The Effects of English as Foreign Language Proficiency on Lexical Retention of Iranian Learners

Journal of Teaching English Lnaguage Studies

مقاله 4، دوره 5، شماره 1، آذر 2016، صفحه 55-68   

نویسندگان

Zinat Sha'bani¹؛ Mohammad Taghi Hasani²

¹Ph.D, Assistant Professor, Department of English Language and Literature, College of Humanities, Takestan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Takestan, Iran

²MA, Department of English Language and Literature, College of Humanities, Takestan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Takestan, Iran

چکیده

This study aimed at investigating the effects of English as foreign language proficiency on
lexical attrition of Iranian learners in Nouroz holidays. For this purpose, 90 students studied
English translation at Qazvin Azad University were selected. They were sophomore and were
accessible for the present study. After administering a proficiency test (OPT), 60 students were
selected according to the result of their OPT test for this study in which 25 students were male
and 35 were female. In Time 1 administration and just before Nouroz vacation, OPT(Oxford
Placement Test) was given to 90 participants to determine their level of proficiency and classify
them into three high, middle, and low groups of proficiency level according to their scores on the
test. Then, the devised test of receptive/productive vocabulary, modeled on The Vocabulary
Levels Test, was administered to the same participants to measure their acquisition of nouns
covered in their Reading Comprehension book. The receptive/productive vocabulary test is
administered independently of the participants' final exam and before it. The results indicated
that both types of tests were exposed to attrition. The results indicate that both types of tests were
exposed to attrition. Therefore, the hypothesis that both receptive and productive word
knowledge of learned vocabularies are more prone to attrition rather than retention after English
disuse by Iranian learners over Nouroz vacation is confirmed.

کلیدواژه‌ها

lexical retention؛ Proficiency؛ Nouroz holidays

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