Effects of vocabulary instruction using bottom-up and top-down instructional approaches on Bhutanese secondary students’ vocabulary knowledge

Abstract

This study aimed to (1) investigate the effects of bottom-up (BU) instructional approaches on ESL students’ vocabulary knowledge, (2) investigate the effects of top-down (TD) instructional approaches on ESL students’ vocabulary knowledge (3) compare the effects of the two approaches on the development of vocabulary knowledge of Bhutanese secondary school students, and (4) explore the students’ opinions towards the two approaches. The participants of this study were seventy tenth-graders from a Bhutanese secondary school. They were divided into two groups: BU and TD, and each group of students learned vocabulary through a different instructional approach. The students underwent treatment sessions for two months to learn 168 new academic vocabulary. The students’ English vocabulary knowledge was measured quantitatively through vocabulary tests: the vocabulary size test (VST) and the updated vocabulary levels test (UVLT). The data were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. This was followed by a semi-structured interview to extract the views of the participants on the instructional approaches for qualitative data. A total of eight participants (two each of high performers and low performers) from two groups were selected for the interview and the data were analyzed through content analysis. The research findings revealed that both approaches were effective in helping to improve the students’ vocabulary knowledge but the results also showed that the improvement in the students’ vocabulary knowledge attributed to the BU instructional approach was not significantly different from that of the TD instructional approach. Most participants expressed positive views towards both approaches.