Channels, Fall 2017

Page 34 Nanda • The L1 Context Embedding Method context of second language instruction to foreign language instruction (i.e., teaching a language in an environment where it is not commonly spoken), which is the emphasis of this study, the need for vocabulary instruction only increases. This is simply because it is less probable that foreign language students have meaningful, face-to-face interactions in the target language, so they must rely more heavily on reading as an acquisition vehicle (McQuillan, 2016). Other tools that provide language input such as films and videos have a similar function to reading in that they all provide authentic input but do not allow for negotiation of meaning. In other words, the individuals are not able to interrupt the language input and ask for clarification. The need for vocabulary instruction in the classroom is then underscored because some amount of previous explicit study is required before one can acquire language incidentally through reading. If a student did not have any vocabulary knowledge there could be no comprehension of the text and thus no comprehension of the novel vocabulary. There would be no acquisition of the target language. Therefore, some explicit vocabulary instruction, and most likely more than is common, is necessary to achieve a threshold of knowledge that enables a student to benefit from incidental learning through reading (Schmitt, 2000). In this way, vocabulary knowledge and reading form a type of upward spiral; they are mutually beneficial. Cohen and Johnson (2011) express this concept: “While a good vocabulary base is needed to comprehend the text one reads, the more reading an individual does, the better his/her vocabulary becomes” (p. 358). Vocabulary instruction in the classroom makes incidental learning through reading possible, and reading helps students acquire even more vocabulary needed to become proficient in the language. The students can then progress to more and more difficult texts, similar to the process of learning to read in an L1. Lessard-Clouston (2013) takes a similar position to Schmitt (2000) on the importance of vocabulary instruction. He writes, “Part of a teacher’s job is to incorporate deliberate vocabulary teaching into classes to help students develop the breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge required so that they can use it both receptively and productively” (Lessard-Clouston, 2013, p. 12). He essentially argues that language learners need to know more vocabulary, and that they need to know their vocabulary better. So, the ultimate goal of language acquisition is to know language productively. Nonetheless, receptive knowledge is learned first. In order to recognize and learn a definition of a novel word, a student must be familiar enough with its context to understand the communicative intent of the message. Then the novel word itself can be understood in context. By repetition the ability to recognize the word becomes solidified, and by multiple exposures in a variety of contexts, the full definition is acquired (Tosuncuoğlu, 2015). When this full knowledge of a word is solidified enough in a student’s brain that it can be retrieved at any given time to express an original utterance, the student is said to have productive knowledge of the word. The purpose, then, of learning vocabulary is to retain words in one’s long term memory, so that they can be easily