Contextualizing Vocabulary Teaching Practices in Benin EFL Classes

Abstract

Acquiring vocabulary in EFL classes has been a controversial issue for years. The research endeavor explores contextualization regarding vocabulary teaching in Benin EFL classes. The paper aims to assist EFL teachers in using the most adequate strategy of teaching vocabulary in the classroom. The study involved public EFL students and teachers. The participants, specifically EFL students were assigned as experimental and control groups. The instruments used for this research were class observation, questionnaire, and interview. Data were gathered in class through two different skills namely Listening, Reading, and a vocabulary lesson. The experimental studied vocabulary by means of memorization, texts, and without clues, while the control group was instructed through contextualization. The data analyzed have shown a good impact on the acquisition of students’ vocabulary knowledge for the control group than the experimental group. It is believed that the results from this study can be resorted as a useful method in the English classes by Benin EFL teachers, lecturers, researchers, and language instructors.