Collaborative Method and Vocabulary Retention of Teenage EFL Learners

Abstract

Nowadays most researchers argue that incorporating vocabulary in classroom tasks can facilitate vocabulary teaching. The goal of the study was to investigate the impact of collaboration on vocabulary development of teenage EFL learners in a language institute in Kahnouj. To this purpose and as an experimental method of research, two intact groups of learners were chosen to participate in the experiment. The population of the study was made up of 85 EFL learners in a language institute in Kahnouj. To homogenize the study subjects, an Oxford Placement Test was administered and only those subjects whose scores fell one standard deviation above and below the mean were selected for the study. The other instrument was using two sets of vocabulary tests which were used to tap the initial vocabulary knowledge of the learners in both groups: pre and post vocabulary tests. The same type of material was used for both experimental group (EG) and control group (CG). In other words, the learners in both groups were instructed through the same sources, the same teacher, and the same teaching hours. Based on the achieved data, the participants in the CG did not benefit from the individual teaching processes as much as the learners in EG.