Computer-Assisted Vocabulary Teaching for Vocational High School Students

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Computer-assisted Vocabulary Teaching for Vocational High School

Students

Lihung Chang (張理宏) and Yun-ting Chu (朱韻婷) National Pingtung University of Education

Abstract

To explore the effects of computer-assisted vocabulary teaching as a remedial approach for vocational high school English students who are underachievers in terms of English ability, this study aims to explore different techniques of vocabulary instruction. Involved in this study are 69 participants from a vocational high on Taiwan: 34 students in the experimental group and 35 counterparts of the same English proficiency level in the control group. The experimental class receive computer-assisted vocabulary teaching while the control class receive traditional in-the-classroom (or explicit) vocabulary instruction. Important data of statistical relevance are collected through interviews, observations, and motivational questionnaires while quantitative analysis is done primarily through the pretest, treatment, and the posttest. Results indicate that the computer-assisted vocabulary teaching (CAVT) contributes to a more positive attitude and better response from subjects, leading to a more significant vocabulary growth. It is hoped that the results of the study will shed light on the practice of the vocabulary teaching and learning in the vocational high school level in Taiwan.

Keywords: Computer-assisted vocabulary teaching; explicit vocabulary teaching;

traditional in-the-classroom teaching; English underachievers; remedial teaching; teacher’s role

Background

It is generally agreed that vocabulary knowledge has strong and positive relationships with the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) and literacy. Vocabulary is the foundation of English learning, especially at the beginning level of learning English as a foreign language. Thus, vocabulary teaching plays an important role in EFL education.

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interested in online learning because of its novelty and convenience. However, many teachers are facing a new teaching environment that is vastly different from the traditional classroom. To become familiar with the use and application of information technology, teachers often require a certain level of understanding of the theory as well as the practice of online instruction. Thus, teachers could help improve their students’ English ability by carefully planning online activities for vocabulary-building. Learning vocabulary via computer technology can be effective because it provides learners with extensive practice using target words and immediate feedback on performance (Zapata & Sagarra, 2007). Learners have more opportunities to utilize vocabulary and thus retain what they have learnt. Online learning also helps learners develop autonomy and motivation for vocabulary learning by giving them freedom in what and how they learn (Ma & Kelly, 2006). Online learning also offers great flexibility in presenting materials, for example, by combining audio, video, and graphic elements (Tsou, Wang, & Tzeng, 2006). This is of immense value to learners since these features motivate them and focus their attention on the materials (Herselman, 1999). As a result, students may be more eager to learn than they might be in a traditional classroom.

Pedagogical Problems

Since vocational schools in Taiwan focus on equipping students with vocational skills and the related licenses, students tend to be less interested in other compulsory subjects such as Chinese, English, and mathematics. Schools do not stress the significance of common subjects until entrance exams approach, which is one reason that most vocational students are often considered underachievers in English. For example, most vocational students can only memorize vocabulary items by rote and are not able to pronounce them. It is consequently difficult for them to make the letter-sound connections. Since a large number of vocational students cannot clearly pronounce the words they learn, they fail to learn the vocabulary effectively. If students, particularly English underachievers, could learn English according to the natural letter-sound correspondence relationships, they might enlarge their word-bank. Nation (2001) pointed out that beginning English learners in Taiwan did not memorize words by sound, but by form, owing to the different spelling and pronunciation systems of the Chinese and English languages.

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should be considered. To achieve this goal, English textbooks at vocational high school should play a crucial role; however, as Chang (2002) pointed out, these textbooks are usually too advanced for vocational high school students. There is often a wide gap between students’ level of proficiency and the level of difficulty of the material. Hence, the present study focuses on the importance of language teaching and learning websites and evaluates methods of online vocabulary practice.

Most of Taiwan’s vocational high schools offer only two to four hours of English classes per week. Textbook content is so diverse that the typical vocational school student does not have enough time to review the vocabulary sufficiently. Evidence suggests that the first volume of the Taiwanese vocational high school English textbook contains at least 20% unmarked new words. As a result, the foundation of vocabulary in students using the text is not firm, and the constant introduction of more unknown words weakens students’ motivation to learn English (Lin, 2006). Many high school students encounter considerable difficulty in acquiring new vocabulary. As a result, a well-designed online vocabulary-learning website could compensate for this shortcoming.

