The ESP Vocabulary Portfolio as a Tool for Sustained Vocabulary Learning
This chapter reports a study of students’ reactions to the use of the ESP vocabulary portfolio in the vocational secondary education context. This study attempts to respond to local needs for learning vocational English (VE) at the Indonesian vocational s
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11. THE ESP VOCABULARY PORTFOLIO AS A TOOL FOR SUSTAINED VOCABULARY LEARNING Student-Created Materials
INTRODUCTION
This chapter reports a study of students’ reactions to the use of the ESP vocabulary portfolio in the vocational secondary education context. This study attempts to respond to local needs for learning vocational English (VE) at the Indonesian vocational secondary school. In this respect, vocational or specialist teachers reported that their students lacked specialized or technical vocabulary repertoire in vocational texts, so they encountered difficulties understanding vocational textbooks and manuals in English. Some studies (see Akbarian, 2010; Fengxiang, 2013; Widodo, 2015a) show that vocabulary is one of the contributing factors in text comprehension. To help students learn vocabulary in a sustained way, students practice profiling specialized vocabulary in the form of portfolios. A portfolio as a tool for learning technical vocabulary aims to expand depth and breadth of technical vocabulary knowledge of students. In this study, a portfolio is defined as materials created by students as a result of doing extensive reading (ER). Thus, the question guiding the present study is “to what extent does the ESP vocabulary portfolio help students develop their specialized vocabulary?” The contribution of the article is to provide fresh insights into the pedagogical roles of portfolios in the development of students’ ESP vocabulary. ROLES AND TYPES OF ENGLISH VOCABULARY
His role of vocabulary in ELT has been much discussed and reported in the literature of L2 vocabulary research (see Hirsh, 2012). Vocabulary plays crucial roles in language fluency development and knowledge building (Widodo, 2015a). Productive use of vocabulary in speaking and writing, meaning making of vocabulary in listening and writing, and breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge are crucial dimensions of successful English language learning though other factors also contribute to this learning development. Particularly in the area of ESP, teachers are challenged to provide students with relevant knowledge of vocabulary; most of which is technical or specialized by its very nature. This technical vocabulary coupled with general vocabulary is one of the most crucial components in ESP learning. It is no wonder M. Azarnoosh et al. (Eds.), Issues in Materials Development, 121–133. © 2016 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.
H. P. WIDODO
that ESP textbooks put greater emphasis on a list of specialized vocabulary and corpora to accommodate a wide range of students’ needs for functioning in academic or professional encounters (Coxhead, 2013). In addition, vocabulary is claimed to become one of the most crucial predictors of reading as a meaning making process. Hsu (2013) contends that rich knowledge of vocabulary assists learners to more easily perform reading tasks; limited vocabulary may be a major barrier to fluent reading. This argument aligns with the goal of the study: To help students engage with meaning making through extensive
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