The effects of vocabulary enhancement activities on EFL learners

This study compared the effects of vocabulary enhancement activities on first-year English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ reading comprehension and vocabulary improvement. In the activities, these learners were assigned to study a list of fifty to one hundred words a week. The learners studied word functions and had to find words’ definition and sample sentences from a dictionary by themselves. Both formative and summative tests were conducted to test the learners’ vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension ability. This study compared the learners’ performance between those who studied fifty and one hundred words a week. The objectives were to investigate (1) whether the learners’ performance was affected by the number of words assigned each week, and (2) how vocabulary enhancement activities affected learners’ reading comprehension skills and vocabulary knowledge. The findings demonstrated that (1) the learners who studied one hundred words per week did not outperform the students who studied fifty words a week, and (2) this vocabulary enhancement activity did not provide enough support for the learners to acquire vocabulary knowledge. The findings suggested that it was essential for learners to study words in context rather than from a given list of words.