Development of academic vocabulary by isolated presentation strategies vs in-context presentation strategies: comparative analysis

Abstract

The study - Development of academic vocabulary by isolated presentation strategies vs. in-context presentation strategies: a comparative analysis - aims to know how significant the presence of academic vocabulary is in compositions. In addition, how effective isolated presentation of vocabulary is, compared to vocabulary in context, in the acquisition of academic vocabulary. Finally, what the level of improvement is in the use of academic vocabulary after an intervention program. It was conducted at a private urban high school in the city of Portoviejo, with teenagers (49% male and 51% female students) whose age range was around 17 with intermediate level (B1) who had English classes as a compulsory subject. The study was a quantitative study of experimental design. The data was gathered during 12 weeks by means of pretests, formative tests, and post-test, which were applied to two focus groups. The results revealed that in-context presentation of vocabulary granted a faster and wider range of words learned. The most relevant conclusion is that, the focus group exposed to these strategies had better performance developing more academic vocabulary (about 75%.)