Research Questions of the Study

On the basis of the above observations, the researchers primarily aim to search for the answers to the following questions:

(1) For English underachievers in vocational high schools, does the experimental group perform better than the control group on the vocabulary growth?

(2) To what extent can teachers encourage the English underachievers to use the on-line vocabulary exercises, performing the roles of facilitator, mediator and consultant?

(3) To what extent do English underachievers change their attitudes toward vocabulary learning after using the on-line vocabulary exercises?

The results of the study are expected to provide a clear picture concerning the effectiveness of computer-assisted vocabulary teaching so that language teachers can make the best use of on-line vocabulary exercises to assist vocabulary learning among vocational high school students.

Participants

Academic Background

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group. All participants had earned low grades, with a range of 10 to 25 points on the Basic Competence Test in English (PR value in English was 13–33; in 2009, a perfect score on the test was 80). Most students in this study were “English underachievers,” corresponding to findings by Huang (2004).

All participants were first-year vocational high school students majoring in food and beverage management. They were chosen because they had not yet been required to obtain their professional license in Chinese cuisine, and may therefore have had more free time. None of the participants was taking any after-school English lessons of any kind. Thirty-two participants (94%) of the experimental class considered English a difficult subject and were not interested in it at all. Many had given up learning English when they were junior high school students. Many thought the English textbook was arduous and boring, and became sleepy upon opening it. Although these students regarded English as an international language and something that would be helpful for their careers, Thirty-one participants (91%) of the experimental class did not know where to start or what to do in order to learn it.

Socioeconomic Background

Most participants had lower or middle-class socioeconomic backgrounds, and could not afford the extra fees for cram schools after regular school hours. According to a survey of the students’ backgrounds, 11 participants came from single-parent families, and most had a parent who was a low-wage worker, such as a restaurant staff member, a technological assistant, or a street vendor; some parents had even been laid off. As a result, students typically lacked financial support, and their parents wanted them to acquire professional skills with the hope that they would be able to find jobs as soon as they graduated. In each of the two classes, there were four participants (eight in total) who could not afford school-bus fare or lunch fees; for them, making money was more important, or at least more urgent than studying. As a result, the researchers will exclude these eight specific cases from the treatment, because they were not interested in learning English at all.

Procedure of the Study

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knowledge regarding vocabulary and ascertained whether further teaching was necessary. This test is usually conducted at the beginning of a course in order to determine the level of knowledge/skill, and the attitude toward the subject matter of a student or class, but it is never used for assignment grades. A diagnostic test provides information about the student’s initial characteristics, enabling the teacher and the student to set realistic but challenging learning goals. The more accurate the diagnosis, the more specific the learning goals that can be developed. In this case, randomly selected words from the online vocabulary exercises were used to determine the initial level of English proficiency, particularly vocabulary ability, in the students of the experimental class. These measurements were thus the basic guidelines for the authors. The online vocabulary exercises also served as formative tests, which are tests given during a course of instruction that inform both the student and the teacher how well the student is doing. A formative test includes only those topics that have been taught, and indicates whether the student needs extra work or attention. A formative test focuses a teacher’s attention on the learning process, rather than the end product of learning. It helps students develop competencies and skills to continue their growth process. It is usually a pass-or-fail test. If a student fails, he or she is able to study more and retake the test. Thus, the test identifies students’ difficulties in acquiring vocabulary. The teacher can immediately address any problems in vocabulary acquisition that the student faces.

During the treatment, students in both classes had four hours of English instruction each week. Participants in the control class were required to take vocabulary exercises in class at least three times per week. The authors also spent one hour each week explaining and illustrating the use of vocabulary. The computer-assisted vocabulary learning embedded in the experimental course was guided by the authors. The authors took the experimental group to the language center once a week for one hour to do online vocabulary exercises. Participants were also required to take online exercises at home at least three times per week. Further, participants could also take online vocabulary exercises in the classroom or library, since every classroom was equipped with all the necessary equipment and with access to the Internet. Online vocabulary exercises thus provided participants with a considerable amount of vocabulary practice without pressuring them with time limits.

