IMPACT OF LEARNING PHRASAL VERBS THROUGH TECHNOLOGY ON VOCABULARY ACQUISITION

Abstract

The paper demonstrates the results of the experimental research conducted during the academic year 2020/21, at the EFL extra-curriculum classes. The research examines the advantages of phrasal verbs application and analyzes the impact of this technology on phrasal verb acquisition. At the beginning of EFL extra-curriculum classes, the students wrote the pre-test and at the end of the semester - the post-test was done to check the achievements and benefits of phrasal verb application. The experiment results demonstrated the improvement of phrasal verb acquisition and the participants showed better outcomes in post-test in comparison to pre-test. The findings indicate that multiple functions of phrasal verb application can benefit phrasal verb learning and enhance students' independent study.

Headnote

Abstract: The paper demonstrates the results of the experimental research conducted during the academic year 2020/21, at the EFL extra-curriculum classes. The research examines the advantages of phrasal verbs application and analyzes the impact of this technology on phrasal verb acquisition. At the beginning of EFL extra-curriculum classes, the students wrote the pre-test and at the end of the semester - the post-test was done to check the achievements and benefits of phrasal verb application. The experiment results demonstrated the improvement of phrasal verb acquisition and the participants showed better outcomes in post-test in comparison to pre-test. The findings indicate that multiple functions of phrasal verb application can benefit phrasal verb learning and enhance students' independent study.

Keywords: phrasal verbs, application, EFL skills, advantages, experiment

Introduction

EFL (English as a foreign language) has been taught as a mandatory subject in both linguistic and non-linguistic universities in Ukraine. The Ministry of Education of Ukraine has already set out several initiatives to improve foreign language learning with university students. For example, since 2021 the students of technical universities have had a twelve-credit EFL course (in comparison to five ECTS credits in 2020) comprised of General English and English for Specific Purposes. Such important initiatives seem to be less optimistic in the context of academic hours per semester. Bachelor students of all specialities have 14 academic hours a semester (118 academic hours for the whole period of study: eight semesters) and 30 academic hours for independent study (240 hours for eight semesters). Against the background of insufficient hours for foreign language learning in the EFL syllabus, the demands for EFL students' proficiency are getting higher and higher. Consequently, the tools and

strategies that can provide both short term and effective acquiring of four basic skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening) with a strong focus on students' independent study should be integrated with the EFL classroom. Furthermore, some items in English are difficult to learn and use. One of the challenging items for both students and language instructors is the phrasal verb (PV). As PVs are an essential part of English vocabulary that constitute a huge area of meanings that overlap with hundreds of semantic-word denotations and connotations, they will always appear as complex units that EFL learners face even from different culture and background levels1. In addition, a lot of language instructors are lack studying hours to cover basic phrasal verbs and practice their using. The appropriate application should be integrated to provide easy, fast, multifunction learning and practising the phrasal verbs.

Literature review

Considering the issue of modelling foreign language competencies through digital tools research has been carried out in the area of improving listening2, speaking skills using podcasts3, CMC tools such as VoiceThread4 and self-made Youtube recordings5 acquiring vocabulary with the help of online platforms6, writing skills through dictation exercises can also be carried online via the Dragon software or other programs such as Online Dictation, Evernote, TalkTyper, VoiceAssistant, Speechlogger, or PaperPort7 and Web 2.0 tools8, reading skills through digital services (Goodreads, Ponder, LibraryThing)9. Several research studies provided deep insights into discussing technology that can be used to improve particular foreign language skills10. Communication lab, video conferencing, video Library, CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning), TELL (Technology Enhanced Language Learning), Podcasting, Quick Link Pen, Quicktionary, Programmes through educational satellites, Speech Recognition Software, Internet, blogging can not only improve the speaking skills but also motivate, help students learn at their own pace and promote autonomy in them. According to Hameed "listening and speaking are of prime importance in language learning, students should be aware of paving the way to master them to have a full understanding of what native speakers of that language say and how to communicate in their language"11. The researcher states that the phrasal verb is a structure that can benefit communicative skills. Fu states that phrasal verbs can improve all the skills: speaking, reading, writing and listening skills12 The experiment conducted by Miasoiedova 13 has demonstrated the effectiveness of applying some unconventional extra-class activities, specifically Instagram educational pages Phrasal Cards and Fantastic Phrasals, as an additional tool for teaching phrasal verbs. Al Nasar14examined the difficulties in interpreting English phrasal verbs (PVs) and concluded that we should enhance adults learning by giving rich material covering PVs context, meaning and translation. Absent in this vision of language are notions of PV's learning with the help of PV's applications. This study is expected to contribute to EFL scope giving new insights about students' phrasal verbs mastery through technology. The present study aims to determine the advantages of phrasal verb application and experimentally prove the efficacy of using technology at EFL extra-curriculum classes will improve students' phrasal verb acquisition with a strong focus on independent work, and, as a consequence, will enhance their learning performance.

