Teaching and learning vocabulary: putting The Four Strands to the test

Abstract

Recent research on vocabulary acquisition has proposed many different strategies a teacher can use to ensure learners increase and retain the words they are taught in class. However, many teachers have not been able to integrate these findings into their instruction. To this end, Nation (2007a) came up with an approach called The Four Strands to aid vocabulary instruction. The present study aims to investigate The Four Strands as conceived by Nation. It examines whether its incorporation into the classroom will increase learners receptive and productive vocabularies. It also looks at retention of words after a period of 5 weeks. Two groups of secondary school participants took part in the study: one of them received the treatment (N=26) and the other became the control group (N=27). Data were collected through different tests: post‐test 1 and delayed post-test were translation tests and post‐test 2 consisted in a video retelling. Results showed that the treatment group consistently outperformed the control group, which should be interpreted regarding the possible benefits for both vocabulary teaching and learning.