Boosting Up Vocabulary Attainment of Low Achievers in English

Abstract

The present study aimed at investigating the effect of reciprocal teaching on vocabulary attainment in English of seventh grade students who are low achievers in English. Pre-test – post-test with one control group design was employed. An English competency test was administered to 226 VII grade students of two Government schools of Chandigarh, 100 students were identified as low achievers. These low achievers on English Competency test form the sample of the study. Out of 100 students 50 students of one school were randomly assigned to experimental group and 50 students were assigned to control group. The experimental group was taught through reciprocal teaching where students worked in groups and assumed the role of predictor, questioner, clarifier, summarizer. The treatment was given for 51 days. The control group was taught through conventional chalk and talk method. The mean gain scores on vocabulary attainment were calculated for both experimental and control groups and one-way analysis of variance was employed to find the difference between the two groups and it was found that reciprocal teaching resulted in improvement of vocabulary attainment of students who are low achievers in English.