Methodology

The target population for this study consisted of 19 fourth-year bachelors who were attending extra-curriculum activities to prepare for the unified entrance exam to become Master's students during 2020-2021. The participants of the experiment were selected in a non-random way: they all attended extra-curriculum foreign language classes. The onegroup pre-test-post-test design was used in the present quasiexperimental study. The students' outcomes were measured two times: once before and once after treatment. The effect of technology application in phrasal verbs learning was measured by comparing the pre-and posttest results.

Presentation of basic material of the research

Simultaneously with practising the PV with the help of Use of English B215 android Phrasal verb application was approbated during the experiment carried out in Higher Education Institution «Podillia State University» in Ukraine. In addition to the platform telegram channel "English irregular verbs" was designed by the developers of the application to communicate with the subscribers on PVs. The experiment in the present study was intended to accept or reject the statement that Phrasal verb application can enhance effective PV learning. The mentioned above application was chosen according to the following criteria:

* Free download;

* The application provides the instructions concerning remembering the PVs, training exercises and testing;

* Contextual learning;

* Implementation of Ebbinghaus spaced repetition algorithm and calendar of spaced repetition;

* Essential word-lists of different levels (Basic, Intermediate and Advanced);

* More than 7000 PVs and their use in authentic context (popular books, magazines and sites);

* The function of learning speed is available;

* The function of learning progress (daily goal) is available;

* Sound support and translation of phrasal verbs;

* Word flashcards;

The participants of the experiment had 1 academic hour a week during extra curriculum EFL activities. At the beginning of the course, the students did the phrasal verb pre-test, and at the end of the semester - the post-test respectively. Both tests were of the same content and concentrated on PV's multiple-choice and gap-filling tasks. Twenty minutes of each EFL extra-curriculum class was devoted to learning and practising phrasal verbs via an application. First, the platform gives the phrasal verb with sound support, its meaning and context in English. Then, the platform suggests performing multiple-choice PVs' learning activities: to select the appropriate preposition and check the correct answer with the examples, to select the appropriate verb when only one preposition is given, to match one PV and one preposition to create a phrasal verb according to the meaning as shown in Image 1.

Since each student has created an individual learning plan, the application reminds them to repeat the PV according to the forgetting curve of Ebbinghaus to "put" them into long term memory: today, next day, in two days, in two weeks in two months. Consequently, the PV's application supervises the individual work of students. During the experiment we covered basic (200) and intermediate (500) phrasal verbs. The pre-and post-test results are given in Table 1.

To interpret tests' results we used mean score and standard deviation. Overall marks were improved in post-test and the difference between mean scores in pre-and post-test is 1, 94. The overall mean scores showed significant improvement in the post-test scores of all the students compared to their pre-test scores.

Conclusions

The shift toward technology-based EFL learning (Godwin-Jones R., Blake R., Chaikovska O., Humeniuk I., Kuning D. and Oskoz A.) has forced the language instructors to pay attention to the issue of developing four basic foreign language skills through digital applications and devices. Providing effective learning of phrasal verbs can benefit acquiring speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. The present study is in line with the research from Miasoiedova with the suggestion that technology, specifically Instagram educational pages Phrasal Cards and Fantastic Phrasals, can improve students' foreign language learning. This research contributes to EFL learning by demonstrating the efficacy of android phrasal verb application in students' vocabulary acquisition that, in its turn can contribute to improving basic foreign language skills. Our findings indicate that up-to-date applications are easy to work with, provide a wide spectrum of functions, use specific mechanisms for engaging long-term memory (the forgetting curve of Ebbinghaus), monitor the students' progress and provide effective independent students' work. The results of this research also suggest that integrating applications, phrasal verb android app, in particular, can improve students' vocabulary performance. The results of the study showed an overall improvement in the test scores after the treatment. Future work should examine the impact of phrasal verb application on taken separately foreign language skills.

Footnote

1 Al Nasarat, S.A., The Dilemma of Learning Phrasal Verbs among EFL learners. Advances in Language and Literary Studies, 9(2), 2018, p. 119-125.

2 Humeniuk, I., Kuntso, O., Popel, N., & Voloshchuk, Y., Mastering listening comprehension at ESP classes using Ted Talks. Advanced Education, vol. 8, no. 17, 2021, p. 27-34.

3 Chaikovska, O.; Zbaravska, L.; Bilyk, T., Podcasts in teaching EFL for students majoring in engineering. Paper presented at the conference on engineering for rural development, Jelgava, Latvia, 2019.

