The Effect of Teaching Vocabulary on the Ability of Writing - Research Proposal Example

Abstract This study was about the effect of teaching vocabulary on the ability to write a story. The methodology used in the research involved six participants between the age 25 years and 26 years. They are divided into two groups of the same level. Both groups were given a set of pictures of a topic that they are not familiar about. The first step was that both groups have to describe what was happening in the set of pictures given to them through writing a short story. After describing it in a story, the second step was teaching the relevant vocabulary to the first group only, but not the second group. The last step was asking the two groups to re write their stories again in order to compare their writing of the first step and the last. The results showed that the first group had made more improvement than the second group that was not taught the appropriate vocabularies. The vocabularies that were explained helped them in describing the picture in a better way. Introduction The learners’ ability to understand vocabulary determines their story writing capabilities. Many students who have learning disabilities struggle when writing stories because they lack the vocabulary. The vocabulary knowledge improves the chances of students to write better stories. The learners struggling with the writing disabilities are said to read less hence fail to improve their vocabulary knowledge (Bromley, 2007). The students who can comprehend academic texts or write a story are those who have developed their understanding of vocabularies necessary to use when communicating through writing. Vocabularies help learners in transforming their thoughts into a story through writing. Therefore, it is the knowledge of vocabularies that students can be in a position to compose a story that can make meaning and communicate the intended message. Justification There are some challenges that are experienced by many learners when writing stories. The major challenge is the lack of the appropriate vocabulary to use in the process of writing stories. For the learners to be in a position to ensure good writing skills they need to have the necessary knowledge concerning vocabulary. Failure to have good vocabulary knowledge can result in poor story writing as the primary aim of writing a story is to pass certain information (Hudson, 2007). Therefore, vocabularies help in converting ideas into texts. Through this research, the effects of teaching vocabulary on the learners’ ability to write the story will be known. This study helps the teachers to understand how vocabularies affect the learners’ ability to write stories. Research objective 1. To investigate the effects of teaching vocabulary on the ability to write a story. Research question What are the effects of teaching vocabulary on the young learners’ ability to write a story? Literature review 1. Definition of Vocabulary Webb, (2007) described vocabulary as the words that individuals are required to understand to communicate with the other people effectively. Also, the term vocabulary can refer to the total number of words together with their meanings that are found in a particular language (Saracho and Spodek, 2010). Moreover, vocabulary is always the central part of any language, and therefore it plays a significant role when people are in the learning process of the language. It is usually developed with time where learners make use of vocabulary as the tool for communicating and acquiring the appropriate knowledge. The acquisition of vocabulary is the most challenging experience in learning. The learners who wish to develop their writing capabilities need to ensure that they have the relevant vocabularies to write their stories. However, learners develop the vocabulary knowledge over time. Teachers have the obligation of looking for the most appropriate way of teaching vocabulary (Ellis, et al., 2008). 2. The importance of learning vocabulary Teaching vocabulary is important in improving accuracy and fluency of students. The students have the necessary vocabulary likely to have better writing skills. They can be in a better position to write a story that has fluency and able to communicate the intended information. The accuracy in writing can only be possible through ensuring that the students have the necessary knowledge concerning the vocabulary (Bromley, 2007). Learning vocabulary helps students to develop the necessary writing skills that can ensure fluency in communication of the intended ideas. Writing abilities of learners assist them to write a story that can properly communicate their thoughts in an accurate manner. Learning vocabulary can be important in the process of developing the writing skills that make learners able to accurately encode their opinions in a story. Learning vocabulary is considered important in the process of improving fluency when communicating through writing. It helps the learners to improve writing skills that can assist in developing the necessary vocabulary that can help them in communicating the student ideas in a story form. Learning vocabulary helps the students in improving their accuracy and fluency in writing as they can only be in a position to develop the necessary writing skills through developing the