The Effects of TBLT’s Strong Form and Weak Form on ESL Students’ Vocabulary Acquisition

Abstract

The present study applied task-based language teaching (TBLT) approach to English vocabulary teaching of vocational college students. Based on the different ideas of TBLT types—the strong form (i.e. the strong task-based approach) and the weak form (i.e. the weak task-based approach), it designed different teaching procedures aiming to explore different effects of the two types on English vocabulary acquisition. The result showed that the students as a whole had a better learning result when they were taught by the strong form of TBLT, especially when dealing with productive vocabulary. However, the strong form didn't seem to have as good an effect on lower level students as on upper and middle level ones.