The efficacy of foreign language vocabulary acquisition dependent on type of classroom and study materials

digital classroom, vocabulary, online dictionary, prodigy children, EFL, ESL

Relevance. Increasing digitalisation of education requires accessing the efficiency of study materials used in traditional and digital classroom. The given research answers this challenge. Purpose of the study. The aim is to compare the efficacy of traditional and online class environment along with the usage of text/online dictionaries as the primary source of information during the completion of lexical tasks at the lesson of a foreign language. Research methods and sample. In the research participated 152 school students who successfully partake in intellectual contests and Olympiads (mean age 15,02; SD=1,5, 31,57% male). An authentic article from the Guardian was adapted to 3 CEFR levels using TextInspector, 30 most frequent words from the text were chosen for each level and 5 lexical tasks were created for B1, B2 and C1 levels. The tasks were completed by students either with the text or online dictionaries. Pre- and post-tests on these vocabulary units were compiled in the format of the Computer Adaptive Test of Size and Strength (4 types of questions: productive and receptive recall, productive and receptive recognition). Main results. The type of classroom did not influence the efficacy of vocabulary acquisition (p>.05). Using online dictionaries appears to be more efficient in an online classroom (t=-2.3, p=.024), while using a text did not have any significant influence (p>.05). Conclusion. Students, who successfully participate in intellectual contests, can effectively study both in offline and online classroom. When studying in a traditional classroom, the type of study materials does not influence the efficacy of vocabulary acquisition, however in an online classroom online dictionaries appear to be a more preferable option.

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