The Effect of Synonym Generation and Inferred Word Meaning on Vocabulary Recognition and Quality of Writing اثر تولید المرادفات واستنتاج معانی الکلمات علی التعرف علی المفردات وجودة الکتابة

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating the effect of synonym generation and inferred word meaning on vocabulary recognition and writing quality of English majors at the Faculty of Education, University of Palestine-Gaza. The participants of the study , totaling (41) first year EFL male and female students , were randomly selected and divided into two groups, i.e. the ‫ﺍﻟﻌﺩﺩ‬ ‫ﺍﻷﺯﻫﺭ،‬ ‫ﺠﺎﻤﻌﺔ‬ ‫ﺍﻟﺘﺭﺒﻴﺔ،‬ ‫ﻜﻠﻴﺔ‬ ‫ﻤﺠﻠﺔ‬) : ١٨٢ ‫ﺍﻷﻭل‬ ‫ﺍﻟﺠﺯﺀ‬ ، (‫ﻟﺴﻨﺔ‬ ‫ﺃﺒﺭﻴل‬ ٢٠١٩ ‫ﻡ‬-٨٠٦-experimental group and the control group during the second semester of the academic year 2017-2018. The experimental group included (24) students; (21) females and (3) males while the control group included (17) students; (4) males and (13 females). The control group members were taught the activities of Writing (1) course using the regular method while the experimental group members were taught the activities of the same course using the synonym generation and inferred word meaning strategy. The instruments required for the study were a word recognition and a writing quality pre/posttests. The two tests were corrected two times; by the researcher and another colleague from the university, and the means of the two scores were granted as a final score of the participants of the study on the pre/posttests. Results revealed that synonym generation and inferred word meaning strategy have large positive effects on enhancing the vocabulary recognition and writing quality of Palestinian university English majors.