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Vocabulary growth in young CLIL and traditional EFL learners: evidence from research and implications for education
Author(s) -
AgustínLlach Maria Pilar,
Canga Alonso Andrés
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
international journal of applied linguistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.712
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1473-4192
pISSN - 0802-6106
DOI - 10.1111/ijal.12090
Subject(s) - vocabulary , psychology , vocabulary development , linguistics , mathematics education , teaching method , philosophy
This paper presents a three‐year longitudinal study in which the receptive vocabulary size and lexical growth of a group of CLIL learners and of traditional EFL learners are compared. CLIL approaches are considered especially beneficial in lexical development. We tested the receptive vocabulary size of 58 learners in a CLIL programme and of 49 traditional EFL learners. The 2k VLT was used. Results revealed that learners' receptive vocabulary sizes lie within the most frequent 1,000 words, although CLIL learners throw significantly higher vocabulary scores in the last grades tested. Incorporation of new words each grade remains stable for both cohorts, although the vocabulary size of CLIL learners increases with grade. We believe that the CLIL approach offers a benefit for vocabulary acquisition, which grows as experience with the approach, age and proficiency augment.