Development of productive and receptive vocabulary in the MA TEFL program

Abstract

This study describes the development of receptive and productive vocabulary of MA TEFL students throughout the program and also, aims to investigate the impact of this program on vocabulary improvement in Armenian ESL environment. The research was accomplished at the American University of Armenia within one academic year. The participants of the study were first and second-year students of the MA TEFL program. Vocabulary Size Test was used for data collection along with the academic papers of the students written at the beginning and at the end of the academic year. The first stage of data analysis includes computer assisted vocabulary profiling through Complete Lexical Tutor software, while the results of initial and final Vocabulary Size Test are analyzed through SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences). Findings of the research indicate that thanks to the extensive reading and writing students’ receptive and productive vocabulary considerably grow throughout the MA TEFL program.