Indirect specialized vocabulary learning and learner autonomy

Abstract

This research paper seeks to determine learner autonomy level in relation to incidental vocabulary acquisition (IVA), out of the realization of both concepts as prominent factors in language learning in general, and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in particular. The paper particularly aims at examining the influence of participants', medical and applied medical sciences students, selflearning for specialized vocabulary on their autonomy levels. It assumes that leaving the task of acquiring specialized vocabulary to learners' endeavors, completely, leads to a positive effect on their autonomy levels. Participant autonomy levels were self-assessed through pretest and posttest quantitative surveys. The survey items aimed at assessing the participants' learning levels according to two categories of dependency and independency. The quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS to generate descriptive data. The overall results were generated through computing mean scores for each category of items at both phases, i.e. pretest and posttest. No significant differences between the two categories' data were indicated. Yet, a positive change occurred to the independency category in comparison to that of dependency, which remained somehow static through the period of the study. Although the results of this latter category indicated the learners' need for teacher guidance regarding the specialized vocabulary, the change in the first category should not be ignored. That is, IVA can be a positive agent in fostering learners' control of their learning, namely, autonomy. Simultaneously, since the results of both categories are somehow convergent, both approaches of explicit and implicit instructions should be considered in IVS approaches in the realm of ESP.