Vocabulary size among undergraduates of Arabic language for professional communication in UiTM / Nurain Syafina Husaini

• Main Author: Husaini, Nurain Syafina
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Learning. Learning strategies; Study and teaching
• Online Access: https://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/60136/1/60136.pdf; https://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/60136/

Vocabulary size is a number or a quantity of vocabulary owned by an individual who speaks a language. It is undeniable that the vocabulary size has close relationship with the usage of a language. Language experts recommended that language students to master at least 2000 to 3000 words. Hence, the purpose of this study is to identify the Arabic language vocabulary size and see the differences of the receptive and productive vocabulary size among undergraduates of Arabic Language for Professional Communication Course in UiTM. Besides that, this study aims to observe the differences of the vocabulary size among first, second and third year students as well as to identify the vocabulary learning strategies used by the students. Thus, at the same time, this study also aims to identify the relationship between the vocabulary learning strategies and the vocabulary size of Arabic Language among UiTM students. Research samples for this study consists of 127 undergraduates of Arabic Language for Professional Communication Course in UiTM varying from first semester students up until fifth semester students. Next, this research is a quantitative research and a few instruments are done such as Arabic Language Vocabulary Level Test (aLVT) and Productive Vocabulary Level Test (PVLT) as well as VLS interview questions. The data are analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences V20.0 (SPSS) while statistic instruments such as T-test, Pearson Correlation and ANOVA are used. In average, the findings of this research has concluded that the receptive vocabulary size of Arabic Language is below average which is 1885 words whereas for productive vocabulary size is only 1655 words. The vocabulary learning strategy used among students are still at a moderate level which requires ample guidance from the teaching personnel. This research has also found that there are no correlation between the vocabulary size among students with vocabulary learning strategy. Hence, this research proposed that students on tertiary level especially should focus more on relevant and high frequency vocabulary to be mastered in order to apply them more effectively. Therefore, teaching personnel should expose students to various techniques in learning vocabulary as well as maximising the use of computers and the Internet during teaching and learning sessions in order to gain students’ interest in learning.