4 Blake, R., Technology and the four skills. Language, Learning and Technology, 20, 2016, p. 129-142.

5 Blake, R. & Sh'iri, S., Online Arabic Language Learning: What Happens After? L2 Journal, 4(2), 2012, p. 230-246. Accessed from http://escholarship.org/uc/item/0bf3r8g1.pdf

6 Chaikovska, O.V. & Zbaravska, L.Yu., The efficiency of Quizlet-based EFL vocabulary learning in preparing undergraduates for state English exam. Advanced education, 14, 2020, p. 84-91.

7 Blake, R. & Sh'iri, S., Online Arabic Language Learning: What Happens After? L2 Journal, 4(2), 2012, p. 230-246. Accessed from http://escholarship.org/ uc/item/0bf3r8g1.pdf

8 Oskoz, A., & Elola, I., Integrating digital stories in the writing class: Towards a 21st-century literacy. In J. Guikema & L. Williams (Eds.), Digital literacies in foreign language education: Research, perspectives, and best practices 2014, (pp. 179-200). San Marcos: TX: CALICO.

9 Godwin-Jones, R., Contributing, creating, curating: Digital literacies for language learners. Language Learning & Technology, vol. 19, no. 3, 2015, p. 8-20. accessed from http://llt.msu.edu/issues/october2015/emerging.pdf

10 Kuning, D.S., Technology in teaching speaking skill. Journal of English Education, Literature and Linguistics, vol. 2, no. 1, 2019, p. 50-59.

11 Hameed, A.P.J.Q., Teaching Phrasal Verbs to Enhance Learners' Communicative Competence in English concerning Iraqi Advanced Level. Journal of Basra researches for Human Sciences, vol. 42, no. 6, 2017, p. 342 -355.

12 Fu, G. U. O. H. U. A., Effective Techniques for Teaching Phrasal Verbs to Improve Communicate Competence of Chinese English learners, 2015, p. 135.

13 Miasoiedova, S.V., The role of phrasal verbs for successful intercultural communication and unconventional ways of their teaching. Scientific bulletin of International humanitarian university, vol. 34, no. 2, 2018, p. 108-111.

14 Al Nasarat, S.A., The Dilemma of Learning Phrasal Verbs among EFL learners. Advances in Language and Literary Studies, 9(2), 2018, p. 119-125.

15 Moutsou, E., Use of English B2. MM publications, 2009.

References

References

Al Nasarat, S.A., (2018), The Dilemma of Learning Phrasal Verbs among EFL learners. Advances in Language and Literary Studies, 9(2), p. 119-125.

Blake, R., Sh'iri, S., (2012), Online Arabic Language Learning: What Happens After? L2 Journal, 4(2), p. 230-246. Accessed from http:// escholarship.org/uc/item/0bf3r8g1.pdf

Blake, R., (2016), Technology and the four skills. Language, Learning and Technology, 20, p. 129-142.

Chaikovska, O.V., Zbaravska, L.Yu., (2020), The efficiency of Quizletbased EFL vocabulary learning in preparing undergraduates for state English exam. Advanced education, 14, p. 84-91.

Chaikovska, O.; Zbaravska, L.; Bilyk, T., (2019), Podcasts in teaching EFL for students majoring in engineering. Paper presented at the conference on engineering for rural development, Jelgava, Latvia.

Fu, G. U. O. H. U. A., (2015), Effective Techniques for Teaching Phrasal Verbs to Improve Communicate Competence of Chinese English learners.

Godwin-Jones, R., (2015), Contributing, creating, curating: Digital literacies for language learners. Language Learning & Technology, 19 (3), p. 8-20. accessed from http://llt.msu.edu/ issues/october2015/emerging.pdf

Hameed, A. P. J. Q., (2017), Teaching Phrasal Verbs to Enhance Learners' Communicative Competence in English concerning Iraqi Advanced Level. Journal of Basra researches for Human Sciences, 42 (6), pp. 342 -355.

Humeniuk, I., Kuntso, O., Popel, N., Voloshchuk, Y., (2021), Mastering listening comprehension at ESP classes using Ted Talks. Advanced Education, vol. 8, (17), p. 27-34.

Kuning, D.S., (2019), Technology in teaching speaking skill. Journal of English Education, Literature and Linguistics, 2 (1), p. 50-59.

Miasoiedova, S.V., (2018), The role of phrasal verbs for successful intercultural communication and unconventional ways of their teaching. Scientific bulletin of International humanitarian university, 34 (2), p. 108-111.

Moutsou, E., (2009), Use of English B2. MM publications.

Oskoz, A., Elola, I., (2014), Integrating digital stories in the writing class: Towards a 21st-century literacy. In J. Guikema & L. Williams (Eds.), Digital literacies in foreign language education: Research, perspectives, and best practices (pp. 179-200). San Marcos: TX: CALICO.