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personal information, including their name, class, and student number. Testees were then required to complete the test in the allotted time. Meanwhile, the authors walked around and assisted testees if they had any problems. Through the vocabulary contest, participants’ vocabulary abilities were evaluated after they had learned a certain portion of the curriculum. As a final step, in order to control for the effects of the pretest, the authors compared the posttest scores of the two classes in order to ascertain differences between them.

Materials

The online vocabulary exercises employed are easy and convenient for both teachers and students to use. The online word-bank consists of 2,000 high-frequency English words. The online word-bank’s difficulty levels are level A (500 headwords), level B (500–1000 headwords), level C (1000–1500 headwords), and level D (1500–2000 headwords), according to the Taiwan Ministry of Education. In the study mode, the words are presented as bilingual word lists where students can see the Chinese translation, contextual-sentence examples, and pronunciation. The practice mode allows students to do multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank exercises. In the review mode, students can take supplementary exercises, receive error feedback, and memorize target words. In the period of this study, a number of online dictionaries became available, including excellent learner dictionaries from Dr. Eye, Lingoes, and Longman and specialist dictionaries such as the Far East Chinese–English Dictionary. In the future, the authors intend to provide students with a list of these online resources. Corresponding to the proposals by Groot (2000), computer-assisted vocabulary teaching offers bilingual word lists, contextual sentences, and online pronunciation guides to enhance vocabulary retention.

The control group used the same word-bank in a hard-copy format. They took paper-and-pencil vocabulary exercises at least thrice a week, randomly during class time. The authors used explicit vocabulary instruction: Students were asked to memorize vocabulary through Chinese translations, contextual sentence examples, and pronunciation guides. The authors also required students to check the dictionary for more information about the target words.

Instruments

Qualitative data were collected primarily through interviews, observations, and motivational questionnaires administered during the sessions.

Semi-structured interviews

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Chinese, of two participants from the experimental group once a month until the end of the semester. The researchers chose these two participants randomly. Three interviews (Oct. 16, Nov. 17, and Jan. 16) were conducted; they were then taped and transcribed. The excerpts used in this paper were translated from Chinese into English by the researchers.

Classroom observations

During the treatment, the authors took field notes on students’ behavior (e.g., asking

questions, receptiveness toward error feedback) and statements (e.g., how they used the online vocabulary testing system, how difficult they found the vocabulary, and to what extent they had learned the vocabulary). The authors served as both teachers and observers. To help ascertain the participants’ thoughts and feelings, the authors also kept teaching diaries to keep track of the participants’ responses.

Motivational questionnaires

After taking the posttest, participants in the experimental class were asked to fill out a questionnaire. The questions, mostly based on Shao’s (1998) suggestions, included queries concerning students’ previous experiences with difficulties in learning English and their attitudes regarding online vocabulary exercises. The questionnaires were answered anonymously, and questions were aimed at revealing any attitudinal changes. The questionnaire consisted of two sets of 13 Likert-scale questions for evaluating the experimental design and 4 open-ended questions for more personal feedback and reflections on students’ individual learning difficulties. The open-ended questions were used to allow for greater freedom of response, to permit follow-up questions by the interviewers, to elicit more information from interviewees, and to check the accuracy of the answers to the closed-ended questions. Therefore, this questionnaire allowed the authors to support the qualitative data with additional, quantifiable information.

Data Analysis

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Microsoft Excel, using percentages and column charts.

Results and Discussions

There are three subsections in this section. The first presents the results of the vocabulary tests in the pretest, treatment, and posttest phases. The performances of the participants regarding vocabulary growth in the three phases are separately examined by means of an ANCOVA, descriptive statistics, and a one-way ANOVA. In the second section, the data derived from the observations in the teachers’ diary are analyzed. A diagram of the English-vocabulary learning experience and the role of the teachers in the study is depicted. In the third section, the data derived from the questionnaire and from the interview transcripts are applied to the discussion with regard to students’ attitudes and feelings toward computer-assisted vocabulary learning.

The Effects of Computer-assisted Vocabulary Teaching on Vocabulary Growth: Results of Pretest, Treatment, and Posttest

In the study, the pretest phase (period 1), the treatment phase (period 2), and the posttest phase (period 3) were designed as the three major periods to observe students’ language development and vocabulary growth.

