The effects of presenting vocabulary in different sets on the students' productive vocabulary knowledge

This study was aimed to find out the effects of presenting new vocabulary in thematically related sets and unrelated sets on the receptive and productive vocabulary gains of the students. In other words, here which set led to more receptive and productive gain was investigated through immediate and delayed post test results. The research was carried out with 35 seventh graders during their elective English lessons in Atatürk Middle School. Before starting the treatment the target words were identified carefully and the thematically related and unrelated sets were arranged with essential criteria in mind. The target words were taught to two different groups of students during their two class hours elective English lessons. The treatment lasted for 5 weeks. Each set was consisted of 16 new words and these 16 words were taught in two separate groups. For example thematically related set was consisted of 'party' and 'environment' vocabulary sets whereas the unrelated set included 'set 1' and 'set 2'. Before teaching, the words were pretested in order to find whether the students knew the words or not. According to the pre-test analysis, necessary editing was done with the sets. 8 words were taught at a time and each set was taught in two class hour. After presenting the new words, receptive and productive practises were done. At the end of the lessons, two immediate post tests were given to the students; one to measure receptive vocabulary knowledge and one to measure the productive vocabulary knowledge. The same tests were given as delayed post tests 3 weeks later. According to the findings revealed by the immediate post test results, there was no significant difference between the vocabulary sets when the receptive vocabulary gain of the students was considered. But, when the productive vocabulary gain of the students was considered it was seen that the unrelated set led to more vocabulary gain. According to the findings revealed by the delayed post test results, there was a significant statistical difference between the vocabulary sets when the receptive and productive vocabulary gain of the students was considered. It could be concluded that the unrelated set led to more receptive and productive vocabulary gain. In conclusion, presenting vocabulary in unrelated set was found to be more effective than presenting vocabulary in thematically related set. Key words: Foreign Language Vocabulary Teaching, Thematically Related Sets, Unrelated Sets, Receptive Vocabulary Knowledge, Productive Vocabulary Knowledge