خلاصة:
This study investigated the role of interactive output tasks in developing EFLlearners’ vocabulary knowledge. The participants were 103 elementary female Iranian EFL learners who were randomly divided into three groups: input-only, input-output-no-interaction, and input-output-interaction. After all participants took a placement test and a vocabulary pretest, the input-only group was exposed to input tasks, while the other two groups received both input and output tasks with or without interaction. Then, all the participants took a vocabulary posttest. The results of ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis tests showed that the participants in both the input-output-no-interaction group and the input- output-interaction group outperformed the ones in the input-only group in the vocabulary posttest (in both the overall vocabulary test and in the productive vocabulary section). Moreover, the results of the t-test and the Mann-Whitney test revealed that the participants in the interaction and no-interaction groups*Email address: mahmoodabadi_z@yahoo.comCorresponding address: Department of Foreign Languages, Payame NoorUniversity, Daneshjoo Blvd., Yazd, Iranperformed similarly on both the overall vocabulary posttest and the productive vocabulary section. The findings of this study support the idea that output is a facilitative factor for the acquisition of L2 vocabulary and, specifically, productive vocabulary development. The results also suggest that both interactive and non-interactive output-plus-input tasks can lead to higher achievement in vocabulary knowledge compared to the input-only condition lacking output tasks.
ملخص الجهاز:
The Impact of Interactive Output Tasks on Developing Vocabulary Knowledge of Iranian EFL Learners Hassan Soleimani Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran * Zahra Mahmoudabadi PhD Candidate in TEFL, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran Received 29 January 2014; revised 5 August 2014; accepted 24 August 2014 This study investigated the role of interactive output tasks in developing EFLlearners’ vocabulary knowledge.
After all participants took a placement test and a vocabulary pretest, the input-only group was exposed to input tasks, while the other two groups received both input and output tasks with or without interaction.
Review of the Related Literature Input and Output Simply defined, input is the language data a learner is exposed to (Gass & Mackey, 2007).
Although many studies confirm the positive role of output production in the development of learners’ vocabulary (Hashemi & Kassaian, 2011; Jalilifar & Amin, 2008; Kwon, 2006; Sarani, Mousapour, & Ghaviniat, 2013; Soleimani, Ketabi, & Talebinejad, 2008), input-based instruction has sometimes turned out to be more effective in terms of vocabulary development (Shintani, 2011).
Hence, additional studies are required to analyze the effect of input and output tasks on developing L2 learners’ vocabulary knowledge.
The current study assumes that the presence of interaction while performing output tasks might be beneficial in vocabulary acquisition, so it attempts to empirically evaluate the interaction hypothesis proposed by Long (1996).
The assumption in this study was that engaging learners in output activities, in addition to language input exposure, would promote their vocabulary development.