In the beginning, in order to eliminate the pretest’s effects, the researchers conducted an ANCOVA to ensure that both classes had the same starting English proficiency. As shown in Table 1, there was no significant difference between the experimental group and control group on the pretest (p = .231; > .05); that is, both groups had the same initial level of English proficiency.

In order to explore the effects of the computer-assisted vocabulary teaching implemented with these vocational high school students, both groups received the vocabulary contest (including multiple-choice questions and fill-in-the-blank exercises) as a posttest to measure their vocabulary growth.

As shown in Table 2, the experimental group performed better than the control group. The average score of the experimental group (80.65 points) was much higher than that of the control group (67.83 points). The result shows that the experimental group performed better than the control group on the multiple-choice questions.

There was a significant difference between the experimental group and the control group on the posttest (p = .000; < .05). Participants who received computer-assisted vocabulary teaching performed better than those who received traditional vocabulary teaching on the multiple-choice questions.

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that of the control group (59.03 points). The result showed that the experimental group performed better than the control group in the fill-in-the-blank exercises.

The results show a significant difference between the experimental group and the control group on the fill-in-the-blank exercises (p = .001; < .05). Participants who received computer-assisted teaching performed better on the fill-in-the-blank exercises than those who received traditional vocabulary teaching.

Overall, for English underachievers at this vocational senior high school, the experimental group performed better than the control group with respect to vocabulary growth. The researchers also found that participants had higher scores on the multiple-choice questions than on the fill-in-the-blank exercises: multiple-choice questions were much easier for students because they did not have to spell the words. They could also guess the answers from the four answer choices if they did not know the word.

The Role of the Teachers in Computer-assisted Vocabulary Teaching: Results of Classroom Observations

Classroom observations took place throughout the semester. The teachers wrote down their observations in the teachers’ diary in order to track student behavior. The teachers also recorded the students’ reflections on the teachers’ role in computer-assisted vocabulary teaching.

The introduction of networked computers has revolutionized the role of the teacher, from that of an “information dispenser” to that of a “coach,” from a “centralized authority” to a “decentralized facilitator,” and from a “sage on the stage” to a “guide at the side” (Chin & Hortin, 1993–94, p. 83). For example, the teacher can be a facilitator by using the wealth of online resources available to enrich activities, and by using the computer as a tool to enhance language learning and teaching. Clearly, teachers must invest a considerable amount of effort in creating tasks, monitoring progress, and developing a collaborative learning environment in order to ensure the most fruitful results. Because the teachers in this study believe that computers can be used as valuable resources to increase student motivation, foster independent learning, and improve vocabulary learning, they design online vocabulary activities to promote the vocabulary growth of English underachievers. The following Extract 1 is an example of how students feel about the teachers’ role in computer-assisted vocabulary teaching.

Extract 1

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B: Whenever I feel frustrated and bored about online vocabulary practices, the teachers encourage me never to give up learning (Oct. 16, 2010).

C: I do not know how to use online vocabulary practices without the teachers’ assistance and demonstration (Nov.17, 2010).

D: The teachers help me understand how to look up words in the online dictionary (Nov.17, 2010).

E: Whenever I leave any messages on the message board, the teachers respond to me and solve my problems immediately (Jan.16, 2011).

As the teacher’s role in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is the most decisive factor in determining the success of a CALL curriculum, he or she bears the responsibility to constantly adapt teaching methods to changing technology. However, regardless of the teacher’s experience level or of how computers might influence language classrooms, the teacher’s role in CALL must be carefully considered if CALL is to be successful; after all, it is the teacher who decides how the class should be conducted, not the computers. In conducting CALL lessons, the teacher’s engagement is essential.

The Participants’ Attitudes toward Vocabulary Learning under Computer-assisted Vocabulary Teaching: Results of Questionnaires and Interviews

The motivational questionnaires and interviews were designed to address the third research question, concerning participant feedback and attitudes toward vocabulary learning under computer-assisted vocabulary teaching. The data from the questionnaires and interviews were analyzed qualitatively. In the next subsections, the results of the questionnaires are described first, supported by the results of the interviews.

As seen in Table 6, the majority of the participants differentiated between computer-assisted and traditional vocabulary teaching, and confirmed the positive effects of computer-assisted vocabulary teaching. In general, most of the participants were interested in and held positive attitudes toward computer-assisted vocabulary teaching.

