Arab Educational Information Network

The past and current research on Arabic-speaking students’ second language vocabulary learning concludes that even though there is much research about the difficulties of learning English as a second language by Arab students, there is a need to increase the number of studies of the importance of teaching and learning vocabulary and the significance of understanding vocabulary learning strategies. Most second language learners encounter a great deal of challenge when learning vocabulary in the second language. Moreover, the number of experimental studies between 1980 and 2009 that focused on vocabulary outcomes for English language learners was limited and many of the instructional approaches used in these studies were built on approaches proposed for first-language learners, while others restructured the instructional tasks to meet the needs of English language learners. Also, there were limited studies on ESL vocabulary acquisition and its teaching and learning strategies by Arab students. Therefore, the current research calls for further experimental studies on the vocabulary teaching strategies used by Arab students. These studies should reassess the effectiveness of the vocabulary teaching programs for the purpose of designing better English language curricula that meets Arab students’ English vocabulary needs. Students’ attitude toward learning a foreign language may also affect their learning of new vocabulary. (Published Abstract)