Vocabulary is considered essential to learn the foreign language. Four skills of English, reading, writing, listening and speaking, are based on vocabulary so it is difficult to communicate with other people without enough vocabulary knowledge. With t... Vocabulary is considered essential to learn the foreign language. Four skills of English, reading, writing, listening and speaking, are based on vocabulary so it is difficult to communicate with other people without enough vocabulary knowledge. With the rise of communicative approach in English teaching, new emphasis has been to the importance of expression, but rote learning and memorization still take the central place in vocabulary learning. That is the reason why many learners have difficulty in expressing themselves with the learned vocabulary in speaking or writing even though they have a large receptive vocabulary of English. Many Korean learners do not have enough opportunity to use the learned vocabulary through speaking or writing because of receptive-centered vocabulary learning and lack of practice. It is necessary for learners to use the learned vocabulary through various productive activities and teachers should lead their learners to move from passive to active and leading attitude in learning vocabulary. Therefore, this study examined the effects of summary writing with target words on vocabulary learning. In this study, the words learned in the reading passages are the target words. Participants carried out summary writing activity with the target words about the text. The study was conducted three classes for a month with 8 university students. The pre-vocabulary test was carried out before the experiment and participants were divided into two groups, high or low English proficiency level, based on the test results. Also, they conducted pre-questionnaire about their attitude on vocabulary learning. After the experiment with summary writing activities, post-vocabulary tests were conducted for measuring the effects of summary writing on vocabulary knowledge and delayed vocabulary tests after a week for measuring the delayed effects of summary writing on vocabulary knowledge. Then, participants carried out post-questionnaire about the experiment, summary writing activity and vocabulary learning through it. The results are summarized as follows: First, summary writing activity with target words after reading the text has a positive effect on immediate post and delayed vocabulary tests. Both the post and delayed test results improved a lot for both high and low level students. Above all, the results of low level group improved more than high level group. Therefore, summary writing activity had an influence on short-term and long-term memory of the target words for both high and low proficiency levels. Second, there were some differences between the summary writing of high level and low level in terms of the use of the target words. Summary writing is analyzed with four factors, form-written form, meaning-association, use-grammatical patterns and collocation. The result was that students with the high-level proficiency used more target words while writing a summary. They used synonyms or other expressions related to the target words when they forgot the forms of target words. They also showed their ability to use the target words in the proper context by changing the verb forms. For the students with the low-level proficiency, they used Korean words when they did not recall the forms of target words, and they sometimes made mistakes related to grammatical patterns, parts of speech. Also, their vocabulary learning was not consistent through their summary writing. However, both high and low level students learned and used the expressions related to target words while writing a summary with target words. Third, pre-questionnaire about their attitude on vocabulary learning showed that most of the students had high interest in vocabulary learning and recognized the importance of vocabulary regardless of their proficiency levels. However, they had little interest and even had difficulty in studying vocabulary. Also, they tended to focus more on meaning of a word than form and use. Post-questionnaire about summary writing showed that vocabulary learning through summary writing was difficult but they felt interested and effective. They made positive responses to the effects of summary writing on form, meaning, and use of the vocabulary learning and especially they felt it very helpful to use the vocabulary. These results have some pedagogical implications for vocabulary teaching. As Korean English learning conditions still do not spend a lot of time on vocabulary learning, the vocabulary learning is usually focused on the aspects of receptive knowledge. Learners study English vocabulary in examination-oriented system, as a result, they are familiar with learning vocabulary through reading. They have difficulty in making short sentences with learned words and distinguishing confusing words with similar spellings. However, as suggested in this study, the vocabulary learning will be enriched when learners are given some opportunity to summarize the text with learned vocabulary through the reading texts. Wide receptive vocabulary knowledge learners already had will be able to change into productive vocabulary knowledge and they can use the vocabulary in speaking and writing as well as in reading and listening.
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