Most of the participants (74%) perceived this computer-assisted vocabulary teaching positively; only four participants (12 %) perceived it negatively. Five participants (14%) chose both of the above options in order to convey neutrality. In other words, these five participants were ambivalent toward the online vocabulary exercises. The authors will elaborate on these findings in the following tables.

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exemplify how students express their feelings and attitudes about online vocabulary exercises. Extract 2 illustrates the degree to which students like online vocabulary exercises and use them to improve their vocabulary ability. Extract 3 shows student dislike for online vocabulary exercises and provides their suggestions for improvement of the website.

Extract 2

A: I find computer-assisted vocabulary teaching very innovative and interesting because I have never experienced it before (Oct. 16, 2010).

B: I like to undertake online vocabulary practice exercises because I enjoy competing with my classmates (Oct. 16, 2010).

C: I feel a sense of achievement because I learn so many words (Nov.17, 2010). D: Using immediate error feedback, I can revise vocabulary mistakes instantly (Nov. 17, 2010).

E: Because of the lively interaction between users and the computer, I feel completely involved in online vocabulary learning (Jan. 16, 2011).

F: I do not feel nervous when I make mistakes while using the computer quiz program (Jan. 16, 2011).

Extract 3

A: The large number of test items overwhelms me (Oct. 16, 2010). B: Because of the small font size on the screen, my eyes feel strained (Oct. 16, 2010).

C: Online vocabulary exercises would be more enjoyable and interactive with the use of Flash (Nov. 17, 2010).

D: I feel embarrassed when people can see my grade reports online (Nov. 17, 2010).

E: Interaction and oral discussion between students and teachers decrease under this system, and I am not used to this kind of online learning (Jan. 16, 2011).

Overall, most participants were interested in and held positive attitudes toward computer-assisted vocabulary teaching.

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Extract 4 below is transcribed by the authors from student interviews. Students share their experience of how much they benefit from online vocabulary practice and which aspects they feel are the most useful for them.

Extract 4

A: With immediate error feedback, I can memorize and recite vocabulary easily and quickly (Oct. 16, 2010).

B: Thanks to immediate error feedback, I can revise mistakes right away and focus on the words I do not know (Oct. 16, 2010).

C: I know how many words I have learned because of online grade reports (Nov. 17, 2010).

D: During computer-assisted vocabulary teaching, I can use online resources, such as online dictionaries and pronunciation guides, often (Nov. 17, 2010).

E: Because of the level classification, I can learn vocabulary in order from easy to difficult, which gives me a sense of achievement (Jan. 16, 2011).

On the whole, most of the participants favoring CAVT think that the multiple practice opportunities and immediate error feedback are the most useful parts for them. Twent y-five of these participants (83%) also like the chance to learn gradually because of the level classification. Finally, most of these participants mention that the online dictionary (73%) and online pronunciation guide (70%) are very convenient for them to look up words they do not know.

According to Table 11, bland layout (78%) is regarded as the part most in need of improvement for users who dislike CATV, followed by small font size (56%), short quiz time (44%), excessive content (33%), and limited interaction between users and teachers (22%).

In Extract 5 below, also transcribed by the authors from student interviews, students point out which parts of online vocabulary practice they dislike and express their hope that the program designers and programmers can improve them.

Extract 5

A: The layout is so bland with only one color (Oct. 16, 2010).

B: I am more engaged if there are flash graphics added to online vocabulary practices (Nov. 17, 2010).

C: The word size on the screen is too small for me to read (Jan. 16, 2011).

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addition of Adobe Flash Player graphics to the program—for example, clapping hands shown on the screen when users give the right answers. Half of these participants (56%) also complained that the font size on the screen is too small, and their eyes become sore. Some of these participants (44%) responded that lengthening the quiz time provided would be beneficial, because they did not have enough time to think of the right answers.

From the questionnaire, observation diaries, and interviews, it is clear that most of the participants enjoyed the computer-assisted vocabulary teaching, and felt that it promoted acquisition of vocabulary. Therefore, the result supports the results of previous studies showing that underachievers in English learning have more motivation and interest when instructed using an approach incorporating computer-assisted vocabulary teaching.

Conclusion

In this section, the conclusions drawn from the discussions and results are presented. The following are the three main findings, corresponding to the research questions of the study.

