Enhancing university English Language students’ reading-comprehension through vocabulary abundance

Abstract EN

Vocabulary constitutes a vital aspect of every single language; in fact vocabulary is considered as the gate by which a learner can go through the systems of a language.

Vocabulary learning is an essential and everlasting skill that a learner keeps developing a long time.

David A.

Wilkins articulately said “without grammar, very little can be conveyed; without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.” Even when one scarcely knows a language and has no understanding of its grammar but still can be communicative.

Developing a broader vocabulary in target language may help upkeep the four skills of a language: reading, writing, listening and speaking.

Vocabulary understanding is likely the most significant element when it is related to reading comprehension, for both native and non-native speakers.

This term-paper is intended to investigate the role of developing abundant vocabulary repertoire in supporting university students’ comprehension of reading academic texts.

This research work is based on the question ; Does vocabulary abundance enhance reading comprehension for second year university English language students?.

The sample of the study is (30) 2nd year students in English department in the College of Education/Ibn-Rushd /University of Baghdad for the academic year 2019-2020 randomly selected to take a pre- test on developing reading comprehension through growing abundance in vocabulary .After three months course teaching reading comprehension through extensive readings for various academic contexts provided with lists of vocabulary and lists of words family in addition to collocations and word associations along the three months developing the updated strategies of instructing vocabulary through academic reading texts, a post-test is administered.

Finally, in order to capture the probable significance of handling reading texts through vocabulary growth for better texts comprehension, a(Mann-Whitney U test ) is used.

The results come to respond to the question positively, and prove evidently the enhancement achieved in reading comprehension through vocabulary growth and increase.