appropriate vocabulary knowledge (Saddler and Graham, 2007). Learning vocabulary is beneficial to the writing skills of the students as they can develop the necessary confidence needed in writing. Therefore, learning vocabulary helps the students to communicate their ideas in writing accurately. It is through learning vocabularies that students can also improve their relationship as they can be in a position to develop their writing abilities. Vocabulary knowledge helps the students communicate with their friends better through ensuring that the students can communicate their opinions fluently in writing. Learning vocabulary helps learners improve their story writing skills (Graham and Hebert, 2011). This is because improving the vocabulary knowledge the students can be able to write a story in an accurate manner. Therefore, learning vocabulary can help student develop the appropriate writing skills that can help in sharpening communication abilities of the learners. It is through teaching vocabulary that the students can be in a position to express themselves through communicating their ideas in a fluent manner. Teaching vocabulary helps learners open up their mind to new ideas where they can freely and confidently communicate using their writing skills. The learners who have the necessary writing skills are likely to enhance their performance in class through improving their marks, fluency and accuracy. Also, teaching vocabulary can help learners in improving their comprehension capabilities through ensuring fluency in encoding their ideas in writing. Students who have acquired the vocabulary knowledge are likely to be in a position to express themselves accurately as they develop writing skills. As a result, learning vocabulary makes the learners be in a better position to share their ideas with the other people as they can easily improve their writing skills (Harris, Schumaker and Deshler, 2011). Teaching vocabulary helps improves the ability of the learners of developing the necessary understanding of words that help in writing. Students can be able to understand the words used in communication in particular in writing stories as they can develop the appropriate writing skills. Learning vocabulary makes the students be understood when writing as they can develop the necessary writing skills that can guarantee accuracy and fluency. Learning vocabulary helps students understand meaning of different words that can help in improving the writing skills. It is through the understanding of the vocabulary that the learners can be in a position to improve fluency and accuracy in writing hence helping students be in a better position to improve their marks (Saracho and Spodek, 2010). Teaching vocabulary helps students to know and comprehend what they write hence able to ensuring accuracy in their stories. The students who are able to understand vocabularies can be in a position to improve their marks and fluency in writing. Learner make use different vocabularies to understand the best ways they can make sure they are accurate when writing a story to transfer a particular message (Westwood, 2008). It is through teaching vocabulary that students can be in a position to understand how to put across their ideas in writing through improving their vocabulary knowledge. Learners can improve their marks by developing the appropriate vocabulary knowledge through learning. Teaching vocabulary helps the students to develop confidence and enthusiasm in writing as they develop the appropriate vocabulary knowledge that help in improving their writing skills. Teaching vocabulary can help the students to have persuasive writing skills where they can be in a position to convince the receiver of the message understand. This can be possible as vocabulary knowledge helps in developing accuracy and fluency in writing (Beck, McKeown and Kucan, 2013). It is through teaching vocabulary that students can develop writing skills that can impress people through improving the level of writing accuracy. Teaching vocabulary can help learners improve their relations with others through developing the appropriate writing skills that aid in ensuring fluency in communicating their information. 3. The methods and techniques to teach vocabulary A large number of techniques can be used in the process of teaching vocabulary. However, there are some important things which should be considered by the teachers when they are presenting new vocabulary to the students (Beck, McKeown and Kucan, 2013). For example, the new vocabulary is required to be learned, practiced and also revised well by the students to prevent them from forgetting them. Also, the techniques which are used by the teachers usually depend on various factors which include the content, time availability and the value of the technique to the learners (Duke and Pearson, 2008). Some of the significant methods which can be used by the students in familiarizing the new vocabulary include practice and the repetition (Graham and Perin, 2007). Through repetitions leaders can be in a better position to understand vocabularies better. Also, using picture clues is among the important methods that can be utilized in improving the vocabulary knowledge of the students (Hudson, 2007). The use of pictures can help the students in remembering the appropriate