Complementary material and the development of the English language vocabulary

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to determine the incidence of the use of complementary material in the development of the English language vocabulary in 1st Year BGU students of Felix A. Granja High School of Simiatug, Bolivar – Ecuador. The methodological approach of the investigation was quali-quantitative and it was conducted with a population of 70 students, 35 of them belonged to the control group and the other 35 the experimental group. In this quasi-experimental design, classroom observation, a survey applied to the students and the pre test and post test techniques were employed. The Key English Test (KET) of the Cambridge exams was employed to check students' English reading and writing vocabulary proficiency and basic knowledge of nouns, adjectives and verbs. The control group was assessed after only having used the textbook as a teaching method while in the experimental group the evaluation was applied after having received classes using the complementary material designed for this proposal. Pre test outcomes evidenced that both groups of students’ reading and writing vocabulary proficiency level in nouns, adjectives and verbs was low. However, there was an outstanding improvement on the experimental group students' post test outcomes and significant differences were found on the experimental group when compared to the control group. Thus, through this research, it could be determined that the use of complementary material directly influence the development of English vocabulary as a foreign language.