With regard to underachievers in vocational senior high school English in the school under study, the experimental group performed better than the control group in terms of vocabulary growth.

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least those from the word-banks, are not only processed but also learned, both receptively and productively. Fifth, the learners showed genuine interest in the deeper processing of new words on at least some occasions. The authors believe that the online vocabulary practices investigated in this study are steps in the right direction toward a remedial program for computer-assisted vocabulary teaching. The authors considers online vocabulary practices to be a point of departure toward the challenge of developing vocabulary acquisition tools that are based on a corpus, expanding opportunities for rehearsal, and engaging the learner at a deep level.

The authors try to utilize the benefits of the internet in one of several possible ways. Learners have numerous practice sessions and varied opportunities for rehearsal, such as re-encountering words in spoken form, utilizing dictionaries and online word banks, and doing teacher-administered vocabulary practice. In addition, the authors adopt Sökmen’s idea regarding the “world of the Internet as a source for meaningful vocabulary activities” (1997, p. 257). In this study, however, the Internet is more than just a source; it is a medium for learning. Online vocabulary learning, at least as we have conceived it, is really only practicable if undertaken in a networked computer context—dependent on access to a corpus, expert collaboration, and rich online word-bank resources.

To conclude our findings on this question, this corpus-based approach to online vocabulary acquisition is viable and has passed the experimental test. However, the authors believe that there is still a lot of ground left to cover. We will take great efforts to achieve the goal of better computer-assisted vocabulary teaching.

Teachers play crucial roles in encouraging the English underachievers to use the online vocabulary practices—including but not limited to the roles of facilitator, mediator, and consultant.

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resource for English underachievers to expand their word-bank and improve their English proficiency. Thus, teachers play the important roles of facilitator, mediator, and consultant, helping English underachievers use online vocabulary tools.

After using the online vocabulary exercises, English underachievers are more motivated toward and interested in vocabulary learning.

As in the cited previous studies, participants felt that the online vocabulary practices were novel and interesting. The clear example sentences, correct online pronunciation samples, immediate error feedback, ability to create or select suitable definitions, and availability of contextual examples encourage students to develop a positive attitude toward learning. Taking these points in order, we see first that with immediate online feedback, students experience a sense of involvement and are able to improve their vocabulary acquisition. Second, each sample sentence has useful meaning cues, which some of the respondents exploited successfully. Students become more interested in vocabulary learning when contextual example sentences are provided. Interestingly, while the students occasionally complained about the spelling errors they spotted in word-bank entries, the authors observed that no one complained about the semantic information available. These findings support the results of an earlier investigation into word-bank entries (Horst, Cobb, & Nicolae, 2005) where quality of example sentences and definitions available in student-produced online study material was found to be high. Third, because of the formative assessment feature, students can learn words first and do vocabulary practice later. The English underachievers feel a sense of achievement like never before. Fourth, students find the online vocabulary software convenient, as it is accessible anywhere at any time. Fifth, students can set difficulty levels suitable for them, compete with others at the same level, and thus improve vocabulary acquisition. In short, the English underachievers are more motivated toward and interested in online vocabulary learning than traditional learning.

References

Chang, H. L. (2002). A comparative analysis of the quantity of the new words in senior high school English textbooks. Unpublished master’s thesis. Department of English, National Kaohsiung Normal University.

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Groot, P. J. M. (2000). Computer assisted second language vocabulary acquisition. Language Learning & Technology, 4, 60–81. Retrieved March 10, 2010, from http://llt.msu.edu/vol4num1/groot/default.html

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Horst, M., Cobb T., & Nicolae. (2005). Expanding academic vocabulary with interactive online database. Language Learning & Technology. 9(2), 90–110.

Huang, C., Lin, S., & Su, S. (2004). The effects of phonological awareness training on technological university students' phonics and vocabulary knowledge. NTPTC, 17(1), 59–90.

Lin, C. (2006). A quantitative analysis of the vocabulary in the first volume of Taiwanese senior high school English textbooks. Unpublished master’s thesis, National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan.

Ma, Q., & Kelly, P. (2006). Computer assisted vocabulary learning: Design and evaluation. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 19(1), 15–45.

Nation, I. (2001). Learning Vocabulary in Another Language. Cambridge University Press, 33-58.