vocabulary in writing. The learners can be in a better position to better understand various vocabularies that can be used in writing stories (Bromley, 2007). The use of picture clues helps in connecting the prior knowledge of the students to a new word that can be used in improving writing skills. As a result, the use of picture clues can assisting students in learning new vocabulary (Saracho and Spodek, 2010). In teaching, the majority of the vocabularies can be best introduced using pictures as illustrations can be made possible. Pictures can be important technique for teachers in the process of teaching vocabularies. Using definitions can be important in making students develop vocabulary knowledge. Some of the vocabulary words need to be defined to make the students better understand their use in writing. The teacher can provide the list of all words that are new to the students and provide the appropriate meaning and how they can be applied when writing a story. This technique can be used in presenting the meaning of the words that are difficulty for the students. Besides, the use of true or false technique can help in teaching vocabulary where the teacher can be able to assess the vocabulary knowledge of the students. Also, PowerPoint can also be used as important method of teaching vocabulary (Beck, McKeown and Kucan, 2013). This can involve using slides to present the meaning and the ways words that are new to the students can be used. Through the use of PowerPoint presentation can help the teachers when teaching learners vocabularies and how they can be used to improve writing skills. This can be possible through creating the opportunity for making the appropriate illustrations. Also, the use of PowerPoint ensures students are attentive through ensuring participative session involving application of the vocabulary in writing. 4. The studies about the effect of vocabulary on writing Pearson, Hiebert and Kamil, (2007) conducted a study aiming at establishing the impacts that vocabulary has on writing. The study showed a positive effects of vocabulary knowledge on writing. The performance of student was shown to improve in terms of accuracy, fluency and marks. According to the study vocabulary is an important tool in ensuring good writing skills among students as they help in ensuring accurate meaning of the word. The development of the vocabulary knowledge can be important in helping the student to be good writers of stories that can communicate their ideas properly. Words are usually the most tools which are used by the writers during the writing process. As a result, vocabulary is an essential part of learning in the classroom as it affects the writing abilities of learners. The students can contextualize a variety of the vocabulary terms which they have already learned them and apply them appropriately. Students can succeed in contextualizing new vocabulary terms by first being comfortable in using those new words in a classroom situation. Learners can incorporate the vocabulary terms in both oral and written to improve their ability to encode their ideas when communicating. Spencer, et al., (2012) conducted a study that explored the impact of vocabulary on writing. The study shown that vocabulary knowledge has no impact on fluency, accuracy and students marks. The study explained how vocabulary has no affects writing and how learners can improve writing skills using vocabulary. The authors argued that writing does not affect the ability of the learner to communicate his or her ideas through writing. Any new vocabulary is supposed to be connected to the previous knowledge of the students to positively impact the writing skills of the learners. Therefore, teaching vocabulary alone has no impact on the performance of the student. References Bromley, K. (2007). Best practices in teaching writing. Best practices in literacy instruction, 3, 243-263. Glaser, C., & Brunstein, J. C. (2007). Improving fourth-grade students' composition skills: Effects of strategy instruction and self-regulation procedures. Journal of educational psychology, 99(2), 297. Graham, S., & Hebert, M. (2011). Writing to read: A meta-analysis of the impact of writing and writing instruction on reading. Harvard Educational Review, 81(4), 710-744. Harris, K. R., Graham, S., Brindle, M., & Sandmel, K. (2009). Metacognition and children’s writing. Handbook of metacognition in education, 131-153. Harris, M. L., Schumaker, J. B., & Deshler, D. D. (2011). The effects of strategic morphological analysis instruction on the vocabulary performance of secondary students with and without disabilities. Learning Disability Quarterly, 34(1), 17-33. Nelson, N. W., & Van Meter, A. M. (2007). Measuring written language ability in narrative samples. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 23(3), 287-309. Saddler, B., & Graham, S. (2007). The relationship between writing knowledge and writing performance among more and less skilled writers. Reading & writing quarterly, 23(3), 231-247. Saracho, O. N., & Spodek, B. (2010). Parents and children engaging in storybook reading. Early child development and care, 180(10), 1379-1389. Westwood, P. (2008). What teachers need to know about reading and writing difficulties. Aust Council for Ed Research. Appendix Picture used by the participants Read More