The Effect of Keeping Vocabulary Notebooks on Vocabulary Acquisition and Learner Autonomy

Abstract

Recent vocabulary teaching literature advocate that keeping a vocabulary notebook is an effective tool that promotes vocabulary acquisition as well as learner autonomy. This paper attempts to support to these claims, by analyzing the effect of vocabulary notebooks on EFL students⿿ vocabulary acquisition and students⿿ responsibility of their own learning. Teachers have various perspectives and styles when it comes to teaching. Some are more authorative and tend to control student behavior while others have a more democratic approach and promote autonomy and democracy in the classroom. Sharing power and supporting learner autonomy by using vocabulary notebooks is effective and motivates students to learn. The participants of this study are three groups of Intermediate level students from the South East European University Language Center. Over a four week period students followed the same course material and syllabus. One group acted as the treatment group and kept vocabulary notebooks and the remaining two groups were control groups and didn⿿t keep vocabulary notebooks. Scores from the vocabulary tests reveal that that the treatment group results were significantly more successful than the control groups. These findings led to a conclusion that vocabulary notebooks are an effective tool that can be implemented in an EFL classroom.