The effect of synchronous and asynchronous language learning: A study of iranian efl intermediate students’ vocabulary learning

Abstract

Synchronous learning and asynchronous learning are the two main approaches to teaching available in distance education. The main objective of the study was to determine which approach to vocabulary learning, would facilitate vocabulary learning more for Iranian EFL learners. From among the targeted population of 82 intermediate students of an English institute in Isfahan, Iran, students between the ages of 12 to 18, a sample of 60 students were chosen based on their score on a quick placement test (QPT). The selected participants undertook a vocabulary pre-test and were divided into two groups of 30 who in terms of language proficiency and vocabulary knowledge were homogenized. Both synchronous and asynchronous groups were taught “Advanced Vocabulary and Idiom”, by the same teacher at one particular institute. In the period of 10 sessions of a semester, the synchronous groups were taught the vocabulary items in class synchronously and the asynchronous group was taught via email. After the post-test, the results with the t-test observed, indicated a significance difference between synchronous and asynchronous groups, p-value of .003, gender with the p-value of 0.027 and pre-test and post-test with the p-value of 0.047, but no significance was observed for age with the p-value of 0.127. The post-test results indicated that the synchronous group considerably outperformed the asynchronous group in the vocabulary knowledge they attained.