their heads, using their inner speech. The ability to form Pronunciation representations of words and rehearse them is crucial to learning foreign or novel words. Rehearsal of the target language can occur vocally or sub-vocally in inner speech, but the mechanisms for rehearsal are assumed to be the same. If the Pronunciation encoded material is not rehearsed via vocal or sub-vocal rehearsal, it will decay within about two seconds and the words will not be correctly recalled. One thing that students, teachers, materials writers, and researchers can all agree upon is that learning vocabulary is an essential part of mastering a second language (Schmitt, 2008). Vocabulary learning is central to language acquisition, whether the language is the first, the second, or a foreign language (Decarrico, 2001). It is related to other aspects of learning and use. It is also crucial to the learner’s overall language acquisition (Gao, 2003). Therefore, one of challenging topics in language learning in general concerns vocabulary learning; that is learning lexicon or words of specific language. Second Language Acquisition (SLA) researches have become heavily interested in vocabulary acquisition, because many strongly believe that vocabulary learning is central to language acquisition, whether the language is first, second, or foreign (Decarrico, 2001).

چکیده

پژوهش حاضربه بررسی تاثیر صورت های تلفظی در بهبود دانش لغوی نوآموزان ایرانی زبان انگلیسی می پردازد. پرسش اصلی که پژوهش حاضر سعی در پاسخ بدان دارد این است که آیا بکارگیری صورت های تلفظی قادر است دانش یادگیری واژگان  زبان آموزان زبان انگلیسی را افزایش دهد یا خیر. برای یافتن پاسخ به پرسش مذکور ، پنجاه نو آموز از مؤسسه خانه زبان واقع در تالش انتخاب و در آزمایش شرکت کردند و به دو گروه آزمایش و گواه تقسیم گردیدند.سپس