A COMPARISON BETWEEN AN IMPLICIT AND AN EXPLICIT APPROACH TO THE TEACHNING OF VOCABULARY

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to observe whether vocabulary can be taught or whether it is best acquired naturally. If it can be taught, which approach, an explicit or an implicit approach, would provide a better strategy to teach vocabulary to learners? According to Ellis (1995), the explicit approach involves the conscious learning of lexis while the implicit approach uses unconscious processes to acquire vocabulary. The explicit strategies used in this study include the 'word list method', 'guesswork', 'translation' and 'keyword technique'. The implicit strategies, on the other hand, include a number of reading-based activities. To make a comparison between the two approaches, three groups of lower intermediate EFL students were each assigned a different programme. The first group was taught using implicit strategies for twenty hours. The second group was taught using explicit strategies for the first ten hours, followed by a further ten hours of instruction using the implicit strategies. The third group was taught using explicit strategies for twenty hours. The first group was given additional treatment. They were taught a further twenty hours, using explicit strategies. Each group was tested at the start and finish of the programme, based on their ability to recognize and recall words for active use. Separate tests performed on each of the differences in the mean test score (between the pretest and the final test) of each group revealed that the implicit approach is a better approach to the final test) of each group revealed that the implicit approach is a better approach to the teaching of vocabulary. This finding was further consolidated by results and observations gathered from a survey and two case studies carried out after the completion of the programmes.