Teachers’ Perspective on Effective Teaching Strategies for Enhancing EFL Learners’ Vocabulary Retention.

Abstract

Vocabulary is essential for any language teaching. Many teachers are suffering from learners’ inability to retain new words. That is because of the ineffectiveness of the strategies used inside the classroom. Therefore, this study attempts to shed light on teachers’ beliefs and attitudes towards the effective ways to enhance learners’ vocabulary retention. In this respect, the study relied on the following hypothesis: if teachers use the ppropriate teaching vocabulary strategies, pupils’ vocabulary retention would be improved. To confirm or reject this hypothesis, the study was conducted through two different research tools which include a questionnaire and a classroom observation. The nature of the work requires the use of both qualitative and quantitative methods to provide a comprehensive analysis of the research questions. To ensure the validity of the questionnaire, forty teachers of English from six middle schools were selected. In addition to the questionnaire, a classroom observation was conducted to provide a valuable insight into the actual teaching practices of EFL teachers. The observation sessions were conducted over a period of about one month in “Belkacem Laatioui Middle School” in Constantine with fourth year learners. Based on the findings of the research, the majority of teachers recognize that vocabulary strategies are of crucial importance to foreign language teaching. Moreover, the use of various strategies helps to boost learners’ vocabulary retention. The most frequently used strategies are guessing from the context, using synonyms/antonyms, and visual/verbal techniques. The results show that teachers should use a variety of vocabulary teaching strategies to help students recall and use new words.