Answer to the main research question

The main research question that was addressed in this research is: “What is a useful design for motivational vocabulary activities, with the aim to improve vocabulary development, for NT2

students at College Zuid?” The developed design followed from answering the sub-research questions

first and is discussed in the section below.

7.3.1.

Final criteria for design

The designed vocabulary activities were confirmed to be useful during observations of the lessons, the Kahoot game and the final questionnaire. After the pilot lessons, final criteria for the vocabulary activities for NT2 support at College Zuid have been developed. The final criteria list includes fourteen criteria, which are divided over three categories. The categories are structure, activities and differentiation. The table (table 8) below shows the final design criteria for motivational vocabulary activities.

The final criteria are based on the criteria that were taken as the input for the vocabulary activities. The criteria for the vocabulary activities were adjusted a little bit based on the observations of the pilot lessons and the results of the pilot lessons evaluation questionnaire. “Homework assignments” were not noted as motivational during the pilot lessons and therefore are not taken as a criterion for the final design. It might be better to practice the new words during more activities in the lessons. “differentiation based on students’ preferences” is reformulated to “blended content” as preferences can be on settings, resources and content. “Enhancement of positive attitudes” is reformulated to “motivating”. It was observed that students already had a positive attitude towards learning new vocabulary, which had a positive influence on their motivation. However, there are more aspects than only attitude that influence the motivation of students (e.g. chance of success, the activity itself or the teacher). Therefore, motivation can be enhanced in different ways. “size and depth approaches” is not included as a criterion as this is already met by offering opportunities to repeat the words and practice in a context. It has been observed that vocabulary development is made easier by using different word discovery and word consolidating strategies (e.g. asking the teacher for the meaning of words) and also vocabulary knowledge and context understanding is enhanced by using vocabulary learning strategies. Therefore, these word discovery strategies and word consolidating strategies have been found to be more suitable criteria for the vocabulary activities that have vocabulary knowledge and context understanding as an output. “Track student results” is added as a criterion, as it has been observed that is important to know the level of all students. Last, “cooperative learning” is included as a criterion, as it was observed that this was an important factor for the enhanced vocabulary knowledge and the motivation of the students. This leads to the following final criteria (table 8).

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Table 8 Final criteria

Structure criteria Activities criteria Differentiation criteria

Word discovery strategies Word consolidating strategies Track student results

Opportunities to repeat words Opportunities to strengthen network connections

Opportunities to practice words in context

A communicative approach A focus on form approach Promote cooperative learning Be motivating

Be advantageous and relevant

Blended work settings Blended resources usage Blended content

Based on the observation scheme and the results of the lessons, a design for the vocabulary activities is developed, based on the design criteria above (figure 11).

7.3.2.

Final design

This final design schema shows how the different categories and criteria are related to each other. The purple boxes indicate the final criteria for the design, whereas the blue boxes indicate how these criteria are incorporated within the designed activities.

Pre-processing and semantising should be done using word discovery strategies, in a homework assignment or at the start of a lesson. Subject content should be used as the input for the homework assignments and lessons and new words should be pre-processed. The lesson activities should focus mainly on consolidation of the new words, using different word consolidation strategies. The activities should focus on both size and depth of vocabulary, and during the lessons there should be the opportunity to repeat words and strengthen the word network. This should be done by providing appropriate tasks and easy access of word meanings. Also, active and passive knowledge of

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words should be enhanced in activities that provide a context. This can be done during a mix of listening, reading, speaking and writing activities. The activities should be advantageous and motivating. This can be achieved by providing activities that are related to subject content and providing opportunities for differentiation. Differentiation should be done by blended work settings, blended resource usage or blended content. In the controlling step, the student’s results will be checked. In vocabulary activities, this can be done by explanation, application or adaption. The activities should all take place in a communicative setting with a focus on form approach that enable opportunities to interact.