title: A sequential explanatory study of the learning of semantically non-transparent words and collocations
Creators: name: Alamoudi, Sarah Saleh
Publisher: name: University of Reading
Year: 2024

description: This study explores the complexity behind vocabulary learning in the ESL classroom in 
Saudi Arabia. It has been suggested that vocabulary learning, particularly when it includes words 
and collocations which are not semantically transparent, presents a particular challenge for 
learners. The primary aim of the study was to explore the impact of two instructional methods -
contrastive analysis and translation (CAT) and CAT+Corpus - on the short-term recall of 
semantically non-transparent vocabulary in receptive and productive knowledge. Nineteen 
vocabulary target items, which included collocations and semantically non-transparent words, 
were selected for this study.
A total of 56 students agreed to take part. All participants were female first-year university 
students enrolled in a compulsory ESL course run by the English Language Institute (ELI) at a 
university in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Participants were divided into three different groups: CAT, 
CAT+Corpus, and control. There were two separate teaching interventions that took place over 
the course of two weeks. The CAT only group received interventions consisting of reading a 
passage in English, which included the target items, followed by a reading comprehension task. 
Afterwards, the teacher explained the similarities and differences between the target items in both 
the L1 and L2 where the words and lexical system were briefly but explicitly explained. Students 
also received two worksheets (for the receptive task and the productive task) which required them 
to match the target items to their equivalent translations. The intervention in the CAT+Corpus
group was similar, however participants also worked with a parallel corpus when completing both 
receptive and productive tasks. The control group did not receive any treatment. 
The study adopted a mixed-methods approach comprising pre- and post-tests in receptive 
and productive areas, with all three groups. Additionally, 11 students (four from the CAT+Corpus 
group, three from the CAT group and four from the control group) also took part in think-aloud 
(TA) interviews while completing the fill-in-the-gaps task. Among these, seven students from the 
two treatment groups were also asked about their views on the treatment they received. 
The findings revealed that the two treatment groups who received CAT and CAT+Corpus 
instruction made significantly greater vocabulary gains on their post-tests for both receptive and 
productive short-term recall compared to the control group, which only experienced incidental 
learning. However, the findings of the immediate post-tests in receptive and productive knowledge 
suggest that learners who received CAT instruction led by the teacher learned more vocabulary 
items compared to those who received CAT+Corpus instruction, although the differences were not 
significant between the two groups. While both groups received explicit CAT for vocabulary 
instruction, the results suggest that CAT teaching alone could be more effective compared to 
supplementing it with parallel corpus tasks. 
The thesis concludes by discussing these findings in relation to the noticing hypothesis, L1 
transfer, and the involvement load hypothesis (ILH), as well as their implications for ESL 
pedagogy.