The Effect of Teaching the Connotative Meaning in Developing Students Vocabulary Retention.

Abstract

The issue raised in this research work at length below constitutes the field of inquiry into the effect of teaching the connotative meaning in developing students‟ vocabulary retention. More importantly, it was also concerned with the use of connotations as a pedagogical tool to develop learners‟ proficiency in foreign language learning. The basic hypothesis that was used in this study set out that students‟ attitudes towards the use of connotative meanings in foreign language classes would be a positive one. They may agree that connotative meanings help them to build new knowledge and expand their vocabulary. A descriptive method is opted for in the present study. That is to say, it attempts to describe two variables, the use of connotation as the independent variable and its role in enhancing students‟ vocabulary retention as the dependent variable. Moreover, the data were gathered through the use of two semi-structured questionnaires that administered and addressed to thirty-five first year of master EFL students and twenty EFL teachers at the Department of Foreign Languages at Mila University Centre. The research findings reveal that teachers‟ use of words that have implicit meanings in the educational learning process is of great importance. Accordingly, using connotative meaning in EFL classes helps learners to build up a set of word knowledge which in turns enables them to enhance their vocabulary retention. On the basis of this result, the hypothesis confirmed that students need to use connotation as an efficient tool to enrich their vocabulary.