BY: RAJA SURIA APPANNA (P71704) PROF. DR. NOOREINEY MAAROF THE EFFECT OF VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION IN IMPROVING READING COMPREHENSION OF ESL LEARNERS BY: RAJA SURIA APPANNA (P71704) PROF. DR. NOOREINEY MAAROF

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE To investigate how vocabulary instruction helps to improve reading comprehension of ESL learners. Research question: How does vocabulary instruction helps to improve reading comprehension of ESL learners?

Theoretical Framework

Conceptual Framework The link between vocabulary and comprehension is especially evident in class where many words required for understanding the text, relevant literature, classroom activities or teachers are not encountered in everyday language. Level 1 are words that must be learned prior to reading or understanding the concept. Level 2 are words that only a minimal understanding is necessary prior to the learning task. Level 3 words can be taught or covered during or after reading content. Level 4 words are words that do not need to be taught because students probably know the meanings, they are not pertinent to the objective at hand or the students will be able to figure out the meaning without direct instruction.

Literature Review ESL Reading Comprehension Barrett (1974) proposed 4 reading comprehension levels Literal comprehension Inferential comprehension Evaluation appreciation

Literature Review ESL Reading Comprehension The second theory views comprehension as a cognitive activity in which readers process different types of information to acquire knowledge about the topic presented in the text (Richek,List and Lerner, 1983).

Literature Review Vocabulary strategies Gu and Johnson (1996) proposes seven (7) major categories of vocabulary learning strategies namely Metacognitive Regulation, Guessing Strategies, Dictionary Strategies, Note-taking Strategies, Rehearsal Strategies, Encoding Strategies, and Activation Strategies. Vocabulary learning strategies refers to a wide spectrum of strategies used as part of an on-going process of vocabulary learning (Schmitt &Schmitt, 1995).

Literature Review Vocabulary Instruction Strategies a. Indirect Vocabulary Instruction (Juel & Deffes, 2004). Stahl (2003) makes the distinction between definitional knowledge (similar to that included in a dictionary definition), and contextual knowledge (understanding how a word’s meaning adapts to different contexts). In order to fully learn a word and its connotations, a student needs multiple exposures to the word in different reading contexts.

Literature Review Vocabulary Instruction Strategies b. Direct instructions According to Stahl and Fairbanks (1986), direct instruction of vocabulary has demonstrable effects on vocabulary learning and comprehension. However, they maintain that vocabulary instruction should include more than definitions in order to improve reading comprehension. Dictionary definitions provide inadequate explanations of word meanings (McKeown, 1993).

Literature Review Vocabulary Instruction Effects on Reading Comprehension Bromley (2004), in a comprehensive review of research on vocabulary development, concludes that vocabulary knowledge promotes reading fluency, boosts reading comprehension, improves academic achievement, and enhances thinking and communication. Word knowledge correlates with comprehension (Beck et al. 2002; Snow et al. 2007).

Methods It is a conceptual paper. review of related of the books and journals to the topic.

Conclusion Arriving at conclusions about effective vocabulary instruction in low literacy adults has proven to be difficult (Kruidenier, 2002). A handful of studies have found that vocabulary increases as a result of instruction(Byrne et al., 1996; Gold & Johnson, 1982; Lazar, Bean, & Van Horn,1998; McDonald, 1997; Nickse, Speicher, & Buchek, 1988; Philliber,Spillman, & King, 1996).