Should vocabulary instruction be
integrated or isolated?
ELIF GENÇ
SEZEN SAVAŞ
Outline
 Recall of isolated and integrated vocabulary instructions
 Our study
 Results of the study
 Discussion
 Recommendation
 Limitation
PURPOSE
 to elaborate on which type of FFI (Form Focused Instruction)
(isolated or integrated) is more effective for learning new
vocabulary through reading.
 to investigate the effectiveness of integrated and isolated
vocabulary teaching
Types of form-focused instruction
In a reading lesson, form-focused instruction can be
done in two ways:
 integrated vocabulary instruction
 isolated vocabulary instruction
Integrated FFI
 Learners first engage in meaning; then explore some
linguistic features
 Occasional shift of attention to form
 Linguistic features are explored in contexts
Isolated FFI
 Primary attention to form
 Most attention to form
 Pre-selected in the syllabus
 Forms are taught in isolation
Form-focus Instruction and
Receptive & Productive
 We assume that integrated
vocabulary instruction
develops receptive skills as
students are not given
enough time to use the
words and produce
sentences. They interpret
the new words as a
comprehensive aid.
 As isolated vocabulary
instruction provides
learners additional time
and opportunities for
productive use, it offers
greater depth of vocabulary
learning. Therefore, it
promotes better productive
skills.
DEPEND (v)
 To need someone or sth
in order to happen.
 dependence (n)
 dependent X
independent (adj)
Whether or not we go to
Spain for our holiday
depends on the cost.
Sentence production
tasks taught and assigned
Our study
 Five teachers prepared presentations for each unit in Reading




Explorer Intro.
Some words-especially difficult ones- were taught as isolated,
while others as integrated.
Target words were graded according to their difficulties and
frequency of their usage by these five instructors
The most difficult and also the least often used words were
chosen.
Two tests were prepared for both isolated and integrated
taught words as receptive and productive.
Our study
 95 words were taught as isolated and 31 of them were asked
in the test
 135 words were taught as integrated and 31 of them were
asked in the test
 Tests were distributed to these five classes
 70 students answered the questions
The Test
What meaning does this word form
signal?
1. This new drug could be an important step against cancer.
A) The act of lifting one foot and putting it down on a different
part of ground.
B) A stage in a process.
C) One of the surfaces that you walk on when you go up or
down stairs.
Isolated- receptive
The Test
What word form can be used to
express this meaning?
 Whole(n):
…………………………………………………….
 Indeed(adv):
……………………………………………………
Integrated - productive
Analysis of the data
 We collected the tests from the students.
 We divided the tests into two groups as isolated and
integrated.
 At the first step, each of us checked one group’s answers.
 As a second step, we changed the tests and checked for the
second time.
Analysis of the data
 We prepared a chart to record the results.
 There were 8 parts in each of the tests.
 We recorded the correct answers for each part.
 Finally, we got the total number of correct answers as
receptive and productive
ISOLATED
STUDENT
RECEPTIVE
TOTAL PRODUCTIVE
A (4)
C(5)
E (3)
G (3)
1
3
2
1
2
1
230
TOTAL
B (4)
D (5)
F (4)
H (3)
0
2
1
3
1
0
0
4
2
2
1
1
0
0
1
3
3
0
3
4
4
1
1
2
4
0
3
3
0
0
1
1
3
0
1
2
0
0
0
2
2
0
2
3
0
1
3
0
1
0
2
4
0
1
3
2
2
2
452
Results of The Study
The type of vocabulary
instruction
Isolated VI
The number of words taught in
class
95
The number of words tested in
tests
31
The type of the questions
The number of questions in test
type
The total of questions
/ the total of correct answer
Percentage
receptive
productive
15
16
1050 /330
1120 /452
31 %
40 %
Isolated VI
 receptive:31%
productive:40%
 promoted productive vocabulary skills more than receptive
skills
 helped students gain more detailed knowledge of words (as
they were better at word formation questions)
Results of the Study
The type of vocabulary
instruction
Integrated VI
The number of words taught in
class
135
The number of words tested in
tests
31
The type of the questions
The number of questions in test
type
The total of questions
/ the total of correct answer
Percentage
receptive
productive
15
16
1050 /501
1212 /253
47 %
23 %
Integrated VI
Receptive: 47 %
productive: 23 %
 resulted in better usage of receptive skills than productive
ones.
 Students were limited in the word-recognition level as they
didn’t have the opportunity to practice the new learned
words.
Discussion
Webb 2005
 Those producing a word in a sentence-production task
acquired greater word knowledge than those doing the
reading task.
 The greater gains achieved in the isolated FFI than in the
integrated FFI is thanks to these different types of processing
tasks such as
 Sentence production
Processing a word in tasks and using in a sentence may also
help learners to understand morphosyntactic features of
words.
Webb, 2005
Why not Integrated VI
 new vocabulary gained from a reading activity does not
automatically transfer into productive vocabulary and
.
teachers need to provide opportunities for learners to use
recognition and new vocabulary in a contextually related
writing task.
S. H. Lee 2003
Recommendation
 To help students gain the most out of vocabulary learning,
instructional conditions that provide opportunities for a
maximum amount of processing of the words should be
arranged.
 Language teachers need to invest their time in designing
relevant vocabulary activities that can initiate students to
interact and negotiate meaning.
Recommendation
 Vocabulary instruction can be adapted to the needs of the
class.
 In integrated FFI,
 They may reduce planning time
 They may not require additional material
 They can align instruction more closely to the participants’
learning needs
Recommendation
 In isolated FFI,
 Teachers may help learners focus attention on vocabulary
learning
 They can teach more aspects of knowing a word
 Pronunciation
 Synonyms
 Antonyms
 Lexicogrammatical features
 Specific meaning
 Collocation etc…
Limitation
 The tests were given at the end of the semester, so this may
be a factor in the low success of the students’ test scores.
THANK YOU 