Improving EFL Students’ Thesaurus-using Skills: An Action Research at a University

Abstract

This article has been retracted

It stands undisputed that thesauri are a crucial resource for learning English. Apart from high-quality thesauri, efficient thesaurus use requires adequate thesaurus skills from the English learner’s part. While research has shown that most learners of English need guidance on how to make full use of thesauri, there has been scant evidence for gallant endeavours to train these thesaurus users because such formal instructions would demand, among other aspects, a thorough understanding of the learner and their unique context in the first place. This paper briefly reports partial findings of an action research project which crystallizes a specific case of EFL students’ thesaurus use. The paper thus specifically aims to (i) explore students’ perceptions of thesaurus use and (ii) investigate their thesaurus practices in an EFL writing class. As part of a qualitative study, the paper highlights major findings from questionnaires, interviews and thesaurus-using tests with fifty-one university students. It is anticipated that these insights will raise teachers’ awareness of the complexity of thesaurus use among EFL students and can point the way to more designing and implementing programs with a view to sharpening their students’ thesaurus skills. Further investigation is indubitably warranted.

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Author Information
Vi Tran Lam Ngan, Ho Chi Minh University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam
Hector Campos, Georgetown University, United States

• Category: Literature and language learning

Posted by James Alexander Gordon

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