Shao, H. (1998). A study of English individual educational program as a remedial teaching method of junior high school. Unpublished master’s thesis. Department of English, National Kaohsiung Normal University.

Sökmen, A. J. (1997). Current trends in teaching second-language vocabulary. In N. Schmitt, N. & McCarthy, M. (Eds.), Vocabulary: Description, acquisition and pedagogy. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Tsou, W., Wang, W., & Tzeng, Y. (2006). Applying a multimedia storytelling website in foreign language learning.

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Appendixes

Table 1

ANCOVA of the Pretest

Levene Statistic Df 1 Df 2 Sig.

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Table 2

Descriptive Statistics for Multiple-Choice Questions in the Posttest

N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error

95% Confidence Interval for Difference

Minimum Maximum

Lower Bound Upper Bound Experimental Group 34 80.65 15.952 2.736 75.08 86.21 39 100 Control Group 35 67.83 12.294 2.078 63.61 72.05 43 85 Total 69 74.14 15.516 1.868 70.42 77.87 39 100 Table 3

One-Way ANOVA of Multiple-Choice Questions in the Posttest

SS Df MS F Sig.

Between Groups 2833.815 1 2833.815 14.026 .000

Within Groups 13536.736 67 202.041

Total 16370.551 68

Table 4

Descriptive Statistics of Fill-in-the-Blank Questions in the Posttest

N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error

95% Confidence Interval for Difference

Minimum Maximum Lower Bound Upper Bound

1 34 71.53 15.831 2.715 66.01 77.05 34 99

2 35 59.03 14.666 2.479 53.99 64.07 21 79

Total 69 65.19 16.395 1.974 61.25 69.13 21 99

Table 5

One-Way ANOVA of Fill-in-the-Blank Exercises in the Posttest

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Table 6

Attitudes and Views toward Computer-assisted Vocabulary Teaching

Items Agreement (N)/

Percentage (%)

Disagreement (N)/ Percentage (%) Computer-assisted vocabulary teaching

differs from traditional vocabulary teaching 32/94% 2/6% Computer-assisted vocabulary teaching

makes the English class more interesting 30/88% 4/12%

Computer-assisted vocabulary teaching

arouses learning motivation 28/82% 6/18%

promotes vocabulary learning 29/85% 5/15 %

Computer-assisted vocabulary teaching makes vocabulary learning easier than traditional vocabulary teaching does

26/76% 8/24%

makes the English class less interesting 4/12% 30/88%

a. Most of the participants (94%) in the experimental class reported that computer-assisted vocabulary teaching differs from traditional vocabulary teaching. b. Most of the participants (88%) reported that computer-assisted vocabulary teaching makes the English class more interesting.

c. Most of the participants (82%) reported that computer-assisted vocabulary teaching arouses learning motivation.

d. Most of the participants (85%) reported that computer-assisted vocabulary teaching promotes vocabulary learning.

e. Most of the participants (76%) reported that computer-assisted vocabulary teaching makes vocabulary learning easier than traditional vocabulary teaching does.

f: A few of the participants (12%) reported that computer-assisted vocabulary teaching makes the English class less interesting.

Table 7

Total Numbers Favoring and Opposing CAVT

Items Numbers (N) Percentage (%)

Favor 25

74%

Oppose 4 12%

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Total 34 100%

Table 8

The Reasons for Favor

Immediate error feedback 30 88%

Multiple practices 28 82%

High interest/novelty 27 79%

Massive number of test items 26 76%

Encouraging words 13 38%

Message board 2 6%

Number of students for favor: 30; Total number of students: 34

Table 9

Reasons for Opposition

No interests/motivation 4 12%

Boredom 2 6%

Overloaded content 3 9%

Limited interaction 2 6%

Eye sore 3 9%

Number of students for opposition: 4; Total number of students: 34 Table 10

The Most Helpful Part of the Content

Multiple-choice tests (English translation) 20 67%

Multiple-choice tests (Chinese translation) 23 76%

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Online dictionary 22 73%

Online pronunciation 21 70%

Immediate error feedback 28 93%

Vocabulary level classification 25 83%

Others 3 10%

Table 11

The Aspect of the System Most in Need of Improvement

Bland layout 7 78%

Small font size 5 56%

Excessive amount of content 3 33%

Short quiz time 4 44%

Limited interaction between users and