Effect of Vocabulary Preparation on Students Vocabulary and Listening Comprehension

Abstract

This paper investigates and analyzes the effects of vocabulary preparation on students’ vocabulary and listening comprehension in local engineering universities. There are three groups in this study. The three groups were given three different preparation times to learn new vocabulary that would be heard in a listening text. The students’ performances of vocabulary and listening comprehension were also tested and analyzed statistically. The instruments include a vocabulary test, a listening comprehension test, and a questionnaire to investigate students’ confidence levels. The results show that significant differences between groups were found only in the vocabulary test but not in the listening comprehension test. It is concluded that allowing students to prepare vocabulary before a listening test could improve their vocabulary knowledge and confidence level but not their listening comprehension. The students’ listening comprehension performance mainly depends on their level of listening comprehension and listening strategies rather than vocabulary preparation. Another finding is that the group with 30-min preparation time showed the higher levels of confidence. According to the results, some strategies were proposed to improve the listening comprehension of students in local engineering universities.