Instruments

Conducting research requires the use of appropriate tools called instruments (Gay, 1999: 85) that are used to collect data. The present study made use of several instruments as outlined in the subsequent sections.

3.4.4.1 Productive Vocabulary Levels Test of Controlled Ability (PVLT)

The Controlled Productive Vocabulary Levels Tests (PVLT) was administered to both learners and teachers in the pilot study. Learners were administered Version C (see Appendix

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A) and teachers were administered Version A (see Appendix B). The reason for administering different versions was to ensure that teachers did not feel they were being compared with learners. Both versions of the test have high validity and reliability scores (Meara & Alcoy 2010). Pallant (2007) states that a validity of .7 Cronbach’s alpha is an ideal level of validity while .8 is considered to be very good. Version C of the PVLT has a Cronbach’s alpha of .91 while version A has an alpha of .86 (Laufer & Nation 1999: 42). The tests are easy to administer, easy to mark and easy to interpret (Meara, 2005). Additionally, scoring is easy since each correct answer equals 1 mark. The tests are also known for their reliability and accuracy in measuring a learners’ vocabulary size. Many ESL researchers have used the PVLTs to determine the vocabulary sizes of their participants in various settings and have produced results that are consistent with the situations of their participants (Nation & Waring, 1997; Alonso & Garcia, 2014). In addition, the PVLTs like the VLTs that are used for measuring receptive vocabulary are standardised tests (Nizonkiza & Van Den Berg, 2014).

The PVLT is made up of sections called frequency levels. According to Pignot-Shahov (2012) the PVLT was made by ranking all the word families or lemmas of English written texts into a list from the most frequently used word to the least frequently used word and then dividing the words into levels of 1000 words per level. The first level, namely the 1000 level, contains all function words and the most frequent content word families (Nation, 2001). However, I did not test both the learners and teachers the first level because words at this level can be learned with ease and learners do not need explicit instruction to master them. The second level, also called the 2000 frequency level contains the second 1000 most frequently used word families. The division into 1000 word levels continues up to the least frequently used words. The higher the frequency level the lower the frequency of use of the word families (Nation, 2001).The University Word List (UWL) contains the 570 most frequently used word families in academic writing. Version A has 5 levels namely the 2000, 3000, 5000, UWL and 10000 levels. Version C contains the 2000, 3000, 5000 and 10000 levels. The 18 words that are tested in each level are representative of the words in each level (Nation 2001; Pignot-shahov 2012).

The test items consist of sentences with an incomplete target word which the test taker is required to supply. For an example;

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The la___ of rain led to the shortage of water in the city (Laufer & Nation, 1999).

The first few letters of the target word are provided to ensure test taker does not supply another word that is semantically correct but occurs at frequency level higher or lower than the level being tested. The expected answer is;

The lack of rain led to the shortage of water in the city.

The test is a type of sentence cloze test and the words are presented in a single context. In scoring the test, each correct answer scores 1 mark. Spelling errors and incorrect tenses were not penalised. This instrument provided the quantitative data for this study, which constituted the greater part of the research.

3.4.4.2 Learners’ FAL exercise books

The qualitative data for the pilot study were obtained from two FAL written exercise books from learners who took part in the pilot study. The books were examined for evidence of vocabulary teaching and the level of vocabulary used by learners in their written work. Learners’ written work was analysed using a VocabProfiler (VP), an on-line software program created by Laufer and Nation (1995), to establish the vocabulary type used in the learners’ writing. The online software is used to measure lexical richness of a text by profiling the words used by the writer into frequency levels.

Vocabulary from the following types of written work from learners’ exercise books were all put into one text file: vocabulary from comprehension texts, spelling tests, words used to teach phonics (as these words became part of the vocabulary taught), learners’ own productive work such as sentence construction exercises, compositions, letters and diaries. The results of the VocabProfiler were compared with the PVLT results. Results obtained were also compared with the ideal native frequency of use of 70-10-10-10 that was found from native speakers (Nation, 2001), (see Table 1).

Results from the VocaProfiler are displayed in three ways. Firstly, a frequency summary showing what percentage of the input text lies in each vocabulary frequency level is presented. Secondly, the text is presented with each word colour coded for frequency and lastly, lists of all the words in each frequency level are given. According to Laufer and Nation (1995) The VP tool is excellent for obtaining an overview of a frequency profile of a text and

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highlighting low frequency vocabulary that may be a problem for learners of low proficiency in the L2. The rationale for using the Vocabprofiler lies in the fact that the VP score is reliable across two texts by the same learner provided the genre is the same (Laufer & Nation, 1995). The VP scores also correlate with an independent measure of vocabulary knowledge particularly Laufer and Nation’s (1999) levels tests. Lastly the VP scores predict broader language proficiency measures. This means that learners at three proficiency levels have significantly different VP scores (Laufer & Nation 1995). According to Laufer and Nation (1995) a native speaker’s frequency profile is 70- 10-10-10 (refer Table 3.1).

Table 3.1: The frequency profile of a native speakers’ vocabulary Frequency bands Percentage Profile

1-1000 70%

1001-2000 10%

AWL 10%

Off List words 10%

Table 3.1 shows the ideal vocabulary profile of a text produced by a native speaker regardless of the length of a text. A text with weak vocabulary would indicate a higher percentage of 1- 1000 words and much lower percentages of vocabulary in the higher frequency levels, namely the 1001-2000, the Academic Word List (AWL) and other words that do not appear in the first two levels but are used more frequently. The percentage would be much lower than the 10 % indicated in the last three levels. Such a text is said to lack in linguistic ability or in lexical richness.

3.4.4.3 Classroom observations

The intention was to conduct classroom observations at the pilot school in order to find out how vocabulary was taught and which words were taught explicitly to learners (if at all). Two teachers volunteered to be observed teaching a comprehension lesson. An observation sheet was designed to record data from classroom observation (see Appendix K). However, because of the time constraints this instrument was excluded from the pilot study, but was used in the main study as a valuable source of qualitative data.

70 3.4.4.4 Interviews

A semi-structured interview was used to collect qualitative data from two teachers at the pilot school (Appendix L). An interview schedule of 20 questions pertaining to vocabulary teaching and learning was prepared. The questions were divided into three sections with the following subheadings; 1 CAPS and vocabulary teaching, 2 How words are selected for teaching and 3 Methods used for teaching vocabulary. However, because of time constraints, an informal interview with both teachers which covered the essential aspects of the research was conducted. In other words, the 20 questions in Appendix L were not used as stated; rather a more general discussion took place. However, data were captured from the teachers’ responses and summarised.